331 replies to this topic

[JHS18]

Testing underway at www.radiolemans.com

News from this morning is that sadly, there's been a big accident for the #15 Oak Pescarolo, which crashed at Porsche Curves. The driver, Guillaume Moreau has been taken to hospital after complaining of back pains, no official word on any injuries as yet though.

Live timing is available here once action begins again in the afternoon:

http://live.lemans-tv.com/

A Toyota third on the first day! Still a very long way to go though. Who knows who is sandbagging? Probably almost all of them.

Edited by JHS18, 03 June 2012 - 11:19 AM.

[JHS18]

Unfortunately I haven't been able to follow the test closely today - but the session is now finished. The link above will give you the run down of the final times.

Plus there's an excellent gallery of photos from today's action located here: http://www.facebook....63622911&type=1

Edited by JHS18, 03 June 2012 - 04:50 PM.

[JHS18]

A report of today's test:

http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100111

Have to say I am impressed with Toyota, to be relatively close to Audi's pace at this very early stage. I do think they could be in contention for pole position if they can get things running right for them. Over 24 hours though, it'll be more difficult.

[JHS18]

Update on Moreau - he will not take any further part in this year's Le Mans. He's been sidelined with a vertebral injury.

[JHS18]

Another good gallery here:

http://www.endurance...?page=1026&np=1

I'll try to update this thread more regularly when official action starts next week.

[JHS18]

Moreau undergoes surgery for his back injuries:

http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100119

[JHS18]

Seems Starworks have some work to do after yesterday:

[Massa]

Enzo Potolicchio is still one of the better names in auto racing.

[JHS18]

I beg to differ. I read about one Gianmarco Raimondo in Autosport. I want that name.

[Massa]

I didn't say it was the best.  Just one of the better ones.

Gianmarco Raimondo's a Canadian so I've followed his career the last few years.  He has the name for F1.  He has the talent for U.S. Formula 2000.

Hannes van Asseldonk, on the other hand, might be the worst.

[Massa]

Looking for clarification:

The "target pace" of 3:45 for the DeltaWing...so the ACO is basically mandating that the DeltaWing does lap times at 3:45, no faster and no slower?

I guess they want it between an LMP2 and GTE car so it isn't really "racing" anything but I would have loved to have seen them not trying to meet a target and really going for it.  Of course they could really go for it and still be at 3:45, I don't know, but I was a little confused about what the 3:45 meant, if they had to be doing 3:45s or if they just had to be faster than that.

[JHS18]

I guess it is really a mixture of what you mention. Obviously the ACO don't want it to be too slow that it is a hazard to other cars, I believe that in the past they have taken action against cars that were massively too slow, plus I'm a bit cynical about it.

Given all the criticism that Deltawing has received I doubt Audi and Toyota would take too kindly if A. It was so fast that it suddenly started mixing it up with them or B. Was too slow that it started getting in the way. Plus, given as it isn't technically racing anyone else (in terms of classes), you're probably right that they want it behind LMP2 but ahead of GTE. If you look at the time its fastst time it set at the weekend - a 3:48, it hasn't got too much to find to improve, relatively speaking, at a track as big as Le Mans. As I've said before, unfortunately I wasn't able to follow testing times closely, so what that 3:48 really means, I'm not too sure. I doubt it'd be a low fuel run and I doubt they'd be really pushing it to the maximum. You'd say that unless you suffer a complete disaster, everyone will end up going quicker than the time they set on the first day.

At least a 3:45 gives them something to aim for, and something that is achieveable too.

If you factor in the same sort of gains LMP2 cars will make from now to qualifying, Deltawing would probably be close to matching the tail-enders in P2 which I guess would be respectable. But it is a difficult one to answer really.

Edited by JHS18, 06 June 2012 - 11:29 AM.

[JHS18]

Not long till the proper on track action starts now.

Sunday and Monday are taken up by scrutineering. Even this is special at Le Mans - they normally take place in the centre of town and fans are invited to go along, get close to the cars, meet the drivers, take photos - real unprecedented access when you compared that to the likes of F1. I think it is totally free, too.

No action Tuesday. Normally a day for last year's winners making handprints in town, etc. Think Hollywood, except with racing drivers.

Wednesday is when it starts. There's a practice session from 16:00-20:00 (all French times I should add, minus an hour for Britain, minus/add whatever for wheverever else ) then the first qualifying session begins at night from 22:00 to 24:00.

There's two more qualifying sessions on Thursday from 19:00 to 21:00 and the final session from 22:00 to 24:00. With three sessions it gives team a lot of time to plan strategy too - whether they'll go for grid position, or conserve their equipment/decide to forfeit a session by changing engines or whatever. It also depends on weather, if it rains on Wednesday night, don't expect much. Equally, if it is dry on Wednesday and there's rain forecast for the other sessions, expect a lot of action. It is normally pretty easy to find a video stream for qualifying, so if you're interested, I'll either link it here or just PM me (depending what you moderators think is best).

No action Friday. Historically a rest/relaxation day. There's the pit lane walkabout and then in the evening, all the drivers from the 56 cars take part in the driver's parade through town. Streets will be lined with thousands of fans and it is a chance once again to get autographs/pictures etc. A real carnival atmosphere from 17:30 to 19:30 in the evening.

Saturday morning from 09:00 to 09:45 is warm up, where everyone will be giving their cars a last minute shakedown to make sure there are no problems. A Group C support race will follow, and then not long later the build up begins. Cars will be brought to the grid, the national anthems for every competing driver will be played, the trophy will be brought to the grid by last year's winner and there will be the famous group driver photograph as the atmosphere builds. Then, shortly before 13:00, the cars will be waved away on their green flag lap. Once they get back, the race is underway.

I'll keep this thread informed with what the situation with the weather is. It wouldn't be Le Mans if rain didn't feature at some point during the week.

Edited by JHS18, 06 June 2012 - 12:31 PM.

[JHS18]

Also, now might be a good time to relive this moment from last year. The end. 13 seconds splitting first and second after 24 hours of racing. Look at the emotion on everyone's faces. I've never seen so many grown men crying before. Just goose bumps.

[The Shadow]

JHS18, on 06 June 2012 - 02:16 PM, said:

Also, now might be a good time to relive this moment from last year. The end. 13 seconds splitting first and second after 24 hours of racing. Look at the emotion on everyone's faces. I've never seen so many grown men crying before. Just goose bumps.

Thats the thing about Le Mans. It takes the best teams a year or more to prepare for the event, then it breaks them, and then gives them hope again, and then breaks that hope again, and then at the end of the whole 24 hours rises a triumph of epic proportions, the likes you find in few other events in the racing calendar.

this year's event should be business as usual. And by that I mean it will be as brilliant as ever.

Edited by The Shadow, 06 June 2012 - 06:51 PM.

[Massa]

Yeah, I can definitely see what the ACO are trying to do with DeltaWing, and I respect that.  Obviously, I'd prefer for them to have had no time to meet.  It was said, and that doesn't mean it is true in reality, that the DeltaWing IndyCar would have run identical times to last year's IndyCar on a road or street course.  Obviously Le Mans is a huge track and different from anything on that calendar but theoretically last year's IndyCar was a tad bit faster than an LMP1 when they were sharing the weekend with ALMS (but an ALMS P1 is slower than an Audi and maybe, just maybe, the Highcroft HPD in ALMS spec could challenge a Toyota in ACO spec, at least right now).  So in theory, and not necessarily reality because this track is huge and the DeltaWing is now a Le Mans car, not an IndyCar, it could have been somewhere among the LMP1s.  I would have loved to have seen that, but yeah, out of respect for the guys running for points and a classification, I can understand wanting them to not go that fast (and the car, as an LMP-ish car, isn't designed to go that fast, as it would have been as an IndyCar, since an IndyCar wouldn't have been based on an AMR-One).

How long does a set of tires normally last at Le Mans?  I'm new to all this.  The DeltaWing camp said they did 54 laps on one set of slicks.  Is that normal, good, bad...?  I'm assuming if the tires can take it they won't have to pit for fuel as much given the design of the car.  Hoping it lasts 24 hours so they can get as much from this as possible and see what can be applied to the next-generation racing cars.  I'm getting off-topic here, but there's definitely an option for ALMS to make DeltaWing the basis for a next-generation LMP-replacement and phase out LMP1 and LMP2 due to low car count (sort of like LMS getting rid of LMP1 because of the WEC) and run a series with DeltaWing, GT, and maybe you run P2/PC combined or just PC or GTC or something.  That's way off the discussion but obviously if DeltaWing is a success, I think it could become something real (a bunch of differing DeltaWing-based cars in a class...I know next year ALMS is trying to have a class of DeltaWings, not sure if that's spec or not, but it'd be in addition to P1, P2, PC, GT, and GTC, making ALMS something of a cluster****, especially at Lime Rock and Long Beach, but that's not for here I guess).

[Massa]

Anyway, I'm going to try to watch more than I usually do this year, even without my guys (Dyson) there.  I do enjoy the 24 hour race in Daytona a lot so it will be fun to see a 24 hour race with actual race cars and not the Daytona Prototurtles.

Pretty cool from my own little perspective to have a few weeks of the Indy 500, an off-week to recover from that, Montréal this week (only live, high-def F1 race I get all year), Le Mans next week, and then the NASCAR road course double-header the weekend after that with Nationwide at Road America and Sprint Cup at Sonoma (I bet Brian Vickers does a lot better in that one than he's done in the past with what he's going to learn in Le Mans).  And then I run out of things to watch after that but for a while it's cool.

[JHS18]

Massa, on 06 June 2012 - 07:46 PM, said:

How long does a set of tires normally last at Le Mans?  I'm new to all this.  The DeltaWing camp said they did 54 laps on one set of slicks.  Is that normal, good, bad...?  I'm assuming if the tires can take it they won't have to pit for fuel as much given the design of the car.  Hoping it lasts 24 hours so they can get as much from this as possible and see what can be applied to the next-generation racing cars.

Again, it is a difficult one to answer at a track like Le Mans. A lot of teams do choose to double stint or even triple stint a set of tyres. If you consider a normal stint between stops to be something around 12-13 laps for something like an Audi or a Toyota, a double stint on a set of tyres would take you to 24-26, and then if you choose to triple stint your tyres, that'd be 36-39 roughly. When you think of how long a track Le Mans is, that is an awful long way. I can't remember anyone doing much longer on a set of tyres than that, plus if you pick up a puncture or whatever, it is a long way to get back to the pits at a very slow speed.

I think most teams change tyres to coordinate with driver changes. Obviously at an endurance race you won't be pushing 100% every lap, so tyre wear is less of an issue than it is for other races, but if it is wet/changeable conditions, that is bound to be different.

[HandyNZL]

Point of reference - whats a top time at Le Mans if Delta has to hit 3:45?

Question - how many Lola's are going to make it through the month?  There is no factory back up now...none....nada...zip....when they use up their spares, there ain't no more...Lola in serious poo poo with going into Admin...half the jobs gone....etc etc...

[Massa]

Jim and The Shadow will know better than I do, but if things are consistent with 2011, pole was 3:25.738.  Fastest P2 was 3:41.458.  Slowest P1 was 3:48.355 (AMR-One, which this DeltaWing is vaguely based on).  Slowest P2 was 3:48.863.  Fastest GT was 3:57.592.

So the DeltaWing did alright.  54 laps of problem-free running and seemingly good mileage on the tires.  I'd love to see it outqualify some P2s; that would be so cool.

(I'm supporting a freaking car...do you believe that...Eric of all people supporting a car with no regard whatsoever to the guys driving it...hell, I couldn't even name the full lineup, I know they have Marino Franchitti...I think the key to making racing interesting to the 18-34 demographic is going to be bringing on a lot of technology and aiming for high-end, intellectual fans...and dumb***es like me who only like the DeltaWing because of Dan Gurney and Chip Ganassi and all the old familiar faces )

Edited by Massa, 06 June 2012 - 11:23 PM.
Doing the word filter's job

[JHS18]

HandyNZL, on 06 June 2012 - 11:01 PM, said:

Point of reference - whats a top time at Le Mans if Delta has to hit 3:45?

Question - how many Lola's are going to make it through the month?  There is no factory back up now...none....nada...zip....when they use up their spares, there ain't no more...Lola in serious poo poo with going into Admin...half the jobs gone....etc etc...

First part Eric has essentially already answered for me - I was going to mention the pole times from last year too. Le Mans, or I guess any long distance endurance race is funny. It isn't necessarily about being really quick - it helps of course, but what's the point if you're not going to make it past half distance? That's the problem Peugeot had a few times - they were quicker than the Audis as seen on the basis that when the two raced together in LMS/ILMC/ALMS Peugeot almost always beat them. Audi wasn't as fast over one lap or even over a short stint, but they could still be consistently quick. They could keep it going over 24 hours which Peugeot couldn't.

As for your Lola question, I don't think it is an issue. I read a couple of weeks ago that the leading Lola teams such as Rebellion have enough spares to be fine. If they crash on every day during the build up, they might be in trouble, but something would have to go horribly wrong for that to happen in the first place. I think most of them have enough spares to make it through the week, any team/manufacturer would be foolish to enter if they didn't have enough anyway.

Few snippets I've heard - apparently the Toyota's are very quick on the straights - quicker than the Audis, which still leads me to believe they do have a genuine shot of pole position. Sounds like there's the potential for a split strategy between the two cars. One in particular - the Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin car sounds like it'll be trimmed out for qualifying. The other car, the Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima car sounds like may simply be aiming for reliability and to see the checkered flag. It sort of makes sense doing that one their first year back. Audi have more experience and more cars to play with, so essentially they have nothing to lose by doing that. Even getting one out of the two cars to the end will be a credible achievement.

Then you have to factor in the stints they were doing last weekend. Fuel mileage does play a part in deciding strategy. The guys at Radio Le Mans were reporting that the Audis were consistently doing 12-13 lap stints on fuel. The Toyotas could only manage to go 10 laps. But then we don't know how much sandbagging was going on from either side.

Edited by JHS18, 06 June 2012 - 11:42 PM.

[JHS18]

The other hot rumour doing the rounds is that this could be Romain Dumas' last race for Audi. Apparently he is wanted back by Porsche to start the testing/development of their new LMP1 car.

[The Shadow]

Deltawing should be able to mix it up with the LMP 2s. Barring any mishaps they should be within the P2 classifications come the end of the 24 hours.

Looking at the video highlights it seems a little twitchy down the straights. nervous car + stressed drivers + 24 hour lethargy does not a good recipe make. I suppose they will make some adjustments to improve it come next weekend.

I would cross my fingers if I were superstitious, but I am not, so I would wish that all factors and variables go their way to achieve a positive result in exceeding the team's goals.

Edited by The Shadow, 07 June 2012 - 03:29 AM.

[HandyNZL]

As they are effectively not governed by any rules, they can find an extra 20-secs in the engine bay.....

[JHS18]

Answering Eric's earlier question as well - the other drivers for the Deltawing are Michael Krumm, who won the FIA GT World Championship in 2011 I believe, and unsurpisingly, a Japanese driver who has won the Super GT title a couple of times called Satoshi Motoyama

Edited by JHS18, 07 June 2012 - 02:17 PM.

[JHS18]

Seems what I said earlier about the Toyotas being very quick on the straights is true:

#7 Toyota: 330.1 km/h
#8 Toyota: 328.1 km/h
#3 Audi: 326.1 km/h
#2 Audi: 325.2 km/h
#4 Audi: 324.2 km/h
#1 Audi: 322.3 km/h
#17 Dome: 322.3 km/h
#21 HPD: 320.4 km/h
#22 HPD: 314.9 km/h
#13 Rebellion: 312.2 km/h
#12 Rebellion: 311.3 km/h
#16 Pescarolo 03: 308.6 km/h
#15 Oak Pescarolo: 307.8 km/h

[Massa]

HandyNZL, on 07 June 2012 - 06:28 AM, said:

As they are effectively not governed by any rules, they can find an extra 20-secs in the engine bay.....

They are governed by one rule, at least: they need to be running 3:45s, no quicker, no slower.

[JHS18]

Interesting comments by Marino on the Deltawing:

http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100163

[HandyNZL]

Massa, on 07 June 2012 - 02:07 PM, said:

They are governed by one rule, at least: they need to be running 3:45s, no quicker, no slower.

Is it 100% true that is is no QUICKER?  I can understand no slower....

[Massa]

I'm still trying to get a clear 100% answer on that but that is how I interpret the rules to be.  I believe they don't want DeltaWing to impact the race so they're trying to box it into a little zone where it's truly competing in its own class.  I'm sure Audi and Toyota don't want DeltaWing getting close to them and beating them or anything, and I don't think they want a car that isn't competing for a classification and points in the WEC to be mixing it up with cars that are.  Still not 100% on that, though, but I'm like...92.4% sure they're not letting it get faster than 3:45.