82nd Running Of The Le Mans 24 Hours - 14/15 June 2014.

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Furinkazen

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Le Mans. One of, of not the most legendary event in world motorsports. Once a year, this area of France becomes the centre of the racing world for the greatest endurance race on earth. Part permanent race track, part bumpy public road. For an entire day over 50 teams in four classes battle against each other to take home the greatest, most sought-after prize in endurance racing.

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But also, it is perhaps the most unpredictable running of the race for a long time. We try to hype it every year, so what is so different in 2014? - you may ask? Answer is in the car located on the left had side of the poster marked "919". This is Porsches' first attempt at an overall Le Mans win in 17 years, with the 919 model - A 2 litre V4 engine with two energy recovering systems - this is similar to a Formula One KERS system. Up to 8 MegaJoules of energy may be stored and released as a massive power boost. Porsche's driver line up also boasts Mark Webber, on his first Le Mans 24 Hours since 1999.

Toyota return for a 3rd year in a row with the TS040, successor to the TS030. A normally aspirated V8 for Toyota delivers in excess of 500hp. That figure can be almost doubled by the deployable recovery systems. And what of Audi? Le Mans dominators for many years, and yet there is a real chance this may be there dethroning. The V6 Turbo Diesel R18 was in the first round of the World Endurance Championship at Silverstone yesterday against Toyota and Porsche... and Toyota won with a 1-2. Both Audi's crashed, heavily damaged - the first double DNF for Audi since 2011 Petit Le Mans.


It's unpredictable in LMP1, which has completely new specification cars this year. In turn that is divided in two, with the hybrid cars from the big three in "LMP1-H". None-hybrid privateer entries are in the "LMP1-L" category, which is set to be a contest between the Rebellion Racing ORECA-designed R-One and the Lotus (Kodewa) T129.

LMP2 has 17 car entry, which has the usual ORECA hordes, the Morgans and the new Ligier coupe run by OAK racing. Also of special interest in Strakka Racing, a winner in P2 several years back with the brand new Dome S103.

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GTE is split as usual in 2 - with PRO and AM classes for differing skills of driver. Sadly the SRT Vipers will not be back at La Sarthe, but there is still a healthy field. Six Aston Martin Vantage's take to La Sarthe, 5 run by the works Aston Martin Racing team, celebrating it's 10 anniversary. Porsche's factory GT team return to defend its title. Corvette have just 2 cars on the grid this year, but they are brand new C7R's. Having won recently at the USCR in Long beach in only it's 3rd ever race, watch out for them. Also there are the usual Ferrari hordes, including reigning ELMS champions RAM Racing and AF Corse with no less than six cars.

Finally there is the new Nissan ZEOD - a revolutionary car which is electric. Using the Deltawing design cues, GT Academys' own Lucas Ordonez will be one on the team driving this revolutionary, if not oddball car.

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La Sarthe itself changes. Safety cars are set to go (or at least be less frequent) with a "Code 60" system where in accident hazard zone all cars slow down to a safe speed. This also will not break up the field behind safety cars, splitting potentially exciting battles apart. Parts of the track have also had gravel traps installed and run off extended, including the Porsche Curves, but the actual track layout has not been changed.

So fellow GTPlanet members, are you ready for another year? This post will be updated with links and information as the event rolls on. Many thanks to @Wardez for giving this the green light, and let us hope for a fast, furious, epic Le Mans. And a safe one at that. The tragedy of last year with the death of Allan Simonsen in the #95 Aston Martin will I am sure still be in peoples minds. RIP Allan, the sportscar world continues on in your memory.

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Nissan live stream (LMP2 / ZEOD):

Andy Blackmore Spotters Guide (High res): http://www.spotterguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/LM_14_v4_a4.pdf
Andy Blackmore Spotters Guide (low res): http://www.spotterguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/LM_14_v4_a4LOW.pdf
Thomas Baekdals Social Media Stream: http://thomasbaekdal.com/lemans/stream.html
ENTRY LIST: http://www.24h-lemans.com/en/race/entry-list_2_2_1980-2.html
RADIO LE MANS: http://www.radiolemans.com/
RADIO LE MANS (AUDIO) http://rlm.0157.org/
STATIC TRACKSIDE CAMERAS: http://www.lemans-tv.com/
LIVE TIMING: http://www.24h-lemans.com/live/en/
CORVETTE RACING STREAM: http://msn.foxsports.com/speed/stream/corvette
AUDI STREAM: http://player.gl-systemhaus.de/AUDI/2014/LeMans/​
 
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I'm relishing the thought of the GT battle. The Pro lineups are crazy good this year. Bruni+Vilander, Mucke-Turner, and either Porsche... Dang.
 
R0ssingt0n
Bloody hell how have you managed that?! You're in for a treat though, Le Mans is such an amazing place.
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Everything seems to add it pretty quickly when you add up travel,entry tickets, grandstand tickets, hotels.
Then the little things such as waterproofs(now I've bought these expect it to be 30+ oC ) flag poles, travel insurance, passport renewals, helicopter hire.....
 
Too early for me to make any predictions, but I have a wishlist.

LMP1H - Porsche, I would love to see their 18th victory, or Toyota's first.

LMP1L - The class the ACO created because they want to prove that those without Hybrid tech are going to be left in the dust. I would like the Rebellion R-One to go well, but we'll just wait and see I guess.

LMP2 - I think a car with a Nissan engine is likely to win here, only 3 cars have engines that aren't. (2 Judd and 1 HPD)

LMGTE Pro - Ah, the GT class, my favorite. I will of course be pulling for Corvette Racing. Porsche Team Manthey will be a nice backup, they will practically play as bomber escorts to the 919 anyway. And 458s, watch for them to get in the prototype's way and cause collisions, it's a running theme with that car.

LMGTE Am - Watch out for noobs and you should be good to go. 👍

And the Nissan ZEOD... Hopefully it fares better than the DeltaWing before it.
 
It will be interesting to see how the Low downforce/Longtail Toyota's and Audi's match up against the already low downforce Porsche at Spa.

Perhaps by dedicating themselves to the low downforce car right from the start Porsche are doing precisely the right thing for a Le Mans win whilst the others divide their attention on the WEC?

I want Toyota to win Le Mans but I will not be even remotely surprised if Porsche pull off a stunning win on their return.
 
Holdenhsvgtsr
Everything seems to add it pretty quickly when you add up travel,entry tickets, grandstand tickets, hotels.
Then the little things such as waterproofs(now I've bought these expect it to be 30+ oC ) flag poles, travel insurance, passport renewals, helicopter hire.....
Click to expand...

Yeah when you put it like that it makes more sense! Just shocked me as I reckon the girlfriend and myself will be closer to spending £500! But we are just getting general tickets...
 
I would like to see almost a repeat of the Silverstone WEC podium at Le Mans this year, with Porsche winning next year. Could be very interesting indeed.
 
Roger the Horse
As Porsche won last year, I'd go with Aston Martin.
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Yeah because I'm sure they're going to cry the loudest for a massive BoP change in their favor. The same one that helped them last year against Vette and Ferrari. They've cried with TUSC and I'm surprised I haven't seen anything yet after a bad outing at Silverstone.
 

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