Quote from Shotglass :

you gotta be out of your mind

Mostly because it at least somehow resembles the former GTP cars. Open cockpits are dull.

In Radio Le Mans they were talking about the future ACO rules but I missed most of that discussion. They were interviewing someone about the future regulations.

LOL - only two LMP2 cars finished. If the new regulations turns out to be "new GTP" that woud be good for also LMP2, now the cars are too similar with LMP1 but just much slower, which means it's not interesting. Of course doesn't help that there were no factory teams...

As I understand, LMP1 and LMGT1 classes are for professional teams, I mean backed by big corporations. LMP2+LMGT2 are designed for private and "amateur" teams and rent-a-drivers. Small private teams have less reliability margin than professionals, that's it.

LMP2 and GT2 aren't 'amateur' classes. Privateers, yes, but certainly not 'amateur.' They are professional drivers with a lot of money behind them. There might be the odd team with less funding and less of a recodnisable name, but they still have a hell of a lot of work to do to compete; "semi-pro" may even be a bit of a stretch for such teams.

LeMans racing (ALMS and LMES included) is a professional sport, not an amateur event by any stretch.

Yep, privateers, that's what I wanted to say.

I know that but I meant that it's not interesting enough for spectators simply becase it's like LMP1 but it's only the 2nd class without factory teams (there's (Penske) Porsche, Acura and Mazda in ALMS). I mean everytime I saw LMP2 car, I was thinking "next camera angle, please". With the new GTP rules there would be difference between it and LMP2 and that would make it more interesting and not just a "little brother" class.

http://www.americanlemans.com/News/Article.aspx?ID=3274

Didn't the ACO go back on that a while ago? I remember reading about it in Autosport but I can't remember exactly what it said

it's to do with the GTP cars acting like big massive aeroplane wings, thats why they kept flipping, Merc GTR, Porsche GTR, and a few others i think.

In recent memory, only the Mercedes CLR and Porsche 911 EVO were flippers in the GT1 category. However, the BMR LMR also did a backflip at the petite LeMans, in the exact same spot the Porsche 911 EVO did.

There are a lot of contributing factors to it; it's not just the crude aerofoil shape of the GT1/GTP profile. It also had to do with the centre of downforce being so close to the rear, and soft rear springs which amplify the effect. There's more, too, but I can't remember it all. There's an interesting artciel on Mulsanne's Corner about it for those interested. Ultimately, these backflip phenomenon spawing the new ACO rules (2005 was it?) with the longer noses, shorter tails, smaller rear wings, shorter rear diffuser, longer front splitter and diffuser, chamfered floor, tunnel section, and the raised nose. It was all an effort to move the centre of downforce further forward. It was also intended to have the effect of increased drag to slow the cars down. Ironically, some teams found increased downforce, reduced drag and ultimately lower lap times from these changes.

Photo taken just over the hill from the Dunlop Bridge at around 10pm. More to come [inc video] when I've waded through literally gigabytes of stuff....

A very enjoyable although unpredictable week thanks to the very changeable weather. It absolutely hammered down just before the finish which made for a rather tame ending particularly given the very high attrition rate. I went with [amongst others] a lad who works for Zytec and met a load more of them over there. They were all gutted when their LMP1 car went home in a box after it crashed and caught fire. Helpfully the marshalls put the fire out by filling the air box with their extinguishers which in turn filled the cylinders with powder which is highly toxic and doesn't tend to compress too well, so they've got a nice job rebuilding that engine. However there was a bright side for them since the only 2 LMP2 finishers were both running Zytec engines.

Other than that most of the campsites at least partially flooded, everyone had fun seeing who could build the biggest bottle wall/let off the most fireworks/have the loudest stereo/disco.

For clarification we paid 53 EUROS for a general access ticket valid from Tuesday all the way through to Sunday. I couldn't tell you what a grandstand ticket cost, they were all pre-sold and reserved when we enquired. Equally our camping fees were taken care of by the member of our party who booked everything although I can easily find out for anyone interested.

oh nice! i really wanna go with my dad but for some reason, I highly doubt him ever bringing me along. i guess i'll go on my own when i'm older or take my GF who seems to be getting into this "motorsports thing".

Sunset/night (especially with rain) pics are just amazing...

Found this from the TBK Forums, I guess it was originally found from Autosport.com or something and obviously taken by some professional photographer

Heh... yeah Deggis that's obviously taken with a considerably more expensive camera than mine, and I somehow doubt he had to pan the camera to blur out the great big catch fence that's between mere mortals and the track.

Anyways a few more to be going on with.

Final 3 for now - I'll post a gallery link when I eventually get it done.

Quote from AlexandreAkerman :

sebastien bourdais rocks :headbang:

ROFL. I find humour in the fact that a seabass fan is 'No Longer Welcome" hehe


Nice shots there Smax I wish I could have gone Damn pond... it's too expensive to cross for me.

I watched about 3 hours of it and stopped because it was nothing more than a battle between the five diesels, and I couldn't find anyone giving adequate coverage of the GT1 and 2 classes.

Did I miss anything?

Quote from sinkoman :

I watched about 3 hours of it and stopped because it was nothing more than a battle between the five diesels, and I couldn't find anyone giving adequate coverage of the GT1 and 2 classes.

Did I miss anything?

Obviously the TV directors continues to a jerks from year to year... it didn't really show much other cars than Peugeot and Audi which sucks.

At night it sucked even more because they shut down all the track side cameras except the ones on the pits area - dunno is it because you could not see much in the dark anyway or is it because lack of camera men.

And in the end rain (or should I say safety car) pretty much ruined it, without that there could have been Corvette vs. Aston battle like year ago.

Quote from deggis :

At night it sucked even more because they shut down all the track side cameras except the ones on the pits area - dunno is it because you could not see much in the dark anyway or is it because lack of camera men.

you really cant see anything past the last lit corner which i believe is terte rouge basically all the camera shows is 2 white lights coming at you and 2 red lights driving away surrounded by pure blackness

I watched most of the race. I got from the start to about 6:00am on Sunday, and then had the fatal idea of 'laying down for half an hour.' I woke up at 12:30pm... missed Audi #2 crashing too. Well at least I joined the Motors TV up-all-night club

It was a shame #2 crashed after leading for so long. Oddly I remember thinking earlier, when it came in for a pit stop and the wheel was a little difficult to get on, that it would only take a puncture or a wheel coming off to take them out of the race.

Also a shame about the rain, but what can you do?

What did I read about the 2010 LMP1s? I'm sure they went back on the mantadory closed cockpits because some teams were complaining about how it would cost too much money or something, but I haven't seen anything since.

According to the lads I was with who work for Zytec the ruling is that by 2012 they'll all have to be running with closed cockpits.

At least this concept pic (which was shown in the ACO press conference or something?) hints that the cars are going to be something more than just the normal LMPs but with closed cockpits... definately looks like new incarnation of GTP. At least I hope so Or more like new GT1? Airborne-Benz, Porsche GT1, McLaren F1 GTR were GT1 class cars....

Somehow funny that ACO is basicly doing what everyone has wanted for years since the end of GTP, and at the same time FIA is planning 4WD formulas and some other weird stuff like that. ACO 1, FIA 0.

Quote from deggis :

At least this concept pic (which was shown in the ACO press conference or something?) hints that the cars are going to be something more than just the normal LMPs but with closed cockpits... definately looks like new incarnation of GTP. At least I hope so Or more like new GT1? Airborne-Benz, Porsche GT1, McLaren F1 GTR were GT1 class cars....

Somehow funny that ACO is basicly doing what everyone has wanted for years since the end of GTP, and at the same time FIA is planning 4WD formulas and some other weird stuff like that. ACO 1, FIA 0.

What the heck is that mongrel Corvette/Pagani/CarreraGT abomination?

Is that supposed to be the new LMP class, or GT1?

ekk... runs for the hills....

Quote from deggis :

Sunset/night (especially with rain) pics are just amazing...

Found this from the TBK Forums, I guess it was originally found from Autosport.com or something and obviously taken by some professional photographer

looks like a render to me.

It looks more of a GT then a LMP imo

Quote from srdsprinter :

What the heck is that mongrel Corvette/Pagani/CarreraGT abomination?

My guess is that it's made by some ACO press/graphics guy... so don't yet blame Corvette for copying

Quote from DejaVu :

looks like a render to me.

It is photoshop retouched, the one who posted it in TBK forums removed noise. Real photograph otherwise. (confusing, DejaVU means this photo in my avatar and not that concept pic)

i hope they dont go that route i hated the gt1 times and loved that they went pack to prototypes lately