A lap at Le Mans

Tom · Post 03 Jun 2006, 00:22

Hi all,

really caught Le Mans fever this year and was wondering if anyone happened to know a high-ish quality video of an onboard lap of the le mans circuit? Ta Tom

vyselegend · Post 03 Jun 2006, 02:09

I only know this one, in a Porsche 917, not very good quality, but it's configuration 2, without the chicanes, the main straight is sooooooo long!
enjoy

:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 6824248734

Tp · Post 03 Jun 2006, 13:47

Bloody hell that 917's fast!!!!!!!

Tom · Post 03 Jun 2006, 22:18

holy ---, I just couldn't hold that speed down Mulsanne for 1 minute!!!

NickT · Post 04 Jun 2006, 00:29

Amazing

Now that is a real mans car, real gearbox and clutch, no traction control, just monster power and big balls.....

....... no , no , no, not big balls ......

Bloody Enormous Balls.......

RacingManiac · Post 04 Jun 2006, 04:46

Thats not a 917 BTW, the car clearly is turbo(which the Le Mans 917 never was), and the track has Porsche curves instead of the Maison Blanche as it was in the 70s, and the cars it passed were group C cars.....

Its probably a 956 or 962....

vyselegend · Post 04 Jun 2006, 05:08

Yes, you may be right for this one Racing maniac, plus the configuration 2 (or it was the 1, I begin to doubt) without the chicanes, is no longer used in the official Le Mans 24 hours race. It was changed in 1991, for obvious safety reason (remember this is not a former race track, all the long straight is part of national roads, which explain the very bumpy nature of the tarmac and the ridiculous safety measure, with concrete barriers along the road as in Monaco but on a 400 km/h + track

)
BTW the record of speed of the track is unbeatable since then, a stunning 405 km/h (something like 251 mph).

NickT · Post 04 Jun 2006, 13:41

I wonder if the chicanes wern't just put in to slow the cars down, but to also keep the drivers awake

That is one very long straight at 3am after 8 hours of driving and little or no sleep

Just imagine you dozed of for a few seconds and missed you braking point

Scuderia_Russ · Post 04 Jun 2006, 19:19

Great vid.

zac510 · Post 04 Jun 2006, 19:32

RacingManiac wrote:Thats not a 917 BTW, the car clearly is turbo(which the Le Mans 917 never was), and the track has Porsche curves instead of the Maison Blanche as it was in the 70s, and the cars it passed were group C cars.....

Its probably a 956 or 962....

You are correct

It is from a f-en awesome video called Incar 956.

Derek Bell laps the 956 around Brands Hatch, LeMans, Nordschleiffe and many more.

[EDF]Fx · Post 05 Jun 2006, 00:28

ooooh man that car is fast!! and the straight is very long. I knew Le Mans used to have a long straight but still.

/ Fx

dumrick · Post 05 Jun 2006, 00:45

Wow, is one thing to have an idea how the 956 behaved, it's completely different to actually see it

.
The undesteering in the middle of the turns and power oversteering in the exit! It's incredible how guys drove it through the whole race not crashing once (and the traffic? My God, the traffic...)!!!!!

I've the Le Mans fever since the mid-80's and I still follow it on TV every year!

RacingManiac · Post 05 Jun 2006, 02:50

I still can't believe Porsche uses locked diff for both 956 and 962.....

dumrick · Post 05 Jun 2006, 11:07

RacingManiac wrote:I still can't believe Porsche uses locked diff for both 956 and 962.....

I've heard that they used it having in mind that, this way, if a shaft failed in an endurance race, they would have traction to bring the car to the pits...

RacingManiac · Post 05 Jun 2006, 15:30

dumrick wrote:
RacingManiac wrote:I still can't believe Porsche uses locked diff for both 956 and 962.....
I've heard that they used it having in mind that, this way, if a shaft failed in an endurance race, they would have traction to bring the car to the pits...

But it certainly will greatly compromise the car's handling......they could've achieve that same effect with the clutch-type diff with preload....or even a viscous type diff...