LM24: Don't flash Darren Turner

The fastest way for a prototype driver to get a nasty reaction from GT ace Darren Turner is to flood his mirrors at night with high beams. With staggeringly intense, eye-melting headlights at their disposal, drivers in the fastest cars have grown fond of flashing those lights to catch the attention of GT drivers long before a pass is made, and according to Turner, it's the most maddening behavior of all once darkness falls over Le Mans.

"It is definitely my soapbox," he said. "I have mentioned it before to the powers that be that it is not required. But I do get really frustrated because at night, especially with the LMP1 cars, their lights are incredible. And I'm sure their drivers really love how bright their lights are but as a GT driver, I hate how bright their lights are. The white flare of light that you get in your mirrors, you can't really judge where they are. You just know they are there and they're closing but you can't judge the distance and you can't really tell very easy what side they are trying to come down.

"It does make it difficult. As you are looking ahead in the darkness and then now again looking up in your mirrors it is hard to go back and forth and try to find your apex point or your braking point because your eyes are having to adjust to differences in light that is going on at the time.

"And then to compound the problem, is the fact that they want to flash to tell you they are there, even though you are completely aware they are there because of the fact their lights are so bright. Yes, they are flashing and some of them are flashing a half a kilometer before as if you are going to just disappear. I struggle to work out what the flashing is intended to do, other than maybe make them feel better about it that they told me that they are coming. But I know they are coming."

Going from limited forward vision at night to P1 flashing-based blindness while peering in his mirrors, followed by more blindness as he looks ahead and waits for his eyes adjust to the relative darkness again sounds terrifying at the kind of speeds encountered at Le Mans.

It has left Turner with strong opinions about the character of the prototype drivers who prepare to fly past his Aston Martin V8 Vantage. And, thanks to his cheeky sense of humor, Turner has also come up with a brilliant way to repay the most egregious flashers.

"I've got two ways of dealing with it now," he declared. "If there is a car that comes up and doesn't flash its lights, I am in total respect of that driver. He hasn't needed his flash button to make the pass. It is not like a push-to-pass [button], but maybe [it is] to some of them. But he hasn't used it so I think, that is a good, but the cars that are flashing for no real reason, they generally will get the bird if I can, if I'm not too busy at the wheel. And on the following straight, I will just spend it flashing back at them just to actually relieve some of my frustration and anger."

Turner would welcome some form of intervention by the organizers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but he failed to realize banning prototype drivers from flashing their headlights would rob fans of seeing him flash and flip the bird at the worst offenders.

"It is one of those things that I think they should just ban; the flash button shouldn't be on the car," he said. "Who knows, maybe one day they will take it away, but I doubt it, so I will just continue to give my hand signals in the lovely way that I do at the moment."