LeMans 2018

Velocity channel will have flag to flag coverage of the 24 hr of LeMans.  Confirmed on the ACO website and according to wikipedia it's part of DIscovery networks rebranding of the channel.

https://assets.lemans.org/explorer/pdf/courses/2018/24-heures-du-mans/tv-distribution-24-heures-du-mans-2018.pdf

Fernando says he's ready, guess it's better than driving a McLaren the past few seasons.

Looks like he's driving a Toyota. The race is theirs to lose, really. And they have experience in losing it.

I'm not sure how much value there is to Toyota racing this year, it's like Mazda getting excited about winning the Spec Miata world championship. Porsche did the math and said "I'll bet we get much better value for our money by hotrodding last year's car and doing a bunch of one-car time trials..."

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Barring catastrophe, which has happened to that team in the past, they should be a lock to win.  But they have managed to lose with a demonstrably quicker car before. Maybe this time some of that vaunted Toyota reliability will make the trip to France with them.  You can take bets on the cars running all 24 at the watch party, that should be entertaining.

Ok.

Except who has cable/satelite tv anymore?

Of course we can't watch via their phone app in the US/Canada (except French Canada) as I just tried to buy it for $8.99, sigh.

So we'll have to watch via YouTube streams from some of the teams and/or wait for the broadcasts to be available after the fact.

Can someone please, please get a hold of some of these execs and help them understand that forcing it onto cable/sat TV doesn't work in the modern age and that many of us would at least prefer the option to pay them to watch it on the device(s) we already have?

Many more people are still on cable & sat. than are off of it so of course that's where they go.

That's the price you pay for not paying the price.

13 million Dish TV subscribers.
21 million Comcast subscribers.
20 million DirecTV subscribers.

There are 127 million households in the US. So those three providers alone (assuming no overlap) reach about 42% of households. I guess that's who.

It is a step back that they've locked out the app, though. That's how I always followed it.

DirectTV Now has Velocity in the basic package.  I think that service is free if you have ATT mobile.  Otherwise it's $35 a month. It's also available through Amazon prime i think.  The execs are slow to adapt to changes in the marketplace, since a large part of their income still comes through cable subscriptions i guess.  Maybe try to connect through Motorsports.com?

The ACO estimates 214 Million coverage in N.America on their .pdf. At least it will be Eurosport coverage so the announcing team will be entertaining at o-dark thirty..   

Keith Tanner said:

13 million Dish TV subscribers.
21 million Comcast subscribers.
20 million DirecTV subscribers.

There are 127 million households in the US. So those three providers alone (assuming no overlap) reach about 42% of households. I guess that's who.

It is a step back that they've locked out the app, though. That's how I always followed it.

Right and how many of those are actually interested in watching the race?

I remember watching it a couple years ago on French TV , you might try that,

British` Eurosport 1 also has 24 hr coverage, you might get a 7 day free trial on Eurosport player according to thesun.co.uk website......

I few weeks ago I watched Historic Monaco race on my phone  from UK TV 

Just Google 2018 lemans broadcast and try a few other countries :) 

seems Quest TV and ITV4 both in the UK had it in 2017.....

I'm pretty positive that motor trend online for $5/month will be streaming the race.

But I have cable, so I'll just watch on Velocity.

Live stream is also available on the Motor Trend app, which is awesome since I don’t have cable. 

Stefan said:

Keith Tanner said:

13 million Dish TV subscribers.
21 million Comcast subscribers.
20 million DirecTV subscribers.

There are 127 million households in the US. So those three providers alone (assuming no overlap) reach about 42% of households. I guess that's who.

It is a step back that they've locked out the app, though. That's how I always followed it.

Right and how many of those are actually interested in watching the race?

Take the 42% as the percentage of households who  want to watch the race  that have either cable or satellite from one of those three sources. That's why I converted to a percentage for you. Unless you're saying that the 42% of households with cable or satellite from one of those three sources are a totally different demographic from those that want to watch Le Mans, in which case please cite your sources.

Solve your problem instead of bitching about it! Go pay a few bucks for Motortrend.com.

Keith Tanner said:

Stefan said:

Keith Tanner said:

13 million Dish TV subscribers.
21 million Comcast subscribers.
20 million DirecTV subscribers.

There are 127 million households in the US. So those three providers alone (assuming no overlap) reach about 42% of households. I guess that's who.

It is a step back that they've locked out the app, though. That's how I always followed it.

Right and how many of those are actually interested in watching the race?

Take the 42% as the percentage of households who  want to watch the race  that have either cable or satellite from one of those three sources. That's why I converted to a percentage for you. Unless you're saying that the 42% of households with cable or satellite from one of those three sources are a totally different demographic from those that want to watch Le Mans, in which case please cite your sources.

Solve your problem instead of bitching about it! Go pay a few bucks for Motortrend.com.

Um, it would have been nice if SOMEWHERE in any of the websites for the FIA WEC, Velocity, LeMans, etc. mentioned that signing up for MTOD was a berkeleying option.

Instead it was all about watching it on their dumbass channel through their janky hardware and paying them way too much for the opportunity.

Now that I know that, I'll try out their app and Roku channel and see if it works.  If not, then I'll return and bitch about that.

So yeah, between posts I was actively trying to solve the problem (cause that's what I do all day for a paycheck, solve problems), but I wasn't finding any meaningful information.

Thanks for your help and understanding.

Sorry, I didn't express myself well there. Came across too hostile. It's been a long day.

We did have a conversation here a couple of days ago about streaming options, FYI. Might be a few other tips in there: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/streaming-options-for-lemans-2018/140332/page1/

Toyota...oh what a feeling. They are in a pickle. If they win, they might as well put an asterisk next to the entry in the old record book since they are virtually uncontested. If they lose to a non hybrid privateer, then they look silly. Not sure why they are even participating. Seems almost like a lose-lose situation for them, but I'm glad they are  i'll be rooting for Alonso  

Porsche and Ford both seem serious about GTLM. 4 cars each, plus 6 more GTLM AM 911s. BMW is also playing this year. 

Here is a live stream of today's practice. Bruno Senna is doing what look like good laps.

https://www.fiawec.com/en/live

Live timing to go along with the live youtube channel.

My background noise is live streaming FIA WEC channel on youtube.   Can't watch cause, well work, but it still sounds cool.  

And go Porsche!!!

I have to temper my enthusiasm fur wanting Alonso to win with my disappointment at Toyota being gifted the second ever Japanese win making my beloved Mazda less relevant. 

In reply to Javelin :

Toyota still has to actually win. Based on their recent history, I wouldn't be all that surprised if one of the privateer teams ends up taking the overall win. I am torn because I would like to see Alonso get the win so he can then concentrate on the Indy 500, but Toyota winning virtually unopposed (at least from other factory teams), just takes away from what Mazda accomplished.

Q1 starts in an hour.

What is with all the Toyota ill will?

Akio Toyoda is one of us. He is car guy and racer at his core.  He is a primary reason the company has team at LeMans. He is the is the primary reason the FRS/BRZ were created and marketed.  I am sure he play significant role in getting the Lexus LFA into the world. I am sure that if had the speed and the Board of Directors would allow it, he would be driving in the race.

He puts his influence and family reputation into getting Toyota Motor Corporation to do things and build things that enthusiasts like us can be excited about.  I may be jumping out of the boat into snark infested waters, but

I HOPE THEY WIN 

I have no ill will towards them. Ill will is a big leap from not rooting for them.

How do the 3 qualifying sessions work? The WEC website says that 2 drivers per car have to set a qualifying lap and then each of their best laps are averaged to come up with the qualifying order, but how does it work between the three qualifying sessions?

In reply to Type Q :

I have no ill will at all! I was rooting for them last year. I just don't like that they are the only OE left standing and if they win it will basically be by default. 

F.Y.I.  I looked at the MTOD website. Qualifying, practice and supporting races  are listed on the schedule. In car cameras are being streamed. The race itself is not being streamed. Short of internet trickery to appear to be in another part of the world, Velocity has it on complete lock down.