Terada is the third most experienced driver ever at Le Mans
The great veteran of this year's 76th edition of the mythic 24 Heures du Mans is clearly Japanese driver Yojiro Terada. Terada's claim to fame is his record 29 participations in Les 24 Heures du Mans. To this day, there are only two other drivers that precede Terada's record: Bob Wolleck and Henri Pescarolo.
Born March 26, 1947 in Kobe, Terada is part of the Kazuho Takahashi's Terramos team for the 2008 edition and will be driving car 24, a Courage-Mugen LC70. "Gentleman Driver" Terada has also been a long time team partner of Hiroki Katoh, a 40-year old, very talented driver who has raced in both the American le Mans Series and the GT Japanese Series.
Yojiro Terada is regular vistor to the Le Mans circuit. He has taken place in Les 24 Heures du Mans since 1974, and has participated 27 times consecutively, rarely missing the chance to be at the track. His best result was a 7th place after 282 rounds in a Mazda 787B, when he was teamed up with Jim Downing (USA) and Frank Fréon (France).
This season he has partnered with Michelin and a delegation of technicians have been sent by Michelin Japan to personally assist him, as the company considers Terada to be one of the most important drivers participating in the 2008 edition of the race. If his Mugen motor's reliability has improved and if he does not encounter any serious technical problems, Yojiro Terada could easily make the top-ten.
At the time of the Le Mans test sessions on June 1st, in the silence of the red flag that followed the accident of the Peugeot 7 driven by Spanyard Marc Gene, we find Terada sitting in the back of the garage. He's exchanging technical information with one of his co-drivers, Hiroki Katoh.
Yojiro Terada smiles, makes a sign to come closer and excuses himself for not speaking French while laughing. "I love Les 24 Heures du Mans! Imagine participating 29 times. It's like I am at home here. I've been coming here for over 20 years, taking the whole team every year to the Ibis West hotel. We may like routine and we have our habits by now- but no, I don't speak French."
Relaxed and sitting modestly on a stool, on the narrow side of the garage at the end of the long line of "boxes", Terada shows his Rolex Oyster Perpetual Daytona with pride. "Look- I received it in 2006 from the ACO- the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, who organizes the 24 Heures du Mans. Read the engraving on the bottom of the box, next to my name: '2006 Spirit of Le Mans.' I had finished 13th in a P2, in the Lola B05/40 with Timpany and Binnie. We had completed 326 laps. I received this supreme recompense the same year that Don Panoz and Tom Kristensen were honoured. Tom Kristensen has won here seven times. They fought against many other really strong cars: Audi, Porche, Ferrari, Spyker. It was a year they will never forget. Just as in my case, I am so proud of my Rolex trophy!"
Then something catches his eye and he looks admiringly at the car, its brilliant deep red colour and golden inscriptions that come together like a designer dress. You can tell he is a connoisseur when he says, "Look how beautiful she is in her livery. Yura, one of the greatest Japanese stylists, decorated and prepared her- she really is superb."
"It's a pity that during these test sessions we could only race one hour on a dry circuit. In the first session of the morning, we were all classified 11th, LMP1 with Courage Mugen and a best time of 3:50.684, only 13.746 meters behind the first car and at an average speed of 212.691 Km/H. Not bad for a wet and humid day!"
"We paid attention and ended up finishing 16th out of the 55 teams by the end of the test day. Our primary concern was not to lose the car. It will be better during the race. This year I will go back to Japan in between the test day and the start of the race. It's tiring, but I keep myself very busy. Since I created my own business AutoExe in 1997, I have also become the administrator of the ACO. With this title I am an ACO partner for the Le Mans Series planned for the Fuji Speedway in Japan in October 2009 and also for the 2009 race planned to take place in Shaghai in China. I really have a lot of work.. So as you can image, I have a thousand good reasons to be at Les 24 Heures du Mans. beginning with driving myself and succeeding in my 29th year."