2018 Le Mans 24 hours

[ALO_Power]

so amost certain that alonso will win this

Yes, the #7 is very slow again.

If I see ti correctly, every class leader has lapped P2 in his class at leas once at the moment.

so for the first time alonso struck gold in his team selection....any other year he wouldnot have won it....practically no competition this year

I hope you mean for Toyota from their past reliability. Otherwise, this is what u concluded from his pace? Amazing..

[roon]

What is prize money like at Le Mans? Was prize money reduced this year with the exit of Porsche und Audi (entry fees)? Do winners make money there or is it a wash? Or a net loss?

[JonoNic]

It's sad that a privateer team couldn't buy last year's 919s... They most likely would not have won but it would have been close. That's what is killing LMP1 as non-manufacturers can't even buy a second-hand hybrid.

[basti313]

I'd like to see laptimes from the night stints from last year and 2016, Alonso was just as quick (or even quicker) during the night than the others during the day and i'd like to know how it looked in previous races - because right now it looks like he brought them back into the race by clawing back 1:40min in 2.5h of running

It is really difficult to get full sets of laptimes...and it is hard to compare different years. We can compare 2017 and 2018 as the BoP and rules were not changed:
- The Q times were fairly similar. Only the stellar record lap last year was better. So the cars had more or less the same pace. Usually they would be 2-3sec faster, but as there was no competition Toyota just made the cars bulletproof without loosing pace.
- Last year had more crashes, this year the long track repair, Safety Car time was comparable in the end. #2 Porsche plus 19 laps repair time did a similar number of laps like the Toyotas this year. The Porsche were cruising at some points last year with 3:30 laptimes when the Toyotas were out.
- Last year the #2 Porsche was catching the LMP2 with 3:19 to 3:20 laps by driving to a save delta as Porsche did not want to risk another problem. So the Alonso stint during the night was also endurance racing...driving to a save delta.

[Edax]

It was exactly at the timing of camera switching but looks like there was little contact between Toyota and Rebellion.

btw how easily the nose of rebellion came off and how it managed to keep going without nose

Yeah loved that, especially when those two big wheels came thundering down the back straight. They really had a Mad max/batman kind of thing going on there

Anyway forget the LMP1, GTE-Pro was epic. I am also getting very enthousiastic about the rumors that they are going to start a hypercar class to make up for the loss of LMP1.

That would be great IMO, so many cars that I would love to see race: Project one, Valkyrie, Bt-62, FXX, the Mc Senna, Regera.

It is a shame that all these hypercars are built and the only thing you ever find on them is a 1 second clip on Youtube of the thing starting up on a car show. If you claim to make the fastest car on earth, put it on a track to prove it.

[simieski]

Lack of competition aside, I think it’s fair to say Alonso justified his inclusion in the team and made a meaningful contribution to the win. Just the small matter of the Indy 500 to go.

[Sevach]

It's sad that a privateer team couldn't buy last year's 919s... They most likely would not have won but it would have been close. That's what is killing LMP1 as non-manufacturers can't even buy a second-hand hybrid.

I said that last year when a team running an year old Audi would have won (reportedly Roger Penske contacted them, but Audi decided against it).

I'm sad for all the Toyota jokes and happy for Porsche GT team.

[roon]

It was exactly at the timing of camera switching but looks like there was little contact between Toyota and Rebellion.

btw how easily the nose of rebellion came off and how it managed to keep going without nose

Yeah loved that, especially when those two big wheels came thundering down the back straight. They really had a Mad max/batman kind of thing going on there

Anyway forget the LMP1, GTE-Pro was epic. I am also getting very enthousiastic about the rumors that they are going to start a hypercar class to make up for the loss of LMP1.

That would be great IMO, so many cars that I would love to see race: Project one, Valkyrie, Bt-62, FXX, the Mc Senna, Regera.

Would be cool. The Valkyrie is on a whole 'nother level aerodynamically and chassis-wise, imo. They'd have to BOP it to oblivion to make the bricks and soap-bars more competitive.

[rscsr]

I'd like to see laptimes from the night stints from last year and 2016, Alonso was just as quick (or even quicker) during the night than the others during the day and i'd like to know how it looked in previous races - because right now it looks like he brought them back into the race by clawing back 1:40min in 2.5h of running

It is really difficult to get full sets of laptimes...and it is hard to compare different years. We can compare 2017 and 2018 as the BoP and rules were not changed:
- The Q times were fairly similar. Only the stellar record lap last year was better. So the cars had more or less the same pace. Usually they would be 2-3sec faster, but as there was no competition Toyota just made the cars bulletproof without loosing pace.
- Last year had more crashes, this year the long track repair, Safety Car time was comparable in the end. #2 Porsche plus 19 laps repair time did a similar number of laps like the Toyotas this year. The Porsche were cruising at some points last year with 3:30 laptimes when the Toyotas were out.
- Last year the #2 Porsche was catching the LMP2 with 3:19 to 3:20 laps by driving to a save delta as Porsche did not want to risk another problem. So the Alonso stint during the night was also endurance racing...driving to a save delta.

All the lap times are available here at hour 24 -> analysis by lap. For every race since 2011.

[GrayGreat]

I'd like to see laptimes from the night stints from last year and 2016, Alonso was just as quick (or even quicker) during the night than the others during the day and i'd like to know how it looked in previous races - because right now it looks like he brought them back into the race by clawing back 1:40min in 2.5h of running

It is really difficult to get full sets of laptimes...and it is hard to compare different years. We can compare 2017 and 2018 as the BoP and rules were not changed:
- The Q times were fairly similar. Only the stellar record lap last year was better. So the cars had more or less the same pace. Usually they would be 2-3sec faster, but as there was no competition Toyota just made the cars bulletproof without loosing pace.
- Last year had more crashes, this year the long track repair, Safety Car time was comparable in the end. #2 Porsche plus 19 laps repair time did a similar number of laps like the Toyotas this year. The Porsche were cruising at some points last year with 3:30 laptimes when the Toyotas were out.
- Last year the #2 Porsche was catching the LMP2 with 3:19 to 3:20 laps by driving to a save delta as Porsche did not want to risk another problem. So the Alonso stint during the night was also endurance racing...driving to a save delta.

All the lap times are available here at hour 24 -> analysis by lap. For every race since 2011.

Car #8 was 2m20sec behind car #7 on lap 169 and pitted on lap 170. I think that is when Alonso started driving in the night. From lap 170 you can see the gap coming down by 3-4 seconds per lap, and relative times of both car #7 and #8.

Alonso was consistently doing 3:20s and 3:21s, occasionally going above to 3:22s or 23s and some laps in 3:19s as well, and it was in the night, which is pretty good considering that at the start of the race, when both cars were really pushing, in the day-light, they were doing 3:19s and 20s apart from very few laps where they did 3:18s and a 3:17 lap in between.

[Fulcrum]

Completely unrelated to anything currently being discussed in this thread at the moment.

What sort of lap time would a current-gen F1 car do around this circuit? The layout reminds me a lot of Hockenheim (the old one), just a double-length lap. Something in the 3 minute to 3:10 range?

In addition, I know this would be antithetical to the DNA of F1 but, given the engines and other components are so reliable, why not add F1 to the mix? I'd love to see F1 cars attempt an endurance event.

They'd have to introduce headlights to an F1 car, or go the Singapore route (too expensive), but it would be an interesting change, and I'd be interested to learn what they'd need to do to make a reasonable attempt of it (with respect to reliability, gearing, etc...).

[graham.reeds]

F1 car at Le Mans:

The engines are compatible with the rules.

If you look at the old open top cars (Audi R8 and R10 for example) then you can see they are Siamese F1 joined at the tub. So for headlights you could do that with the lights mounted in the nose.

[graham.reeds]

Definition of irony: The only time you have a flawless run is when there is no-one to compete against.

[graham.reeds]

Alonso was consistently doing 3:20s and 3:21s, occasionally going above to 3:22s or 23s and some laps in 3:19s as well, and it was in the night, which is pretty good considering that at the start of the race, when both cars were really pushing, in the day-light, they were doing 3:19s and 20s apart from very few laps where they did 3:18s and a 3:17 lap in between.

On Eurosport they had a segment with Tom Christensen called Driver Training where he analysed the driving from the previous two hours. Early on Sunday he brought up Alonso team mates. Alonso had the slowest fastest lap but the fastest average lap of his team mates.

[santos]

BOP is a lie. It's like they choose who is going to win. Next year, the winner will be the Corvettes.