For those that are interested: http://www.lemans.org/accueil/index_gb.html or radio lemans - live web stream http://www.radiolemans.com/ There are 4 x 430GT's running in LMGT2 Obligatory Ferrari content: When was the last time a Ferrari won Le Mans outright? What car, who was the driver, S/no of the car
There are actually 5 F430 GTCs. http://mariantic.co.uk/lmp/lemans07.asp Last victory for Ferrari in any class was in LMP1 in 1998. Last overall victory for Ferrari was in 1965. Jochen Rindt Masten Gregory Ed Hugus Ferrari 250 LM North American Racing Team http://wsrp.ic.cz/wsc1965.html
I would. I'm glad Speed TV even shows this stuff. I wish I could watch the 1,000 km of Spa. http://www.lmes.net/2007/uk/index.asp
What about the class victory in 2003 by the Prodrive 550 GTS, driven by -I believe- Peter Kox, Jamie Davis and Tomas Enge?
Le Mans starts up at 7am here. I'm recording the start and plan to watch the live coverage of night to day transition and then record the end Sunday morning and watch that inbetween watching qualifying and the USGP.
Are you sure about lmp1 victory in 98 ? I think last Ferrari victory in gt class was in 2003 with the 550 GTO by Prodrive.
I forgot about 2003. A 333 SP won LMP1 in 1998. My pick for P2 crashed. 01h06min: No.21 Bruichladdich Radical spun, suffering severe rear and front-end damage ( Tim Greaves at the wheel ) 01h28min: Retirement: No.21 Bruichladdich Radical - Car is not repairable on site according to Stuart Moseley http://www.teambruichladdichradical.com/ http://www.radicalmotorsport.com/news_folder/sr9_pre_laguna/index4.php
So my DVR didn't record the start like it was supposed to. I'm really disappointed. Hopefully there should still be some good action when I tune in live, and I hope it doesn't screw up again tomorrow with the F1 race.
Run, run, dear legend!!! Ed Hughus was never officially recognised as having driven the NART 250LM, and I personally don't buy it!! It seems that this is a story Hughus fabricated without any proof. Unfortunately the protagonists are all dead now (Rindt, Gregory, Luigi Chinetti) and cannot be questionned. I used to attend Le Mans at the time, (CD or Rene Bonnet pits) and I would be surprised if such a subterfuge would have been possible without being detected by the over-zealous ACO 'commissaires'. I mean, there was one for each car and they watched religiously everything going on!!! The team's mechanics were living in fear of them, so afraid to have a car disqualified for a peccadillo, and I doubt very much that you could substitude a driver with another one without being found out!! Hughus was maybe registred as reserve driver, but if he ever took the wheel for a few laps, as he claimed, Rindt or Gregory wouldn't have been allowed to resume driving duty for the rest of the race: that was the rule, then.
Adrian Newey 4th in class in the RBR F430GT!!! And finally an Aston gets a win in GT1, I love the Vette's but after last year it was the Aston's turn. Really wish Prodrive would bring those cars back to ALMS, missed seeing and hearing them at the race here in Houston.
Adrian was in the # 78 AF Corse Ferrari. I don't think GT1 has much of a future. It is great in FIA GT, but there are just two other series in Europe with a GT1 class (Le Mans Series and French GT). Belcar, a Belgium GT series, and Italian GT dropped the GT1 class for 2007.
Amen to that! I was pulling for AMR all the way, but also for Corvette Racing because I wanted a good GT1 scrap this year. IMHO Le Mans had the USGP beat hands down! I personally don't think GT1 is in trouble. AMR will probably be back in the ALMS soon, hopefully along with a Saleen or two and maybe even a Murcielago showing up. Who knows? If I were Risi I'd start toying around with the idea of throwing in a 599 or two just to get Ferrari in the GT1 fray. I'd also like to see Ferrari get back into LMP1 as well, or maybe even LMP2 so that could take it to Porche in that class too. The class numbers may fluctuate, but I don't think you can count any of them out. Gary
I thought the Rindt/Gregory car was a NART 275LM...I actually just happened to have the September 1965 Sports Car Graphic on my desk, and at least that's what they reported. Amazing that it covered 2,906 miles way back then...didn't this years distance come in at about 3,350 miles? Also amazing the pictures and how beautiful those sports cars of the day were - a six-cylinder Porsche 904 was 4th overall, and Graham Hill took 10th overall in a Rover/BRM Turbine prototype. The Ford GT's mostly all fell out with gearbox trouble, but would soon have their revenge!
GT1 is only trouble in the ALMS, where the Vette's being America's sportscar are saving it. But lack of competition is going to be the downfall of it. ALMS needs to get a car count in GT1. As cool as it would be having a Murci, with the only entrant in the 24 being the Japan Owners Club car, I doubt that's a possibilty BUT, if like you said Risi were thinking of introducing a 599 (Does Ferrari currently offer that car in racing version?) or perhaps a 575GTC into GT1. How cool would it be to have those two, Lambo and Ferrari dueling it out, along with the Vette's, Aston's and a Saleen or two. One can only hope I guess. I also second whole heartedly (sp?) the 24, over the USGP, although I watched all of Speed's coverage of both events, I found myself way more drawn to Le Mans, and often wondering when there was not TV coverage, what, if any turn of events that Le Mans is known for I might be missing. I love F1 but am a sports car racing fanatic at heart.
When Speed wasn't covering Le Mans I was filling the gap by listening to the Radio Le Mans coverage over the internet. Their coverage was very thorough and very entertaining. I got so wrapped up in the Radio Le Mans coverage that I ended up using them for the audio when Speed started showing the race again later in the day. Big selling point were the stereo mics RLM had setup in the pit lane so you could hear the cars sweep by in full high fidelity. I got rather addicted to it and had the audio running through my Klipsch speakers at high volume. Magnificent! Listening to all those high revving sportscars zooming by, in the middle of which was the unmistakable sound of the V8 in the Corvette C6 growling through. I think I'll probably run the same setup for next years Le Mans race.
The car was officially called 250 LM. Ferrari intended to replace the 250 GTO with this car to win back the Constructors Championship run in GT category, but was foiled by the FIA. The rules allowed a change of body, but the LM had the engine at the back, instead of the front, so had obviously a different chassis too. The FIA refused to homologate it as a GT, and Ferrari increased the capacity to bring it to 3300cc (hence 275) to sell it as 'competition-client' prototype. About 33 Ferrari 250 LM were produced and they were never entered by the Scuderia. They finished their career in the Sports category. Sometimes, journalists called them 275 LM or 250/275 LM. As for the distance achieved at the time, the circuit didn't have the 2 chicanes on the Hunnaudieres Straight, that were about 3.5 mile long - flat out!. The Ford, Porsche and Dunlop chicanes didn't exist either! Le Mans was a very fast track at the time!!
OK - so it was 3.3 liters like I thought, but just CALLED a 250LM. The factory entered three P2 prototypes with dual-cam heads and a Dino 1600. They let a couple of private P2 entries have the older single cam engines - and so they must have thought they factory cars had all their customer cars out foxed! So great to see a lowly private near-road-going and near-obsolete car have it's swan song over the mighty factory Ferraris and Fords of the day. Only 14 cars finished that year, with 37 reported DNFs. I kind of wish they had not done those chicanes - the Fords were pulling 205mph way back then and nobody seemed to care until the Porsche 917s came along...but I guess you can't go back in time. James
Aston Martin particpation still in doubt, Le Mans interviews show no ALMS commitment - http://mariantic.co.uk/lmp/ALMS07.asp I emailed Risi whether or not the 599 will race in GT1 and they said there are no plans for it to race. The owner of Acemco Motorsports spent around $5 million in 2005.
