24h of Le Mans is on TV this weekend

[BruceK]

FYI- The postponed (from June) Le Mans race is on TV right now on the Motor Trend channel.

[MiniDave]

Watching it now, light is starting to fade in France.....track lights are on.

I wonder how fast they could hit on the Mulsanne without the kinks?

[BruceK]

I wonder how fast they could hit on the Mulsanne without the kinks?

Fast enough to lift off into low orbit? 

[MiniDave]

Interesting comment by the announcers about the 1955 race where the Mercedes plunged into the crowd - they didn't stop the race because they didn't want the roads to get clogged by spectators leaving the track, so the emergency vehicles could get in and out to the hospitals in the surrounding towns.

Track has now been declared "wet", but I don't see the shiny surface, and the cars aren't throwing up rooster tails of spray.

[BruceK]

Interesting comment by the announcers about the 1955 race where the Mercedes plunged into the crowd - they didn't stop the race because they didn't want the roads to get clogged by spectators leaving the track, so the emergency vehicles could get in and out to the hospitals in the surrounding towns.

Yeah, I heard that too and was very surprised. I'm wondering if that is a bit of "revisionist history" where they take past events and put a different modern spin on them.  As we know, 65 years ago motorsport was regarded more as sort of a blood sport where it was commonly accepted that racing drivers would die.  It was just the way it was.  And of course it was very common up until just three or four decades ago for 3 or 4 Formula One drivers to die each season.  Obviously, spectator deaths weren't viewed the same way as those of the drivers, but I am skeptical of the "keep the roads clear" rationale the announcers provided today as being the reason the 1955 race was not stopped following the horrific accident. 

Of course post race, when the full extent of the terrible accident was known, it was shocking enough even in those times for Mercedes to stop racing entirely for many decades.

[MiniDave]

Good points.....

I'm surprised how narrow the garages are - either that or the cars are a lot wider!

Watching them change the front brake caliper on the Ferrari - I wonder if the brakes are pre-bled and connecting the line up means they don't have to bleed them? Kinda like modern A/C systems? I noticed the caliper was already over the rotor as a spare, and it looks like it's sorta clamped on somehow - maybe residual pressure in the line, pressing the pads against the rotor to hold it all in place till it gets bolted up?

13 hours to go and only 6 cars have retired out of 59.

[BruceK]

Those onboard, drivers's view shots at night - man what killer headlights these racecars have!!  They really light up the track almost like daylight. 

[jeff10049]

Good points.....

I'm surprised how narrow the garages are - either that or the cars are a lot wider!

Watching them change the front brake caliper on the Ferrari - I wonder if the brakes are pre-bled and connecting the line up means they don't have to bleed them? Kinda like modern A/C systems? I noticed the caliper was already over the rotor as a spare, and it looks like it's sorta clamped on somehow - maybe residual pressure in the line, pressing the pads against the rotor to hold it all in place till it gets bolted up?

13 hours to go and only 6 cars have retired out of 59.

I saw that as well I think it must be something like that. Some hydraulic clutch cars the parts come pre blead just hook up and go. 

[MiniDave]

Well, Toyota won again - as two of the 6 cars entered in their class they had a pretty good shot at it. The LMP2 class was far more popular as there were 18 entries there. Congrats to Aston Martin as they won both the classes they were entered in.....Ferraris had issues with shocks about half way thru and changing them was a fairly major event, costing them laps. Porsche was hindered by the rules changes that forced them to run restrictors on their intakes that really cut down on their top speed.

Next year it will get confusing again at the top as there will be two classes - "Hypercar and Daytona Prototypes", both classes being merged somehow so cars can race in either or both series and using a "Balance of Perfomance" rule, no idea how they will apply that - weight or restrictors. Also I haven't been able to find any info on what chassis or engines will be allowed, my understanding is that the current LMP2 chassis mfrs will be building the Hpercar chassis - either off the current LMP2 or a completely new one, and will use a spec Kers unit. The series will begin soon tho, so I hope they have it sorted so we can get a full field again. I understand Cadillac, Ford , Peugeot, Hyundai, Toyota, Aston Martin, Porsche, Ferrari and Lambo are all interested in running in the Hypercar series....but it will be hard to commit if they don't have the rules sorted out.

Reliability of these racecars in all classes has become impressive, along with the technology that lets them do massive repairs in very little time - most impressive of these were Audi, who when they had a failure of the engine, trans or turbo could swap out the entire back of the car and be back on the track in about 6 minutes. I think they've since outlawed this.....

[jeff10049]

How modified are the GTE cars? I know heavily but do they run the same engine as production? It's hard to keep up with the rules.

[MiniDave]

I believe it is a production engine, no idea how modified they can be....