2016 Le Mans 24 Hours Thread

[steveaki13]

I know its early but this is only 3 weeks away.

Anyone got any thoughts or news?

It appears Toyota are still not in the action from the early rounds.

[MrJan]

Reliability is going to be the key I think. With teams running less cars it's going to be more about attrition than normal. Obviously work has been done since, but the Spa 6hr saw a lot of problems for all teams. All it takes is for one crash like the Audi/Toyota incident in 2014 and the race is wide open. Hindhaugh was even asking the question whether it could be a Rebellion that takes the flag.

Hopefully will be a good race, I'm subscribed to the WEC stream this year so will hopefully have about 4 or 5 screens in one form or another.

[Trojan 1936]

Hopefully will be a good race, I'm subscribed to the WEC stream this year so will hopefully have about 4 or 5 screens in one form or another.

I normally use Eurosport but would prefer one without the adverts...is the WEC stream superior ?

[MrJan]

It was good last year. Although think I had Eurosport on too, possibly because of the commentary. Quality wise it's just like watching the online services from BBC or Eurosport. They also have onboard cameras for a lot of cars and you can sign in to multiple devices. Last year I had it on a laptop (linked to a monitor), a phone and a tablet. The same account was also being used my brother on the other side of the world. The onboard is good, especially if the car is in the pits at night as you can see people working on it.

For viewers in the UK the start and end of the race will be live on Quest, so is available on free to air. They also have some highlights at some point

[loudmotor]

The prognosis shows that the better odds are on the side of Germany and Japan, that means Porsche, Audi or Toyota.

[MrJan]

Annoyingly the official stream doesn't use the Radio Le Mans commentary (which I find baffling because I've always thought that they are superb). Unfortunately that means I'll have a regular battle to sync up the audio stream I've got with the video :(

[AndyRAC]

Use the TuneIn app, and it should be easy to sync up. I have the Eurosport player, and use the non-commentary stream, with the RLM commentary.

I think this is the only forum were Le Mans/ WEC doesn't get much comments....

[MrJan]

Yeah I use TuneIn, helpful that Hindy usually does a countdown to the hour to help you sync. Just a bit annoying though.

Strange how ignored LM is on here, and pretty much always has been. Trouble is that I don't really use other forums, find Ten Tenths and Pistonheads have a layout that I don't get on with.

[MrJan]

:eek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyTA8nVSP4U

[Ucci]

So, Porsche 919 has a pole position....the speed is there.

[Ucci]

Wet start.....i hope rain will stop....

[steveaki13]

Shame to be running so long under safety car. I hope it comes in before too long.

[steveaki13]

go go go

[Ucci]

Audi nb.7 already in troubles.

[steveaki13]

Interesting race so far. I sadly have missed some chunks so am not completely on top of whats happened so far. I dont think there has been any SC or big incidents luckily since the rain at the start

[AndyRAC]

I always love to see Porsche winning, but Toyota leading is good to see. I really hope they an finally claim a first and richly deserved Le Mans win. But, there's ages to go....remember 1998/99.

[MrJan]

Fairly quiet race so far, starting to get dark though so interesting to see what happens. At the minute it seems that the #6 Toyota has the pace and also is able to do long fuel stints. Part of me wonders if it's even possible for Audi to get back into it, although think it's really shaking out as Toyota v Porsche.

Shame that the 67 Ford had issues from the start and then Marino put it in the gravel. The car looks awesome though, it's how racing cars should look, the type of thing that you can imagine having posters of when you're a kid.

Also how impressive is Frederic Sausset?! Just a little metal jobber attached to his right stump to steer and I think I saw he was doing laps around 4:05, which isn't that far from what his team mates are doing

[MrJan]

Part of me wonders if it's even possible for Audi to get back into it

My bad, now both cars have been wheeled into the garage :rolleyes:

[Tazio]

Jeez Ford GT and Ferrari 488 have been going at it hammer , and tongs for 10 hours. Iget the feeling that Ford are being methodical, and driving to a delta. Toyota is looking fantastic.

[MrJan]

I dunno, that #2 Porsche isn't that far away, could come down to simply when the last stint is...that and there's still 11hrs to go!

GTE race is crazy close but they've messed up on the BoP with the Aston and Corvette. It's stupid that the Corvette is so far out of the race, which just doesn't happen.

[Tazio]

. It's stupid that the Corvette is so far out of the race, which just doesn't happen. Yeah what happened to the Corvetts?

[MrJan]

Yeah what happened to the Corvetts?

The ACO (or possibly FIA) nerf the cars to try and make them all equal, so in the lead up to the race a lot of teams undersell themselves so that the handicap is lower. Ford certainly did this, put in poor performance early in the season to stand a better chance at Le Mans.

[Tazio]

Thanks for that MrJan. Drive through penalty for #68 Ford with 6 hours plus left.

[steveaki13]

Not been able to watch as much as I hoped, but been watching an hour every few hours. Toyota seem to be cruising to the win, but still are only 40 odd seconds clear.

What happened to the second Toyota? i saw it was on the lead lap a few hours ago. Now 3 laps back.

GT battle was insane. The Ford took the lead of Pro just in adverts here...... how annoying.

[AndyRAC]

The ACO (or possibly FIA) nerf the cars to try and make them all equal, so in the lead up to the race a lot of teams undersell themselves so that the handicap is lower. Ford certainly did this, put in poor performance early in the season to stand a better chance at Le Mans.

And Corvette don't do the full WEC - so there was only really the the Test day to go on. I'm not sure you can use the IMSA series to base their BoP. Personally, if Corvette want fair treatment, then do the full WEC.

[Tazio]

Not been able to watch as much as I hoped, but been watching an hour every few hours. Toyota seem to be cruising to the win, but still are only 40 odd seconds clear.

What happened to the second Toyota? i saw it was on the lead lap a few hours ago. Now 3 laps back.

GT battle was insane. The Ford took the lead of Pro just in adverts here...... how annoying.
Ok I've watched so much of this years event thr details are blending together...but didn't Ford take the lead during a drive through penalty by Ferrari... Or is that old news :confused:

[Tazio]

OMG Toyota just got their hearts ripped out!

[MrJan]

WTF??!!! Still in shock, I'm far too tired to deal with shit like that! Bizarre situation that it almost feels like Porsche didn't deserve it, and certainly that the #5 didn't deserve to be a DNQ from some picky rule...but rules is rules. What's really strange is that I wouldn't feel like that if it had happened 2 hours earlier, it was just the nature of it which made the whole thing so cruel. Hope that the Toyota guys bounce back, I didn't really want them to win but that's got to be a huge emotional knock.

[AndyRAC]

Heartbreaking....Toyota seem destined to never win Le Mans.....

So much like Carlos Sainz in 1998; 200 metres from the 'finish'. And in a Toyota built in Cologne.....eery coincidence.

[Ucci]

What a drama....disaster for Toyota. Anyway, if you want to finish first, you first have to finish.
Big congrats to Ford!

[AndyRAC]

Ford 'merely' won the GT-Pro class.....which in truth turned into a BoP farce.

[MrJan]

More of a farce when they tried giving the Risi car a penalty for something which had been an issue on numerous cars throughout the night. It was clear that they were trying to write a script for the Fords, fair play to the Risi team for mixing it with the GTs and also for refusing to accept the bullshit penalty.

[AndyRAC]

Good on them for staying out - Hindy was going nuts.

It it seems there's all kinds of protests in GT-Pro...not good. It's turned into an absolute farce.

[MrJan]

Yeah, Hindy was winding up into a full blown attack on the stewards when the Toyota situation distracted him :D

[Trojan 1936]

It was good last year. Although think I had Eurosport on too, possibly because of the commentary. Quality wise it's just like watching the online services from BBC or Eurosport. They also have onboard cameras for a lot of cars and you can sign in to multiple devices. Last year I had it on a laptop (linked to a monitor), a phone and a tablet. The same account was also being used my brother on the other side of the world. The onboard is good, especially if the car is in the pits at night as you can see people working on it.

For viewers in the UK the start and end of the race will be live on Quest, so is available on free to air. They also have some highlights at some point

Thank you, in the event I went with Eurosport & Radio Le Mans for the commentary again.