Hey, that big race in France takes place this weekend. So, what topics does you guys want to discuss? The DeltaWing's debut? Will Corvettes dominate GTE? Is it Audi's race to lose? Do we care that there's more GTE Am entries than GTE Pro? Toyota?? Hybrids? Oh my.
I am excited to see the Delta Wing and both hybrids
P2 and GT Pro and Am will be a good battle. Don't really care about P1 as Audi has gone to overkill to win this year with 4 cars against a bunch of cars that are no where near competitive with them. Yea, the Toyota is quick, but untested. Don't care one ounce about that eye-sore of a car "Delta Wing".
Comments from my friends who are actually working the race are coming in. My English buddy that lost his leg is pissed that his station ("Poste") has new barriers, and he can't flag very well when he's assigned to the flag station. OTOH, he's pretty stoked that they actually let him work this year. There seems to have been a big hassle between the FIA and the ACO about whether he could, even though he's previously done it about six times from his wheelchair.
OTOH, another fellow worker is working it for the first time in her life, and she's having the time of her life. She's a little-bitty girl, and is thinking about taking her uniform (orange is just as common as white in Europe) to a local tailor so that she can run without tripping over it if she needs to.
Haven't heard from my Dutch friend yet...but I betcha two Euros that he just went to party if he didn't have to work today. 
Here he is at the `Ring when he worked the Nurb 24 a couple of weeks ago..
I will be watching GTE . . .
I'm definitely interested in the DeltaWing. It generates so much hate...I mean downforce It's a shame that nobody is there to race the Audis - but it wouldn't be the first time that a big unbeatable team has beaten themselves. I'll be watching Speed on Saturday night.
Assuming it's on Speed.
The production based racing is the best but the other stuff has me curious. The powerplant in the Deltawing might make it into some nissans in the future I was reading in that free issue of racecar engineering
Radio when you can't find video. Or for when SPEEDTV is playing one of those 5min commercial breaks.
http://www.radiolemans.com/
I played the audio from them last year with the video from speed
Keith wrote: It wouldn't be the first time that a big unbeatable team has beaten themselves.
THIS! Just last year they lost two cars before sunrise. The Hybrid is still new tech, but could come in handy when it inevitably rains (Toyota's hybrid is RWD only, while the Audis use full time Quattro.)
Lots of fun stuff to watch this year. I'll be rooting for the American entrants, and full time ALMS/Grand-am drivers.
I would like to see GT-AM and GT-PRO in one class. They are the same spec car (yes, i know AM cars are one or more years old, but many teams have BRAND new previous-year spec cars built just for the AM class), they should race in the same class. Splitting the classes seems a bit like pandering to the pockets of the gentlemen (and women) drivers.
In reply to friedgreencorrado:
I know Anna, too! Small world.
Really interested to see how the Deltawing performs.
ultraclyde wrote: Really interested to see how the Deltawing performs.
Me too. Love new stuff that pushes the envelope a little.
Maroon92 wrote: THIS! Just last year they lost two cars before sunrise. The Hybrid is still new tech, but could come in handy when it inevitably rains (Toyota's hybrid is RWD only, while the Audis use full time Quattro.)
Actually the Audis are only allowed to use the hybrid drive to the front wheels above 120kph. Basically a way for ACO to keep them form having an all-wheel drive advantage on the lower speed sections (or wet weather). The Toyotas sound like a Prius leaving pit lane because they use the hybrid drive to leave the pits.
With the ACO's regulations the cars are not supposed to spin the tires leaving pit lane, so the hybrid drive is perfect for a fast launch. Since the cars have to shut the engine down for fueling and start under thier own power IN THE PIT BOX, there is always a chance to have issues in a pit stop. We had starting problems in 2007 that required a quick blast of compressed air to cool the starter enough to get it going on a few occasions.
My favorite rule is the red line that marks the pit lane from the garages. If you cross the line you have to have a fire suit on, because the fire obviously won't cross the line into the garages!!!
Outside of the DeltaWing, I've not been paying that much attention. Outside of knowing that P2 is intended to be more "production like" for the powertrains, and that the GT races will be very competitive and full.
Not all that interested in P1 these days.
And it's kind of surreal to see LeMans now after watching the Velocity special about 1955. Amazing how much the racing has changed since then. Almost as much as track had NOT changed from the first race until 1955.
ultraclyde wrote: Really interested to see how the Deltawing performs.
I'm not, because (as GRM explained) it's been slapped with a ton of stupid rules so it doesn't dominate.
How dumb is that? Somebody comes up with something extremely creative that follows the rules, and it gets hit with extra rules. Damn, I'd hate to see some creativity fostered in racing, might as well make all of the cars at Le Mans spec cars like in NASCAR and forget about it 
Only two of the Audis are hybrids. It'll be really interesting to see how they compare.
If the purpose for the Delta Wing was 1/2 the weight, 1/2 the power, 1/2 the fuel consumption of a typical prototype, then it should have been given exactly that and let loose. Instead, they gave them a lap time (3:45, about midway through the LMP2 field) that they have to be at or near. That's not exactly a test of what the formula can do, that's a one-car "new technology" parade for the ACO to show off how much they care about the environment. Or something.
I hope the Delta wing blows off its "required lap time" BS and the ACO is forced to forget its stupid rule or park it. Either way they'll get a lot more publicity than the lame rules they had in mind.
am i reading that correctly? They're imposing a maximum "required lap time" on a vehicle in a race?
I could see a "minimum lap time" to make sure the vehicle in question is safe/competitive... but I think even that is stretching authority a bit...
In reply to Hungary Bill:
Methinks you got that backwards...
No, they are restricting the DW. They can only carry 40ltrs of fuel. It's doing better than I thought it would, though: Krumm cut a 3:42 last night.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/motor-racing-sleek-deltawing-brings-gotham-le-mans-145824979--sector.html
In reply to friedgreencorrado:
That 3:42 puts the car right in the hunt with the P2 cars. Krum claims he could have put down a 3:30-something which might have been a top-10 time.
Tomorrow will be interesting.
You'll need to log in to post.
