[LM24 Race] 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans Race Thread

[Gilles lives!]

Originally Posted by garcon

Interesting. Flying the Union Flag upside down at LM usually indicates a rabble of drunken feckless Brits who shouldn't be allowed back across the Channel.

That's so very true, we used to approach them in the campsites to explain their 'flagging' errors in the past, now we just grimace.

[Gilles lives!]

Originally Posted by Le Vieux

I believe that, at sea, flying the Union Flag upside down isa sign that a vessel is in distress and in need of assistance - perhaps not inappropriate, although I doubt whether the ACO see it that way

That is absolutely correct sir !

(By the way, I have some lovely sunset photos from 'our' Ville that I will have to share with you )

[Le Vieux]

Originally Posted by Gilles lives!

That is absolutely correct sir !

(By the way, I have some lovely sunset photos from 'our' Ville that I will have to share with you )

My avatar may look familiar.......

[Djcomix]

In French we say 'mettre la drapeau en berne'.
That was so sadly for the Danish flag and to mean that everyone had Alan Simonsen during the race of LM.

[Starfish Primer]

Originally Posted by Gilles lives!

The Union flag was also upside down for the GB national anthem, one of my pet hates .

It´s complicated for common people from outside UK to identify the correct way (the diagonal change is very subtle) but is not an excuse for people involving protocol.

This is not the first time someone in France makes a similar mistake. In 2011 when Alberto Contador was at the Paris podium, the Tour de France organization played the Danish national anthem instead of the Spanish.

[macca]

Here is a question which will be very simple to those in the know..........the GT classes at LM had Viper, Corvette, Porsche, Aston, Ferrari, but the various national/international GT series also feature Mercedes, BMW, McLaren, Lamborghini, Audi and Nissan; so was their absence from LM down to organisers' choice of entries to accept, eligibility, lack of championship points to be won, or just budgets?

Paul M

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by macca

Here is a question which will be very simple to those in the know..........the GT classes at LM had Viper, Corvette, Porsche, Aston, Ferrari, but the various national/international GT series also feature Mercedes, BMW, McLaren, Lamborghini, Audi and Nissan; so was their absence from LM down to organisers' choice of entries to accept, eligibility, lack of championship points to be won, or just budgets?

Paul M

GT3 cars are not legal at Le Mans.

[Muppetdave901]

Originally Posted by macca

Here is a question which will be very simple to those in the know..........the GT classes at LM had Viper, Corvette, Porsche, Aston, Ferrari, but the various national/international GT series also feature Mercedes, BMW, McLaren, Lamborghini, Audi and Nissan; so was their absence from LM down to organisers' choice of entries to accept, eligibility, lack of championship points to be won, or just budgets?

Paul M

It's down to a mix of meeting the specification of the relevant GTE Pro/AM class, success within a 'feeder' series such as ELMS/ALMS and finally the ACO's whims!

Lamborghinis have raced at Le Mans recently, most notably with JLOC. Equally a few years further back (in my timeframe of attendance anyway) TVR, Spyker and Panoz Cars have raced as well.

ETA - bit more info for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_24...e_Mans#Entries

[Gilles lives!]

Originally Posted by Le Vieux

My avatar may look familiar.......

Ah yes indeed, I recognise that bridge

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Muppetdave901

Lamborghinis have raced at Le Mans recently, most notably with JLOC...

To use the word 'raced' in the same sentence as 'JLOC' is possibly over-egging the pudding......

[Muppetdave901]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

To use the word 'raced' in the same sentence as 'JLOC' is possibly over-egging the pudding......

Fair comment

Thinking about it - was it a Lamborghini that Gizmondo 'paraded' '06/'07

[GT6]

Well until the hydrogen car this year the JLOC effort was the worst seen at le mans IMHO

[Simmi]

At least this Lambo made the finish in '08 - albeit not classified.



Would love to see them back.

[Aysedasi]

So would I - as long as it was a fully competitive effort.

[Ferrari333SP]

Great interview with Derek Bell and Guy Smith, from the DRIVE network: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjN3hUrHc2k

[deggis]

Originally Posted by GT6

Well until the hydrogen car this year the JLOC effort was the worst seen at le mans IMHO

Well, the hydrogen car was never really seen at LM...

[vincegail]

Technically, that is not true. And I also remember some sort of parade laps in 2011 where maybe the Green GT was also present in some sort of form, probably not yet with the hydrogen engine, but still present? There were a lot of environmentfriendly cars on show that year, which also did some tours.

[deggis]

I knew someone was going to bring that up... but obviously I meant in the race itself

[CTD]

Originally Posted by GT6

Well until the hydrogen car this year the JLOC effort was the worst seen at le mans IMHO

What about the AMR-One?

[Simmi]

Been thinking back to the race and a couple of things that happened where we were that I don't think ever got on TV.

About three hours in the #71 AF Corse car straight-lined the first part of the Ford Chicane, got pitched airborne and nailed into the back of the JMW car. That was why it had front-end damage for the rest of the race. Got it on camera kind of.

Also a moment which could have been very significant but wasn't - Jann Mardenborough took too much kerb on entry to the final chicane at around 6am and completely looped the car - coming to rest centimetres from the wall. That could have turned him from hero to zero but happily he carried on.

This must have happened all around the track. Did anyone see anything that they think we didn't?

[Gingers4Justice]

Dunno if the TV caught the pictures of the #39 Lola crawling around at snails pace and sending the #88 Porsche spinning off at the Esses? I was between the Esses and Tetre Rouge but I could see the accident waiting to happen. All you could see was headlights, but you just knew that the slow pair of lights was coming from that Lola....

[rwindle]

The #39 Lola incident was caught on Eurosport coverage and replayed several times.

[Aysedasi]

Possibly some of the poorest driving I've seen at Le Mans for a number of years.......

[Simmi]

There definitely needs to be a touch more quality control around entries in my opinion. Absolutely encourage the gentleman element but you need to be running at a respectable pace and not showing yourself up. There were two cars for me which fell into that category - ie not fit for the worlds greatest motor race.

[Gingers4Justice]

I think DKR were given a very distant reserve spot as a nod to the ELMS, the ACO maybe thinking potential ELMS entrants would look at the fact that even the also-runs are in with a shot of getting into the big race. A lot of cars pulled out in the end and they were lucky to be there.

No doubt about the other car you're talking about Simmi. I think that car should have been pulled on test day, it was just way too slow. All three drivers set the three slowest times.