ahead of his Le Mans 24 Hours battle
NISMO Athlete and Olympic cycling legend will make his Le Mans debut next week driving a Nissan-powered LM P2 class car in his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Hoy is the first ever summer Olympic medalist to contest the race. Hoy won last year's LM P3 class championship with Nissan power in the European Le Mans Series. Following is a Q&A with Hoy ahead of the race.
Q1: What is it about Le Mans that first captured your attention?Hoy: It's one of these events that you don't have to be into motorsport to know about it and to have heard of. It's almost bigger than motorsport. It has global recognition. As a kid I had Scalextric toy cars and I remember asking my dad when I was about six years of age what this car I liked was; he said it had raced the Le Mans 24-hour race.
It's a unique event that as an amateur you can get to compete in a global, internationally respected sporting event. I can't think of anything else that you get the chance to compete at the same time as the best athletes in the world. It's unique in that respect and I just saw it as a huge challenge and one that I really wanted to try and take on.
Q2: When you tested the LM P3 car at Le Mans last year, what were the biggest takeaways that you got from Le Mans?
Hoy: I think it's such a different kind of track from what I've driven before or since. It has unique demands on the car and the driver, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a really wet, day – pretty miserable day – but I had a great time and I just can't wait to get back there to race. Testing is one thing, but racing is completely different. I am looking forward to the challenge of it.
Q3: What would success at Le Mans mean to you if you managed to get on the podium?Hoy: It sounds like a cop out but I'm really not thinking about results or finishing positions. All I'm thinking about now is trying to do the best job I can.
Whenever I'm in the car my plan is to drive to the absolute limit of my abilities – not beyond it – and bring the car back in one piece because you have to finish the race. It's a challenge for the car, let alone the challenge of the racing. The challenge is to survive the race. I'm really not thinking about anything beyond what I've got to do. As soon as you start letting yourself day dream about winning the race or getting on the podium it distracts you from the job you have to do.
Q4: Are you more nervous in the car or more nervous standing in the pits watching one of your co-drivers on track?Hoy: When you're in the car you don't have time to be nervous. You're so focused on what you're doing, and it's so intense. The nerves come usually watching the start of the race.
If you're not in the car and watching the start, it's really nerve-wracking because it's so unpredictable. Any race, when you're standing there watching your teammate and thinking that the whole thing can be over on the first lap.
When he gets through the first laps and he settles in, I think the nerves have settled in as well. Then you start thinking about your role and what you have to do.
Q5: When you first began in LM P3 last year, was winning the Championship on your mind at all?Hoy: Absolutely not. I'm sure Charlie (Robertson) would say the opposite. I think he's won every Championship he's entered since he's started racing, but for me I never considered the option. For me it was such a step up and there were so many things to consider to try and take on board.
I really hadn't thought about winning. In many ways, it's a good way to be because it took care of itself as well, because if we did the job we're supposed to do, the results followed.
Even claiming the title at Paul Ricard – we didn't know that we were going to win it and we didn't expect to win it with one round to go.
The other car had to not finish the race and we had to win. That's what happened: We won and they didn't finish, and we ended up taking the Championship. It was the furthest thing from our mind.
Q6: Are your competitive instincts the same whether you're in the car, riding for a gold medal or going back to when you were doing BMX as a kid? Hoy: It's exactly the same. There's no difference – the same instinct, the same determination from being a kid, to getting to the Olympics, to now.
It's all the same experience, the same feeling and I think that's a big reason why I do it. It's not just the thrill of driving because that is a big part of it – the excitement, the speed and the adrenaline – but the competition is definitely a big part of it too. It's the challenge as well. It's having that question: “Can I do this?”
I've always enjoyed posing questions to myself during my whole career. I don't know if I can do this, but let's give it a go and let's give it my best shot. It was the same through my whole cycling career, and that's what it's been like with the cars too.
Q7: What are the similarities between the support staff that you have at the Olympics, or on a National team, and the crew and the support that you have at a racetrack?Hoy: Cycling is one of the first sports aside from motorsport to really grasp the importance of teamwork in terms of every single person – not just the athletes – but everybody and the importance of their role.
If everyone buys into the same common goal, then they all feel a part of the overall success that happens, and they can commiserate with themselves when it doesn't. It's a proper team spirit, but it's the commitment from every single person – no matter what their role is on the team and doing their very, very best, understanding what their role means to the team on a grander scale, a bigger scale.
The British Cycling team really bought into that. They used that type of motorsport philosophy. Therefore, when I came into motorsport I found it very easy to integrate with the team because it's a way of working that I really enjoy and am quite used to.
Q8: You are part Team GB Greats program, a mentoring role at the Rio Olympics. From a motor racing perspective, who is your Chris Hoy? Who is your Team GB Great when it comes to your motor racing career?Hoy: In terms of heroes, Colin McRae was my hero. He was the person who I became really interested in motorsport because of watching him. When he was coming up through the ranks, and he became World Champion, he just got me inspired to consider motorsport in the first place.
And now, in terms of the people looking after me, assisting me and trying to help me achieve my goals, it's guys like Stewart Mosely and the NISMO support network.
I'm lucky to have a team of people that are willing and able to help me improve. NISMO has done the same role with the GT Academy winners – taking guys with no racing experience at all and yet within a year or two years are right up there with the best in the world.
Q9: What are the differences in the training you have to do between being an Olympic cyclists and a top-level racing driver?Hoy: The physical demands as a driver are a lot greater than most people would expect. You have to be very fit, but as a driver your physical condition is not the most important thing compared to my cycling career where your physical condition was everything.
In motorsport it's kind of half and half: You have to have the physical capabilities, but it's the skill and the ability to concentrate and not make mistakes that really determines whether you win or lose.
When I started the thing that I couldn't believe was how tired I was after a race. Not so much a physical ache in my muscles, but I was just drained. The level of focus and concentration that you have to sustain for the two-hour stint or longer is quite incredible.
I got out of the car after one of my runs in the British GT series and my eyes were completely bloodshot. I'd realized I had hardly blinked the whole race and literally had my eyes wide open and they were bright red.
You can never convey the intensity of the driving with onboard videos and all that kind of stuff. It never gives the viewer a proper flavor of just how intense it is. When you're done with your stint and you watch the video of your onboard, it always looks unimpressive compared to how it was in the car itself. It's hard to explain to the general public just how intense that experience is when you're in the driver's seat.
Q10: In your cycling career, it was about the big sprint events. Now, in your motor racing career, it's all about endurance. Talk about the differences in the mindset of the racing perspective.Hoy: The similarities are the importance of focusing and not dwelling on the things that can go wrong like the potential for accidents or problems. You only ever think about what you have control over. That's kind of what I did on the bike as well. The differences would be that you can't win the race in the first corner, but you can definitely lose it.
It's about control and understanding when to make your move. It's such a one big effort on the bike, literally a split second decision and that was it, you either made or you didn't make it. With the driving you understand that there are moments like that but you also plan for the longer game.
There are some races where you have to concede a battle and win the war. But you can go over the line, make a mistake and lose the race in one moment. It's about learning about control because it's a big part of it I think – being able to think beyond the moment.
Q11: Are there similarities in how you work with your guys in the ELMS and at Le Mans compared to the team sprint events that you used to compete in as well?Hoy: I think the similarities would be that you just have to do the job that you have to do and you trust your teammates to do their job. It's just a case of understanding what you need to do to help the team. If people make mistakes and don't perform as well as they hope, you don't get angry with them or frustrated with them because you understand that that can happen to yourself.
It can happen to anyone, any time. I learned that from cycling, you can't always be the strongest of the team, so if you don't have a good result, you support your teammates and help them through it.
It's also different because I'm the least experienced on the team, and I'm very much the amateur in the pro setup, so I take a lot more from my teammates in motorsport and learn a lot more from them than I had done in the past in cycling when you're all on a level playing field.
Q12: When your son grows up, do you want him to be a cyclist or to get into racing. Is he growing up thinking dad is a racing driver?Hoy: Two-wheels would be easier on my wallet I think! Anything that he wants to do I'll support him, no matter if it's sport or music or whatever passion he has. His mum and I will support him. If he did either cycling or motorsport, I'd love it. Just not sure that I can afford the motorsport, but if I could that would be cool.
