Short: Le Mans was a bit of a disaster.

British GT driver Martin Short reflects on the Le Mans 24 Hours with JMB Racing and team-mates Cort Wagner and Sam Hancock:

''Sadly I have to report that Le Mans was a bit of a disaster....

''My team mate, 22 year old Sam Hancock mate managed to hurl the car into a concrete wall at around 120mph on the exit of the notorious Porsche curves.''

''This was on his out lap, i.e. leaving the pits for the first time, one hour and ten minutes into the 24 hours after taking over from Cort Wagner, the first driver.''

''The car made it back to the pits but it was immediately obvious to my eyes that the car was finished. There was a crease in the roof, which meant the chassis was bent.

''An hour later the team cried enough, realising that the chassis was to badly damaged to be repaired and be safe.''

''Being the third driver this meant that my Le Mans race debut didn't happen, and needless to say I am pretty cheesed off.''

''The look on the JMB Mechanics (who had barely managed 4 hours sleep per night since Sunday) was terrible. Months of preparation and work had gone up in smoke.''

''Prior to this though, I had a whale of a time, and all the razzmatazz that went with Le Mans was just amazing.''

''Absolute top moment for me was in the drivers parade where we drivers were all driven through the streets of Le Mans to an appreciative audience of around 110,000 people who lined the streets.''

''Half way down one street our car was stopped by a bunch of 60 to 70 (or so it appeared) red shirted people holding TVR flags, all shouting ''Shorty, Shorty, Shorty''.

''I was very humbled by this, and to those people, and all the other friendly faces around that amazing lap of the town, thank you.''

''And the team was sponsored by the Moulin Rouge and for most of the weekend we had the girls from the show with us, which was nice......!''

''And yes, if we had been there at the race with our Tuscan R we would have been on pole......''

Regards

Martin Short.