[LM24 Race] The 77th Edition of the 24hrs of Le Mans • Race Thread • June, 8th – 14th 2009

[mac]

Originally Posted by Holt

Brabham's lack of pace is killing the #9

More genius analysis...

[mac]

Originally Posted by Holt

Audi can change a nose in 20 seconds, it takes Peugeot 150 seconds

Um, the front of the Peugeot was damaged and would not come off properly...

But who cares about details...?

[mac]

Originally Posted by Holt

It's amazing that the R15 can come within a second or two of the Peugeots with so little testing.

No doubt if Peugeot ran the 908 again next year the R15 would probably be 2-3 seconds quicker then it.

The use of the terms "no doubt" and "probably" in the same sentence seem to create somewhat of a contradiction...

And do you have the testing mileage handy for Audi and Peugeot to verify your "so little testing" claim?

[mac]

Originally Posted by mac

Just taking the time to go through the race thread and this tidbit of wisdom...

Have you thought about a career in fortune-telling...?

Just saw you acknowledge this yourself, garc...

[Cuttlefish]

Originally Posted by 92scotland

So the Astons where involved in causing another car to go off the track once again

Can the 008 also be blamed for the crash of the Goh Spyder? It had transmission trouble; are we sure it didn't leak the oil instead of the KSM car?

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by mac

And do you have the testing mileage handy for Audi and Peugeot to verify your "so little testing" claim?

3 years of racing and testing for the 908 vs 1 race (Sebring) and half a year of testing (and very little in hot weather) for the R15

[mac]

Yes, we know it's a new car... But I'm sure they have tested the begeezus out of it since they got hold of it...

Peugeot never really got the benefit of all the "oh, it's a new car"`stuff - and they were starting from scratch, unlike the ridiculously successful Audi operation...

Fact is, Peugeot drastically improved in all the areas they were weak in for the last two years. It was a thoroughly impressive display... you could almost say they out-Audied Audi.

Worth noting that all three Peugeots ran virtually faultlessly all race (except for a broken disc bell on #8) and were still there and running strongly at the end.

The Pescarolo car looked like it would have been too, if not for the accident...

[FIRE]

Which drivers (mainly interested in LMP1 and GT2) were a positive surprise and which were disappointing?

[KSM86]

just a little pic i took

[jab]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Which drivers (mainly interested in LMP1 and GT2) were a positive surprise and which were disappointing?

Raymond Narac drove well in the 76. Put some cracking lap times

[CTD]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Which drivers (mainly interested in LMP1 and GT2) were a positive surprise and which were disappointing?

Frank Montagny is almost self said to be a positive surprise.
Others i would say almost all of the Kolles drivers to be positive!, they did a good job of keeping those cars clean, without dropping in pace! (The Bakkerud clash with the barrier under one of the safety cars was not a driver error but a faulty in the R10)

[supermario21]

Like I've said time and time again, Lotterer and Zwolsman did an amazing job. I was a bit surprised when I saw the article about David Richards complaining the his 009 car had been reduced to 2 drivers after Hall was excluded, saying it was unfair for only 2 drivers to do 18 or so hours. Yet, Lotterer and Zwolsman, both rookies, did the whole race themselves. They had great pace, and at the end of the 15th hour were only 2 minutes behind the 007 which would have put them in 4th place. Unfortunately, the gearbox problem put them back to 9th but they fought back to 7th, finishing only 1 minute behind the 7 peugeot. Hopefully we will see them back at Le Mans next year.

[Mike_Wooshy]

Lotterer is no stranger to endurance racing he race's out in Japan in the SuperGT. This of course is not taking anything away from Lotterer and Zwolsmans achievement for there first Le mans!

[Dead-Eye]

Originally Posted by mac

Um, the front of the Peugeot was damaged and would not come off properly...

But who cares about details...?

To be fair, they seemed to struggle with getting the nose off more than once, the aero update seems to have made it harder. Obviously they could it afford it though

Originally Posted by KSM86

just a little pic i took

Didn't that car run with a blue front bumper for much of the race?

[NightStalk3r]

Originally Posted by Dead-Eye

Didn't that car run with a blue front bumper for much of the race?

It ran with a Felbermayr Proton front bumper for most of Sunday yes.

[Dead-Eye]

Good to see the GT2 parts exchange is still working

[AndrewF31]

Originally Posted by Dead-Eye

Good to see the GT2 parts exchange is still working

it was funny to see one of the Ferrari's last year with green Krohn left-hand door!

[undoz]

I'm satisfied with the outcome. If Audi won, there was a chance that Pug to drop the next year. Now, maybe we'll see the R15 getting some more track time, because they need the marketing revenue. Also Pug earned what they deserved.
Overall, the result of the race was pretty surprising in my opinion, didn't expect the pace of Audi, but sadly there wasn't much action on the track, apart from the crashes... or I didn't pay much attention.
Aston was impressive. I thought that all their effort was only marketing, but they went pretty well.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by supermario21

I was a bit surprised when I saw the article about David Richards complaining the his 009 car had been reduced to 2 drivers after Hall was excluded, saying it was unfair for only 2 drivers to do 18 or so hours. Yet, Lotterer and Zwolsman, both rookies, did the whole race themselves

Consider in the first place why there is 3 drivers per car .

Consider that Karthikeyan dislocated his shoulder falling off a wall while emptying his bladder ..... Audi doc said that he was fit to race , ACO doc says no .

And them the ACO excluding a driver for a mistake .

I dont want to hear a word from the ACO about safety issues ..... they suit themselves !!!

[CTD]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Consider in the first place why there is 3 drivers per car .

Consider that Karthikeyan dislocated his shoulder falling off a wall while emptying his bladder ..... Audi doc said that he was fit to race , ACO doc says no .

And them the ACO excluding a driver for a mistake .

I dont want to hear a word from the ACO about safety issues ..... they suit themselves !!!

Well lets takes those 2 cases separately!.
The 1. with Karthikeyan.
How would it look, if Karthikeyan crashed the R10 into another car, crew or making damage to others, because of the shoulder!. Who would get blamed for letting him race!, Not the Audi doc, but the ACO doc!.. the ACO doc must be abel to say 100% guarantee that the driver is fit to drive, because of safety!

The 2. with Stuart Hall.
It's hard to say wether he should been have excluded or just gotten a Stop & Go penalty. But again, if Hall made another one of these VERY stupid mistakes, then the ACO would get a lot of criticism for letting him drive..

You must take into consideration, that ACO must do what is safest, because everything else would cause even bigger problems!

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by jab

Raymond Narac drove well in the 76. Put some cracking lap times

Not to deny his the full respect of his fast laps, but was he in the car when the air filter had come dislodged? And did he maintain his pace after it was fixed or had the pump failed before he got back in the car?

Sorry, drawing a blank about the timing of the race, didn't do any of my homework over the weekend for the obvious reasons and now it's catch-up time.

[cmk]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Not to deny his the full respect of his fast laps, but was he in the car when the air filter had come dislodged? And did he maintain his pace after it was fixed or had the pump failed before he got back in the car?

Sorry, drawing a blank about the timing of the race, didn't do any of my homework over the weekend for the obvious reasons and now it's catch-up time.

He was in the car when the restrictor problem occurred, yes. My understanding was that he was also in the car when it was in place correctly, and his pace was still very close to the pros in the car. I do not think he was quicker than them on raw pace - that was spurious and a result of the restrictor dislodgement.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by CTD

Well lets takes those 2 cases separately

You must take into consideration, that ACO must do what is safest, because everything else would cause even bigger problems!

I have . The ACO didnt influence the Karthikeyan incident at all , and questions were raised pre race as to the capability of the 2 remaining drivers with respect to fatigue . That was down to the Audi & ACO doctors .

With respect to the Hall/AMR incident , the ACO very much influenced the driver squad by suspending Hall , which I feel was irresponsible of them , considering it is them (ACO) who decided in the first place that each entry has 3 drivers per entry on safety grounds .

[courageous]

Originally Posted by CTD

Maybe on Racing Underground!?

Move along, nothing to see here!
Nothing happened!
he must be confused.

Originally Posted by Mike_Wooshy

Lotterer is no stranger to endurance racing he race's out in Japan in the SuperGT.

SuperGT has 1 1000km race, other than that it is normal semi-enduro length, these guys were amazing, hardly put a foot wrong & lady luck should have given them a top 5 at least.

Although, there were several cars who had limited use of the 3rd driver - has anyone got a record of total driving times for each driver?

[Holt]

Wow mac, you are a sad person. Trolling threw 1,000 posts trying to **itch about comments made during the heat of the race. I bet you feel so smart that you can go back and laugh at what you see as incorrect comments being made .

Time to make you look like the silly internet tough guy/troll that you are

Originally Posted by Holt

looks like a wheel bearing problem on the #8

Peugeot is pathetic

Originally Posted by mac

Another pearl of wisdom...

I can't be for sure who it was, but either a driver, team member or a commentator speculated that it was a wheel bearing problem when they car first went into the garage. Notice I said "LOOKS LIKE". I speculated that was the problem because the 908 has a long history with that problem.

Later on it was confirmed Bourdais caused the damage by going off somewhere.

But of course you want to come in a week after the race and question my comment.

Originally Posted by Holt

Brabham's lack of pace is killing the #9

Originally Posted by mac

More genius analysis...

And his pace wasn't? Not just throughout the entire race, but with around 5 hours remaning he was consistently lapping 3-5 seconds slower then the #8 car which allowed the 2nd place Peugeot to come within 20 seconds.

Once Brabham got out and Wurz got in instantly the #9 was 3 seconds a lap faster. Even the commentators noticed the disparity in pace. The gap from the #8 to the #9 than began to grow

Originally Posted by Holt

Audi can change a nose in 20 seconds, it takes Peugeot 150 seconds

Originally Posted by mac

Um, the front of the Peugeot was damaged and would not come off properly...

But who cares about details...?

Originally Posted by Holt

#8 lost about 150 seconds changing the front nose

It appaered to have been damaged in a incident and was difficult to remove

Looks like your trolling skills need more work, as you missed my other comment.

Try, try, try again

Originally Posted by Holt

It's amazing that the R15 can come within a second or two of the Peugeots with so little testing.

No doubt if Peugeot ran the 908 again next year the R15 would probably be 2-3 seconds quicker then it.

Originally Posted by mac

The use of the terms "no doubt" and "probably" in the same sentence seem to create somewhat of a contradiction...

Typical internet troll, playing word games when it's obvious what I meant. Buddy when I was in high school (sophomore) I scored on the college level with a maximum score of 12.9 when they gave us state reading and writing tests. After high school when I went to a vocational school I scored the highest possible on reading and comprehension again. Even the person who gave the test which included math too was impressed and noted I scored higher then 90%+ of the people who take the test. Don't you dare question my intelligence over a couple of sentences that probably took me 5 seconds to type.

Originally Posted by mac

And do you have the testing mileage handy for Audi and Peugeot to verify your "so little testing" claim?

You're not even worth it. I could go into great detail about every thing you said and make you feel very, very little, but I won't because you probably wouldn't even understand half of it. Right now you are being ignorant, meaning that you simply don't know any better. But if I decided to school you to a great degree you would become STUPID as soon as you tried to deny the truth. You've already wasted enough of my time

Now, back on topic, here is amateur footage of the Pescarolo 908 crash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6upFvKLkDw