Nick Tandy: How to be an endurance racing driver

He downplays the work he goes through to get himself racing fit and his modesty masks his talent behind the wheel, but our discussion reveals there is a lot more to it. There is, though, one recurring theme: simplicity.

“The more simple you make it, the less complications there’s going to be if something’s not available that you’re used to.”

So pre-race rituals are out of the window. It’s the work you do before race day that counts.

“The biggest thing is your weight. Millions are spent shaving off any grams or kilograms from the car, so that does mean that you can’t go crazy with your diet.”

But burgers and chips? “Come race week, you eat when you’re hungry and you eat what you want,” he smiles.

Calorie counting and intense training come before, but when Tandy arrives at race week, it’s clear that he likes to relax. He has been bowling with his team-mates in Le Mans twice already.

His Porsche crew had a chance to gel at the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring just three weekends previously, but there’s only so much you can prepare for. Disappointment comes with the territory. Tandy’s 911 GT3 R crashed out on the second lap at the Nürburgring due to a technical fault.

“It’s easy to switch off from the disappointment, but it’s hugely frustrating,” he says. “Six months of work for the team, the crescendo starts, then it’s over before you’ve even started.”

In endurance racing, the highs are never far from the lows and it’s crucial that the driver switches focus to the next race as soon as possible. Doing two races in such a short space of time doesn’t faze Tandy, but he says it’s not ideal for his physical training.

“I like to have an intense, physical two-week period with the trainer before we arrive for race week, then you relax and have slightly easier training, but N24 [the Nürburgring 24 Hours] makes that harder to fit in before Le Mans.

“We don’t specify one aspect of the body, or one aspect of how to be a race car driver. It’s endurance for the whole of your body. You ramp it up towards a 24-hour race, but you do it throughout the year. And obviously the more driving you do, the better you’re going to go.”

The physical side is one thing, but it’s endurance of the mind as much as the body, battling exhaustion. It all comes naturally to Tandy, though, and his night drive last year was pivotal to Porsche’s victory.

“Mentally, the preparation is done years in the past. Now, at the race, I’m in my normal zone. When I’m tired, I’ll sleep. If I’m not, and it’s 5am, I’ll stay up and watch the race. I’ve stayed up through the course of a race before, and I’ve never had more than one hour, in total, for a 24-hour race.”

Even if you did want to sleep, it’s impossible to plan in advance. Each car has three drivers who rotate throughout the race, but you can’t predict what time you’ll be in and out.

“It’s determined by fuel in the car,” Tandy says, glancing at a monitor to watch his Porsche team-mate navigating his way around the circuit in the streaming rain. “Typically, we do two full fuel tanks, which should equate to 14 laps at Le Mans. But you’ve got to be flexible.

“There’s usually a four-hour gap between your stints. Once you’ve finished, you have 30 minutes out of the car for the debrief and to see the physio if you want.

“You’ve got to be here an hour before so if something goes wrong, you can go straight in, so that leaves an hour and a half before you’ve got to be ready.”

Is there more pressure going into a race as last year’s winner?