https://www.youtube.com/embed/5x3DkOXUEfQ?si=UB8jcQX5zsIbKWID
With the 24 Hours of Le Mans days away, “American Thunder: NASCAR to Le Mans” premieres today on Prime.
Join NASCAR greats Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, among others, as they take you behind the scenes of what it took to take a NASCAR stock car to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023.
This will dovetail nicely with the Earnhardt documentary that's currently on Prime.
It's such a shame that the car broke (a transmission?) late in the race. Beating all of the GT machines would have made the story even cooler.
The car sure got a lot of attention on social media. A really cool project for sure.
Puddy46 said:This will dovetail nicely with the Earnhardt documentary that's currently on Prime.
I've heard good things about the Earnhardt documentary.
CrashDummy said:It's such a shame that the car broke (a transmission?) late in the race. Beating all of the GT machines would have made the story even cooler.
The car sure got a lot of attention on social media. A really cool project for sure.
Not really. It didn't meet any of the rules the GT machines had to.
To me, it's like being impressed a GTD Mustang beat an EcoBoost Mustang around the track.
I'm planning on watching this tonight. Fun fact, a friend of mine, an electrical engineer at Hendrick, got to work on that car when it was in the final development stages, he was so pumped.
z31maniac said:CrashDummy said:It's such a shame that the car broke (a transmission?) late in the race. Beating all of the GT machines would have made the story even cooler.
The car sure got a lot of attention on social media. A really cool project for sure.
Not really. It didn't meet any of the rules the GT machines had to.
To me, it's like being impressed a GTD Mustang beat an EcoBoost Mustang around the track.
Obviously it didn't conform to any set of rules; that's why it was the garage 56 entry. But it's speed was still a surprise. From Road and Track article: "Even with all this in place, there were a lot of unknowns. “It was very difficult to know exactly if the car would be faster or slower than the GTEs before the race. Honestly, the week before the race, it was very difficult,” Mestelan said. “We knew that the car would be a rocket in a straight line, but there was a big question for cornering." After the first practice, the Garage 56 stock car surprised everyone by outrunning the GTE field, qualifying 4.2 seconds quicker than the leading Corvette C8.R. The initial plan was to have the NASCAR start at the back of the field, as is typical with Garage 56 experimental entries, but the car was moved to start at the head of the GTE field so it wouldn’t have to charge through in the early stages of the race."
Re-sharing this meme because it's one of my favorites (and most successful) I've ever made:
In reply to Colin Wood :
HAHAHA, new favorite meme. This reminds me of a video I saw where the caption was, "The McLaren isn't defending its position, its running for it's life" and there is just a Mustang GTD chasing the poor McLaren.
The Earnhardt Documentary in our opinion, well done.
Just finished this.
Not a nut and bolt show but it was very well done IMHO. Probably some of the best TV I've watched in a long time.
I'd love to know what the budget was for that race.
I agree with Toyman- it was very well done, a compelling story and -most of all to me- inspiring. And I would also like to know what the budget was. Maybe $20 million? And where did the money come from- Nascar, sponsors, Hendrick?
The Dinner With Racers podcast featured Chad Knause and he talked a bit about the Garage 56 project. It was very interesting to hear his part of the story. He said that they could have gone several seconds a lap quicker, but the FIA wouldn't let them because then they would be as quick as the slower LMP2 prototype cars!
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Absolutely meaningless. So it beats cars that have rules to follow. Big deal. Proves nothing.
In reply to JimS :
Did you watch the show? That's what this thread is about, not the car.
In reply to Toyman! :
Yes I watched it.
Watched the show last night and loved it. Really well done!
I watched it last night with Indy-Wife.
We both really enjoyed it. 👍
In reply to JimS :
How did you like the show?
JimS said:Absolutely meaningless. So it beats cars that have rules to follow. Big deal. Proves nothing.
The point of the Garage 56 entry is to allow a car to run that doesn't fit in any of the classes. This car brought new viewers to NASCAR in international markets, and new viewers to endurance racing that have become fans. Seems like it succeeded more than previous Garage 56 entries.
z31maniac said:CrashDummy said:It's such a shame that the car broke (a transmission?) late in the race. Beating all of the GT machines would have made the story even cooler.
The car sure got a lot of attention on social media. A really cool project for sure.
Not really. It didn't meet any of the rules the GT machines had to.
To me, it's like being impressed a GTD Mustang beat an EcoBoost Mustang around the track.
all those years of people complaining about how a nascar would do then someone finally does it but its not good enough? how many jokes do we have about nascar not turning right, this was a fun exercise and we finally now have a piece of useless data to continue to argue over.
And they almost won the pit stop competition using floor jacks! The fans loved it!
In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :
This exactly! From a business perspective, it was a risky but very rewarding move for NASCAR. I personally loved seeing how excited NASCAR fans were for the car at Le Man, but seeing the anticipation grow from non-NASCAR fans? Even cooler.
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