^^^thanks Barton.
Nice race overview!! Returning Porsche poised to shake up Le Mans says Allan McNish By Allan McNish BBC F1 analyst and three-time Le Mans winner The Le Mans 24 Hours stands with the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 as one of motorsport's defining events - and this year's edition of the endurance classic is more enticing than it has been for some time. To win Le Mans these days, you have to beat Audi, a team who have won 12 of the last 15 races. But at this year's race, which takes place on Saturday and Sunday, they face arguably their toughest fight against two very strong opponents: Porsche and Toyota. Having had a long and successful history at Le Mans, Porsche are returning for the first time in 16 years. The German team have come back to endurance racing in a very aggressive manner, signing nine-time grand prix winner Mark Webber, who quit Formula 1 last year with the aim of winning Le Mans with Porsche. Since Porsche have been away, Audi have made Le Mans their own. Yet their run of victories has come against strong opposition; Peugeot from 2007-11 and Toyota in more recently. Porsche are back in the LMP1 category at Le Mans for the first time in 16 years This is Toyota's third season back in endurance racing since quitting at the end of 1999 to concentrate on F1. The car had the speed and capability to win back then, as it did last year, but victory eluded them. Having driven for all three companies, I have a personal interest in this battle. I won for Porsche the last time they were at Le Mans, in 1998. I have since won there twice for Audi, where I spent most of my latter career. But I also raced for Toyota there in 1999. What makes this all so exciting is that each team have something to prove. Toyota have to show they can win the Holy Grail of Le Mans. It's a huge thing for them. They want that victory badly. Audi are building on a record that is unsurpassed in the modern era, but each time you come back as a champion you have to prove yourself again. Porsche want to come back with a bang, and prove they can be winners, even after all this time. The on- and off-track fight There are four classes of car in the race, and 56 cars take part in total, but the outright victory is disputed by the top-class 'sports-prototypes', otherwise known as LMP1 (Le Mans Prototype One) cars. For them, the average lap speed is 150mph, the top speed on the famous Mulsanne Straight is more than 210mph, and the cars are doing the equivalent of 17 grands prix in 24 hours. Within that time, if you are in the pits for any reason other than fuel and tyres, then you are probably not going to win. It is effectively a 24-hour sprint race for cars of an F1 level of performance, with F1-standard drivers. As well as Webber, ex-F1 drivers Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Alexander Wurz are driving for Toyota. And the field is peppered with other former grand prix drivers, such as Giancarlo Fisichella, Nick Heidfeld, Bruno Senna, Lucas Di Grassi, Jan Magnussen and Marc Gene. All of the drivers in the leading cars are out of that mould - extremely fast and aggressive. And Audi have Mr Le Mans, my old team-mate Tom Kristensen, who has won the race a record nine times. The cars are about 200kg heavier than F1 because of regulations, but have significantly more downforce. As it is not an open-tyre formula, tyre performance is much better than in F1. One set of tyres runs for three hours, and the lap times stay incredibly consistent over that period. Audi have won 12 of the last 15 Le Mans races One fascinating aspect of this tyre war is that Michelin - which supplies all the top cars - has an 'intermediate' tyre, for damp conditions, which has no grooves on it. It looks like a slick, but can run in damp conditions. I can tell you from experience that it really messes with your mind when you see it going on the car for the first time. But it works really well. Given all that, it is no surprise that the racing is normally incredibly close and intense. The 2011 race, between Audi and Peugeot, was decided by little more than 13 seconds. That was the equivalent of 0.1secs a lap, over 24 hours. In 2012, the front two cars were separated by about 20 seconds for 23 hours before one of them ran into trouble. And last year, the average gap was 30 seconds up to a similar stage of the race. There is every reason to believe Le Mans will be just as close this year, judging by the two World Endurance Championship races that have been held this season, in Silverstone and Spa. Toyota appeared to have an advantage at the official Le Mans test at the beginning of June, but I know that none of the teams will have shown all their cards there. The technology Le Mans has a very open rule book and Audi, Porsche and Toyota have all approached it in different ways. Like F1, sports car design focuses on energy recovery, but within much wider boundaries. There are stipulations to try to balance performance - such as if you have a bigger engine, you have to have a smaller hybrid system, and vice versa; and there is a maximum engine capacity. But ultimately it is up to the manufacturer to decide whether to go for diesel or petrol, turbo or naturally aspirated, and how large to make the car's hybrid capacity. Mark Webber is spearheading Porsche's Le Mans challenge after retiring from Formula 1 at the end of 2013 So Audi have a turbo diesel engine with a hybrid that can produce two megajoules (mJ) of energy per lap that runs off the front axle, stores energy in a flywheel and then boosts it through the front axle when the engine is powering the rear wheels. So it's effectively a four-wheel-drive system on corner exit. Toyota and Porsche both have 6mJ capacity hybrids, but are very different beyond that. Porsche have gone with a very small turbo petrol engine, also with a front-axle hybrid, but theirs stores energy in a battery. In addition they have an energy-recovery system attached to their turbo, similar to those used in F1. Toyota have chosen a naturally-aspirated engine that uses a super-capacitor to store the energy, which recuperates and boosts only through the rear wheels. The regulators control engine performance by maximum fuel flow and fuel-tank capacity - as in F1. But at Le Mans, the limits are different for each engine, and at the moment Audi are struggling both for power and fuel range from the regulations compared to the petrol cars, which have a 25% bigger tank capacity. The wonder of Le Mans Le Mans really is a race like no other, and that's what explains its enduring appeal. Scrutineering - where officials check the cars - takes place in the centre of town, not at the track, and huge crowds turn up to meet the drivers. Qualifying is on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, leaving Friday night free for the driver parade through the town in historic cars, a traditional meeting point for the masses of fans preparing for the race. And the track teems with atmosphere. There is a fairground, which includes a big wheel with a great view of the circuit's Porsche Curves, especially at night. In the car, you smell the sausages on the barbecue as you go down the Esses after the Dunlop chicane. Le Mans is a unique occasion for motorsport fans And the race has an open paddock, so fans mill around as drivers go off for their massages, food and so on. It is much more up close and personal than F1. The Sarthe circuit itself, which is partly on public roads, has hardly changed since the first race in 1923. Apart from a handful of other minor tweaks, only the chicanes on the 3.7-mile Mulsanne straight, introduced to slow down the cars for safety reasons in 1990, have altered its character. That gives it the special feel of a true old-school circuit, very different from the modern FIA-style tracks. It's so daunting to drive on, with the walls so close, and trees all around. For many fans, Le Mans is a pilgrimage. There will be 250,000 at the race and 70,000 of them are British, many of whom who go every year. I met a guy at the test day this year who has been going for 24 years. There is a social side of it, too. They all have their routines, where they like to stay, where they prefer to watch the race. In short, it's the hardest 24-hour race on the planet, with cutting-edge racing cars with excellent driver levels, a proving ground for the latest technologies and a race that throws up so many twists and turns. Le Mans is simply a unique occasion. --Allan McNish is a three-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours. He was talking to BBC Sport's Andrew Benson.-- BBC Sport - Returning Porsche poised to shake up Le Mans says Allan McNish
Toyota's braking system is under scrutiny Toyota brake legality challenged at Le Mans | Racecar Engineering
Happy to help. Marc has the advantage of living in France so perhaps word got out there before Audi's official press release came out. Do we know what the weather forecasts are for this weekend at La Sarthe? With yesterday's practice and qualifying ruined by numerous red flag situations, things are starting to resemble last year's debacle. At the very least, we all better hope for clear weather for the 24 Hours. BHW
Weather is looking pretty good...assuming it does not change. It has alot of time to do so! Le Mans Weekend Weather Forecast - weather.com
Behind the safety fence...not good.....thank god there were no corner workers or photogs sitting back there.
Incredible image. All we may wonder is how in the world did that happen? Either there was a catastrophic failure in the car or he was forced off line by a GT car and lost grip. BHW
Indeed. The 2012 Audi crash could've gone a lot more wrong. all those parts (including heavy wheels) flying around could easily have killed someone (especially that one bouncing wheel that got very close to taking a photog's head off). +1
For now I'd say the former...if he was forced offline we surely would have heard it by now? Audi would like to investigate what went wrong so they (and the FIA) knows whether the car is safe for the race or not. Thinking 1999 Mercedes CLR (or CLK GTR, I forget) lines here...Audi doesn't want to give up easy but they don't want their driver potentially killed by a component failure either.
Just heard that their car is completely rebuild already (!!). They still need to do mandatory night running though.
All we may think is that somehow the R18 got airborne and cart wheeled through the air landing in the catch fencing ass-first and then somehow landed on back on the track-side of the wall. If it was a suspension or component failure or a cut tire, the Audi engineers will be on it. For sure, it hasn't been a banner year for Audi so far. BHW
When I take pictures at the track I always assess the probability of a car reaching my current location and have some sort of escape plan. These days I don't get as close as I did in the late 90s when I was right on the wall for many NASCAR races but I still pay close attention. If I'm shooting right behind a concrete barrier like this one my plan would be to drop flat to the ground parallel to the barrier and let it take the impact as opposed to trying to run and getting showered with debris or impact from the car if it makes it over. If given a choice I'd much rather have stuff fall on me than have it hit at speed. I'm glad to see this driver gets to walk away. After watching Dan Wheldon at Vegas I've become much more conscious of just how dangerous racing is and my #1 hope for every race is that all the drivers get to go home to their families at the end of the day.
why? I love rain at LeMans. adds to the complexity of the race....the strategy gets really complex. and rain in the dark at LeMans is big boy stuff...
But the rain caused so many long caution periods last year, it's just what Le Mans doesn't need this year. They need clear running, no weather or any other complications otherwise it becomes another crash fest. BHW
"It always rains at Le Mans." -Opening line of "Truth in 24" Long caution periods suck though, especially since where I'm at evening there is afternoon here.
Exactly my point. Add rain and it will swiftly become Debacle II just at the time when sports car racing is re-entering a new golden age. They must have a good race with little to no cautions. If it becomes like last year, when the safety cars were on the track for such long periods that they were running out of gas, it won't be acceptable. BHW
