Le Mans

rlw

I'm not going this year but am listening to Radio Le Mans on t'internet.  Recommended listening if you are keen.

Scrutineering at the moment and some track action a bit later on when qualifying starts.  Almost as good as being there.

speshul91

Might have to give this a listen later.

rlw

rlw said:

I'm not going this year but am listening to Radio Le Mans on t'internet.  Recommended listening if you are keen.

Scrutineering at the moment and some track action a bit later on when qualifying starts.  Almost as good as being there.

And probably drier too, and better toilets............

chillidoggy

rlw said:

rlw said:

I'm not going this year but am listening to Radio Le Mans on t'internet.  Recommended listening if you are keen.

Scrutineering at the moment and some track action a bit later on when qualifying starts.  Almost as good as being there.

And probably drier too, and better toilets............

Wis'd.

Every time I went, it pissed down.

Mark_R

Would love to go, last year I was diving to Brittany and caught the Thursday morning ferry over to France, two days before the race and the M20 was awash with sports cars, all stickered up for Le Mans.

When we got to France, we drove about 150 miles along the way to Le Mans among a massive convoy of UK registered sports cars.  Great fun, and there was I in my wifes Focus with a roof box, very much looking out of place!

Perhaps we should organise a GasLemansFest next year.....

rlw

I know a rather good hotel if that helps for a start :-)

Garthy

I'd like to go to the Classic but I have no intention to attend the main event in person, there's too many ruined weekends at the hands of a few. I do love the main event though and will record it in its entirety on Eurosport and watch it as and when time allows.

chillidoggy

I fancy the Classic, but it's every two years, and I won't be going this year.

TBH, I can't be doing with all the camping bollox, though. It's a hotel or nothing.

rlw

I went to the first Classic and it was OK but I've never been back.  It's a very poor imitation of the real thing, although its great to see the older cars on the circuit, as very few people actually race and there's no real suspense.

By not going to the Vingt-Quatres Heures, you are denying yourself one of life's great pleasures and I've never had a ruined weekend in 35 years....................

Mark_R

Camping cannot be any worse than a festival, although I do go for the VIP camping with hot showers, clean bogs and a space next to your tent to park the car.

Camping could be good fun, few beers, acoustic guitars, should be great.

PC_Dave

Couple of mates are going this year. I'm gutted i'm missing it, but finances didn't allow.

Will try for next year.

JohnnyN

Thanks - I'll give that a listen
Not been there yet, but I follow every year on TV. Usually a great race!

Heartfeltdawn

And it was a great race. Absolutely tragic end, reminiscent of Carlos Sainz breaking down 400 yards from the finish in the final rally of the 1998 WRC. 

rlw

An amazing finish but I want to know what really happened to the car. Did the driver fuck up with the race finish or was there a problem.

stickyfiddle

HEARTBREAKING!!

Heartfeltdawn

rlw said:

An amazing finish but I want to know what really happened to the car. Did the driver fuck up with the race finish or was there a problem.

It was a power systems failure,  similar to the failure that one of the Toyotas had at Spa in the 6 hr race earlier in the season. In order to make sure they scored some points for finishing there, one Toyota actually went round Spa and completed one lap on battery power alone, the first time that's happened in the WEC. Nakajima had reported running into the limiter in 4th a few minutes before the failure so it wasn't driver error. 

rlw

But why didn't he complete a lap under battery power straight away, or was there none at all when he stopped?

Heartfeltdawn

When he stopped, there was still over 90 seconds until the end of the race. Now when they did the lap at Spa under hybrid power using as much regeneration as possible, it took some serious time. Spa is 7km long and it took nearly ten minutes to get round on hybrid power alone. At Le Mans, there is a rule that the final lap must be under 6 minutes in order to be classified: the Toyota managed somewhere closer to 11 minutes. Le Mans is 13.6km long so clearly they had more than just hybrid power but something had gone. There are reports that it was a turbo failure.

A turbo failure after 23 hours and 58 minutes of racing. That's beyond shitty luck. 

rlw

So he should have stopped before the line and followed the Porsche as it finished. It was a bit of a basic mistake and a surprise that De Chaunac let it happen.

stickyfiddle

http://sniffpetrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/SPAD_ToyotaLeMans16.jpg