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Motor Racing Nirvana


BigJag

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Nope, that was last year's Garage 56 entry, which is designed to host an experimental vehicle using innovative designs outside of the regulations but looking at future potential. Last year was the Deltawing, which is now running in the American Le Mans Series as part of the P1 category and this year was meant to be the Green GT H2 which backed out a few weeks ago having basically admitted they weren't ready. Nissan are taking the entry again for 2014 with rumours and reports suggesting that they'll be entering an electric prototype with a small internal combustion engine for charging the batteries, with the intention of potentially making a full time entry to LMP1 in 2015 or 16 while using this car as the foundation of the entry.I guess technically there wouldn't have been anything stopping the Deltawing putting in an entry to run this year, but they're still undergoing some reliability problems. Could appear on the grids next year though.

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Watching Le Mans 24 minutes on Eurosport. Gives a good background to the race. Just covered the technical aspects of energy recovery systems. The Porsche LMP1 looks very cool. I don't think it will be ready for this weekend though. Plenty GT 911 Porsches in the field.Patrick Dempsey the Hollywood actor is racing this year.ESPN America are supposed to.be showing a documentary on the Deltawing now. The Baseball had overrun though. The Deltawing program should be on soon. They joined it in progress.

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Porsche won't be entering LMP1 until next year. They've unveiled a basic version of the car which looks tremendously like a current R18 e-tron and it's just a case of pounding around tracks between now and the start of next year to get any gremlins out of the car. Rumours still suggest Mark Webber will be driving one of their cars next season.The energy recovery systems that some of the LMP1 cars use are fascinating. Toyota and Audi have different interpretations of the rules and systems based on the placement of their kit. The R18s collect and store their energy through the front wheels, meaning they can only use the energy through the front wheels and only when above 120kph whereas the TS030 uses a four-wheel system and can use it from zero, theoretically giving them a boost off a rolling start as they can use the system immediately and also out of slower corners. The rules of how much energy can be recovered will be changing for next year to have significantly greater allowances, which is what these teams want and has real world relevance.Dempsey is a cracking racer. He's been at Le Mans for the last few years and is a regular in the ALMS. Not a bad team and they should be in with a shot of making the podium with a relatively clean run.First practice is this afternoon with night practice on Eurosprout (don't worry, that was deliberate) tonight. All coverage on Radio Le Mans

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A very interesting set qualifying sessions over the last two days. Red flags in all sessions and two of the qualifying sessions cut short as a result of the stoppages and a need to repair the Armco barrier. If that happens during the 24, we'll just see some long safety car periods (or as they're known to me, a chance to catch a quick nap). Audi are very quick, and I'd love to see what they could have managed if we'd had fully dry running, as the test day times were impressive and suggested we could have seen a pole time under 3.20.Toyota pretty much admitted they weren't gunning for pole and they're concentrated more on race pace and stints. As mentioned, they've got a fuel advantage thanks to some slightly bizarre BoP from the ACO which could give them an extra two laps. I think that was worked out to be as many as seven fewer fuel stops over the course of the full race, and if they can have a half-decent race pace compared to Audi...they're still in with a chance.Brilliant job from the Krohn Racing guys to build a car up from scratch after a massive shunt in Thursday practice. They managed to get another car from an Italian team and convert it from a GT3 to a GTE car in under a day and then get it out on track to do some running last night. Very impressive.Oh, and there was something going on in Paris with Formula Pirelli about no one breaking any rules or someone breaking rules. ;)

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Eurosport have the exclusive rights to show the race across Europe (including the UK), and will continue to be the sole broadcaster of pictures for the next three years after renewing the contract earlier in the week. I've seen people mention that you can buy a pass to watch Eurosport online for

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Mercedes reprimanded and banned from this years young driver test:AutosportThink they will take that, doubt Red Bull will be too happy though :laugh:

That was the punishment Mercedes themselves had suggested at they hearing so they'll definitely be happy.
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Toyota pretty much admitted they weren't gunning for pole and they're concentrated more on race pace and stints. As mentioned, they've got a fuel advantage thanks to some slightly bizarre BoP from the ACO which could give them an extra two laps. I think that was worked out to be as many as seven fewer fuel stops over the course of the full race, and if they can have a half-decent race pace compared to Audi...they're still in with a chance.

BoP? ACO?The race starts at 1500 tomorrow. Legends race is before that. With it being the 90th Anniversary. I wonder if we will get a run to the cars start.WRC Sardinia started today.
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BoP = Balance of Performance. Something used in sportscars to try and even up the playing field to mean that no cars have a massive advantage over the other, usually used for GT racing (whether adding ballast to cars, reducing fuel capacity, changing the length of the restrictors etc.) If you do some research on the internet, you'll find plenty of articles talking about BoP. The LMP1 guys had changes made to fuel capacity based on whether they're petrol or diesel powered, so the Toyota has a significantly bigger fuel capacity for this race, which is the reason they'll be able to run longer.The ACO is the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, who are the organisers of the race and the main automotive group in France. Without them, there would be no Le Mans.Toyota #7 went quickest in warm-up this morning and beat their own qualifying time. Finally showing their speed before the race? We'll find out in a few hours. The world's greatest motor race is just a few hours away. I tell you, this is better than Christmas ;)

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Thanks Tom. Very helpful. Just been watching an interview with Jacky Ickx. Looks like they have organised some sort ceremonial race start. Reminiscent of the times when the drivers would run to their cars before starting the race.

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Apologies to anyone I may have misinformed. The race begins in 15min. 1400 UK time. 1500 in Europe.

Looks to be a wet start. Enjoy.

 

 

Allan Simonsen (5 July 1978 – 22 June 2013)

 

Sadly he lost his life as a result of injuries sustained in an accident just four laps into the race. When the Aston Martin he was driving left the track at high speed. Crashing at the Tertre Rouge corner.

 

The race itself started at a high tempo with the No1 Audi taking the lead from it's sister car. No3 Audi. The crash on lap four caused an extended safety car period. There were a number of safety car periods. One of the safety car drivers seemed to be a bit of an idiot. Almost causing a crash of their own, by chopping across the front of a racer as they were entering the pits. At another point the safety car driver looked to intentionally drive on the dirty part of the track. Spreading sand everywhere. Crazy.

Audi No1 was leading chased by Toyota in the LMP1 class. The Aston team had elected to continue racing in the GTE AM class, and were fighting for the lead with the 911s. Around five hours into the race the almost bulletproof Audi No1 developed an alternator fault. Causing it to lose the lead and drop twenty three laps. Audi No2 took over the lead and managed to carve out a one lap advantage over the chasing Toyota. Which seemed to be exclusively piloted by Stefan Sarrazzin.

Eventually after pretty much dismantling the rear of Audi No1 and changing the alternator. The Audi mechanics got the car back on track. The charge was on. The pace of this car was amazing. By the end it had come from twenty three laps down to finish in fifth place overall. It was absolutely flying around the track. Lapping everyone except the leaders. Some of the nighttime on board footage from that car is wonderful to behold.

Early morning on Sunday. Eurosport were showing pictures of knackered mechanics sleeping pretty much everywhere and anywhere. There was also footage of a car with flames exiting it's exhaust. Bizarrely these flames extinguished when they started the engine. There were also a couple of minor taps between cars in the pits. Attrition was taking its toll.

The GTE AM class was the most competitive class. Aston and the 911s were fighting each other. Patrick Dempsey and his team were in the thick of that battle. All of a sudden big crash. The lead Aston lost it in the rain. Thankfully the driver was OK. Spelled the end for Astons realistic challenge for the class win though. The crestfallen pictures from the Aston pits really made you feel for them. What an emotional journey for them.

Audi No2 was leading overall. Out on its own. Toyota were trying to catch Audi, and their peace was equally as amazing. Plenty more safety car periods, plus rain in the last hour gave hope of a challenge from Toyota. However Audi No2 took the win. Tom Kristensen took the win for Audi. He fittingly paid tribute to his friend Allan Simonsen. The Danish flag was also flown at half mast.

Overall it was an interesting and fascinating race. It lacked flow. Safety first though. Will be watching again next year.

 

Le Mans 2013 results

 

Sebastien Ogier won last weekends Rally Sardegna. This was a great gravel rally. Robert Kubica won WRC 2. That's two in a row for him.

 

Pikes Peak ` Race to the Clouds` is this Sunday. Red Bull will be streaming it live at 1500 UK time. Sebastian Loeb will be trying to break the record in his purpose built Puegeot.

 

Best Pikes Peak Videos

 

Oh and F1 returns this weekend.

SILVERSTONE

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