Le Mans

Four Audis are now "photo-staged" nose-to-tail for the finish photo. Two diesels and two hybrids. 7minutes left.

Corvette is looking good (over Porsche) for the GTE-am win.

Porsche in GTE-am got a flat on the last lap. So Corvette wins that class. McNish sort of threw away his lead (with crash) and ended second in Audi....he's obviously not happy. Starworks USA team form Fla won LMP2 and they are extatic.
Ferrari wins GTE-pro class.

It was a decent race, but I would have liked to have seen the Toyotas finish. I hope they come back next year and don't pull another GT-One program.

I would have liked to see the Delta wing cross the finish line or die from mechanical failure... really anything but see it go the way it did

Sounds as if there was some discussion with the ACO - the 'Wing couldn't get back to the pits after the Toyota pushed it off despite the efforts of the driver to do a roadside fix. That's how it works at Le Mans, the car has to get home.

But the team could have fixed it in the pits...and since the car wasn't really competing anyhow but was a demonstration of new technology, why not let it rejoin after they repaired it? Unfortunately, the ACO said no. That's a pity.

In reply to Keith:

Which makes me wonder given how easy they've made these cars to be raced and broken and fixed, why some minimal subset of tools and or repair equipment can't be on board, I mean in a 24 hour race, to have a broken steering linkage or suspension bit or drive shaft that makes the car non-runner 1 hour into a race, I'd rather it take one man 2 hours on the side of the road to patch it, get it back to the pits, another hour to get it fixed, and still get 21 hours of racing in, but hey that's just me...

In reply to Raze:

I believe it did get back to the pits several hours later. The driver pulled both fron and rear body work off and had a tool kit in the back to "unlock the diff" so he could get it back. Once back they determined that it was to much damage to fix.

Somehow it doesn't mean as much to me as last year, though. Wishing Toyota success with their program, we need somebody to race with!

It wasn't for a "lack of effort":

Delta Wing Repair Attempt

In reply to Hungary Bill:

Thanks for finding that.

nicksta43 wrote: In reply to Raze: I believe it did get back to the pits several hours later. The driver pulled both fron and rear body work off and had a tool kit in the back to "unlock the diff" so he could get it back. Once back they determined that it was to much damage to fix.

I totally missed the repair effort, I hate Speed coverage, the whole race was Audi Audi Audi, made me feel like the recent Top Gear episodes where it's blocking every shot

Raze wrote: the whole race was Audi Audi Audi

Speed announcers commented on the Audi's being built stout for bumpin' and bangin'... and they did their share of bull dozing other cars like they owned the track.

They do carry tools, as nicksta said. Heck, they still have to technically be two-passenger cars with room for the Official ACO Suitcase if I understand correctly. Some interesting rules carried over from the early days, and I do rather like the "it must be fixed with what's on board and only touched by the driver" one.

I hadn't heard the Delta Wing made it back, good to hear. My comments were based on Radio Le Mans commentary while they may still have been trying to fix the car. There's great coverage of the #3 Audi driver tearing bodywork off that car after a trip into the tires, then limping in with one wheel barely attached. Audi knows the cars will have to take damage, but I never saw them "bumpin' and bangin'". Too much at risk.

I seem to recall that the dominant Porsche 956/962 cars ran with a spool instead of a rear diff to avoid getting sidelined by a broken axle.

well, for 11 of the last 13 yrs they pretty much have

Hungary Bill wrote: It wasn't for a "lack of effort": Delta Wing Repair Attempt

That makes it look like he wasn't able to get it moving again and they had to abandon it. But not from a lack of trying! That's one exhausted driver.

Keith wrote:

Hungary Bill wrote: It wasn't for a "lack of effort": Delta Wing Repair Attempt

That makes it look like he wasn't able to get it moving again and they had to abandon it. But not from a lack of trying! That's one HELLUVA driver.

FTFY

Hungary Bill wrote: It wasn't for a "lack of effort": Delta Wing Repair Attempt

Oh man that almost brought a tear to my eye. Must've been the dramatic piano music.

Gee wizz......thanks, Sheldon.

That's a pre canoe strike if I evar saw one !

So I googled trying to figure out how the delta wing performed before being taken out, but all I really found was press release fluff.

So I take it that the car couldn't really keep pace?

petegossett wrote: So I googled trying to figure out how the delta wing performed before being taken out, but all I really found was press release fluff. So I take it that the car couldn't really keep pace?

According to articles I've read, it was targeting 3:40-3:45 pace, and according to the final results, the car did a 3:45 for one driver and a 3:46 for another. Right near projections and targets. That's mid of P2 during the race.

In practice, it ran a 3:42.

It did ok, but was hampered with some transmission problems before the crash.

edit- results can be found here- http://www.lemans.org/en/races/24h-du-mans/live-2012/results.html

I really want to see that race in person one day. We had EuroSport coverage up on the TV most of the day Sat. Hopefully Toyota comes back next year and maybe the Pugs.

Alll in all it was a great way to spend Fathers Day weekend.

Raze wrote:

I totally missed the repair effort, I hate Speed coverage, the whole race was Audi Audi Audi,

It was covered on Speed's coverage....they went over video of the repair effort for approx 10min while under safety car.

With the advent of technology at Le Mans, they are going to need to train the rescue crews for the new tech involved. Apparently the rescue crews didn't approach Davidson's Toyota for 3 minutes due to waiting for people in rubber boots due to possibility of electrical shock.

I liked the speed commentator who likened that occurance to the possibility of the hydrogen powered garage 56 car for next year going up in a small mushroom cloud...

Raze wrote: I totally missed the repair effort, I hate Speed coverage, the whole race was Audi Audi Audi, made me feel like the recent Top Gear episodes where it's blocking every shot

It may not be all Speed's fault. Some, certainly. But for the race feed, they were given that- it was the "world feed." So if the director wanted to watch the Audi, the whole world got to see that.

Speed got to have their own pit coverage, which was nice. Even with that, they would not have been able to focus on the Deltawing's repairs.