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Motorspot chat - No dull F1 though

Sidewaysbob

By Sidewaysbob
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marsh

marsh

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Same again this year then? I know there's some control in Blancpain with the same BOP thesis as the WEC, but at least you know a faster car can get past. LMP needs to be knocked on the head I think, just turn up the wick on the sportscars, make them a little less real world, but retain the basic shape.

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marsh

marsh

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True, however I think there's a far greater number of people with the kind of money required to make a limited number of road legal versions that you could easily sell off to mugs....

 

Until it all goes tits up again.

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Sidewaysbob

Sidewaysbob

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I think Le Mans is going to be great this year. Rebellion are a Knats left tactical behind the Toyotas. LMP2 is going to be a straight out slug fest between 6 teams. Ford have got Porsche in their amazing livery cars to fight race long..

 

the only dark spot is the new Aston Martins being utterly shit :(

 

 

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Dudley

Dudley

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23 hours ago, marsh said:

Ah, straight out of the ford GT playbook. Le mans should be interesting this year, Button could easily sneak a class win.

 

I assume you're still considering LMP1-L a class then?

 

5 minutes ago, Sidewaysbob said:

I think Le Mans is going to be great this year. Rebellion are a Knats left tactical behind the Toyotas.

 

 

Don't be fooled, the Toyotas will get an extra lap per tank.

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wev

wev

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3 hours ago, marsh said:

Yes we do and no the bikes are definitely worse imo. First year I've not really caught much of the TT highlights, I aim to rectify that tonight.

 

Anecdotally and this was based on 90s riders going round Donnington and Mallory but used to hear comments from riders my Dad knew that they'd never get on a sidecar (I've said elsewhere on here that he built one in the 80s, he used to take it on test laps around the local industrial estate).

 

Anyway, just watching Saturdays TT Superbike, Josh Brooks' Norton is utterly gorgeous.

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Sidewaysbob

Sidewaysbob

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1 hour ago, Dudley said:

 

Don't be fooled, the Toyotas will get an extra lap per tank.

 

Yes they can go further on a tank, are faster and can fill up faster. The game is weighted in their favour.

However, the advantage amounts to maybe 4-6 laps over 24 hours. That's if they have a perfect run at full chat. And those rebellions are faster than the Toyota in the twisty bits.

Last year DC racing had a real shot at a win, they made the podium on pure merit because both Porsche and Toyota had problems. Even in Spa this year, Toyota dropped the ball before a wheel had been turned and had one car start a lap down. (ok sure it came back to second in 6 hours, rather easily) Toyota are not Joest racing. They do not have that killer attention to detail that the Audi squads had. The car isn't bullet proof and is very fragile whenever it gets to a French bit of tarmac.

 

AND

 

Rebellion have 3 cars, are hungry to prove a point and know how to win. Its not all over before it begins this year.

 

;)

 

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Dudley

Dudley

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Some other LeMans curios while we're here.

 

In LMP1 we've got those 2 Toyotas, 2 Rebellions, 2 Ginettas (Run by Manor but entered as CEFC TRSM) and 3 BR Engineering BR1s, 2 run by SMP Racing, 1 by Dragonspeed.  The Dragonspeed example is interesting because rather than use the AER engine used by the SMP cars it uses the same Gibson unit that Rebellion do.

 

In LMP2 we have Ligier, Oreca, Dallara and Alpine chassis.   The Alpine though is just a rebadged Oreca, it's run by Signatech Alpine Matmut. (#36). If it, an Oreca and a Dallara are the podium and a commentator remarks on there being 3 manufacturers on the podium, the sound you hear will be my screams.

 

In LMP2 the Orecas will probably still be favourites as they were last year, the best of them will probably again be the Jackie Chan DC Racing examples.

 

Watch out though because DC racing have 4 cars, their 2 Orecas from the WEC but also their 2 Ligiers from the Asian series. The 2 Orecas are run with the assistance of JOTA Sport and the 2 Ligiers with Oak Racing, who are the manufacturers of the car.

 

There are 2 G-Drive cars but G-Drive isn't a team, they contract others to run the cars.  If you watched Spa, you saw the #26 run by TDS Racing (who also have the #28) but there's also the #40, run by Graff, who also have the #39.  Yes,  the two G-Drive cars aren't teammates but both have teammates.  Figure that out.

 

Also in LMP2 is the Racing Team Nederland Dallara (#29).  If you were a Minardi fan follow these guys.  Team owner and driver Frits Van Eerd is a mate of Giancarlo Minardis and the team logo is inspired by the old Minardi one.  Frits also holds the honour of being the old man to win a competitive motor race in a Minardi, winning a round of the historic BOSS series a year or so back. 

 

2 of the LMP1 teams also have LMP2 cars.  Dragonspeed are running an Oreca and SMP Racing a Dallara.

 

And finally in LMP2, watch for McLaren chief Zak Brown's team United Autosport (#22/#32 Ligier), these are the guys who ran Alonso at Daytona.  They've got an F1 guy in the car again here, in the shape of Juan Pablo Montoya (#32)

 

GTE Pro is all manufacturer backed teams from Ferrari, Chevrolet, Ford, BMW, Porsche and Aston Martin.

 

Both Ford and Porsche have 4 cars, 2 each from WEC and the American IMSA series.  While all 4 of the Fords are run by Chip Ganassi, the Porsches are split between Manthey and CORE Autosport.

 

You'll be able to tell those last 2 apart, the 2 Manthey cars are in retro liveries, the 91 is a Rothmans tribute and the 92 one for the famous "Ping Pig"

 

m18_2023_fine.thumb.jpg.6c9dd2838bd54b193ba2aefaf0dd5d1c.jpg

 

The 2 Core ones (93 and 94) are in their standard dress.

 

GTE Pro also has the only car in the race that isn't running in a championship, the number 52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.

 

In GTE Pro there are 2 new cars this year, that Ferrari Evo and the new Aston Martin Vantage.

 

GTE Am requires all the cars to be a year old, so you'll see the older 488 and the classic Vantage, the oldest car in the race having first appeared in 2012. There will also be a few of the same Porsche in GTE Pro but in a slightly older spec.

 

Somehow in a field of 180 drivers we only have 1 woman but it's a good one. Christina Nielsen, 2 time IMSA champion who I mentioned up thread is in the Ebimotors Porsche in GTE Am.

 

Celebrity team owners : Ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Fabian Barthez owns Panis Barthez Competition running the #23 Ligier in LMP2.

 

Jackie Chan as mentioned is involved with DC Racing and former Dr Dreamy Patrick Dempsey co-owns 2 of Proton's 3 GT Am Porsches (#77/#88). The remaining Proton car is the #99. The #99 contains Spencer Pumpelly, who I used to post on the old granturismo.com forum with back in 1998, so I'll always cheer for him.

 

Ex-F1 Drivers LMP1 : Bruno Senna (#1 Rebellion), Kamui Kobayashi (#7 Toyota), Seb Buemi, Kaz Nakajima and Alonso (#8 Toyota), Jenson Button and Vitaly Petrov (#11 BR1), Stephane Sarrazin (#17 BR1)

 

LMP2 : Paul Di Resta (#22 Ligier), Will Stevens (#23 Ligier), Jean-Eric Vergne (#26 OReca), Jan Lammers and Giedo van der garde (#29 Dallara), Pastor Maldonado (#31 Oreca), Montoya (#32 Ligier), Felipe Nasr (#47 Oreca)

 

GTE Pro : Antonio Giovinazzi (#52 Ferrari), Jan Magnussen (#63 Corvette), Sebastien Bourdais (#68 Ford), Gianmaria Bruni (#91 Porsche)

 

GTE Am : Giancarlo Fisichella (#54 Ferrari). Pedro Lamy (#98 Aston Martin)

 

Well that got long winded but hopefully it'll give you some background things to look out for during the race. I highly recommend grabbing a spotters guide from http://www.spotterguides.com/portfolio/18_lm/ after the 8th.

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marsh

marsh

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The thing of interest there is who agreed to the changes, Ford, Ferrari, Toyota, McLaren and Aston. Expect batshit mental road going prototypes from all of them in the next three years, go and watch a race in 2022 before it all goes to shit citing 'cost' as the sole reason.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Qazimod

Qazimod

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10 minutes ago, dino_jr said:

Where can I watch lemans24hr? Don’t have Eurosport... :mellow:

 

I imagine some people may be streaming Eurosport coverage in places, if you try searching on Youtube and filtering on live feeds. Although you may have to deal with their voiceover too...

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JPR

JPR

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30 minutes ago, dino_jr said:

Where can I watch lemans24hr? Don’t have Eurosport... :mellow:

 

Quest, channel 37 on Freeview has the first hour, an hour at 10pm then the finish starting at 10am tomorrow.

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Dudley

Dudley

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I'm using the WEC one.

 

So remember everyone.

 

The 2 G-Drive cars aren't teammates but both have teammates.

Jackie Chan/DC Racing have 2 Orecas that are run by JOTA and 2 Ligiers by Oak but aren't technically related.

 

Oh and the 2 Weathertech Ferraris also aren't teammates.

 

Get you a spotter's guide.

 

http://www.spotterguides.com/portfolio/18_lm/

 

Also despite being different teams on the entry sheet, 51,52,71, 54 and 70 are all teammate Ferraris.

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Dudley

Dudley

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Oh yeah a further reminder that the 2 "Retro" 911s are not teammates of the 2 "Normal" 911s, despite all 4 being factory backed.  The 91,92 are being run by the World squad and 93,94 by the team that runs them in America.

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Dudley

Dudley

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That #37 is probably not the lead of the 4 Jackie Chan cars.

 

The #34 is easily their best driver line up but it'll be handicapped by being a Ligier not an Oreca.

 

Their best chance is probably #38, their 2nd Oreca.

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