[LM24] Le Mans Track Changes (Not Safety Issues!)

[PascaLM]

Originally Posted by GTfour

All I hear of the ACO is safety this,safety that ...Will they ever do something with the spectators in mind? Like building proper new grandstands in sted of these oversized partytents which are windy as hell and hardly stop any rain...and maybe stop increasing the prices by 15% every year! That's one reason I don't believe that the works at the sacred Tertre rouge corner is stopped for now...lack of money? Yeah right. Let's see,amount of spectators times 60 euro's...that's,say 225.000x 60= 13.500.000 euro's,add to that all the grandstandtickets and all the campsite and parkingtickets...oh,and ofcourse the very lucrative TV footage and startersfee's. Before you know it,it adds up to an astronomical number! Of which I think hardly all is being put back in the 24 hours for cars...
Were there are a lot of burocrats at play,money dissapears without anyone nowing were it's gonne.

The ACO could take some lessons from the ALMS. That series really takes the fans in account.

Your digression seems artless to me. You forget at least all the taxes (huge in France), all salaries, running costs... then you nearly land on your feet.

[GTfour]

Sorry PascaLM mate,I'm not convinced. The ACO is a very rich organisation. There are many examples to show how this is being generated too. Take the building of the new "village" for instance or the prices of food and drink on the track.

[Aysedasi]

Thread resurrection time - found this on the ACO site - quite interesting (although most of us know what is in it ). Might be interesting for relative newbies. Count the number of references to 'bikes'........

http://www.lemans.org/wpphpFichiers/..._traces_gb.pdf

[isynge]

Thanks for the resurrection, good home for I imagine quite a few discussions.

One area I'm a little unconvinced by is the renaming of the PlayStation chicane to Forza Motorsport - understand absolutely that this is a financial consideration, but somehow I figure corners should be more 'permanently' named, even if it stems initially from a sponsor's name.

[Aysedasi]

I agree. Let's change the Parabolica to the XBox U-Bend..........

[Le Vieux]

Originally Posted by isynge

Thanks for the resurrection, good home for I imagine quite a few discussions.

One area I'm a little unconvinced by is the renaming of the PlayStation chicane to Forza Motorsport - understand absolutely that this is a financial consideration, but somehow I figure corners should be more 'permanently' named, even if it stems initially from a sponsor's name.

Surely this is no different to the re-naming of football stadia - as long as the money persists, the name persists. New money, new name.

Those with longer memories may like the idea of the Jean-Marie Balestre Memorial Chicane?

[Aysedasi]

No, I shan't be voting for that one. The JMB Memorial Lets Do Our Best To Destroy Sportscar Racing Virage maybe......

[Le Vieux]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

No, I shan't be voting for that one. The JMB Memorial Lets Do Our Best To Destroy Sportscar Racing Virage maybe......

[Simmi]

What was it known as before the Playstation Chicane though? Just the first chicane on the Mulsanne?

Will be interesting to see how many times the RLM boys mention the new name given their SimRaceWay tie up.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Le Vieux

Surely this is no different to the re-naming of football stadia - as long as the money persists, the name persists. New money, new name.

Those with longer memories may like the idea of the Jean-Marie Balestre Memorial Chicane?

Pretty sure I don't like the renaming of football stadia either.

Do Ford and Porsche contribute towards the naming of their respective virages at Le Mans? I suspect not - and that it's a reflection of the overall long term contribution to the sport they've made, and I'd almost argue that over the last ten or so years, the contribution that Sony have made through sponsorship and the overall Gran Turismo effect might almost warrant it being "Virage PlayStation", no matter what company branding is emblazoned all over it.

Granted I have to accept that this is very much an unrealistic and idealistic viewpoint, but doesn't mean I have to be delighted about chopping and changing names.

[GT6]

What happens when they get someone that wants to rename arnarge and the mulsanne, bentley would be very unhappy and the people in the villages might not be very happy either

[Aysedasi]

They won't rename those Simon, Bentley named the cars after the places, not the other way around.......

[GT6]

Are you sure?, I thought he was younger than us, still with all the work he has done on the pit visits he should have some reward.

[Aysedasi]

Nice one!

[Le Vieux]

I guess if they rename Mulsanne and Arnage corners, they'll have to rename the villages too.....

Possibly, the view we take on these names depends on how long they've been known by the original names. The Porsche Curves and Ford Chicanes were called that immediately after they were introduced - we've never called them anything else, whereas the chicanes weren't initially named at all IIRC, as Simmi suggests.

I was at Brands Hatch yesterday for the AMOC meeting and I still can't get used to Graham Hill Bend or the Brabham Straight. It's Bottom Bend and the Bottom Straight!

But then I'm old...

[Aysedasi]

I keep thinking about those Mulsanne Straight chicanes - I just have a vague recollection that they did have other names before Playstation and whatever......

[Aysedasi]

I was right.

The first right-hander is called L'Arche

The second left-hander is called La Florandiere

[Simmi]

Just thinking out loud. As a sponsor, can you actually give money to name a bit of what is ultimately public road? Say Arnage for example.

I suppose the chicanes on the Mulsanne aren't technically public roads.

[Aysedasi]

And Arnage is a village - from which the corner takes it's name...... I don't think it's gonna get renamed any time soon.........

[vincegail]

And imagine driving a "Bentley Coca-Cola" instead of a "Bentley Arnage"

[Le Vieux]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

I was right.

The first right-hander is called L'Arche

The second left-hander is called La Florandiere

Perhaps it says something about the power of advertising that we're discussing the Play Station Chicane, but I don't recall anyone ever discussing L'Arche or La Florandiere.

The fact that I didn't recall the names till you mentioned them says it all......on the other hand, I don't own a Play Station!

[Truckosaurus]

Also, us Anglophones always discuss the "Mulsanne Straight" rather than the Ligne droit de hunaudieres. So the official names have little chance of catching on.

Perhaps RLM could raise extra funds by renaming corners with English names in their own commentaries, I am willing to pay £10 to sponsor/rename Tertre Rouge as "Truckosaurus Turn".

[vincegail]

Originally Posted by Truckosaurus

Perhaps RLM could raise extra funds by renaming corners with English names in their own commentaries, I am willing to pay £10 to sponsor/rename Tertre Rouge as "Truckosaurus Turn".

[AstonGeoff]

Originally Posted by Truckosaurus

Also, us Anglophones always discuss the "Mulsanne Straight" rather than the Ligne droit de hunaudieres. So the official names have little chance of catching on.

Perhaps RLM could raise extra funds by renaming corners with English names in their own commentaries, I am willing to pay £10 to sponsor/rename Tertre Rouge as "Truckosaurus Turn".

I'm willing to pay £15 for it not to be renamed Truckosaurus Turn, or anything else come to that.

[GT6]

May be we could have a collection and get it renamed ten-tenths corner