2012 WEC / 24 Hours of Le Mans

[RacingManiac]

Frankly though, if the plan is to push for some kind of innovation, DW or other kind of smaller/lighter formula has less relevance....the new rules like the 2014 rule will push the R&D more on engine efficiency than the smaller formula. Aero/superlight design has great benefit in racing, but something is just less practical in terms of real world benefit than others...

Also how well in terms of safety the lighter prototype can be is a question...GT car won't get dramatically lighter, and we have seen enough of them hitting LMP car to know that it does happen...can a light prototype protect its driver in a crash like Audi's last year or Toyota's this year? If they go as fast as P1s now, they probably will be more prone to fly than even the current cars...

[Ferrer]

AFAIK Audi's (the Ultra's at least) have to be ballasted to meet the minimum weight, so lightness shouldn't compromise safety, at least to an extent.

By the way, #2 just set the fastest lap of the race (3.24).

[RacingManiac]

But running at the weight at DW might. An impact with a GT car may have more serious consequence simply because its own momentum is much less...

[Dino Scuderia]

.but more relevant if what ACO wanted is ways to transfer racing technology to road car...not taking anything from DW, the car worked remarkably well in the short time it was given. But its hardly the future...

This is my main scrub with the DW....I see no practical application to a road car regarding the design. Why get even further away from what we will be driving.

Even listening to Dan Gurney's interview about the car it seemed more nostalgic than a glimpse of the future. I kept waiting for him to make a coherent statement about why it was a viable experiment....it never happened.

*shrugs*

[Ferrer]

Congrats to Audi on the one-two-three.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

Congrats to Audi on the one-two-three.

even after doing their best to screw up things.
Congratulations to Lola (RIP) for their final show at LM, where Rebellion managed fourth overall with a flawless run of the #12 car.

[Ferrer]

Originally Posted by henk4

even after doing their best to screw up things.
Congratulations to Lola (RIP) for their final show at LM, where Rebellion managed fourth overall with a flawless run of the #12 car.

Indeed impressive, splitting the Audis.

Congrats to Ferrari as well for defeating the Corvette armada.

In LMP2 I believe it was #44 powered by Honda defeating the dominant Nissaqn-engined cars.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

Indeed impressive, splitting the Audis.

Congrats to Ferrari as well for defeating the Corvette armada.

In LMP2 I believe it was #44 powered by Honda defeating the dominant Nissaqn-engined cars.

it is an SOHC V6 turbo, from the Honda Accord (japanese version). (HPD stands for Honda Performance Division, also the Level 5 car was fitted with such an engine.

Corvette won the GTE/Am class, with Larbre beating the IMSA Porsche in the final half hour when that car suffered a puncture.

[Ferrer]

Originally Posted by henk4

Corvette won the GTE/Am class, with Larbre beating the IMSA Porsche in the final half hour when that car suffered a puncture.

Not that the drive in the IMSA Matmut 911 could catch Pedro Lamy anyone as he was already dropping behind at a high rate before the puncture in the final lap.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

Not that the drive in the IMSA Matmut 911 could catch Pedro Lamy anyone as he was already dropping behind at a high rate before the puncture in the final lap.

correct

[NSXType-R]

Originally Posted by henk4

it is an SOHC V6 turbo, from the Honda Accord (japanese version). (HPD stands for Honda Performance Division, also the Level 5 car was fitted with such an engine.

Corvette won the GTE/Am class, with Larbre beating the IMSA Porsche in the final half hour when that car suffered a puncture.

Wow, Honda isn't doing too badly at all. Just wished they knew how to market their victory.

A side note- how much of a Toyota is the Lotus Rebellion? Is it just Lotus in name only?

[RacingManiac]

Toyota engine from the their Formula Nippon, which is supposedly very different from the engine from factory car's version.

The HPD engine is also shared with the N. American Oddessy and Pilot....I think there has been a bit more work done since last year when that motor debuted. The guy I know work with Level 5 was saying last year that the engine is quite underpowered vs the Nissan. Also I still consider the HPD/Wirth Chassis is probably far superior as a base to the Oreca which ironically shared the origin....

I wouldn't call the Corvettes an armada, there were 2, there were way more Ferraris, if they stop taking out P1 cars....

I missed what happened to the leading Vette though?

Audi 1-2-3 was an expected results I guess, but its good to see the Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler team repeat and really establishing them as the new Audi lead team. You gotta feel for the old guards in McNish/Kristensen/Capello though, coming quite close this time and to throw it away on an actual driving error is gotta be heart breaking....

Already looking forward to next year, with probably a more realistic Toyota Challenge, a diesel P2 car, and more GTE races...just hopefully less dimwitted GTE AM Ferrari...

[faksta]

Wow, what a race!

That's what I thought in the evening. Later it was all meaningless. I don't know if TV showed how much was the public cheering for Toyotas, but during the fight for the lead every time Buemi got the lead people at the big monitors on the track were applauding and yelling. Lotterer was getting his position back in a complete silence. That was not meant to show how 'bad' or 'unwanted' Audi was, but just how much did people want a change - this year's race was so predictable that when Peyotas suddenly started to lap faster that Audis everybody was amazed, and when they took the lead it was something nobody was expecting of. Nobody at all.

Here, let me take a pause, as I'm think both Perazzini and Nakajima may be good guys, so don't want to talk loads of.... about them. Just as a sidenote, I don't think Kazuki is a driver of endurance kind. He's too impatient to last a whole stint (ever for a short GP distance at times, as you may remember). Risk is not what LM is about. I feel especially sorry for DeltaWing guys, as I was hoping they would prove their theory and IMO they were doing well keeping a rhytm of LMP2 backmarkers.

All in all, by the midnight parking lots around the track were almost empty. Those on the inside, however, were still full.

The race was done in the evening and there was nobody who could have had his word. I thought that could have been Rebellion probably, if Audi had problems, but it appeared that Audi doesn't know the word 'problems'. They seemingly prefer 'change of plans' or 'little inconvenience'. With every car having mechanical problame or at least one accident they have still claimed top spaces in LMAudi category.

[RacingManiac]

The fact that the Rebellion had pretty much a faultless race, and was still 11 laps down shows how much faster factory cars are....SPEED broadcast did mention they were surprised by Toyota's speed, since they thought diesel would still be much faster....this just plainly proves Henri was full of sh°t....

Audi needs to be applauded for letting the cars race for the win....they could have easily cruised to the win....

[pimento]

Apparently after the #2 car had its incident there was a radio call for the Audis to just retain positions and cruise, but that may have just been conjecture I read somewhere.