2011 Total 24 Hours of Spa Francorchamps

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Because Audi has money, and Stephane Ratel likes money.

But yes, I'd love the BoP to be given the boot and the class be opened up a bit more to allow the fast cars that have been made fast win and the slow cars lose, because really if you've taken the time to engineer a fast car why be slowed down because of those who haven't made the effort?
 
MitchZ06
One of the three McLarens finished :(

The 65 minute between pitstops rule was tailored for the gas guzzling Audis, no surprise atleast one of them won the race. Great effort from the rest of the field tho!

Drat, and I had high hopes for the MP4-12's. :(
 
Drat, and I had high hopes for the MP4-12's. :(


Its pace was perfect, was frequently doing top 10 laps and for occasional periods was just about the fastest car on track, it was buggered by spending so long in the pits, it had too many pit stops for various reasons and they took too long.
 
Aloha62_2
Its pace was perfect, was frequently doing top 10 laps and for occasional periods was just about the fastest car on track, it was buggered by spending so long in the pits, it had too many pit stops for various reasons and they took too long.

Too many pitstops? Oy, that is not a promising feature..... Wouldn't that implicate that Racer MP4-12's were fitted with parts that broke and failed on the drop of a hat. I can imagine the pit crew struggling taking so long in keeping those McLaren in one piece, if they were constantly braking.

At least.... Thats how I imagine it. With such a fierce machine keeping consistent top 10's in lap accumulations rankings, it is dissapointing to hear that lacking engineering integrity and efficient pits, it gave so much for naught. Like a fire that burns intensely and bright, only to be shut out effortlessly.
 
Its pace was perfect, was frequently doing top 10 laps and for occasional periods was just about the fastest car on track, it was buggered by spending so long in the pits, it had too many pit stops for various reasons and they took too long.

True we were there yesterday and during the first 20' we did not see any McLaren driving around. We were happy when it came out.
It resembles most to the 458 in style of going round the track, has less sound though.

One of the McLarens that stopped had a fire in the engine department, pictures will follow. (some issue with my memory card yesterday)

Poolhaas posted:
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The R8 goes fast but is not spectacular, the Z4 had a beautiful engine sound. Mercedes 3rd, had hoped it would be something else then a full German podium.

BTW: the 370 clearly slower then the GT3 cars, looked quite impressive as well.
 
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Too many pitstops? Oy, that is not a promising feature..... Wouldn't that implicate that Racer MP4-12's were fitted with parts that broke and failed on the drop of a hat. I can imagine the pit crew struggling taking so long in keeping those McLaren in one piece, if they were constantly braking.

At least.... Thats how I imagine it. With such a fierce machine keeping consistent top 10's in lap accumulations rankings, it is dissapointing to hear that lacking engineering integrity and efficient pits, it gave so much for naught. Like a fire that burns intensely and bright, only to be shut out effortlessly.

It suggest nothing to me other than a team making sure everything is fine in a brand new race car making its first 24 hour race debut. Being overly critical so soon into it's development is like pissing into the wind, not a good idea...
 
We that was: Marco, Vince and Poolhaas

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and the MacLaren was driving:

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More pictures later
 
It suggest nothing to me other than a team making sure everything is fine in a brand new race car making its first 24 hour race debut. Being overly critical so soon into it's development is like pissing into the wind, not a good idea...

Well, I suppose for being it's first, then I suppose it is unreasonable to have expected them to score high points. It be my thing though, being a fan of Mclaren teams or teams that adopt McLaren vehicles and technology.
 
I'm a chronic McLaren fan too, but the F1's first race wasn't Le Mans...it had a couple of races before then to iron out the bugs (in reality the F1 GTR was in development in 1994). Come later in the season the MP4-12C will be up front in GT3.
 
It wasn't the MP4-12C's first race either. It had an unofficial race in the UK earlier to act as a shakedown test.
 
brand new race car making its first 24 hour race debut.

Read what I said again. I know about the British GT race...They stuck it on pole for the first race but didn't finish well from dicking about in the pits.
 
What was it about, oh yes:

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What happened:

This Audi R8 came in first:

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This BWM Z4 ended second:

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and this SLS AMG was third:
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But there were other cars (also some British, Italian and US cars at least):
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The RJN Nissan class winner with Jordan Tresson
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The Aston Martin remains a beauty to see.
For a car you see regularly here on the street, the BMW Z4 was really convincing.

Also strange that the small brother Audi R8 wins and the bigger Lamborghini looses all cars during the race.

For the first cars I found in the results (the Vipers were also slow):

Pos Car Class Drivers Car Time Laps Gap Avg
speed
1 33 PRO Matthias Ekström / Greg Franchi / Timo Scheider Audi R8 LMS 24:01:22.333 545
2 76 PRO Dirk Werner / Edward Sandström / Claudia Hürtgen BMW Z4 24:02:11.126 543 48.793
3 35 PRO Kenneth Heyer / Thomas Jäger / Stéphane Lemeret Mercedes SLS AMG 24:02:07.328 535 44.995
5 29 PRO Matteo Bobbi / Frank Kechele / Giacamo Petrobelli Ferrari 458 Italia 24:02:08.636 531 46.303
8 3 PRO Yann Clairay / Julien Rodrigues / Pierre Brice Mena Aston Martin DBRS 9 24:03:03.486 527 1:41.153
11 41 PRO Jonathan Hirschi / Markus Palttala / Antoine Leclerc Ford GT 24:03:36.902 521 2:14.569
17 19 GEN Brody / Christoff Corten / Mathijs Herkema / Kurt Dujardin Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S 24:01:48.253 493 25.920
21 888 PAM Richard Westbrook / Christian Menzel / Mike Stursberg / Hans Guido Riegel Porsche 997 GT3 R 22:16:18.386 485 1:45:03.94
22 63 GT4 Alex Buncombe / Jordan Tresson / Christopher Ward Nissan 370Z 24:03:19.826 476 1:57.493
23 116 GEN Patrick Chaillet / Thierry de Latre du Bosqueau / Benoit Galand / Christoph Dodge Viper GT3 24:03:59.442 473 2:37.109
24 56 Cup Marc Faggionato / Thierry Stepec / Thierry Prignaud / Franck Racinet Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 23:10:05.068 470 51:17.265
25 60 PAM Adam Christodoulou / Glynn Geddie / Phil Quaife / Roger Wills McLaren GT 24:02:44.783 469 1:22.450
27 100 GT4 Christophe Legrand / Raffaelle Sangiuolo / Guiseppe De Pasquale / Wolfgang BMW M3 GT4 24:02:01.694 465 39.361
28 92 PAM Marc Duez / Jean Michel Martin / Eric Bachelart Ford Mustang FR500 24:03:00.210 444 1:37.877
38 6 PAM Ricardo Bravo / Lourenco Beirao da Veiga / Duarte Felix da Costa / Mika Vah Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 15:54:55.417 329 8:06:26.91
39 22 GEN Lionel Comole / Andre Alain Corbel / Thomas Duchene / Eric Vaissiere Ferrari 430 Scuderia 20:13:36.746 319 3:47:45.58
40 70 GT4 Edoardo Piscopo / Leo Mansell / Greg Mansell / Gianni Giudici Lotus Evora GT4 16:02:32.832 315 7:58:49.50
43 103 GT4 Peter van Audenhove / Sven van Laere / Rene Marin / Christophe Bigourie Aston Martin GT4 17:13:55.192 235 6:47:27.14
46 26 PAM Frederic Bouvy / Damien Coens / Jean Luc Blachemain / Christian Kelders Corvette Z06 GT3 11:07:20.303 215 12:54:02.0
 

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