2009 Le Mans/LMS/ALMS Thread

Terrible3 said:
After three years of hard work it has paid off!
Click to expand...

I have a sneaking suspicion that Peugeot might have secretly hired a certain person as a secret consultant at the beginning of their Le Mans adventure. And it was that person that said that it takes three years from the debut race to the win.

I have a suspicion Peugeot might have been listening to Tom Walkinshaw. :lol:


EDIT: The charity #81 AF Corse/Seattle Advanced Engineering car with a certain actor behind the wheel actually finished... and, surprisingly, wasn't in last place!
 
Last edited:
Terrible3 said:
GT1 a lot of people are sad to see it go.... I am not. I was never into watching a car win race after race with no (real) competitors. I am happy they are moving down to GT2 where there are some real teams to race.
Click to expand...

GT1 was incredibly exciting when Team Corvette and Aston Martin were duking it out.
 
Topgearfanatic said:
Where exactly did that Ferrari have that hydraulic(?) problem? The Speed guys said something about a bridge over a creek and an old farmer in a white house who used to watch the race.
Click to expand...

Sounds like this place on the Mulsanne.
090614Zwischenablage03.jpg


There's a very lovely shot of it in Truth in 24, as a helicopter tracks an R10, but I have no idea at which time.
 
argatoga said:
GT1 was incredibly exciting when Team Corvette and Aston Martin were duking it out.
Click to expand...

I know in years past there has been awesome racing with the oreca, saleen and more recently the Aston. I make a lot of comments based on the ALMS where the two factory vetts ran against no one in their class.

To make for better racing it would be nice to see only two classes run at le mans, GT and LMP. Forcing the teams into a single lmp outfit would be hard as the engine displacement would not suit several manufactures. It would be very hard to have a 2L turbo mazda racing against a 6L Aston and a 5.5L TDi audi.
 
Last edited:
vikiradTG2007 said:
EDIT: The charity #81 AF Corse/Seattle Advanced Engineering car with a certain actor behind the wheel actually finished... and, surprisingly, wasn't in last place!
Click to expand...


Why would they have been last place? The guy can race, and the other two on the team are seasoned racers and they had a solid race team helping them.

They weren't the fastest, but they stayed out of trouble, kept good pace and those are huge keys in a 24 hour race.

Hope everybody enjoyed the Audi / 'geot fight. Rumors are already starting that Audi's going to pull out of LMP1.
 
Last edited:
There is no way they'll pull out after just having made the R15. They need to get to know the car, then it'll blow the Pugs away...
 
I think the issue with the R15 is what Peugeot had in the early 1990s with the 905 Evo2... which is this thing:

1992%20905evo2.jpg


Another mega-downforce-generating monster. It's got too much DF for its own good, and because of that, the set-up sweetspot is very hard to pinpoint and hit.

This year at Le Mans, because of the lack of testing at the track, Audi most likely missed that sweetspot, but they also had a number of niggling issues with the steering, suspension elements and with overheating. Recap: Steering issues forced Alex Premat off the track on lap 3, something in the rear end (probably a suspension issue) sent Lucas Luhr into the wall on lap 105, and overheating combined with electric issues and rear end issues kept Dindo Capello in the pits for about 20 minutes.
 
THE REAL STIG said:
There is no way they'll pull out after just having made the R15. They need to get to know the car, then it'll blow the Pugs away...
Click to expand...

Exactly. I cant see Audi pulling the plug having redesigned a whole new chassis and engine. If there would be a team to come back and revenge defeat at le mans it would be them. On the other hand there are rumors of a porsche lmp1 in the works. I am still waiting to hear the word on Panoz having a new P1 also.... perhaps to help save the ALMS.
 
THE REAL STIG said:
There is no way they'll pull out after just having made the R15. They need to get to know the car, then it'll blow the Pugs away...
Click to expand...

It's their M.O. in any race series they've entered. When they don't have anything left to prove, they leave when the competition finally catches up.

Doesn't matter that they just made the R15. They chose not to run anything other than Sebring in a cost cutting move, and that cost them LeMans. The board hasn't committed to anything for next year and if the ACO starts gimping the diesels even more (which they already have said they will), Audi will be forced to spend more developement money to be competitive under those new rules.

Either they ante up for a full run starting with the last half of this year or they leave and say, "We dominated LMP1 for a decade, let's do something else with our money".
 
Last edited:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGSuBjbw-dE[/YOUTUBE]

Commentary is in French, but you get to see the finish in HD, complete with donuts and burnout!

(Btw someone mentioned a few pages back about someone from Corvette crying after the finish - I couldn't find it LOL)
 
Must make it my mission to find that video. I don't remember seeing it in the one I posted above.
 
The Corvette doing a burnout across the line was one of the best endings to a Le mans I've seen.

Super glad to see the Spyker made it into fifth, not just because it's a lovely looking car but really because the Dutch fans are always so brilliant a Le Mans every year.

Any news on how the driver of the crashed Peugeot is?
 
Last edited:
I'm being very careful to not read the posts here, but I just want to say that I'm in the first couple hours now and every time I watch the Corvette guys make a pit stop I get a little bit homo-erotic.

I hope that doesn't disturb too many people.

Seriously though those guys are freaking awesome.

*Goes back to staying away from the internet for 24 hours*
 
MadCat360 said:
I'm being very careful to not read the posts here, but I just want to say that I'm in the first couple hours now and every time I watch the Corvette guys make a pit stop I get a little bit homo-erotic.

I hope that doesn't disturb too many people.

Seriously though those guys are freaking awesome.

*Goes back to staying away from the internet for 24 hours*
Click to expand...

Are you sure you've taken your meds this morning?

Well done to Aston Martin/Lola in LMP1 though. 4th is damn good.
 
Last edited:
Well done to all the victors!

I'm really starting to fall in love with endurance racing ohh how amazing would it be if we had BMW/Renault/Ferrari/Mercedes/Audi/Aston and a few others fighting it out!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top