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motorsportnerd
06-11-2004, 04:58 AM
Looks like Audi will be hard to beat this year. First and second on the grid. Herbert on pole ahead of McNish. Should be a good year for British drivers... See a qualifying report here: http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.asp?id=27802&s=15
Qualifying results here: http://www.lemans.org/univers_sport/24hauto/live/pages/chronos_24h_essais2_gb.html

Also, for those of us residing down under, interesting to David Brabham in third.
And Ferrari quicker than Corvette in the GTS class. McRae in third in GTS.
No TV coverage of Le Mans again in Australia, as usual. Doubt we'll even see highlights.

DasModell
06-11-2004, 05:09 AM
there's gonna be a VAG battle for the win . but it's gonna be close for the lower places . with Kondo,RfH adn Courage plus Zytek very close
GTS . i almoast accepted that Corvette will be on Pole . when at around 11:55 i hear on Radio LeMans that ENge put it on pole . i could not belive it . amazing .. expecially when he crashed the Ferrari early on on the Porsche Curves ..
The Taurus Diesel again with problems :) .

RedWingsFanG
06-11-2004, 07:32 AM
I'm a big LeMans Fan, and drive myself an Audi, too (no RS8R of course, too bad :cool: ).
But the last years have been really boring in LeMans. First Audi and then Bentley and now Audi again, the winner is no secret. How sweet was LeMans with Toyota (too bad they never won), Mercedes, BMW and Porsche. I hope that somedays we will see such fierce fights again.

Coventrysucks
06-11-2004, 10:47 AM
(no RS8R of course, too bad :cool: )
How sweet was LeMans with Toyota (too bad they never won), Mercedes, BMW and Porsche. I hope that somedays we will see such fierce fights again.

You should thank Audi and Bentley, their presence is probably keeping media interest up.
The average person with a passing interest doesn't care about Zytek, Dome or Courage.

Would F1 be as popular if all the major motor manufacturers decided to pull out, leaving Minardi vs Sauber?

There isn't enough coverage, which is a travesty, as it used to be the biggest motoring event of the year.
These days, even with Bentleys first win for 80 years, you'll be lucky to find out when it's actually taking place.

Don't worry about the RS8R, I don't think anyone else has one either. ;)

Dustin917
06-11-2004, 02:12 PM
The Problem with Le Mans is that there is no competition!
The last good Le Mans race was 1999. With cars like
BMW V12
Mercedes SLR
Toyota GT1
Porsche 911 GT1
There was a real sense of a battle. It was great, not to mention the awesome crash of the Mercedes driven by Mark Webber. Is the problem that there is not enough interest? Not enough advertising? Do people generally not give a hoot in hell?
Please Help Me

DasModell
06-11-2004, 02:26 PM
objections :)..
it's the Merc CLR ..
and in the race it wasn't Webber . it was Peter Dumbreck .. and he's racing this weekend at Nurburgring .. :)

Coventrysucks
06-12-2004, 04:36 AM
Dumbreck crashed during the race, but webber crashed similarly during qualifying, or one of the practise sessions.
I think they had 3 take offs that weekend - not a good time for the Mercedes Benz GT team.

Coventrysucks
06-12-2004, 08:00 AM
Good start for the Veloqx Audi's and the Prodrive Ferrari's keeping the 'vettes at bay.

Not so good for TVR, ECU problems on the second lap, but it should be a straight replacement.

Also the Goh Audi "stopped on circuit", but they seem to have gotten going again. :)

Matra et Alpine
06-12-2004, 10:33 AM
Live reporting is at http://www.lemans.org/univers_sport/24hauto/live/index_gb.html

NAZCA C2
06-12-2004, 01:54 PM
objections :)..
it's the Merc CLR ..
and in the race it wasn't Webber . it was Peter Dumbreck .. and he's racing this weekend at Nurburgring .. :)

It's the CLK-GTR not the SLR. Don't forget the Nissan R390 GT1

NAZCA C2
06-12-2004, 01:57 PM
The Corvette of Ron Fellows just crashed again. Too bad. The other Vette is doing great, I hope they have better luck than their sister car. I hope McNish is OK after his crash, I guess he has a concusion but nothing to serious. Pretty good race so far.

NAZCA C2
06-12-2004, 02:17 PM
Colin Mcrae isn't having a good day. Spun early on and now (11:00 in france) the #65 car is stopped on the track. The Corvette people are probably happy.

Dino Scuderia
06-12-2004, 04:11 PM
The Vettes are 7 seconds faster than they were last year! A serious factory effort.

Ferrari is going to have to throw more support behind the 550/575 teams.

Coventrysucks
06-12-2004, 06:53 PM
It's the CLK-GTR not the SLR. Don't forget the Nissan R390 GT1

Unfortunately you should have checked your facts...

1997 - Mercedes CLK GTR - 6.0 V12
1998 - Mercedes CLK LM - 6.0 V8, revised bodywork and aero package
1999 (the car in question) - Mercedes CLR - still V8 but significant revisions to the bodywork and aerodynamics

Absolutely Heroic effort by Lehto, McNish and their respective teams.
Both cars went off on oil at 300km/h through the Porsche Curves leaving the Champion car with broken front left suspension.
Dragged out of the gravel, driven back to the pits, rebuilt and now back up to 5th.

McNish had concussion, lost the front bodywork, broken suspension on at least one of the front wheels, although it looked like both, broken rear suspension and a puncture. He got it back to the pits, rebuilt in 1/2 an hour and now running 18th. :eek:

Ferrari Tifosi
06-12-2004, 11:25 PM
The Vettes are 7 seconds faster than they were last year! A serious factory effort.

Ferrari is going to have to throw more support behind the 550/575 teams.

That's the big reason Ferrari has struggled, they have no factory support. While Corvette is a factory effort.

DasModell
06-13-2004, 02:08 AM
gearbox problems for Prodrive . but still leading

Falcon500
06-13-2004, 04:22 AM
But by how many laps?

Matra et Alpine
06-13-2004, 04:58 AM
But by how many laps?
go here - http://www.lemans.org/univers_sport/24hauto/live/pages/chronos_24h_course.html - and get all the latest

motorsportnerd
06-13-2004, 05:15 AM
Looks like it will be an Audi 1-2-3. The Audi-Sport Japan Team Goh car is in the lead, looks like Kristenson will score another Le Mans victory. Also looks like the Champion racing team has done a remarkable job to get back up to 3rd.
Even more remarkable is that Biela/Kaffer/McNish are up to 5th, despite an earlier 300 km/h crash which left Mcnish concussed. My understanding is that Biela and Kaffer decided to continue after the accident.
And Corvettes are 1-2 in GTS.

Falcon500
06-13-2004, 06:12 AM
go here - http://www.lemans.org/univers_sport/24hauto/live/pages/chronos_24h_course.html - and get all the latest
All in french :confused: is there a language selection?

Coventrysucks
06-13-2004, 06:26 AM
There is a little French flag and a little GB flag at the top of the menu bar - click on the little GB flag :)

The Veloqx car with Herbert is now 30s behind the Goh Audi, and is lapping 4s faster. This could get interesting. :)

DasModell
06-13-2004, 09:16 AM
:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

Coventrysucks
06-13-2004, 09:57 AM
:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

What's that for?

Good racing!
24hrs and 30seconds seperated 1st and 2nd cars.
Top effort from Ara, he resisted the pressure from Herbert to keep the lead through the last three stints.

Top effort by Biela and Kaffer in the #8 Veloqx car - they did 22hrs between the two of them to get the car up to 5th.

Dissapointment for the Rollcentre Racing Dallara, a huge crash after rear suspension failure.

Success for TVR with 22nd and 23rd

Coventrysucks
06-13-2004, 10:19 AM
Overall results:

Pos Drivers Car Class Time
1 Ara/Capello/Kristensen Audi R8 LM1 379 laps completed
2 Davies/Herbert/Smith Audi R8 LM1 +41.354s
3 Lehto/Werner/Pirro Audi R8 LM1 368 laps
4 Ayari/Comas/Treluyer Pescarolo-Judd LM1 361 laps
5 Biela/Kaffer/McNish Audi R8 LM1 350 laps
6 Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen Corvette GTS 345 laps
7 Lammers/Dyson/Kaneishi Dome-Judd LM1 341 laps
8 Fellows/O'Connell/Papis Corvette GTS 334 laps
9 McRae/Rydell/Turner Ferrari 550 GTS 329 laps
10 Maasen/Bergmeister/Long Porsche GT 327 laps
11 Enge/Kox/Menu Ferrari 550 GTS 325 laps
12 Kurosawa/Nishizawa/Oriodo Porsche GT 322 laps
13 Kelleners/Ortelli/Dumas Porsche GT 321 laps
14 Bouchut/Goueslard/Dupard Ferrari 550 GTS 317 laps
15 Burgess/Collin/Bagnall Porsche GT 317 laps
16 Alphand/Laveille/Almeras Porsche GT 316 laps
20 Stirling/Lupberger/McGarrity Nasamax-Judd LM1 316 laps
18 Donaldson/Fisken/Nielsen Porsche GT 314 laps
21 Wilson/Montain/Hugenholtz Ferrari 360 GT 311 laps
19 Andre/Leuenberger/Vanni Lola-Judd LM1 300 laps
22 Berridge/Caine/Stockton TVR GT 300 laps
24 Tomlinson/Greensall/Evans TVR GT 291 laps
23 Khan/Smith/Sugden Porsche GT 283 laps
27 Nielsen/Elgaard/Moller Lister LM1 279 laps
25 Binnie/Field/Sutherland Lola-Judd LM2 278 laps
28 Terada/Roussel/Porta WR LM2 270 laps
Not classified Sharpe/Hyde/Cunningham Morgan GT 200 laps
Not classified Coronel/Wilson/Firman Dome-Judd LM1 302 laps
Retired Collard/Bourdais/Minassian Pescarolo-Judd LM1 282 laps
Retired Newton/Erdos/Kinch Lola-MG LM1 256 laps
Retired Short/Barff/Barbosa Dallara-Judd LM1 230 laps
Retired Hindery/Lieb/Rockenfeller Porsche GT 223 laps
Retired Katoh/Michigami/Fukuda Dome-Mugen LM1 206 laps
Retired Hezemans/Deletraz/Barde Ferrari 575 GTS 200 laps
Retired Bosch/Sullivan/Biagi Ferrari 575 GTS 167 laps
Retired Wallace/Brabham/Shimoda Zytek LM1 163 laps
Retired Rosa/van Merkstein/Caffi Porsche GT 148 laps
Retired Bouvet/Gommendy/Briere WR LM2 137 laps
Retired Melo/Daoudi/de Fournoux Ferrari 360 GT 133 laps
Retired Frei/Gounon/Hancock Courage-AER LM2 127 laps
Retired Jeanette/Pickering/Derlot Courage-Willman LM2 124 laps
Retired Maurylaribiere/Boulay/Besson Reynard-Lehman LM1 122 laps
Retired Belmondo/Gosselin/Saviozzi Courage-AER LM2 80 laps
Retired Vasiliev/Fomenko/Nearn Porsche GT 65 laps
Retired Bourdais/Blanchemain/Berville Panoz LM1 54 laps
Retired Andrews/Lockie/Kumpen Lola-Caterpillar LM1 35 laps
Retired Field/Dayton/Connor Lola-Judd LM1 29 laps
Retired Warnock/Matthews/Daniels Porsche 27 laps

Class standings:
LM1
1 Ara/Capello/Kristensen Audi R8 LM1 379 laps completed
2 Davies/Herbert/Smith Audi R8 LM1 +41.354s
3 Lehto/Werner/Pirro Audi R8 LM1 368 laps

LM2
25 Binnie/Field/Sutherland Lola-Judd LM2 278 laps
-
-

GTS
6 Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen Corvette GTS 345 laps
8 Fellows/O'Connell/Papis Corvette GTS 334 laps
9 McRae/Rydell/Turner Ferrari 550 GTS 329 laps

GT
10 Maasen/Bergmeister/Long Porsche GT 327 laps
12 Kurosawa/Nishizawa/Oriodo Porsche GT 322 laps
13 Kelleners/Ortelli/Dumas Porsche GT 321 laps

NAZCA C2
06-13-2004, 11:52 AM
Corvettes won their class!!! The lead Vette placed 6th overall! Why are there so many teams racing prototypes when they could develop a GTS car and do a lot better. Unless you have massive resources (like Audi did when they raced the R8's) you should stick to the GT or GTS classes where you won't be wasting you money on a prototype that breaks all the time.

Matra et Alpine
06-13-2004, 01:43 PM
bear in mind that the 'vette team was a FULL FACTORY TEAM.

LOTS of money and development support.
No private team could afford to undertake that and hence why the Ferrari's were not that competitive.

All of the 'prototypes' are old chassis and configurations.
Nothing was 'new' in this years field.

NAZCA C2
06-13-2004, 02:07 PM
I agree with u somewhat. Chevrolet has put a lot of money into the Vette but they have still spent way less than a lot of prototype teams. Take Panoz for example, they are never competitive at Le Mans because their car is a dog. Why don't they make a Esperante GTS car? Look how good the Prodrive Ferrari team has done (excluding this years Le Mans). Prodrive beat the Vette's last year at Le Mans and gave the Vette's a run for their money in the ALMS series. The Saleens even had some sucess a while back in the ALMS.

DasModell
06-13-2004, 02:29 PM
The Nasamax is something like a Hybrid car . and the Courages C65 are build to the new LMP2 spec .. quite possible the WR's too .. but i could be wrong ..
The Prodrive were the faster cars . i really wanted them to win it..
gonna be much harder for Corvette againts the Maserati . even with the C6-R .. and next year we will also have the Lambo and probably the Aston too

Matra et Alpine
06-13-2004, 03:15 PM
If Corvette are the only factiry team next year then they will win again.

NO private team can afford the cost or have the engineering resources to compete against a factory team.

Thought you'd appreciate Eurosport commentary on Colin's experiences :)

DasModell
06-13-2004, 03:21 PM
Maserati backed by Ferrari can do it :) .. and th Aston Martin is a Factory car .. built and Developed by the same Prodrive team .. Lamborghini will be a semi-works team ..
The Maserati it is belived that they will be able to lap in the low 40's .. . the only concern i have . is that i don't know what tires they're using ..

Matra et Alpine
06-13-2004, 03:27 PM
Maserati backed by Ferrari can do it :) .. and th Aston Martin is a Factory car .. built and Developed by the same Prodrive team ..
Prodrive did the Ferrari's.
That is NOT FACTORY support.
It's specilist support with factory backing.
Only IN a factiry can all things be considered, discussed an dunderstood. Too many things are company confidential at the level of the peak of tuning and performacne.


Lamborghini will be a semi-works team ..

Semi is NOT full factory and won't compete !!


The Maserati it is belived that they will be able to lap in the low 40's .. . the only concern i have . is that i don't know what tires they're using ..
More the fuel consumption to worry about !!
Many 'hares' have bene created for Le Mans. In the end the fuel-guzzlers have usually been beaten by the 'tortoises' :)

Coventrysucks
06-13-2004, 03:40 PM
Why don't they make a Esperante GTS car? Look how good the Prodrive Ferrari team has done (excluding this years Le Mans).

I like the prototypes and I think they have their place, like F1, technology developed for the race cars benefits the road cars.

I don't believe that a GTS car could win, unless they had a 100% flawless race whilst all the LM1 cars were having huge difficulties.
Yes the Corvette was 6th, but it was 5 laps (43 miles) down on the 5th place car, a car which had to be rebuilt, and was therefore stationary in the pits for a significant length of time.
It was 34 laps (292 miles) down on the Goh Audi, which also had its share of problems. :)

DasModell
06-13-2004, 03:52 PM
there was no support from ferrari . just a blessing . . .and i would not worry fuel consumption.. the 550 was ok in that departament .
Prodrive will be for Aston as is Pratt&Miller for GM. . they build and develope the Corvette
off course next year Corvette will be strong again with the C6-R . that if they can make it competitive from the start . (if I remember it took a lot of time to make the C5-R competitive . it lost a lot of race to the Viper in the beginning) . but they will have a stiffer opposition then ever . and that's very good for GTS.. and probably LeMans(although it needs a strong factory LMP1 field too :( )

DasModell
06-13-2004, 03:59 PM
for the GTS to win they wil have to change the regs .. weight and aero . cause the power is already there +600BHP

Falcon500
06-13-2004, 07:10 PM
Well im not happy...prodrive didnt win...i support the teams that support my catirgorys (v8 super cars....although their doint quite pathetically this year) and even more unhappier that Brabbam Retierd from the race :(
To be perfectly honest i like more road going cars in it...like our 24 hour its class A is cars like lambos and proches and stuff that are set up for 24 hour raceing...the still resemble their road going counterpartsonly just have a better enduro set up....gives me something to asscoicate with :) and then there group B cars...similar to group a but there more sedate cars similar to the BTCC cars...and then group C road cars set up for raceing under $100,000...and it gos dwon all way to E stock cars and F invitational....

Gabman
06-16-2004, 03:48 AM
Look at the driver names... Danes on winning teams in both GTS and LM groups. :D

DasModell
06-17-2004, 02:54 PM
thank god Lister didn't won :) :) :) :)