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JHS18

80Th Running Of The Grand Prix D'endurance

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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

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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

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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.

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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....

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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.

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Seems a little silly to slow it down...even though the points expressed are somewhat valid...but then some plonker in a Ferrari could also stuff up Toyota or Audi...personally I'd rather see them have no limit, then they run as good as they can, and if that smacks the snot out of the others, well then it just makes the whole project worth every cent and they'll go down in history as the car that changed motorsport for ever (until the next car...which I'm picking will be some sort of magnetic hover car)

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Seems a little silly to slow it down...even though the points expressed are somewhat valid...but then some plonker in a Ferrari could also stuff up Toyota or Audi...personally I'd rather see them have no limit, then they run as good as they can, and if that smacks the snot out of the others, well then it just makes the whole project worth every cent and they'll go down in history as the car that changed motorsport for ever (until the next car...which I'm picking will be some sort of magnetic hover car)

Agreed except for the magnetic hover car thing. Cornering will be a challenge without moveable aero laugh.png

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Oh no.... you have moveable magnets...they'll swivel and because the polarity moves you'll get different effects in the "attractiveness" of the magnetic field. It'll no longer be about aero...it'll be all about being attractive :D

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but then some plonker in a Ferrari could also stuff up Toyota or Audi...

They did, last year tongue.png

Anyway, some news - Montagny will replace Moreau at Oak.

http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100182

Think that is the Peugeot relocation programme complete then. Gene at Audi, Wurz, Davidson and Sarrazin at Toyota, Montagny at Oak, Minassian and Bourdais at Pescarolo, Pagenaud racing Indycar. tongue.png

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My excitement is building from this race now. I'll admit, I was concerned when the news broke that Peugeot were pulling out. My first thought was that Audi would dominate the year and that the 24 hours would be very...dramaless (not boring because Le Mans is never boring).

But now, after reading what I've read and hearing what I've heard, I think Toyota will have a shot. Apparently both Toyotas ran faultlessly on test day, whereas Audi had a few technical problems resulting in two cars stopping on circuit. Yes, better that happen on test day rather than race day...but Toyota COULD do it. What a story it'd be if they did too, winning their first Le Mans against the might of Audi. Be a kick in the teeth to Peugeot as well if they did it on their first year back.

It'll be mighty, mighty difficult for them. But I do think that it'll be a lot closer than a lot of fans have imagined it'd be.

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Also, it is this time of year I start to get very excited about the future. Wouldn't be Le Mans week if there weren't some good rumours going around:

Nissan is dropping heavy hints that it, Renault or Infiniti could take a close look at Le Mans, Renault having just launched a new Alpine sports car at the Monaco Grand Prix. Porsche is committed, as is Audi. Toyota is too busy working on this year to think about 2014 for the time being but if another manufacturer stepped up, the LMP1 grid could be interesting.

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/blogs/cottonballs-testing-times-at-le-mans/

Audi, Toyota, Porsche, Nissan/Renault/Infiniti and maybe even Peugeot returning in a couple of years? Wow. My only hope is privateers don't get priced out of competing at the very top.

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Yeah, and Volvo/Kia are in BTCC next year, take it to the bank kiddo. :P

Seriously, though, isn't there a Jaguar LMP1 for 2013/2014?

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Haha but but but they might be! :P

That was rumoured, but they've rather dismissed that talk. Would be cool to see it happen, but there's not much evidence to suggest it will.

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I always declare my favorites when the spotter's guide comes out...so...

Overall: Highcroft Racing because it's the DeltaWing! And they're local-ish! And Dan Gurney! And Chip Ganassi! And Ben Bowlby! Woo!

LMP1: Anyone but Audi and Rebellion (sorry, can't get behind anything with Lotus branding on it). I guess Toyota #7 for a realistic one, and Pescarolo #17 for Bourdais and the Dyson-like liveries of both the 7 and the 17. I love the ARX-03a so I sort of have to like the #21 and #22 but I don't want to. :P

LMP2: I guess I'm a neutral party there this year. :P Anyone but Level 5 and Lotus, I guess.

GTE-Pro: Corvette #74. Then Corvette #73.

GTE-Am: Luxury #58 for Gunnar and Frank, Lizards #79 for being something I recognize. ;)

I will probably forget who I was supporting by the time the race happens. :lol:

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Yeah, I get what you mean about Rebellion. I'm a fan of theirs, but I dislike that they've been hit by the Lotus rebranding exercise. They were cool enough before that. Still, I'll support them, and I hope the Toyotas do well too. Pescarolo for a feel good story knowing the problems they've had in recent years as well.

Signatech is probably my favourite in P2, but I love the livery on the Boutsen Energy car for some reason. And Pecom is pretty cool too.

GT - Easy. Anyone who drives a Ferrari. :P AF Corse and Luxury...it is hard to choose between them. Leaning towards Luxury on the basis they have Fred Macko who quite a few people are saying is the best GT driver on the planet at the moment. Wins in nearly everything he drives.

A lot of good guys on the grid, so it is hard for me to be too critical. :P

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Plus, I love Le Mans for the videos that follow. I particularly like this kind of thing - fan footage from Mulsanne straight at night. Just the noise of the engines and nothing else...

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Latest on the weather (haven't heard anything official yet, just going on what I've found) - looks like there's a small chance of rain on Tuesday, with an increased chance on Wednesday. At this stage, it looks as if it may be cloudy at times for the race, but no threat of rain at this stage.

I'll try and keep up with what the guys at the track (Radio Le Mans etc) are saying on the weather front. They're normally good at keeping fans informed.

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Some ALMS drivers talking about Le Mans.

http://www.alms.com/...-heures-du-mans

Is Patrick Dempsey running this year? I may have missed him on the entry list. I always support him and his teams. Good guys even if they aren't the most talented racing drivers or anything. thbup.gif

Of course, a lot of people in sports car racing or good guys so thbup.gif to them too. You don't get to Le Mans if you aren't a real racer because you just don't understand Le Mans if you aren't a real racer, at least that's the impression I get. I'm sure a few dorks have made it here, but I always felt that even if you are delusional about your own driving abilities, anyone who made it to Le Mans (or Indy, where we've had plenty of dorks :P) was just really a racer in spirit at least.

As an insignificant footnote, Patrick Long declaring Le Mans the world's oldest race doesn't seem factually correct. The Monte Carlo Rally was first run on January 21, 1911 and has been held 80 times. The first Indianapolis 500 tok place on May 30, 1911, contested for the 96th time last month. That said, it does not diminish the importance, history, or greatness of Le Mans that it isn't the oldest. Being the oldest is entirely meaningless because all three of those races, and many others, have a lot of history and take a lot of everything to win. I just like my facts to be factual and it was fun for me to learn that Indy isn't the oldest, either, as I had thought for my entire life until today. tongue.png (The oldest racing track in the world still used today is, by the way, the Milwaukee Mile, which opened in 1903. It first hosted an American Championship car race, which is the umbrella term for things like IndyCar/IRL/Champ Car/CART/USAC Gold Crown/the billions of other names, in 1937. It wasn't paved until 1954. The more you know...).

I hope to see Le Mans in daylight this year. I've only ever seen it at night which is really awesome and takes a tremendous amount of bravery for the drivers, but simultaneously, it's really hard to figure out what's going on from TV. tongue.png

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