LE MANS this weekend.

[toecutter]

For all who are interested, Le Mans is on this weekend.
Is Channel 10 giving us anything????? Cross my fingers for highlights.....maybe?????

Look out for..... #59 ASTON MARTIN RACING (GBR) LM GT1 ASTON MARTIN DBR9 (5992A) D.BRABHAM (AUS) ..

Still 4 days 22 minutes to go, but cast a eye on the LE MANS HOME PAGE (http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/live/pages/a ccueil_gb.html)

Have a good time Ian (JAGER) and we expect a report and photos.

Cheers,
Brad.

[wayno]

We'll probably get the normal poxy one hour package that we normally get. I'll be following the race over the course of the week end for sure.
Maybe one day we could get the whole 24 hours of the race as a pay per view on Foxtel. I know I would certainly get it!

[jager]

Have a good time Ian (JAGER) and we expect a report and photos.

Cheers Brad. Currently in Florida and spent yesterday at Daytona. I could have had a 3 lap "race experience" for $200, but as someone said, its the fastest way to blow $200 bucks.

I fly out Friday night for Paris and should be at LeMans by midday Saturday so will hopefully have some pics next week.

[Dingo]

Originally posted by wayno
Maybe one day we could get the whole 24 hours of the race as a pay per view on Foxtel. I know I would certainly get it!
Indeed, think of all the booze you could get through in 24 hours :D

[wayno]

Originally posted by Dingo
Indeed, think of all the booze you could get through in 24 hours :D

C'mon Matt, I resemble that remark!
I'm sure a few of you would find an excuse to turn up to my place to watch it!

[jager]

Peugeot Sport has announced that following their decision to withdraw from the FIA World Rally Championship at the end of this season, they will now shift their focus to sports car racing, and more specificially winning the Le Mans 24 Hours.

As such Peugeot plan to develop an HDi diesel-powered car equipped with a diesel particulate filter system [DPFS].

Peugeot aim to have the new car running for the first time at the end of 2006, with a view to racing it in 2007.

As well as the Le Mans 24 Hours Peugeot will also take part in the five rounds that make up the Le Mans Endurance Series [LMES] - namely those at Spa, Monza, Silverstone, the Nurburgring and Istanbul.

An official statement from the French manufacturer read:


"When it first announced its intention to withdraw from the World Rally Championship at the end of 2005, Peugeot underlined its determination to pursue its policy of competing at the highest level and has decided on an innovative objective: victory in the celebrated Le Mans 24 Hours with a diesel-powered car.

"The Le Mans 24 Hours has always stood out as a pitiless test-bed when it comes to validating technological breakthroughs that can be carried over to road cars. It is also a race that enjoys outstanding media coverage and last year's event, which attracted a crowd of more than 200,000 spectators, was broadcast to 228 million television viewers worldwide.

"Once the programme's feasibility has been confirmed in the early part of 2006, Peugeot Sport will begin development work on the chassis and engine in close collaboration with PSA Peugeot Citroen's engineering department, the expertise of which in the realm of diesel technology is universally recognised."

"This is an extremely stimulating new challenge and I am convinced it will generate considerable interest throughout our staff and across our sales networks. I hope this ambitious yet completely achievable project will provide us with a fresh opportunity to demonstrate our ability to win," declared Frederic Saint-Geours, managing director of Automobiles Peugeot.

[Nick Short]

Interesting! I hpe the car also looks good, as that has been part of the appeal of Le Mans for so many - the fact that the cars are stunning machines. My worry here is that it will look like a Peugeot diesel.......

[Richard Poole]

I think Audi also has a diesel Le Mans car under development to replace the R8.

[TBVX05]

I'll be following Corvette Racing C6-R #63 and #64 in the GT1 class. Here are the classifications for this weekends race:


http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/live/pages/ch ronos_gb.html

[Andrew]

What has prompted the move toward diesel race cars?

[toecutter]

Just a quick question..........

Is this the first time Sébastien Loeb has raced at Le Mans? Or raced road/tarmac apart from a rally car.

Its a shame that you cant link some of the pictures as there is a great pic of an Audi coming out of a section of fog and rain with a bit of a wind tunnel effect behind it.

What has happened to Alex Davison? He must be kicking himself coming back to Oz to be a part time V8 driver, after competing so well in the American Le Mans series in a PZ Team Porsche. Any info?

Haven't picked a favourite yet but Aston Martin might get the nod.
Also, I see that Nick Short's long lost brother is also racing for ROLLCENTRE RACING (GBR) M. Short.
:)

[MarkHM]

Forget Le Mans, I'm off to Goodwod to watch 05 again, woohoo

[VXfan]

Originally posted by MarkHM
Forget Le Mans, I'm off to Goodwod to watch 05 again, woohoo
Lucky bugger,take plenty of pics wont you?:)

[MarkHM]

I plan to, we're going to Africa first (woohoo), Magny Cours afterward (woohoo), and then the "in-laws" arrive and we're driving through France (boohoo) through to Monaco. If the headlines read "Crazy Kiwi Kills family" it's likely to be me!!

[Nick Short]

Mate, driving through France is a very enjoyable experience - the roads are superb (just stay off the Peage toll roads), the scenery is spectacular and you see lots of picturesque towns and villages. Have a great trip! I won't be at Goodwood, so I'm very envious, and want to see pics too!

[VXfan]

Have to agree with Nick here.used to spend every family holiday in France.Beautiful country,only drawback is it's full of insufferable French.:D

[TBVX05]

What is this Goodwood festival and what is Brocky doing there? (It seems as though Im the only one that doesnt know)

[MarkHM]

Goodwood is a great collectrion of vintage, current, sports and F1 cars etc and drivers. PB is driving the 1984 Dayglo VK, hence my reason for going

[Jack71]

Le Mans is the best major motorsports event you can attend in Europe. I was at the race in '01 and loved the whole thing - rain and all! It's very spectator friendly compared to F1 etc.

[Nick Short]

Don't know if this still applies (I last went in '97) but if you get there a few days before the event you can wander about the pits and garages, and in the yards out back where they prepare the cars, the security guards don't care, and by the time the race weekend arrives they recognise your face and assume you are allowed to be there. Not wearing your ticket in the little plastic pouch round your neck makes it look as though you're too important for such things, although come mid-morning on the Saturday we were cleared out, as even the important folks now had their special passes on show. I wandered in and out of the garages and up and down the pitlane at will, getting some good close ups of various Porsche GT1s and GT2s, Vipers, Panoz, Lotus, Ferrari, Lister etc, having their decals applied, tyres marked and fitted, bodywork removed and replaced etc. And you may see cars testing on the road (!), as the cops don't seem to worry - I saw works Vipers, flames pouring from their exhausts, being given a go on the road near the circuit, and a race Gulf-McLaren F1, although that had been given legal UK plates and was a year or two old.

As for the French, in all my travels in France I've only ever met one unpleasant Frenchman - everyone else was unfailingly polite and friendly. Hopefully you'll experience the same thing!

[wayno]

Don't forget Radio LeMans either. Listening is free.

http://journal.autosport-atlas.com/2005/lemans/radio.html

[KiwiRallyFan]

Is the racetrack a public road and easy to find? The reason I ask is that I'm planning a trip to France and the UK in September and I thought that one of the places I would like to visit is Le Mans. I don't really know a lot about sports-car racing (or Le Mans), but as I will be passing through the area I thought I would go and have a look. I understand there is also a good racing museum attached to the track. Anyone (Nick?) have any tips on visiting the place?

PS. I'm also planning on watching Rally GB in Wales, but that's another story.

:)

[Nick Short]

Yes, it's a public road just outside the town of Le Mans, which itself has a very nice Old Town, with a fine cathedral and 2000 year old Roman walls. The "circuit" is, or was, signposted Le Sarthe and anyone will be able to point you to it. You can drive the Mulsanne Straight, round to where the circuit heads off to the Porsche Curves, so probably about 2/3 of it. The Mulsanne is the cream; head down the straight (the chicanes are only for race day) and imagine doing 400 kmh down it day and night, then braking hard for the right-hand Mulsanne corner, off towards Indianapolis and Arnage corners. If you have a good road atlas (I hope so!) the Mulsanne Straight is the N138 towards Tours, south of the town. There is also a racing museum nearby, and you can park up near the pits and wander about unimpeded. If there is no racing you can step out onto the hallowed bitumen, but you will often find teams testing (there were F3000 and sports cars when I was last there) and you can sit in the staqnds and watch for free. Or at least you could a few years ago - it might have changed since then!

[Nick Short]

Here's a map I found on the internet, and you could watch the Steve McQueen movie Le Mans to get a taste before you go! The bits of the circuit you can drive runs from the start of the Mulsanne Straight anticlockwise to the right hander just above the "24" on the map.

[KiwiRallyFan]

Thanks Nick, that's exactly what I was after.....:)

[Nick Short]

No worries! I remember how excited I was to drive down the Mulsanne (even though it had a 90 limit) between the armco barriers, turning at corners marked with stripy coloured kerbs, and playing The Chain by Fleetwood Mac as I went (at least the end bit, which was the old theme tune for F1 in the UK). If you want to enhance your experience, before you go watch the McQueen movie, or borrow a tape of one of the classic races, maybe late '80s, when Porsche and Jaguar were fighting it out at getting on for 400 kmh. That way the circuit will mean more when you get to it! I did the same in reverse when I came to Oz and drove at Mount Panorama - I watched the '75-'85 highlights tape and went there 2 days after the 1994 race when all the signs were still up. There's a line of poplar trees at the start of the Mulsanne that is a famous landmark to Le Mans fans and marks the start of some seriously dangerous track. As you go down the straight try to picture the Mercedes CLR somersaulting over the barrier into the trees as it accelerated through 300 kmh, or Win Percy blowing a tyre on his Jag at 350, taking off to an altitude of 10m, landing upside down, and demolishing a bus shelter and some poles as the accident went on for a quarter of a mile......Le Mans has always been a place of high drama, colour and spectacle. More tragically, Pierre Levegh struck the rear of another car as he entered Pit Straight in 1955, and his Mercedes flew into the grandstand at high speed, killing over 80. There's a memorial there now, by the track on the opposite side from the garages. The track passes through woodland and fields, and has a ghostly feel in parts, especially early in the morning when there is mist drifting through the trees.

[wayno]

Race start is 16:00 as per usual. About midnight eastern time I think.

[Nick Short]

Here's a more detailed map of the circuit, showng the local road network it's part of. You can drive from Tertre Rouge round to Virage Porsche (this is all public roads, the rest is purpose-built race track). You can see how such high speeds used to happen before the chicanes - the straight is 6km long!

[wayno]

Was planning to tune in to the start whilst watching the cricket, but it seems like there's a pretty good chance of rain in the U.K.. Gee, what a surprise! :rolleyes:

[KiwiRallyFan]

Thanks again Nick. I think I will try to get hold of that Steve McQueen movie as I don't know a lot about Le Mans. Do you know of any good LeMans websites for beginners? BTW, 90km/hr is about 30km/hr faster than you're allowed to drive around Mt Panorama.

Wayno (and others), sorry to interrupt the main thread. I hope you enjoy the race.

[wayno]

No worries, it's all related. The LeMans movie is awesome and should be in the DVD collection of every motorsport fan. Also the in car 956 DVD is great. The straight used to be amazing. I do not look at LeMans with the awe I once did. The butchering of the Mulsanne was bad enough, but the mickey mouse esses coming under Dunlop bridge are a disgrace in my eyes.

[toecutter]

Not LeMans but from the Ring!

962 PART. (http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=34617&item=6187081954&rd=1)

[wayno]

And we're AWAY guys! Enjoy the race. I'm listening. ;)

[SWRT]

I remember the mickey mouse Dunlop bridge S bend was added in 2002 because some driver got killed in 2001 on the short staight that previosly existed.
The Muslane chichanes I really hate too, every time I play GT4, I use the Non-chicane Mulsane, one or both chichanes were added after Mercedes 1999 aerodyanics blunder.

[Nick Short]

Would look good on the wall! For anyone like KRF who don't know a lot about Le Mans but may be interested there are a lot of websites out there featuring different aspects, from history of the race to current events. I don't have any specific ones listed so someone else will have to suggest good ones, but Google is a good starting point! The Le Mans movie was a major undertaking, and an obsession of Steve McQueen's that almost broke him. He was going to drive in the 1970 race but in the end they just fitted cameras to many of the leading cars, plus around the track. Once they'd got hundreds of hours of footage they then hired the circuit, teams and drivers (imagine doing that in F1 or sports racing today!) to stay on for a long period, recreating dramatic events and providing footage to splice in with the real thing. Many of the actors were lucky enough to get to drive these powerful exotic beasts, and the list of supporting drivers includes many of the F1 and sportscar drivers of the day. David Piper lost his leg, when he crashed during filming, and the Ferrari crash recreates Jacky Ickx's accident when he hit a pile of sand and got airborne, killing a marshal. Look out for Porsche 911s, 914/6s, 908s, 910s, 917Ks and Ls (246 mph on the Mulsanne), Lola T70s, Chevron B16s, Ferrari 512Ss, various Matras and other exotica. Le Mans still, even with its chicanes, has an atmosphere unmatched - think Bathurst and then some!
And there's a video called Ticket to Ride, in which you get to "sit" in the passenger seat of a 962 for a full circuit and see what a public road looks like at 400 kmh, the lines flashing by and houses vanishing in the blink of an eye!

[wayno]

I thought the Mulsanne chicanes were added after one of the Peugeot WM cars hit 412 kmh and there was an accident that killed three people. One driver and two marshalls.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[wayno]

Not sure if anyone else has been checking in, but the GT battle is an absolute cracker!

[TBVX05]

5 hours to go!

http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/live/pages/ch ronos_gb.html


Both Corvettes are in the top ten with #64 looking at a class victory.

It looks like the Audi #3 will take the flag if nothing goes wrong.

[wayno]

The Brabham Aston now under a minute behind the GT1 leading Corvette. Looks pretty stable for first in the open category. If you want to win Le Mans change your name to Kristensen!

[Crowey05]

7th Outright too. So i hope that keeps up till the finish line

[TBVX05]

Great performance by Corvette Racing finishing 5th and 6th and taking out the GT1 class four out of the past five years!

Brabham finished 9th in the Aston Martin.

Championship Racing Audis had a 1 - 3 finish.

[jager]

Have a good time Ian (JAGER) and we expect a report and photos.

Just got back from a great trip to LeMans and am slowly recovering from the sleep deprivation. Apart from the lack of sleep on the Saturday night of the race (3 hours sleeping in the open under a tree !), I didn't get much sleep on the flight to Paris the night before from New York as its just a 6 hour flight. Thankfully I went to LeMans and didn't decide to visit the US Gp at Indy as I had though about previously.

Visiting the circuit was very easy, as they had express trains from Charles de Gaulle airport directly to the train station at LeMans and a bus shuttle from their to the track.

The entrance fee of 59 Euro's (A$ 100) wasn't too bad, working out to about $4 an hour ! Even better, it can be recouped through the sale of the 1:43 Minichamps Dauer 962 that finished 3rd in 1994 (limited to 999 pieces) and which were exclusively available at the track for 60 Euro but are already bringing 150 Euro on eBay. I bought 3 (one's for you Brad if you want it) as well as a significant number of other models (the bag of models made a great pillow for the few hours sleep I got on Saturday night !).

Keeping track of the race positions was a little difficult, for while they have a broadcast over the loudspeakers (or on Radio LeMans) its almost imposible to hear due to the noise of the cars. Fortunately the ACO office publish a free list of all the positions at every hour. I was surprised however that there were very few large screen TV's so it was difficult to follow the action at other parts of the track.

The strongest memory of the race is standing in a huge crowd of spectators 20 deep at 2.00 am in the morning at Arnarge, watching the cars glowing in the dark with their fluorescent liveries braking from 350kmh in just 150 metres for the sharp 90 degree corner. Jammed in with thousands of other specators it was also easy to understand how so many spectators lost their lives in 1955 when the Mercedes of Levegh flew into the crowd. 50 Years on, it's easy to see how it could happen again, if one of the LMP cars hit a slower GT2 car on the approach to this corner, such is the speed and braking differential of the different cars.

Here are a few photo's, although none are that great due to the safety fencing, distance from the track, the crowd and the speed of the cars.

[jager]

Just a small part of the crowd of 230,000 who attended this years race.

[jager]

There were models everywhere - probably 20 - 25 dealers selling just about every LeMans model imaginable plus loads of F1 and road car models. Prices were OK too, with IXO's for Euro 20 (A$33) and Sparks for Euro 35 (A$60) .

[jager]

Safety fencing everywhere made photography difficult.

[jager]

The Champion Audi's looked great at night with their fluorescent livery (be nice if Minichamps could replicate the fluorescence on their models).

[jager]

Sunday morning, 6.00am at the Dunlop Esses. Note the absence of the crowd behind the safety fencing in the background, most of who are still asleep (the day before the crowd was standing 5 deep behind this fence at the start of the race).

[jager]

The Audi Playstation on Sunday morning - the blured picture indicative of the speed of these brilliant machines. Surprisingly they are super quiet, making only half the noise of lesser cars like the Corvette.

[jager]

Nearing the race end, the Aston Martin struggles on, looking slightly less perfect than it did at the start of the race. Assuming Spark do this in 1:43 it will definitely have a place in my cabinet.

[toecutter]

Thanks for the update and pictures Ian.
From the crowd picture the place looks huge. So how many models for your LeMans collection did you end up buying?
Any more pictures of any GT2 and the Brabham Aston?

[jager]

Brad, yes - the place is huge. So huge in fact that when they had to bring out the safety car on Saturday afternoon they actually deployed three different safety cars at different points of the track and split the field into three so that nobody would obtain an unfair advantage. Perhaps its something for the organisers at Bathurst to consider.

I could add some of my pictures, but you'll get better pictures (about 600 of them !) here :

http://www.motorsport.com/photos/series.asp?S=LEMA NS&Y=0

[TBVX05]

This motorsport.com site is great. Its got pics of all drivers and tracks all over the world, as well as up to date news!

[BB]

Great photos jager. The Audi R8 night photo is brilliant. What a buzz to be there and see it live.