Counting down to Le Mans

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zardoz
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Yeah, i'm planning to win the Speed 8 this weekend. I've also tried to create a DBR9 which is now running sub 4 minute laps at chicaned Le Sarthe. :D:tup:
 
Gerco
Ofcourse the battle this year is betweens the pescarolo's and the audi's(Nice gt4 paint job), but I think the Dome Judd and the Zytek are dangerous outsiders.
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They have proven to be very fast indeed.. faster than both the Pescarolo's and the Audi's actually. But the problem with those cars are durability. I'm betting on either an Audi or Pescarolo to win (I'm hoping for the Champion Racing Audi) 👍

VyPeR
Im a big fan of the Bentley Speed 8, I was upset it didnt compete in Lemans last year. Though I doubt it very much, will the Bentley team participate in the race this year?
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Nope, no Bentleys this year either. They had a three year plan that started in 2000 and was gonna end with a victory in 2003 ( Bentley's 100 year anniversary), which it did. Mission Accomplished, no need to return... To bad really, since it was some of the more beautifull cars



On a different note. I Feel your pain (Americans), not being able to see the whole race, or at least half of it. Glad i'm not in your shoes! Personally i'm gonna watch every frickin' minut of it ;) :sly:
 
Zardoz
Don't we all?

Still, it would be great to see the Astons pull off a Le Mans GT class win. Besides, if they did it would almost force PD to include the mighty DBR-9 in the next version of the game!


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If Aston did, they'd be very close to what McLaren did 1st year out.
This is the DB9R's 1st year here, if they win their class, they'll be somewhat like McLaren. 👍

For me, I'm rooting Champion Audi R8. 👍
 
CSS
They have proven to be very fast indeed.. faster than both the Pescarolo's and the Audi's actually. But the problem with those cars are durability. I'm betting on either an Audi or Pescarolo to win (I'm hoping for the Champion Racing Audi) 👍



Nope, no Bentleys this year either. They had a three year plan that started in 2000 and was gonna end with a victory in 2003 ( Bentley's 100 year anniversary), which it did. Mission Accomplished, no need to return... To bad really, since it was some of the more beautifull cars



On a different note. I Feel your pain (Americans), not being able to see the whole race, or at least half of it. Glad i'm not in your shoes! Personally i'm gonna watch every frickin' minut of it ;) :sly:
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I don't need to feel bad.
I've been at the race many times.
I was there in '95, '97, '98, and '01.
 
Glanced at the standings today for the GT1s. The Corvette C6R is in first place, but it appears only because the Aston didn't run (or place?) in the last two races. I heard that the C6Rs were having trouble staying ahead of some old private C5Rs. Anybody know the whole story?
 
bigjoe
...I heard that the C6Rs were having trouble staying ahead of some old private C5Rs. Anybody know the whole story?...
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Don't know where you could have heard that from, but here are the race reports. The Saleen gave them a bit of a race at Mid-Ohio, and the Aston won at Sebring, but there's no mention of the Corvette factory team getting any competition from privateers in C5-Rs.

Mid-Ohio:

http://www.speedarena.com/news/publish/sportscar/article_5959.shtml


Atlanta:

http://www.speedarena.com/news/publish/sportscar/article_5857.shtml


The Sebring crashfest:

http://www.speedarena.com/news/publish/sportscar/article_5705.shtml


These are the only races the C6-Rs have run so far. They were 2nd and 3rd at Sebring after the accidents, but they've gone 1-2 ever since.


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So Chevrolet is running the C6-Rs, and private owners are racing C5-Rs?

Hmm...Maybe a competition will come out between them.
 
Isn't it nice to see Le Mans in Gran Turismo 4? Even though there aren't time cycles, 24 hours is still 24 hours. I won the Le Mans event months ago in GT4, and with the real 24 hours at Le Mans next weekend (I can't wait either!), it kind of makes you get a chance to see the event on television for those who have no idea what the 24 Hours of Le Mans is like. It may not be like the 1960s and 1970s for some Le Mans faithful, but some tough competition is still expected for the 2005 race. And maybe it's just my opinion, but Le Mans should be a motorsport holiday. This race been around since 1922 or 1923.

And of course, us Americans are going to get the Le Mans coverage on the Speed Channel, 17 1/2 hours worth, all to be interrupted by F1 qualifying at Indy (okay with it), NASCAR Craftsman Trucks at Michigan (you already know how I feel about NASCAR vs. 24H of Le Mans), USAR Hooter's Pro Cup (since when was oval racing more important than the Le Mans endurance?). America is going to be represented with ALMS racers, with perhaps the Corvette team as pure favorites.

As I try to stay within the topic of GT4, all I can say is that if you haven't seen or heard of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, find some kind of way to see the race live or find some tape-delayed coverage. But this is a must-see race for any pure racing fan. You probably raced it in Gran Turismo in 6-car fields, now see it raced with about 36 or 48 cars on track. Do NOT miss next weekend's Le Mans endurance!
 
Did I just read the start order list wrong, or is S. Loeb acctually starting second? Assuming they qual for the start order, that's pretty impressive. Jumping into a helicopter after winning the last rally, and qualing in at second?
 
JohnBM01
Isn't it nice to see Le Mans in Gran Turismo 4?...You raced it in 6-car fields...
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With Sony and PD so involved in the great race, it really makes you wonder what they'll do with it in the PS3 version of the game. We know for sure that we'll see 22-car fields (at least) in the next game, so imagine the possibilities of what they might do with the Gran Turismo version of the Le Mans 24-hour when they have the powerful new console to work with.


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Day-night transitions, real-time weather effects, maybe even different Le Mans events for the different car categories, but always with a full grid... :drool:
 
Stian
Did I just read the start order list wrong, or is S. Loeb acctually starting second? Assuming they qual for the start order, that's pretty impressive. Jumping into a helicopter after winning the last rally, and qualing in at second?
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Yup. His airplane was even late. Here's the story:

http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/live/actu/2005_06_05_gb_02.html

Of course, Sebastian himself is personally sponsored by Playstation, which explains his presence in a Playstation-liveried car.
 
Stian
Did I just read the start order list wrong, or is S. Loeb acctually starting second? Assuming they qual for the start order, that's pretty impressive. Jumping into a helicopter after winning the last rally, and qualing in at second?
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I believe that was just the pre-qualifying. Loeb still has a chance to be on the pole when they run the official qualifying later next week I believe.
 
The R8 will win again. I heard that the "Mission Le Mans/R8" (development of the car, paying the team, ...) cost Audi about 100 million dollars. That´s also the reason why Porsche quit LM (too expensive). If there is an Audi factory team, their R8s will destroy the competition. Even private R8s will probably win.
 
As I said before, next weekend (especially to us American fans), F1 at Indianapolis is alright, NASCAR at Michigan is not a good choice, your local Saturday night short track deal is perfectly fine by you, but come on now. Le Mans is the big news maker next weekend. If you're a real racing fan, you're not going to do anything like say Le Mans is going to be "follow the leader" racing.

You know, all my life since I got into cars, I've loved sportscar racing. Even when my parents moved us into my current home back in 1994 or 1995, I even seen a poster of a Kudzu Mazda sportscar on one of my walls. I've longed to see these in action. For a little stat on the Le Mans race, I've seen the Le Mans endurance live for the first time in 2001. Since then, I have seen Le Mans races for 4 years straight, going on 5 next weekend.

For Le Mans purists, you may have raced the Le Mans configuration without the two chicanes down the Hunadieres in GT4 (I found out the hard way that this race is TOUGH!). The only thing you're not likely to see in this year's Le Mans endurance is the older prototypes on track with the Audi R8s and such. If I had money and travelled a lot, I'd love to be at Le Mans, maybe seeing history right before my eyes. Imagine seeing the Mazda 787B, the Porsche 917s, maybe the Ford GT40s, SERIOUS Le Mans fans will like seeing these machines at Le Mans, in addition to the current Le Mans competitors.

As far as Le Mans goes in future GTs, LM24H is perhaps the best vision of what to expect in the future. PS2 and Dreamcast's "Le Mans 24 Hours" has a lot of cars on track, including time cycles (even on older technology). With so many cars on track, the game one fatal flaw- long load times. To imagine future GTs with Le Mans, it will be interesting to see what PD will come up with.

Don't miss Le Mans!
 
Zardoz
With Sony and PD so involved in the great race, it really makes you wonder what they'll do with it in the PS3 version of the game. We know for sure that we'll see 22-car fields (at least) in the next game, so imagine the possibilities of what they might do with the Gran Turismo version of the Le Mans 24-hour when they have the powerful new console to work with.


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Keep the day/night transitions, weather, and damage. I'd settle for faster, and more consistent lap times from the AI. Make it worth actually trying to race the full 24hours in one sitting.
 
Ford427
Does anybody know if its a definate or not if Speed TV is covering this? Stupid question, but they have bumped WRC many a time in the past for NASCAR.
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yea I know what you mean. The Speed TV channel seems to be obsessed with NASCAR. I look in the viewing guide and all I see is NASCAR races galore.Thats why I only watch this channel on the weekends when they show formula, rally, etc. or anything not NASCAR. This really beats the repetitive, boring oval racing that is NASCAR.
 
I'm going again this year eurotunnel all booked, I leave 6am Fri morning. 👍 :) 👍 I'll be at Tetre Rouge most of the day( and nightime), and then take a walk down to Porsche Curves. I think we'll try and get to Arnage this year

Eurosport will be showing the race (UK) channel 411 Sky, they normally show the start and then 2 hours, break for tennis and then another 2 hours, but they don't show the night time racing for some reason.

Eurosprt
http://www.eurosport.co.uk/home/pages/v4/l2/s76/e7872/calendar_lng2_spo76_evt7872.shtml

http://www.eurosport.co.uk/home/pages/v4/l2/s76/sport_lng2_spo76.shtml

Radio:
http://journal.autosport-atlas.com/2005/lemans/


And for the UK Sky Digital you can hear it through your sky box on channel 907 (globecast)

Jay
 
24 hours= :drool: (need I say more).
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Loeb, a driver for the Pescarolo team used GT4 as a prep-up on the way to the track for his LeMans debut:
""It resembles what I have seen on the Playstation game, but it's totally different when you start driving for real. It's a much faster circuit than the ones I know...you really have an impression of incredible speed."

"The curves are the same as in the video game so I knew where they were. I was surprised by the bumps as you don't feel them in the game. And when you're out, you cannot start again!
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Sounds to me like he played GT4 with a DS2 or something. If he's talking about the bumps on the Hunadieres (sp?) straight they are most certainly there in GT4 :nervous:
 
F1 in Montreal (home country GP) then no 2 week wait for the Indy GP AND Le Mans on the same weekend! :drool: :cheers: Life is good :)

Jesse
 
Touring Mars
👍 Agreed.... GT5 anyone? :sly:

I wanted to go to Le Mans this year, but I will be going home to Scotland that weekend, so I couldn't have gone anyway... :indiff: Still, should be able to watch it on cable... 👍
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LeMans.PW.Oreca.1.jpg


Not a bad looking car.
 
VyPeR
yea I know what you mean. The Speed TV channel seems to be obsessed with NASCAR. I look in the viewing guide and all I see is NASCAR races galore.Thats why I only watch this channel on the weekends when they show formula, rally, etc. or anything not NASCAR. This really beats the repetitive, boring oval racing that is NASCAR.
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I think SpeedTV should be renamed to NASCAR-TV because of all the NASCAR events they show throughout the week...!
 

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