Le Mans

[GTAm]

With the 2008 race drawing near I found this and thought of sharing,

[Devinda_Z]

....was it the Bentley Boys who raced drunk? i forget... there was an interesting anecdote wasn't there...?

[GTAm]

....was it the Bentley Boys who raced drunk? i forget... there was an interesting anecdote wasn't there...?

Not sure myself. Wouldn't be surprised though. I've heard stories about local drivers taking a few swigs just before their race here to calm the nerves. Scary!

[The Don]

Well it looks like the Peugeot's have a great chance of winning this year as they come tops in both qualifying sessions

Its quite fitting though in a way as the PSA group probably makes more diesel engines than anybody else in Europe and their diesel technology should propel them to victory over the fancied Audi diesel.

[GTAm]

Well it looks like the Peugeot's have a great chance of winning this year as they come tops in both qualifying sessions

Its quite fitting though in a way as the PSA group probably makes more diesel engines than anybody else in Europe and their diesel technology should propel them to victory over the fancied Audi diesel.

Yes I'd like to see them win. They won in Sebring earlier this year I believe. But then Le Mans is such a gruelling event.....

[GTAm]

From - http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/

Against relentless and strong opposition from Peugeot during 24 hours, Audi wins the 76th running of the 24 hours of Le Mans 2008! The Ingolstadt based marque secured their 8th victory in 9 attempts, this time thanks to the trio Kristensen-McNish-Capello. The Danish driver, Tom Kristensen also celebrates his 8th personal victory in this classic race which establishes a new record. Peugeot completed the podium by putting two of their 908 HDi FAP models into second and third place. While LM P2 was won by the Porsche Spyder, Aston Martin’s DBR 9 successfully defended its LM GT1 title, Ferrari taking revenge by scoring a fabulous 1-2-3-4 in LM GT2 class.

[Pericles]

Managed to watch the last three hours or so live. Damn those diesels are fast! It astonishes me how it just overtook the AMs and just pulled away.

Yay for Aston! 1st and 4th with a couple of Corvettes in between.

Damn there is a lot of old F1 names in this race.

[KLM]

It was a good race, but they need to do introduce parity between the diesels and the petrols, because the current rules clearly favour the Audis and the Peugeots. I was rooting for Jacques Villeneuve to become the first man to win the Indy 500, the F1 World Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but it'll have to wait until next year I guess. The coverage was good although I wished they showed more of the GT cars and didn't allow that Indian guy to commentate when the trackside commentators were off air - the bugger knew f**k-all about the teams, the cars, racing and didn't even notice the things that were happening on screen.

[miniace]

Bit lucky to watch the last few hours of the race live.Damn that race is too serious.Very confusing untill the commentry resumed at 0930 local time.

MINIACE

[GTAm]

...............and didn't allow that Indian guy to commentate when the trackside commentators were off air - the bugger knew f**k-all about the teams, the cars, racing and didn't even notice the things that were happening on screen.

Heh heh yes. He should've done cricket or something instead. Calling Audis - Ordees and Porsches - Por-Shays .

[KLM]

Anybody notice how the fastest average race time was recorded by one of the legendary Porsche 917s back in 1971? Granted, this was before the 2 chicanes were added to the Mulsanne straight, but it is still an impressive feat. That said, the average time set by the winning TWR Jaguar in 1988 is all the more impressive because it is only marginally slower but this was after the chicanes were added I believe. The notable absentees on that list of winners are Nissan and Toyota. Nissan especially, since one year they went with 3 different teams running different versions of their R90s or whatever, but because there was so much in-fighting, they refused to share data and each car dropped out because of issues that the other Nissans had already endured.

[GTAm]

KLM when exactly was the Chicanes added? Did you notice how the Pugs were blisteringly fast when dry but were equal to Audi on the wet track?

[dhp]

I heard someone say the chicanes were added in 90

I was kinda confused how fast you could drive if you missed the chicanes, there was almost no penalty for not following the course.

It was one hell of a real race to the end this time. HAts off to the AM guys for pulling it off with the very limited track time the got compared to the corvettes... I am sure there are some p'd off ppl at GM today.

btw: which channel covered this for u guys in SL?

[Pericles]

Well, you slow down so much to weave thru the tires that you lose more time than in the chicane. Also, the exit speed onto the straight is probably a lot less coming thru the tires, so thats also a disadvantage.

[Devinda_Z]

From - http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/

Against relentless and strong opposition from Peugeot during 24 hours, Audi wins the 76th running of the 24 hours of Le Mans 2008!

Peugeot completed the podium by putting two of their 908 HDi FAP models into second and third place

despite thier inability to clinch the top spot, Peugeot has none the less decided to release a Limited Edition version of the 207 named the "Le Mans" series.

The story goes that the original plan for this limited edition run of 2000 cars was set in motion when Peugeot took the top 3 places in qualifying

The only bits that will differ from the standard car are said to be a revised bumper ,aluminium interior trim and some body stickers.

[KLM]

KLM when exactly was the Chicanes added? Did you notice how the Pugs were blisteringly fast when dry but were equal to Audi on the wet track?

dhp is right - the chicanes were first run in 1990. This year's speed was the fastest post-chicane, which is impressive because there were some fast prototypes even in the mid-nineties, petrol obviously.

[GTAm]

despite thier inability to clinch the top spot, Peugeot has none the less decided to release a Limited Edition version of the 207 named the "Le Mans" series.

The story goes that the original plan for this limited edition run of 2000 cars was set in motion when Peugeot took the top 3 places in qualifying

The only bits that will differ from the standard car are said to be a revised bumper ,aluminium interior trim and some body stickers.

The management of Peugeot/Citroen deserve to be shot. Despite all their rally success they don't have a single car that reflects their capability. They never seem to learn from the Japanese who would have made a much bigger noise than the actual achivement.

What a joke to offer a bumper and sticker!!!