Le Mans 24 hours 2008

[vyselegend]

Official Entry List has been published.

55 cars. Nice field!

P1 field seems revived with the 3 Audis, 3 Pugs, the brand new Lola-Aston, the also new Courage/Oreca, and the Pescas as a reference point to evaluate all this people.

Too bad Penske did'nt choose to spice up the P2 class, but at least 2 private RS Spyder are engaged, and the Lola_Mazda looks good.
No Acuras

GT1 is far from the dying class described by some medias.

GT2 highly competitive as usual.

I can't wait to go there!



BTW congrats Ranald for the entry, Now you've got to push this DBR9 for 24 hours, beating the 'vettes, the Saleen, the factory Astons, and even a Lambo! I'll cheer for ya from Arnage.

I've seen also you hired Tomas Enge for the LMS season, that's a good call...

[tomislavp4]

Looks good
Wish I could come too... maybe next year

[dumrick]

Looks good
Wish I could come too... maybe next year

Same here... actually I believe this was the year to go to Le Mans, it may be one of those editions with epic battles to go to the history books. I was planning to go there, but my girlfriend is not too keen on camping by the side of a racing track with noisy vehicles passing by and I'm the only motorhead in my group of friends. Furthermore, I discovered too late that the tribune tickets usually get sold out by November...

In conclusion, another year with a weekend spent in my room, by the TV and with the Internet on 24h coverage mode...

[zac510]

Yeah should be an awesome year at LM

[Ranald]

Thank you very much vyselegend. I really can't wait (my uni work now seems even more boring). Whilst the GT1 entrey is of a good quality I am still quite dissapointed by the numbers, a couple more would have been really good.
If any one on the forum is going to be at Le Mans, or any LMS or British GT events, this year come and say hello at the teams garage as is would be good to put some faces to names and I can show you around the car if I have time.

Ranald

[West]

Not to thread jack, but I will be going to the ALMS event in Long Beach. It will be my first ALMS event, and first race I attended since the Japanese Super GT came over to the states in 2004. My coworker's friend works at HPD so we'll be sitting w/ all the Acura employees...

As for Le Mans... I watch the start of the race even if I don't get any sleep, and try to watch much of it as I can. I'll fall asleep and wake up in the middle of the good stuff.

Watch out tho... the Corvettes are out for revenge

[zac510]

Hi Ranald, I go to a lot of events like Brit GT. I'll pop in and say hi.. maybe at brands hatch

[vyselegend]

If any one on the forum is going to be at Le Mans, or any LMS or British GT events, this year come and say hello at the teams garage as is would be good to put some faces to names and I can show you around the car if I have time.

That sounds cool!

Our camp will be at Arnage, which means a walk to the pits will be a bit of a Marathon. Something like a 6 or 7 km walk. I seriously think about renting a bike for the four days. On tracks like Le Mans (and even worse at the Nordschleiffe), moving from a corner to another can be a pain because of the size of the track. Damn, I'm such a lazy guy... (On top of that I'm sure I'll be drunk most of times)

Anyway when I'll pop up at Team Modena's garage, how will I recognize you? Should I shout "HEY RANALD!" and ashame you in front of your crew? Or what about yelling "F1 TECHNICAL RULES" like a dement? You've no security guards I hope...

Seriously there is something I have to confess in the case I meet with any of you fellow members: My english pronounciation sucks. BIG TIME! And my comprehension of spoken english is lame too...
So please talk to me like to a child or a retarded, I prefer that to the shamefull feeling of not understanding anything of what I'm told lol.

West, don't forget to take loads of pics at Long beach, and to share them here!

By the way, highjacking my own thread, anyone going to Sebring for the 12 hours?

[Ranald]

Anyway when I'll pop up at Team Modena's garage, how will I recognize you? Should I shout "HEY RANALD!" and ashame you in front of your crew? Or what about yelling "F1 TECHNICAL RULES" like a dement? You've no security guards I hope...

Just ask one of the team and I'm sure that they won't mind finding me. It's probably for the best that you don't just stand outside the garage screaming names and website adresses as you will likely be locked up under the mental health act!!

[vyselegend]

Yeah, I'll try to behave as normally as possible in close presence of a DBR9.

Speaking of Aston, there's a (very short and badly cut) youtube clip, allowing to hear the scream of the V12 Aston in the Lola P1 at Snetterton, along the V8 vantage (incredible difference of sound BTW - V8 is so loud!). There's also a Lola/AER running with'em:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gROstzIpWRg[/youtube]

[zac510]

Great vid, thanks

[humble sabot]

I'd love to have seen WR get in. Their new car is sooo interesting.

[dumrick]

Big shunt for Gené in the Peugeot number 7 today in the Test Day.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSsorp6F36s[/youtube]

The weather was treacherous, alternating rain with drying periods. Despite that, Peugeot improved already 4 seconds on last year's pole time. I guess Audi and Peugeot will be really racing this year, opening a huge gap, but also some hope for the privateers, that may expect that at least some of the top cars won't last for 24 hours...

[vyselegend]

That was a big one! Seems the car hit the wall by the cockpit side, it is also the first time that the door is missing after a crash.

Still no explaination about the cause of the crash, but with the track still damp off trajectory, while the stint was in slick tyres, it is very likely Marc put a tyre off-line and lost control.

The #7 chassis is totaled, Peugeot asked stewards permission to build a new one in time for qualifying scrutinnering in 10 days. Should they refuse, there would be no Villeneuve/Gene/Minassian at Le Mans this year! I sincerly hope there won't be problems with that legal aspect, the chassis being already homologated and all. But with the #8 chassis destroyed at Spa and now this one, Peugeot have voiced their fear of falling short of carbon fiber if another incident like that happens.

[WhiteBlue]

I did not see that the video was already posted in this thread. I have deleted my new thread now.

There seem to be conflicting stories about Gene being injured. A hairline fracture in the toe seems to be the most likely condition.

there were also reports http://lastturnclub.com/index.php?optio ... &Itemid=54 that potentially an aerodynic fault could exist in the car. the last time I remember such a problem with sports cars it was pretty serious for Mercedes. I hope the check this and have no repeat.

Do Le Mans cars have accident recorders like F1?