2011 24 Hours of Le Mans, LMS and ALMS news.

[henk4]

After the 'Vette crashing out of the class lead last year due to moving off the racing line while an LMP shoved past I can certainly see why they'd make that ruling. Also, from what I understand the GT cars are actually more affected by being on the marbles due to the much lower downforce. If the Ferrari moved out of the line through that kink, it'd've been in the gravel trap in short order.

there is no gravel trap there, it is public road, with big guardrails.....

[pimento]

there is no gravel trap there, it is public road, with big guardrails.....

Well, there ya go.. it's been a while since I forza'd my away around there. Not a place to spin off at high speed then.

[RacingManiac]

The video perfectly shows that the Ferrari kept the race line, as the slower drivers were told to do during the drivers meeting. It is the responsibility of the quicker driver to perform a safe overtaking manoeuver. I am sure Mike knows exactly were the raceline is at that point, so he could have expected the Ferrari to stay there.

The onboard had ferrari on the right, and as the Audi closes he moved left, then right before Audi got there he moved right again, if I were Mike closing on the GT car at 30+mph speed diff., i'd have took the same conclusion that he saw me and was moving off line. I think if the ferrari had indeed just stayed right, instead of swinging wide then get back online, Audi would've drove the outside instead...i still maintain that the "kink" was not a limit corner, even for a GT car....a G trace around the track would answer that...and marbling will be much more pronounces in an actual corner as the tires are more stressed....

He wasn't exactly on a qualy lap, he also does not need to use all of the track(nor was he exactly on pace...), I think the ruling from official was not too severe at all...bad judgement and lack of experience on GT driver's part...

[henk4]

The onboard had ferrari on the right, and as the Audi closes he moved left, then right before Audi got there he moved right again, if I were Mike closing on the GT car at 30+mph speed diff., i'd have took the same conclusion that he saw me and was moving off line. I think if the ferrari had indeed just stayed right, instead of swinging wide then get back online, Audi would've drove the outside instead...i still maintain that the "kink" was not a limit corner, even for a GT car....a G trace around the track would answer that...and marbling will be much more pronounces in an actual corner as the tires are more stressed....

He wasn't exactly on a qualy lap, he also does not need to use all of the track(nor was he exactly on pace...), I think the ruling from official was not too severe at all...bad judgement and lack of experience on GT driver's part...

the kink is a slight right hand corner. Ideally you approach it from left to go right along the apex and come out again leftish. So what the Ferrari did (preparing himself for a rightahnder) was quite normal. If he had stayed right, chances would have been that he might have missed the apex and had gone straight on.

[Kitdy]

I saw some intense debate on another forum about this, and in my own relatively uninformed opinion, I thought that the Kauffman was following the racing line.

[RacingManiac]

the kink is a slight right hand corner. Ideally you approach it from left to go right along the apex and come out again leftish. So what the Ferrari did (preparing himself for a rightahnder) was quite normal. If he had stayed right, chances would have been that he might have missed the apex and had gone straight on.

Its fast, but its no where near on limit corner. And considering its a public road, the crown of the road will mean that staying right would make the turn slightly banked. Yes it would not have been the "fastest line" but Kauffman was not exactly setting the world on fire in his GT car....

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO9PwzA7YcE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO9PwzA7YcE[/ame]

I can't find any other lap data, and this seems to be the easiest, compare the cornering G at that portion of the track to any other "corner", yes this is an Audi but proportionally would've been applicable. They are not on the limit there....

I don't know what you expect Rockenfeller to do otherwise, if he had to slam on the brake, slowing probably as much as 30-40mph from where he was going, that already says to me that Kauffman was not doing the right thing. Its like you are getting cut off on the highway. Any other case, it the middle of Porsche curves, or going into Dunlop or Indianapolis or something, where a GT car would be loaded up and on the limit, I'd expect the LMP to drive around them. There was plenty of warning that a faster car is coming, Rockenfeller was pretty clear which line he was taking as you can see the whole approach that he was staying right of the 2 lane, if that was not clear to him where he was coming, I don't know what else he can do. Rocky only started to flash his light after he realized that Kauffman starting to move over, the fact the he STILL completed to move into the lane just shows his lack of judgement...

[henk4]

Its fast, but its no where near on limit corner. And considering its a public road, the crown of the road will mean that staying right would make the turn slightly banked. Yes it would not have been the "fastest line" but Kauffman was not exactly setting the world on fire in his GT car....

In terms of Audi speeds no GT car was setting the world on fire. It's all relative. As I said before, GT cars were told to keep the racing line, and that is what he did. It was up to the LMP cars to find a solution, and the one Mike choose did not work.

[RacingManiac]

autosport.com - Le Mans News: Toyota testing new LMP1 car

Also on Kauffman:

autosport.com - Le Mans News: Waltrip hopes for Le Mans return

He failed to react to the blue flag 10 times during the race....

[Dino Scuderia]

He don't need no stinkin' blue flag....he only uses yellow ones.

[RacingManiac]

Random note, I've booked hotel and time-off for PLM....and planning side tour on the way back to detour to Tail of the Dragon....

hoping for epic road trip...

[henk4]

Also on Kauffman:

autosport.com - Le Mans News: Waltrip hopes for Le Mans return

He failed to react to the blue flag 10 times during the race....[/QUOTE]

Well, in this case, and with due respect to the marshalls, I think they should be briefed in the same way as the drivers. So if race control tells the GT drivers to keep their line, the marshall should take that into account as well. I hope you have read John Brooks' article on his double declutch website, where he mentioned some of top Porsche drivers who were quite unhappy with the track behaviour of some of the LMP cars and these guys are a bit more experienced than Kaufmann.
Especially during the night it is difficult for both drivers and marshalls to see what is actually going on. Are the white lights someway behind a yellow lighted GT belonging to a Peugeot or to the Norma, which may result in a totally different approach time. Furthermore I have seen the blue flag being waved to warn a driver about a car behind him.....the one that he had just overtaken.
And finally, drivers of the slower cars have a very good reason to stay on the race line. Djuring the whole race I have not noted that any of the top classed cars suffered a puncture, but for the slower classes it was the order of the day, obviously because they moved aside....and a puncture does cost a lot of time on a 13 km track, so better avoid them at all costs.


Edit: Oh and enjoy PLM, we will most likely not be there unfortunately.

[Kitdy]

Random note, I've booked hotel and time-off for PLM....and planning side tour on the way back to detour to Tail of the Dragon....

hoping for epic road trip...

Gonna be at Mosport?

[Matra et Alpine]

playing with glow sticks at the 24h .....



See See how they did it: http://h3.abload.de/img/p6260500zgyl.jpg for how they did it

[RacingManiac]

Gonna be at Mosport?

Probably not....regular ALMS round doesn't draw me in as much without the big cars...though I really like watching races at Mosport....

When is it this year? Its in July now isn't it?

[Dino Scuderia]

I'm going to the Mid Ohio race for the first time...mainly because I have a friend who lives in Dayton that also likes to go. It's the first week of August.