Le Mans 2013

[_Rick_]

So, final qualifying is on, apparently one car is sitting out already, after they wrecked their car during yesterday's daylight quali.

LMP1 doesn't seem to be too surprising, LMP2 has grown quite a lot, Aston is running at the front in GTE Pro, and I have no idea what's what with GTE Am.

Just saw that Quick Nick Heidfeld is driving a Rebellion, so that's another F1 guy next to Buemi, Kobayashi.

The latter has been dropping through the ranks this session quite badly. Started at 34, now at 51.
But the track is only drying out now, so the LMP1s are starting their fast laps.

So, who else follows LM this year?

 

[Phanuel]

I just watch the 24hrs of LeMans and celebrate racing, I don't really follow the rest of the ILMS season since it's impossible to see any of the other races here in the states really.

And I still want Audi to make a performance diesel sports car!

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Just saw that Quick Nick Heidfeld is driving a Rebellion, so that's another F1 guy next to Buemi, Kobayashi.

http://www.24h-lemans.com/en/race/entry-list_2_2_1980.html

gene, di grassi, wurz, nakajima, davidson, chandhok, fisichella, lamy and senna round out the entrants with f1 experience.

i'm looking forward to another awesome race! if anyone has streaming links, post 'em up.

 

[_Rick_]

When I watched quali on the front row yesterday, they had 5 links listed. I stuck to Eurosport.

Also, the Porsche curves at night are bloody scary from on board :O

 

[punjabiplaya]

a decent list of streams: http://reillybrennan.com/post/52724770009/2013-24-hours-of-le-mans-couch-kit-streaming-entry

 

[_Rick_]

So far, it looks pretty much like expected - but already 50 minutes SC.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

ACO video stream
http://www.24h-lemans.com/live/en/

http://www.dailymotion.com/lemans-tv#video=xqxkvh

radio le mans (english)
http://radiolemans.0157.org/nplayer.php

 

[The Boston Dangler]

http://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/2013-24-heures-du-mans-official-statement_2_2_1746_11429.html

The driver was immediately attended on the scene by the doctors from the Automobile Club de l’Ouest’s Medical Service.

In a serious condition, Allan Simonsen was transferred immediately to the Circuit Medical Centre where he died soon after due to his injuries.

Allan Simonsen’s family has been informed immediately by David Richards, Principal of the Aston Martin Racing team.

Allan Simonsen, an experienced driver aged 34, had taken part in seven 24 Heures du Mans.

His team mates in the No.95 car were his fellow countrymen, Christoffer Nygaard and Kristian Poulsen.

The Automobile Club de l’Ouest wishes to express its great sadness following this incident, and extends its deepest condolences to the family and those close to Allan Simonsen.

The Automobile Club de l’Ouest will make no further statement while the exact reasons for the accident are still being wholly determined.

 

[iamwiz82]

Footage from the car behind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KXErF1eRkOI

Hard to say what happened but when the car got grip again after the rumble strips it took off like a rocket.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Footage from the car behind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KXErF1eRkOI

Hard to say what happened but when the car got grip again after the rumble strips it took off like a rocket.

wow, shocking result of such a common error. the investigation will be intense.

 

[AmdEmAll]

So sad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAUz7bwPY2Y

The force of impact must have caused a lot of internal bleeding cause the damage of the car doesn't look all that bad, except the frame looks twisted.

 

[_Rick_]

Looks like he went into rather rigid crash barriers. Tertre Rouge is just at the end of the race track, and the beginning of the public road section. Seeing how the car didn't "give" a lot either, and the way it went sideways into the barrier, the impact probably had very high peak G-forces.

Shame to see someone die only 10 minutes into the 24 hours :-/

 

[busydude]

Extremely sad the way this year's LM has begun. :'(

As for streaming.. Open network stream in VLC and paste this link to watch Eurosport in HD. Pretty reliable to me since 3 hours.

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=deb1eb0b7feda02276cef90c1dac82d5&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.racedepartment.com%2Fforum%2Fchat%2F&v=1&libId=72b977bf-7250-429d-8801-c639dd39a54b&out=http%3A%2F%2Fesioslive2-i.akamaihd.net%2Fhls%2Flive%2F200728%2FAL_ESP1_UK_ENG%2Fplaylist_2500.m3u8&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Fformula1%2Fcomments%2F1gq5ng%2Fot_wardezs_comprehensive_le_mans_2013_guide%2F&title=Live%20Streams%20%7C%20RaceDepartment%20Forums&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fesioslive2-i.akamaihd.net%2Fhls%2Flive%2F200728%2FAL_ESP1_UK_ENG%2Fplaylist_2500.m3u8&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_137190507202513

 

[The Boston Dangler]

9:45 to go! i love the way it's an endurance event for spectators as well as participants

 

[JulesMaximus]

I would love to see this race in person at some point in my life. I'm officially putting it on my bucket list.

 

[_Rick_]

I would love to see this race in person at some point in my life. I'm officially putting it on my bucket list.

This and F1 at Spa.
But admission to Spa is insanely expensive for the F1 weekend, and Le Mans tickets aren't cheap either. Add to that all the other costs, of getting there and staying there, the time you have to organize it in advance, and it's just a bit too dear to me.

Anyway leading Pro Aston just crashed out after exiting one of the chicanes - looked a bit like brake failure, with a bright flash at the front wheels, before it speared off into the barriers. Driver is more or less okay, took some bad bruising to the ribs.

Now it's a Manthey Porsche leading, with an AM and another Porsche in 2 and 3.

Also, I want more of "Justine" on Eurosport

Edit:Both Lotuses are out
Was rooting for Bouchut, who was born only a few miles from here, and is a Le Mans legend (20 starts, and a win with Peugeot back in the Class C days, and a run in an R10 TDI three years ago), but his American team mate spung #31 and it was out....

 

[The Boston Dangler]

1:00 to go!

massive downpours coming and going, it may be enough for the 2nd place toyota to unlap itself

 

[The Boston Dangler]

This and F1 at Spa.
But admission to Spa is insanely expensive for the F1 weekend, and Le Mans tickets aren't cheap either. Add to that all the other costs, of getting there and staying there, the time you have to organize it in advance, and it's just a bit too dear to me.

i thought spa was 1 of the more affordable races. austin, silverstone, etc are right out of the question.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

it's audi-toyota-audi. toyota in its 1st full year has taken the fight to the juggernaut.

 

[_Rick_]

And Porsche wins both GT classes, making it 100 class wins.

Still don't know how the Aston Martin managed to lose out quite so badly, after chasing the 911 by sub-seconds, with 80 minutes to go. That safety car really messed things up.

Edit: Spa admission was 130 euro per person for the weekend, without seating.
That's not super expensive, but as it's only a few days after my birthday, I was considering going there this year, for the occasion, but I can't invite people to go there, at those costs, because I cant afford half a dozen tickets, and don't rate the experience highly enough. I think my upper limit is at 80 euros per person..

 

[Phanuel]

Yellows breed yellows... it never changes.

Felt bad for the GTPro class, felt like it was two different races happening between the 911s and the Astons and then between the Ferraris and Corvettes. I can't wait to see the C7s next year though.

LMP2 is packed with people competing but I don't know any of them so I can't really get into following it. Oh except for, as Autoblog put it, "Special mention in the opposite direction goes to Romain Brandela in the No. 39 DKR Lola-Judd, who was apparently taping an episode of Jackass and took far too many opportunities to spin and hit other cars."

LMP1 next year should be really exciting again with 3+ big teams potentially.

 

[_Rick_]

Next year is going to be GT3, so there will be R8s, SLSs and MP4-12Cs eligible for competition. And probably the GT3 Viper that SRT just put on sale the other day.

LMP2 had the Greaves team, with some of the GT Academy winners. And quite a lot of the drivers were previously LMP1 drivers. But I got the feeling that LMP2 was maybe a bit large this year. The cars lack the panache of the P1 prototypes, and the allure and accessibility of the GT cars, so for most of the viewing public there's no access to that class...

As for LMP1, I still can't believe Peugeot left over some BS politics, with a set of cars ready, and having been second in the last year they ran by only 13 seconds or so.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Next year is going to be GT3, so there will be R8s, SLSs and MP4-12Cs eligible for competition. And probably the GT3 Viper that SRT just put on sale the other day.

LMP2 had the Greaves team, with some of the GT Academy winners. And quite a lot of the drivers were previously LMP1 drivers. But I got the feeling that LMP2 was maybe a bit large this year. The cars lack the panache of the P1 prototypes, and the allure and accessibility of the GT cars, so for most of the viewing public there's no access to that class...

As for LMP1, I still can't believe Peugeot left over some BS politics, with a set of cars ready, and having been second in the last year they ran by only 13 seconds or so.

sports car racing remains a total clusterfuck, as usual, in both rules and series survival. there is talk of worldwide specs starting next year, so costs should come down for entrants and manufacturers of gt's and lmp2's especially, but there could be some help for lmp1 as well.

 

[hotlavaaaa]

Next year is going to be GT3, so there will be R8s, SLSs and MP4-12Cs eligible for competition. And probably the GT3 Viper that SRT just put on sale the other day.

Do you have a link to an article about this? I can't find anything that says this is happening. It would make sense to have one worldwide class for GT cars instead of every country having a GT3 championship and only the WEC and ALMS using GTE cars. Plus there are so many different GT3 cars including the McLaren, GT-R, and the new Bentley coming out that would be cool to see at Le Mans. I would much rather see a huge GT field with a great variety of cars instead of 30 Nissan powered LMP2s.

 

[_Rick_]

Picked it up here:

http://sundayafternoonclub.blogs.topgear.com/2013/06/24/24-hours-on-from-the-24-hours-some-thoughts/

"The prospect of the ACO’s GTE class and the FIA’s GT3 class making up and next year’s grid featuring McLarens and Mercedes and Audi R8s alongside the Astons and Ferrari and victorious Porsche 911s means 2014 can’t come soon enough."

No primary source given.

Found this by googling: http://m.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/fia-aco-to-create-unified-gt-class-by-2015-303977.html

Here's an interesting counterpoint: http://www.endurance-info.com/version2/news-focus-14004.html (and dropping 2014 as a date)

So, while it may not happen in 2014, 2015 is sounding probable.