That obviously meant a lot to Audi after the trials and the lows of the last 24 hours.
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That obviously meant a lot to Audi after the trials and the lows of the last 24 hours.
Well done to Audi on a brilliant win after what theyve been through with the 2 big crashes! Im not a huge Le Mans fan but that was some amazing flat out racing over 24 hours and deffo not boring!
Unfortunately I had Peugeot down for the win and owe my work mate a large pasty :laugh:
There's just no equal to LeMans. Seems like every year the story is just epic; I get more emotional at the end of the LeMans 24 than I do when F1 crowns a champion, and thats saying something because I was fairly choked up last year listening to Vettel reacting to his WDC on his cool-down lap.
agreed, Audi ran through the ultimate lows in the race when #1 and #3 were demolished. what Lotterer and Treluyer did in the final 8 hours was truely breathtaking to watch, I mean, they took the fight to Peugeot while quint-stinting the TIRES!!!! only for the final pitstops to have the cars within 6 seconds with about 30 minutes left. you couldn't script this again if you tried, and really there were 6 of the cars could've won with the driver lineups.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shifter
great to see Corvette's take both GT categories
Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
Well, in fact medias will show lots of images of 2011 Le Mans, but mainly the images of McNish crash :rolleyes:
Well lets be fair..... it was a massive crashQuote:
Originally Posted by Tom206wrc
And I also find the attitude of some modern fans whenever a bit of close racing takes place rather curious. Perhaps the move was a tad dubious, but nowhere near as bad as the McNish incident. Having finally watched it, I cannot understand how anyone can blame the Ferrari driver. I suspect they do so on the grounds that the inexperienced, less-well-known driver MUST automatically be at fault.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
Completely agree. What do you think about the Rockenfeller incident? Bearing in mind that in the drivers briefings that the GT drivers are told to hold their line and the LMP's will overtake them?Quote:
Originally Posted by BDunnell
In that instance, the Ferrari certainly does seem to move over, but only by a fraction. Maybe Kauffman was more at fault in that incident than Beltoise was in the McNish shunt. But I view this as, alas, an occupational hazard in endurance racing, unless it is to be made single-class.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
One thing I never have a problem with in terms of changing motorsport formulae is slowing them down a bit. Is the speed differential between the slowest GTs and the fastest prototypes now too great? I don't know how it compares statistically with the figures for 40-50 years ago, say.
Well after listening to RadioLeMans and their review, it seems that Rockenfeller and Kauffman didn't actually touch - Mike put a wheel slightly off the track and.....straight to the accident. It seems the R18 is a very nervous beast.
Logically you'd think that but ironically - and believe it or not its the opposite.Quote:
Originally Posted by BDunnell
The ACO are intent on slowing the cars down so the driver makes the difference by being aggressive in traffic. Andy Wallace bemoaned the air restrictors caused more contact in racing; ALMS - when the P2 cars seriously threatened Audi some races at times resembled a DTM/BTCC race; and Ant predicted the new diesel engines regs would create more aggressive driving.
Cause and effect: take FIA GTs as another example. You have parity systems mandated in the regs and a couple of 1hr races per meeting and they seem to resemble BTCC races these days.
Haven't listened to it yet but did they get to interview Ant and give him a grilling?Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
The Radio Le Mans coverage was pitiful. They acted like Ant had almost killed someone when what he'd done was nowhere near being anywhere near being anywhere near as bad as what Michael did to Rubens last year in F1.....Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge
Agree with the first part, not so sure about the second part though, I think faster cars going through traffic is part of the charm and the cars are exceptionally strong. I mean I really can't imagine anything more serious than those two incidents other than perhaps if a car went off into the trees......Quote:
Originally Posted by BDunnell
To be precise I and Andy were referring to Mid-week Motorsport when perhaps Hindy may have calmed down a bit for the review of the race...Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
Ah :)Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge
Yeah, he had calmed down - I think everyone was expecting a night of ranting, but it didn't happen.Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge
I'm not arguing that there shouldn't be faster cars going through traffic, if you see what I mean.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
I'm not sure I buy this argument at all. It's rather like MPs blaming the expenses system for their outrageous claims, rather than their own actions.Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge
Very civilised and thoughtful discussion even though the gist is fingers are still pointed at Pug's direction.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
Hindy's still not happy about Ant. Ant tweeted he enjoyed playing with Audis and then took them down! Wonder if Ant will turn up at the next F1 GP for 5Live and face the Inquisition?
Racing drivers are supposed to race and that means pushing the envelope of machinery, rules and conduct.Quote:
Originally Posted by BDunnell
In F1 Senna made arrogantly suicidal moves on backmarkers eg. 1988 Italian GP - Berger was catching Senna and Senna tried to make the difference on the chicanes and backmarkers but crashed into Schlesser; 1990 Brazillian GP - Prost was catching Senna and Senna stupidly tried a dive bomb when lapping Nakajima
Passing traffic is essential but in endurance racing (and categories across in North America) the blue flag (or similar) does not mean move out of the way else you'll be penalised.
Diesels are now smaller capacity, less HP and torque than previously used to so getting up to speed will be different, not to mention a close battle with rival. Thus you'll want to gain any vantage possible - traffic being one of them.
Quote:
McNish also played down suggestions that the rule changes that had brought the prototype and GT cars' straightline performance closer together had directly caused the crash - though he admitted that traffic now had to be handled differently.
"It's definitely more tricky to overtake with less speed differential," he said.
"When you have got less speed differential on the straight you are overtaking more in the corners. You can see that the race is coming down to just tenths right now, so you know you have got to maximise advantages when you can.
"But whether it increased the chances of it I'm not sure to be honest. It definitely... if I had 100bhp more then I would definitely have overtaken him easier, but then again it might have been at a different state in the corner."
autosport.com - Le Mans News: McNish: Crash pass not ambitious
they were saying in LMP2 was extremely trouble some with GT cars, because they use a GT2 engine, they couldn't pull the speed on the straights that much more and had to have the downforce advantage in the corners, hense the more aggressive driving.
as for several incidents, McNish was more to blame for his wreck as he was alittle overanxious, but it was a bang-bang play, much like Lotterer passing the Peugeot while passing a slower LMP car in the Porsche Curves.
Kaufmann left his left lane and squeezed Rocky, Rocky was already at full speed and wasnt expecting the Ferrari to switch lanes like that.
what Ant did wasn't wrong, its just poor drivermanship. the fight was between Peugeot #9 and Audi #2, Ant was 4 laps down and had no reason to fight with Lotterer in the final 3 hours because he wasnt gonna gain 4 laps back, it would've been a major shame if he did actually hit Lotterer, but he didnt. I think Gene or someone else in the #8 pulled the same crap with about 1-2 hours left also, but luckly Bourdais was driving the #9 and he was still losing time to #2
Strange, McNish said that he didn't see the car? Now he seems to suggest that he did? :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge
Of course, all of that is beyond doubt, and I agree very much. However, I'm uncertain as to what you're getting at in one respect. Do you not agree that for drivers to blame the slowing-down of the cars for the increased amounts of contact, as opposed to taking responsibility for their own actions within the shifted performance parameters, is an unnecessary shift of said blame?Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge
It's easy to point to the latter but it's a different story when drivers are under pressure.Quote:
Originally Posted by BDunnell
I also like endurance for the reason of taking pics without stress. Still I love the cars, that has always been what has drawn me too the series. It started with the 917 way back in 1970 and hasn't changed. Unlike some series in the u.s you know when you see a car that is a porsche , ferrari, audi, bmw etc. all that is just what you are seeing . ALMS should bring back their old slogan "The Cars Are The Stars". That said it all.