Andrew H (219) offers an exclusive look into Richard Mille's sponsorship of the Greaves Racing team for the 2012 Le Mans 24 Heures endurance race. His report highlights the brand's deepening ties with motorsport, particularly through F1 commentator and enthusiast Martin Brundle. This article provides a unique, behind-the-scenes perspective on the synergy between high-performance racing and luxury watchmaking.
After years of being involved with the Le Mans Classic (and Richard still is for that matter), Richard will now sponsor a team in the Le Mans 24 Heures endurance race in June. This year, Richard has joined forces with Nissan and Greaves Racing (check the name) to sponsor Martin Brundle, Alex Brundle (Martin’s son), and Lucas Ordonez. This is a new team and a return to LeMans for Brundle senior.
I was invited along to Silverstone for the day to both drive one of the new Nissan GT-R cars for the Le Mans race around the British circuit, and interview Martin and (his son) Alex Brundle. To regulars on the forum who are F1 fans, Martin Brundle will be a well-known Richard Mille enthusiast who spends his own money on the watches. He has been caught before by sharp-eyed Purists wearing RM watches while interviewing F1 drivers during his ‘Pit Lane walk’.
richardmille.watchprosite.com
to answer the question that might have occurred to some, yes, that is Martin’s own watch, paid for with his own money.
[Father and son racing team with the new Richard Mille sponsorship]
The day at Silverstone was a welcome opportunity to both meet Martin and son, and see the new Nissan team cars. There was also the opportunity to have a lesson in the Nissan Le Mans GT-R car and try a ‘hot’ lap for time. The weather was not helping, but with a drying track, it was still a heap of fun to fly the Silverstone circuit. I can see why people race cars – it is a rush!
The Nissan Le Mans team for 2012 follows on from Nissan’s success in 2011. Nissan, in the LMP2 class took the top two places on the podium for the Le Mans 24 Heures and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Such was the success of the Nissan engine last year at Le Mans that this year sixty percent of the LMP2 class will be powered by the Nissan engine.
Martin Brundle is making his return to racing, and a return to Le Mans in the new Nissan LMP2 car that will be part of the Greaves Racing Team. A past victor of the race (in 1990 with Jaguar), Martin has partnered up with his son Alex and a Spanish driver: Lucas Ordonez. Lucas Ordonez distinguished himself by winning the Nissan Playstation GT Academy in 2008 and progressed to racing the Nissan LMP2 car to victory at the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in 2011. He has since had a documentary made about him: from Lounge to Le Mans!
However, I was mainly there to talk to Martin and his association with Richard Mille watches. Talking to Martin, and his son Alex, it turned out that Martin had always had a secret watch geek persona hiding somewhere inside the successful racecar driver. As with all watch enthusiasts and collectors, Martin had started off with the known brands: the Patek, Audemar, and Blancpain’s of this world.
Martin also told me that a number of well-known F1 drivers were also ‘into watches’. Naturally the question to ask is why? Why this affinity between cars and watches that surfaces in race drivers? Martin admitted that both Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher were watch enthusiasts and that the last time Martin had been driving Schumacher around the F1 circuit in Shanghai, he had turned to Martin, looking at the RM011 on his wrist, and merely noted: “Nice watch!”
After collecting other watches for a few years, it was a Richard Mille watch on the wrist of Jenson Button that caught Martin’s eye. The watch was the RM011 produced for the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix. Martin contacted Richard Mille watches in Europe and asked to see the same watch, tried it on, but thought that it was a little ‘too much’ for his tastes. In talking to the Richard Mille team in London, Martin ordered the RM010 with a titanium DLC case, and a red winding crown. The watch even has Martin’s initials: MB1 just under Richard Mille at the top of the case. This was the watch that was spotted on Martin’s wrist when undertaking driver interviews, and the one he has subsequently given to Alex.
Alex remarked that when his dad first gave him the RM box he thought that there was nothing in it! The watch was so light. On the wrist, Alex at times forgets that the watch is even there. However, the RM010 has become an object of fascination for Alex and the new generation of racing drivers who see the watch on his wrist.
Given that watches hold a fascination for some of the race drivers, there is the further question of what particularly fascinates about Richard Mille watches over others. For Martin, it was the engineering affinity with the racecars that separated Richard Mille watches. The affinity comes from the use of the same types of materials and concepts that can be found in the cutting edge automotive engineering that is found in the cars. For Martin, it is not the fact that a watch is, or is not a chronograph, but about the techniques involved in manufacturing the watch. Martin’s watch ambition is to own a Richard Mille tourbillon – he thinks that would be the ultimate Richard Mille watch to own.
These days, with Alex only too happy to wear the RM010, Brundle senior wears a RM011 supplied to him by Richard Mille EMEA. But it was meeting Richard and talking with him that led to Richard becoming a sponsor with the new Le Mans racing team. Martin was impressed with Richard’s knowledge of racing and how that translated into his watches. Martin was caught up by Richard’s enthusiasm, not just for his watches, but for motor racing in general. Martin suggested to Richard that he become involved with the racing team as a sponsor. In only a few weeks, Richard’s name was on the car.
Apart from the opportunity to meet Martin Brundle, the opportunity was also there to drive one of the Nissan GT-R cars around Silverstone, and this was just too much to pass up despite the weather. With an instructor beside you, there was a lesson before you were allowed to take on a lap at full speed. Driving a car at speed, appreciating the technology and materials that are holding you, hurtling down a straight towards the corner, breaking hard with metres to go before you turn hard into the corner itself and accelerate out around the turn.
So I skidded a couple of times on the corners, but as you fly down the Wellington Straight you look for the second green patch before breaking hard, looking ahead around the curve, and turning the car into Brookland’s Corner. It takes a lot of faith in the centrifugal force, and the grip of the tyres. You are pulling lateral forces that shift you one way, but the car keeps you on the line. Not the best idea after lunch!
As a long time fan of the Le Mans race: it always made more sense to me to test a car in terms of speed and endurance, I will be following the fortunes of the Nissan LMP2 car at this year’s race and wishing the Brundles, Nissan, and Richard Mille the very best of luck in the race. If past history is anything to go by, the involvement of Richard Mille with a particular sport person usually results in career defining results. I see no reason to doubt that the same magic that is evident in his watches, his past associations with sports ambassadors, will not shine on this new venture.
Thanks to one and all for a great day out!
Andrew H
This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2012-05-03 10:56:37 This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2012-05-16 07:43:29 
