[LM24] The Greatest overall team performance at Le Mans

[Mal]

Reflecting on the aftermath on this years Le Mans got me thinking whether we have just seen the greatest overall team performance at Le Mans.

The Audi team put themselves in a position that by right they shouldn't have been able to do.

Its not that Peugeot #7 ran a bad race, their drivers didn't make many mistakes. They didn't even spend much time in the pits. Most other years what they did with the speed they had would have been easily enough to secure victory.

But this year the #2 Audi performed on a different level. It had no mechanical problems whatsoever - the drivers were throwing in massive 3 to 3.5 hour stints to save time and were still able to perform at the highest level and keep the car in touch with the Peugeot ready to pounce - and when the rain came they had anticipated it and set their car up so that TK could take a massive 47 seconds out of the lead car in just 3 laps.

Then in the closing stages they made all the right decisions with regards to tyres and strategy and took a victory that shouldn,t have been possible considering the performance of the #7 car.

Was this the greatest ever overall team performance - if not on which other occassions has a team performed at this level to overturn the odds - not through other cars misfortune but through sheer quality of performance

[Dario911]

Le Mans 1984: Joest Racing Team has won Le Mans with their Porsche 956B, matching the Lancia official team. Lancias were very fast, well managed, and were the leader of the race for 16 hours. But when Pescarolo and Ludwig, on the Porsche number 7, decided to chase them, they pushed Lancias, and both LC2/84 were forced to leave the race, due to mechanical problems. It was the firts, greatful victory for Joest Racing in Le Mans.

[minimangler]

What about Cirtek/Modena last year and their efforts to keep their Aston in th race?!

[The Badger]

How about the Lizards at Le Mans this year ..... and their efforts ?

Brilliant effort imo .

[fish88]

Originally Posted by minimangler

What about Cirtek/Modena last year and their efforts to keep their Aston in th race?!

Originally Posted by The Badger

How about the Lizards at Le Mans this year ..... and their efforts ?

Brilliant effort imo .

Well they both got that technical award (dunno it's name), so the ACO appreciated it.

[The Badger]

Oh , I didnt realise that !!! ..... Well deserved .

[Aysedasi]

Greatest overall performance when? This year? Ever?

[Mal]

Originally Posted by Mal

Was this the greatest ever overall team performance -

see here

[Aysedasi]

Well, on that criterion the Lizards and Modena clearly don't get close.

It's quite funny, as although everyone knows I'm not an Audi fan, I do think this year's performance was pretty special by Audi. This comes actually from listening again to the whole RLM commentary. I've reached 6-ish on Sunday morning. It's taking a while as I'm only listening to it to and from work but its clear that the performance from 4 pm onwards was pretty amazing. Having gone in the space of an hour and a half from being a lap down to being over a minute ahead, just on the driving - no real pit woes to take into account - was even more impressive listening to it again than I appreciated first time around.

The greatest ever though? Not a clue. I can only go back 23 years anyway.

[Splendid Cat]

Originally Posted by Dario911

Le Mans 1984: Joest Racing Team has won Le Mans with their Porsche 956B, matching the Lancia official team. Lancias were very fast, well managed, and were the leader of the race for 16 hours. But when Pescarolo and Ludwig, on the Porsche number 7, decided to chase them, they pushed Lancias, and both LC2/84 were forced to leave the race, due to mechanical problems. It was the firts, greatful victory for Joest Racing in Le Mans.

Was a good victory and a great Le Mans, but must disagree that it was as great as you say. 956-117 had oil pressure probs early on and had little to lose, and it was the misfortune of other cars that allowed it to win. Yes, Lancias had gearbox issues but this was due to the inherrent reliability issues that these cars suffered. The Kremer / Kenwood 956 was actually the fastest car on raceday (Jones / Schuppan / Jarier) but whilsy leading it was hit by a WM, damaged and lost too much time to catch up. Simlarly the 8 Newman 956 of Johansson / Schlesser / de Narvaez was much struck by the misfortune of going off on oil at Indianapolis whilst well placed. The Hobbs / Streiff / Van der Merwe Skoal Porsche could have taken up the podium, but it had gearbox issues and dropped a valve. Heck, even the unfancied Paul Jr / Rondeau car, that finished second, could have won such was the misfortune that hit much of the field.
So a good win, yes. And a superb race to watch. But not a race won on the same merits as this year.

[The Badger]

One must be in 1990 , Brun Motorsport Porsche 962C , Repsol , Larrauri-Brun-Pareja .

Larrauri only drive a token stint , and Pareja-Brun peddled the thing brillianty all night long and into the next day only for the engine to let them down in the last few minutes . They retired from 2nd place !!!

Those two lads did a fantastic job considering the class of the field at that time .

[Splendid Cat]

Originally Posted by The Badger

One must be in 1990 , Brun Motorsport Porsche 962C , Repsol , Larrauri-Brun-Pareja .

Larrauri only drive a token stint , and Pareja-Brun peddled the thing brillianty all night long and into the next day .

This is a common myth. Larrauri, in fact, drove nearly 6 1/2 hours despite being unwell. However, yes, Pareja and Brun were mighty and the Brun car was always up near the top of the leader board.

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

without a doubt the Freisinger Motorsport overall victory at the Spa 24 Hours (2003) that little 996 N-GT completely dominating the huge and large field of GT (now GT1), perhaps the most powerfull GT Porsche team in Europe

[dxk1]

Originally Posted by Subaru_WRX_STi

without a doubt the Freisinger Motorsport overall victory at the Spa 24 Hours (2003) that little 996 N-GT completely dominating the huge and large field of GT (now GT1), perhaps the most powerfull GT Porsche team in Europe

That was a great team effort, but what about the Oreca victory at the Rolex 24 hours in 2000 and the Corvette win the next year. Also, a 911 won the Rolex overall in 2003 (TRG, I believe). In each of those races the GT cars beat prototypes, etc.

DK

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

Originally Posted by dxk1

That was a great team effort, but what about the Oreca victory at the Rolex 24 hours in 2000 and the Corvette win the next year. Also, a 911 won the Rolex overall in 2003 (TRG, I believe). In each of those races the GT cars beat prototypes, etc.

DK

thats true both GTS Vipers and Corvettes overall victories at Daytona were great, the TRG one too, against the new and slow DPs but I prefer the Freisinger one, that year (2003) FIA GT was very strong in both classes GT & N-GT, so the Porsche victory there was tremendous

[minimangler]

Originally Posted by The Badger

One must be in 1990 , Brun Motorsport Porsche 962C , Repsol , Larrauri-Brun-Pareja .

Larrauri only drive a token stint , and Pareja-Brun peddled the thing brillianty all night long and into the next day only for the engine to let them down in the last few minutes . They retired from 2nd place !!!

Those two lads did a fantastic job considering the class of the field at that time .

Larrauri started it!

Lammers and the gearbox in '88?

The guy who drove the Talbot for 23 hours in the '50s?

[Sarthe82]

Originally Posted by Subaru_WRX_STi

thats true both GTS Vipers and Corvettes overall victories at Daytona were great, the TRG one too, against the new and slow DPs but I prefer the Freisinger one, that year (2003) FIA GT was very strong in both classes GT & N-GT, so the Porsche victory there was tremendous

We're talking about Le Mans here gents.

[Sarthe82]

Originally Posted by minimangler

The guy who drove the Talbot for 23 hours in the '50s?

Louis Rosier, sharing the car with his son. The lad only drove three laps of the race while his dad took a breather (and copious amounts of bananas!) before he was hauled out again as he was 20 seconds a lap slower! Was a great performance but I find it difficult to include the earlier (say up to the 1960's) LM's as although they certainly included some amazing feats they just didn't have the sheer unremitting competitiveness of the latter decades and certainly the 'modern' era.
Up until this year I would have said (as you mentioned) '88 and the amazing Jaguar victory in the face of the stiffest Porsche competition imaginable (surely Bell/Stuck/Ludwig has to be the best 956/962 driver crew ever?). The manner of the Audi victory this year was right from the top of the tree though, never giving up at any stage of an intensely challenging 24 Hours....not the result I personally wanted to see at the start of the race but I sure as Hell cheered them on at the end!

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

Originally Posted by Sarthe82

We're talking about Le Mans here gents.

the topic is about "the greatest overall team performance" and endurance isn't LM only

[Sarthe82]

Sorry, maybe it's just me....

Originally Posted by Mal

Reflecting on the aftermath on this years Le Mans got me thinking whether we have just seen the greatest overall team performance at Le Mans.

Maybe not....

[Mal]

Originally Posted by Sarthe82

....not the result I personally wanted to see at the start of the race but I sure as Hell cheered them on at the end!

I think that statement sums it up for me - a true fan can appreciate the scale of an achievment even if it was not the result they wanted.

[nobster]

1988 Jan Lammers nursing his Jaguar home to a win while the car was having gearbox problems.

[dxk1]

Originally Posted by minimangler

The guy who drove the Talbot for 23 hours in the '50s?

That was Pierre Levegh (Sp?) who drove solo in 1952 (1953?) and was in the lead when he was so tired he missed a shift and wiped out the gearbox and had to retire. In 1955 he was the one driving the Mercedes that flew into the crowd and resulted in the greatest racing disaster in history.

DK

[Sarthe82]

Originally Posted by dxk1

That was Pierre Levegh (Sp?) who drove solo in 1952 (1953?) and was in the lead when he was so tired he missed a shift and wiped out the gearbox and had to retire. In 1955 he was the one driving the Mercedes that flew into the crowd and resulted in the greatest racing disaster in history.

DK

Whoops, I thought Minimangler meant Rosier in 1950...maybe he did?

Anyway it was 1952 and his retirement handed the race to Mercedes with their new gullwing...apparently the crowd were so incensed at their hero being 'robbed' of his hour of glory that the organisers thought it best not to play the winners national anthem, especially as WW2 had only ended seven years earlier. Indeed Levegh's 1955 drive came about as a kind of 'compensation' from Mercedes when they next entered the race.

[Justin Moran]

LNT's class win in 2006 and this year my vote goes to Creation who got and kept the car together and finished after what for many teams would have been game over.