24 Heures du Mans 2011

The test day was yesterday, so this is as good a time as any for a thread.

#1 - Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas/Mike Rockenfeller



#2 - Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer



#3 - Dindo Capello/Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish





For the first time ever during the Peugeot and Audi Le Mans battle, Audi have turned up with the faster car. Before they have relied on being a better and more organised team, with better reliability (and who can say it hasn't worked), but during the test day, Audi were fastest.

#3 Audi - 3:27.687
#1 Audi - 3.27.815
#8 Pug - 3.27.876
#2 Audi - 3.27.878
#9 Pug - 3.28.304
#10 - ORECA Pug - 3.31.141
#7 Pug - 3.32.860

The Audi times were set during normal runs. The Peugeot times were set on flying laps.

The Aston Martin AMR-One was an embarrassment. The first car had an engine failure on it's outlap in the morning. The second car had an engine failure during the afternoon session. The failures were traced to a material in the cylinder, which meant every spare part also suffered from it. Before the failures, they were amoungst the LMP2 runners, comfortably last of the LMP1s.

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Does the #1 Audi have a reversed paint job for a particular reason?

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Black highlights won't show up on it I guess. The colour highlights are from the German flag, and black won't work. It's the reigning champions car too.

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I dont understand how that car has grown on me so much! The Pug's had pretty epic race pace last year but I cant help but feel that car's concept is pretty much at its limit. Still, its been a good car over the years and hopefully they'll give Audi a run but im not so sure. The R18 looks better than anything they've come up with before, it looks far more developed.

As for the AMR, well surely they had to expect this. They've struggled from the start with this car and the fact that it barely ran at Ricard, hasnt run here much does not bode well. It would have been crazy to expect them to match their performance with the Lola but I did expect some reliability from such a team.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

I love this year's Audi, but just a stripe and the mirrors' colours won't make the difference between the three of them, more or less what DaveEllis said. I would've painted the entire upper air intake of #2 and #3 in red and yellow (in that order). #1 is OK.

But that car is the most awesome LMP I've seen in almost twelve years, at least in appearance. I don't know why, but I'd like Fässler to win this year, although I'll support any Audi, like I've been doing for the last 6 years.

As for the AMRs, well, I expected muuuuu....uuuch more from them. Let's hope they can solve their problems.

I'm currently searching for info about the GT classes, any help? Can't wait to see the Mercedes SLS and Ferrari 458!



Stats: 139 Starts / 7 Wins / 9 Poles / 5 Fastest laps

I imagine the colours would be enough to identify them, but I'd prefer this version of the livery.



Once again, I'll be supporting the Dindo, Tom K and Allan car.

The Mercedes SLS is a GT3 car, it won't be at Le Mans. It's the usual list of GT cars. Ferrari 458, Ferrari 430, Porsche 997, BMW M3, Corvette C6, Aston Martin Vantage and Ford GT. Add the Lotus Evora which looks pretty underwhelming as well. Hopefully they drop this meaningless GTEPro and GTEAm crap soon so we can stop pretending that drivers like Tracy Krohn are amateurs.

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I must agree that the Audi livery has grown on me a lot.

It is very hard not to go for the #3 car, considering how good their driver line-up is, particularly off-track.

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X (@ed24f1)

DaveEllis Wrote:
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> The Mercedes SLS is a GT3 car, it won't be at Le
> Mans.

Oh, true. I got distracted a little bit. Anyway, I've already watched it, at the ADAC GT Masters

Anyone knows if Peugeot is going to race the 908 Hybrid4? (which has also an extremely awesome livery)




Stats: 139 Starts / 7 Wins / 9 Poles / 5 Fastest laps

The 908 Hybrid was binned because it's not an advantage and reliability and performance were compromised. The 2 hybrids which did show up have struggled to meet the minimum requirements of running on the battery power.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2011 09:54PM by DaveEllis.

Thanks for the info. Anyway, the bodywork is similar to the one used at Sebring. I'd still like to see that livery on track...



Stats: 139 Starts / 7 Wins / 9 Poles / 5 Fastest laps

That Audi is really starting to grow on me. Most of their open prototypes looked nice, but you can't beat a good coupe for looks. I hope the Pugs will give them a race though.

Pug's looking a match for Audi here so far, but Spa is not Le Mans!

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Audi seemed to be non-Audi this weekend.

But, practice for le mans, I doubt they went out primarily to win, I think track time was their main aim. Still great win for Pug.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

First time in over a decade that Audi has introduced a new car and not won it's debut race.

Audi a bit unlucky, but they are learning a brand new car, whilst the 908 is just an evolution. Plenty of time to make up.

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DaveEllis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I imagine the colours would be enough to identify
> them, but I'd prefer this version of the livery.
>
> [i24.servimg.com].
> jpg
>
> Once again, I'll be supporting the Dindo, Tom K
> and Allan car.
>
> The Mercedes SLS is a GT3 car, it won't be at Le
> Mans. It's the usual list of GT cars. Ferrari 458,
> Ferrari 430, Porsche 997, BMW M3, Corvette C6,
> Aston Martin Vantage and Ford GT. Add the Lotus
> Evora which looks pretty underwhelming as well.
> Hopefully they drop this meaningless GTEPro and
> GTEAm crap soon so we can stop pretending that
> drivers like Tracy Krohn are amateurs.

Hi Dave, im working alot on those gt2 and gt3 3d models but whats actually different between gt2 and gt3?

It's just the stuff you'd normally expect. Less power (through engine size and restrictors), smaller wheels, less effective aerodynamics, smaller wheel arches. When you get down to GT4 you're often at no added wings, minor body modifications and standard road engines (with restrictors).

At Le Mans currently, all of the cars are 'old' GT2. GT Racing is a bit of a mess with GT cars wit FIA GT running completely different regulations than ACO events. And when you get into American series like the World Challenge and Grand-Am, they introduce even more different regulated machines.

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confusing doesnt even begin to describe it!

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Those rules and changes made gt2-gt3 really confusing. They should make them same so they could race togethere.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2011 08:34PM by alless84.

DaveEllis Wrote:
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>
> At Le Mans currently, all of the cars are 'old'
> GT2.

That means like last year's GT2, right? Am I the only person that still thinks that category should be called GT3? Okay, I suppose they didn't want to have GT2 and GT3 without having a GT1, but then they ended up with a GT2 category populated mostly by Porsche GT3s. At least it will just be called GT at Le Mans now, which is what it was a few years ago (when there was also a GTS and GTP).

Don't get me started on Grand-Am over here and the silly RX8s and Mustangs they allow in GT. They're the IRL of sportscar racing.

It is last years GT2 yeah. Last years GT1 class has been binned completely. FIA GT doesn't support it any more (but you can race those cars with restrictors and weight penalties in FIA GT1).

I suppose they didn't want to have GT2 and GT3 without having a GT1, but then they ended up with a GT2 category populated mostly by Porsche GT3s

Well it's not the ACOs fault that Porsche call it the GT3 really. They've always done that, entered cars called the GT3 into the GT2 class. The problem they're going to run into is they are essentially upgrading old GT2 to the top GT class, and considring putting GT3 in as the second GT class. But the speed difference between LMP1s and GT3s is a bit extreme.

Don't get me started on Grand-Am over here and the silly RX8s and Mustangs they allow in GT. They're the IRL of sportscar racing.

If they are the IndyCar of sportscar racing then they'll be on the way up. Randy has made some good moves recently. But Grand-Am cars are all just space frame chassis, they aren't like normal GT cars.

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