Congrats to Nico Hulkenberg
Posted by davidm
Great race indeed.
@gav: I had the same thoughts for the #88 Porsche. The team has put tons of work into preparation, practice and qualy runs and then the car burns down one hour into the race. Must be horrible
used to be GPGSL's Nick Heidfeld
@gav: I had the same thoughts for the #88 Porsche. The team has put tons of work into preparation, practice and qualy runs and then the car burns down one hour into the race. Must be horrible
used to be GPGSL's Nick Heidfeld
It was an interesting race, shame that the LMP1 battle didn't extend further into the race but the opening stints were outstanding as mentioned.
Great story to see the 'underdog' car win, not many were really expecting that!
Hopefully this encourages more current F1 drivers to try and attempt Le Mans while they are still in F1. It may not work for drivers in factory teams in F1 but for those in independent teams it can provide a lot of publicity, as I'm sure it will for Force India. I wonder what Mercedes think though, considering Force India is a customer team of them and now one of their drivers has gone and got a lot of publicity for their rival Porsche!
X (@ed24f1)
Great story to see the 'underdog' car win, not many were really expecting that!
Hopefully this encourages more current F1 drivers to try and attempt Le Mans while they are still in F1. It may not work for drivers in factory teams in F1 but for those in independent teams it can provide a lot of publicity, as I'm sure it will for Force India. I wonder what Mercedes think though, considering Force India is a customer team of them and now one of their drivers has gone and got a lot of publicity for their rival Porsche!
X (@ed24f1)
When I used to do online championships in the Codemasters F1 series I used to get very emotionally invested and really down when something went wrong, I can't imagine what it would be like if I was ever doing a 24 hour or endurance virtual race!
X (@ed24f1)
X (@ed24f1)
Honestly speaking that's exactly the reason why I switch off failures when I want to do a race over full distance in GP4. Too bad you can't do that in real life
used to be GPGSL's Nick Heidfeld
used to be GPGSL's Nick Heidfeld
By the way, expect a certain F1 team with Honda links to team up with BMW for their upcoming LMP1 program.
X (@ed24f1)
X (@ed24f1)
Good on the Hulk.
But also congrats to Nick Tandy, (who really took off into the night hours) and Earl Bamber. Lets not forget that Nico Hulkenberg is not bigger than the rest of the team simply because he's a F1 driver.
But also congrats to Nick Tandy, (who really took off into the night hours) and Earl Bamber. Lets not forget that Nico Hulkenberg is not bigger than the rest of the team simply because he's a F1 driver.
Quote
Chester thinks F1 car could win Le Mans
Lotus' technical boss thinks a formula one car could win at Le Mans. The fabled 24 hour sports car race is in the headlines at present, after full-time Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg won on Sunday for Porsche. Not only that, former grand prix winner Mark Webber has switched full-time to the ever-burgeoning world endurance championship and thinks it may have taken over from F1 as the most challenging category.
"I mainly think about the drivers," Webber told the Telegraph. "If they're happy, and on the edge, and it's risky, pushing the boundaries, then the fans love it. At the moment it's not like that." On the other hand, the former Red Bull driver said, the top Le Mans cars today are "extremely futuristic, sexy -- beasts to be tamed".
But Nick Chester, the technical boss at Lotus, thinks the regulations shift in F1 in recent years means he can now imagine a grand prix car winning at Le Mans. "The current engine regulations mean we have an engine and gearbox which could cover the race distance and that certainly wasn't the case in the past," he said. "The current F1 car could go in an endurance race such is the performance life of so many of the parts these days. In the past with the V8s and older gearboxes, you wouldn't have the durability.
"Maybe it's something we should talk to the ACO about," added Chester, referring to the Le Mans governing body. "It would be a lot of fun," he said, "and I'd love the challenge of engineering an F1 car for a 24 hour race."
Respected F1 correspondent Kevin Eason thinks that, given formula one's current problems, Chester's idea could be an ideal opportunity for the sport. "Instead of a driver (Hulkenberg) getting a day off to compete at Le Mans, give a team the funds and the time to develop a formula one car to compete at Le Mans," he wrote in the Times.
"Prove that F1 is still the greatest of them all."
Hmm yes, well I'd love to see the novelty of an F1 car lapping the 24 Heures du mans circuit... maybe even racing on it... but competing in the 24 hours?
So where on the F1 car should the headlights be installed? Or are they expecting the entire 8 mile circuit to be flood lit? Also driver change at pitstops would be a real chore.
Now we know why Lotus is such a crap team since a couple of years.
Indeed,
Backpedalling back to topic slightly...
They might be rather pleased with themselves...
Congrats Nico, Nick and Earl.
Backpedalling back to topic slightly...
They might be rather pleased with themselves...
Congrats Nico, Nick and Earl.
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