’09 LMS Finale • Round 5 • Silverstone

[WMUCarGuy]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Wasnt that chassis rebuilt ..... then its not written off .

Rebuilt and badged HU01S as the damage was extensive enough to call it a "new" chassis.

[WMUCarGuy]

Originally Posted by dxk1

Congratulations to Ferrari for a resounding 15 point win in GT2 Manufacturers Championship over Porsche and to Corvette in GT1.

DK

When you outnumber the competition 2 to 1, a 15 point win isn't all that impressive...

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by WMUCarGuy

Aside from writing off HU01 at Paul Ricard in testing, he's had a faultless year!

He accepted the blame entirely - put his career on the line by doing so and moved on to play a huge part in the team taking the championship - a totally professional response from Thomas. He deserves better than to be sniped at.

[zac510]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

Yep, figured out they needed to turn down the wick to avoid overstressing the engines. I suspect (from a number of comments up and down the pitlane) that their woes have had rather more to do with the engines being overstressed than with the nature of the control fuel.

Funny because I thought the engine it was quite well proven in the USA (even if not exactly a race dominater)?

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by zac510

Funny because I thought the engine it was quite well proven in the USA (even if not exactly a race dominater)?

Yep, the engine has done very well in the sprint races.

[neilwilson]

Had a great time at Silverstone yesterday, superb race.
Just a quick question, why was the pit entry so convoluted ? It seemed to be the longest and twistiest/tighest option possible. Several cars almost lost it on the way in and we watched the Speedy Lola #33 nosebutt the barrier.
Cheers.
Neil

[Tom87]

Originally Posted by zac510

Good day out. The wind sucked (cold) but the racing was good. The event wasn't at any loss with the lack of the Pug and Audi either. I reckon crowds were still pretty strong too. Good reliable drive by Lapierre considering that some people don't rate him. Wanted to see the Pesca win but 'twas not to be!

Hindhaugh was going nuts about the Signature Plus car. Did Eurosport manage to capture either of the events in question?

I saw the post race accident involving the Speedy Lola and the Signature Plus Oreca... it was a bizarre incident. The Lola appeared to have come to a complete stop (although I was viewing from the Woodcote end of the straight so it is difficult to say for sure), when the Oreca swerved towards him and made contact. The only explanation I can think of is that the driver of the Oreca was heading for the wall to meet his mechanics and didn't see the slow moving Lola against the pit wall - I don't have all the facts to place the blame but it looked like a pretty lairy manouever from where I was sitting. Whatever the reason it's a real shame for the #33 mechanics in particular after what was otherwise a brilliant weekend!

As for the event overall - brilliant! Watched the start from the stands and then had lunch at the complex, although Nigel Mansell was clearly still feeling his way through the traffic his driving style was unmistakable - no other car was kicking up the dirt around the track edges like his! Spent most of the rest of the afternoon enjoying the engine note of the AMR cars, you wouldn't have thought the V12 is the same as that in the DBR9 or the Speedy Racing P1 car as the sounds are so varied.

Finally, shame not to see the event quite as bustling as last year but thats to be expected without the Peugeots hordes, on the plus side there was no queue to get in this time, IIRC RLM mentioned a figure of 25,000 attendees just before the podium ceremonies. Agree about the dodgy weather on Sunday, total contrast from the gorgeous sun for CER on Saturday.

Congratulations to all the winners both race and championships, and in particular to the two Speedy racing crews - for a while it looked like they might pull off an unprecedented double prototype victory!

Edit: One other thing I have to mention is a great quote from John Hindhaugh who had been shamelessly plugging the new need for speed game, I think he was describing the first of the Signature Plus incidents: "The kind of driving you wouldn't get away with in Need for Speed Shift!"

[Tom87]

Originally Posted by neilwilson

Had a great time at Silverstone yesterday, superb race.
Just a quick question, why was the pit entry so convoluted ? It seemed to be the longest and twistiest/tighest option possible. Several cars almost lost it on the way in and we watched the Speedy Lola #33 nosebutt the barrier.
Cheers.
Neil

Welcome to the forum!

I agree, whilst it was impressive to watch some of the more agressive drivers test the curbs on the way through the pit entrace it did seem to cause problems. In particular after the race when a number of cars got stalled/broke down/got stuck queuing to get into the pits. Some nice celebratory burnouts from the #007 and the Gigawave Aston though!

[Tim the Grey]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Since when is Titanium unbreakable ?

I work with it day in day out , and believe me , it brakes too . Plus its difficult to work with , so you may have to cast the part , cuz you may not be able to work with it , to bend in louvers , it may crack .

Moulded glass reinforced rubber or plastic? But then it would be thicker, and heavier. And may STILL break...

Congratulations to AMR (Thanks for the tee shirt guys...), and JMW. AMR for the title, JMW on the win, if not the championship.

But most of all to Speedy for a superb result for BOTH cars. I lost track of the lead changes, but it felt like every lap, at times!

[airbusA346]

Originally Posted by Tom87

I saw the post race accident involving the Speedy Lola and the Signature Plus Oreca... it was a bizarre incident. The Lola appeared to have come to a complete stop (although I was viewing from the Woodcote end of the straight so it is difficult to say for sure)

The #33 Speedy Lola had stopped. and I saw the incident happen in front of me because I was on the pit wall, just in front of the car.



Tom.

[dj choc ice]

drive of the race goes to Bouillon in the first hour, he was on it and the Pescarolo was noticeably quicker than anything else out there, even the Oreca's and Aston's, brilliant result for Spyker and Speedy Team Sebah did very well also in both of their respective classes, Great to see the DBR9 win in one last hurrah in Europe, i will greatly miss the outgoing GT1 car's.

[Tim the Grey]

I was looking at both cars in Post race srutineering, and being puzzled at the state of what I had seen awarded the P2 class win...

So I asked the guys with it what happened, and ended up even MORE confused, as the 33 Speedy Lola's LEFT rear corner was badly broken, as was the RIGHT rear corner on the Sig+ car? How DID they manage that?

[White flag man]

Originally Posted by Tom87

I saw the post race accident involving the Speedy Lola and the Signature Plus Oreca... it was a bizarre incident. The Lola appeared to have come to a complete stop (although I was viewing from the Woodcote end of the straight so it is difficult to say for sure), when the Oreca swerved towards him and made contact. The only explanation I can think of is that the driver of the Oreca was heading for the wall to meet his mechanics and didn't see the slow moving Lola against the pit wall - I don't have all the facts to place the blame but it looked like a pretty lairy manouever from where I was sitting. Whatever the reason it's a real shame for the #33 mechanics in particular after what was otherwise a brilliant weekend!

As a marshal at the pedestrian bridge, I "think" I can clear this up for you.
Car 33 (apparently) stopped on the pit straight, alongside the pit wall, to celebrate with his machanics, car 12 drove alongside to acknowledge his team, did not realise that car 33 had stopped and made a last minute effort to swerve around it, but hit the back of car 33 with his right rear.
Just goes to show "it ain't over till it's over..."

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by zac510

Hindhaugh was going nuts about the Signature Plus car.

I loved his commentary style - always have done, but he seemed especially good this time. He had me laughing out loud on a number of occasions, if only all commentators were so forthright.

Surprised no-one's mentioned the fine performance of #45 until alternator problems intervened they were going extremely well. I was also impressed by the general lack of contact on what was at times a very busy track (apart from some obvious exceptions). I've always thought the practice of stopping alongside the pits on the last lap was fairly dumb anyway, but to do so when #12 is coming is definitely not a good idea!

Agree on the pit lane entrance. Earlier in the week-end some of the cars were clearly confused by the route and one nearly got lost. I guess since the motorbike loop went in you've got a choice between the very wiggly one of the GP straight in version. The wiggly one is probably the same as always, it just looked odd. There were some pretty near misses with cars pulling into the pit lane entrance across the front of other cars, I wonder if it might be better to use the whole of the motorbike loop around the inside of Luffield. Not least because it would have eliminated a lot of my dodgy blue flags for cars that chose to pull off...

3 long days, but really enjoyable. Supports were a mixture. CER were great, Radicals I just can't get into, FLM needs more cars and much better driving standards.

[JayBMS]

great day out, i saw the sig car hit the JMW Ferrari, just turned in to soon after passing on hanger,

dumb move.

[Tim the Grey]

A few pix for y'all...
Spyker heading for a 2nd place in GT2

Speedy Sebah LMP1 passing JMW's GT2 winning Ferrari on the pit straight.

[zac510]

I didn't take many. To be honest I just was enjoying chilling out and watching it all too much to be worried about photos







Speedy's unlucky louvres


RML guys preparing the car for post-race scrutineering

[henk4]

More shots, also from the CER race,

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/event...e-1000-KM.html

[zac510]

Great pics Henk.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by zac510

Great pics Henk.

Thanks, it was unfortunately not possible for me to attend this year, but it looked like a thrilling race, with four cars finishing in the same lap...

Let's see what LMS will bring next year.

[Tim the Grey]

Ah. I had wondered where you were, Pieter? I bumped into Wouter several times, but never thought to ask!

He did seem to be having a good weekend.

[andrewn]

Absolutely great weekend and a fine end to the season, best bits for me:

Fabulous first hour particularly good watching Bouillon carving his way up from the back to take the lead; a very fast car with a very committed driver.

Great to see both RML and Team WFR putting in such strong performances; just a shame the WFR run was 'halted' by the mechanical gremlins

GT2 was its usual hard fought self - can't imagine Modena are too impressed by the Mansell input but the car looked great. Also a good result for Spyker and typically gutsy stuff from both JMW and #77 Felbermayer

GT1 was a bit of an anti-climax but still great to see representation from some of the stalwart marques; really will miss those big-banger cars (or will they be back?)

Finally, was so pleased for Speedy Sebah that they were able to demonstrate the raw pace and racecraft they obviously have; #33 never put a foot wrong and #13 was always there or thereabouts - thought N. Prost in particular put a very strong drive in - I was lucky enough to be down at Stowe to witness a great move on Enge for the lead.

Roll on 2010!

[rich07]

To everyone who has posted pics on this page, thankyou especially to Tim, that Speedy LMP1 and Ferrari shot is fantastic! Just the contrast between the red and the yellow paintwork really stands out for me.

Is there any video footage of the LMP2 incident on the last lap between Speedy and Signature, I've seen pictures, quite a weird incident.

[CarolK]

Originally Posted by JayBMS

great day out, i saw the sig car hit the JMW Ferrari, just turned in to soon after passing on hanger,

dumb move.

Dumb move in deed - just like at the NRing...

This has to be the best half hour of any of the starts this year. Suffice to say the Paddock Restaurant was standing only for the beginning of the F1 race. Absolutely delightful racing weather over the weekend.

Another fabulous CER event. Big congrats to Bobby Rahal for taking the Overall Win in his first race of the season in the series. Chatted with him for awhile and hoping to see him back next season for more races. He was driving the Lola that he drove in the 70's then sold and bought back.

Anxiously awaiting the 2010 calendar which should be out next month. Heard in the CER paddock Saturday the word Monza! Perhaps a replacement for the Algarve?

[marcosgt]

Was great to get a LMS race in this year having missed 'the big one' this year.

Was a great race too, with excitement throughout the field and the result in doubt until the closing minutes.

Deserved win by Oreca, although I was hoping the Speedy Aston would take it.

The Spyker's sneaky creep up into second made my day!

Shame about the wind, but heh it's Silverstone in September, I guess we should've guessed!

M.