Ferrari back at Le Mans ... the veil is getting thinner

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Well well :) Read into it what you want / or not ;)
 
doblocruiser
I don't know @prisonermonkeys , maybe they look for another challenge and they are getting tired of F1?
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I too would be tired of getting paid millions for participating in a sport where all my other competitors even those that beat me don't get paid in millions just for participating.

doblocruiser
BqQA9_3CMAA2X0V.jpg:large


Well well :) Read into it what you want / or not ;)
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I don't think the 512 S is up to regulation if that's what you're having us read into :sly:
 
Well you guys have a point of course but even when you are paid millions a technical challenge is needed as well and Ferrari is not fond of 1.6 liter engines. We will see what the future brings and Ferrari would be a welcome edition to WEC
 
prisonermonkeys
Why would Ferrari repeatedly make a grand song and dance about their place in Formula 1 and then quit to make a political statement and join a series that only has a short-term future guaranteed?
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While I share your disbelief regarding Ferrari leaving Formula 1, I don't think Le Mans (the race) is in any peril of disappearing. And because the manufacturers and team involved need other races to use their cars, there will always be a series built around that one race. Call it ILMC, call it WEC, call it World Sports Cars Championship, whatever.

The truth is, Le Mans was there during the Grand Prix racing era (in fact, the first ever Grand Prix in motorsports history was raced at Le Mans) it was there before Formula 1 and if I had to guess which form of motorsport will outlast the other, I'd place my bet squarely on Le Mans.
 
The cancelled announcement of a returning manufacturer to Le Mans, if anyone is interested, was going to be Frazer Nash.

It was going to be a Garage 56 entry which would then lead to an LMP1 team the following year.

http://www.frazer-nash.com/

It was revealed during the Radio Le Mans Post Race Tech talk after the race.

Post Race Tech: Le Mans

In which Sam Collins makes the case for the return of Ferrari.
 
There wasn't a championship for Group C cars in 1994, and yet rather a few of them still raced at Le Mans.
 
I hope Ferrari joins the WEC, it would only help their F1 programme. They could do alot of testing, gain knowledge about materials and aerodynamic solutions, oh and they could 24/7 test their drive train at Fiorano. I am quite sure current F1 engines (atleast the Merc one) could do most of the WEC races with slight modifications.
 
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso wants to race at the Le Mans endurance classic after ending his Formula 1 career.

The Spanish double world champion, 32, waved the flag to start the Le Mans 24 Hours last weekend and said it had firmed up a plan to race there he already had in mind.

"To win the Le Mans 24 Hours means a lot to any driver, so one day hopefully I will race there," he said.

"I think I will - that's 100% decided. But I need to wait until I finish F1."

Alonso re-iterated that he wanted to win at least one more title before stopping F1.

"Le Mans requires some test, some training and some dedication," Alonso said. "I am a person who if I decide to do something I do it 100%; I don't do it 50-50.

"So first I will try to do some more years in F1, try to win championships, try to help Ferrari but after that I won't be able to sit on the sofa, and endurance is a category you can race when you are a little bit older with no big problems. That will be my intention."

Former grand prix driver Mark Webber, a friend of Alonso's, quit F1 at the end of last season to move to endurance racing with Porsche.

He raced at Le Mans 24 Hours last weekend, and the Porsche 919 Hybrid he shared with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley led in the closing stages of the race before engine problems ended their hopes late on.

_75653428_markwebberatlemans.jpg

Former Red Bull driver Mark Webber, who retired from F1 last season, competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race last weekend.

Alonso said that he could make the move with Ferrari, whose president Luca Di Montezemolo is considering entering the company into the top sports-prototype class, where Le Mans winners Audi, Porsche and Toyota currently compete.

Ferrari won a lower category with its 458 car last weekend, with ex-F1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella among its driver line-up.

"We have talked many times with president Montezemolo about this matter because he is very passionate about the Le Mans," he said.

"He enjoyed very much the win of the 458 with Fisichella, with Gianmaria Bruni this year, and I know there is some thinking about coming back with a big car.

"It is not in the short term because now we need to put in place the F1 project and we need to win here."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/27930836

Quoted from BBC Sport F1 website. Seems the plot is thickening somewhat.
 
TheEnd35000vr
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/27930836

Quoted from BBC Sport F1 website. Seems the plot is thickening somewhat.
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I don't think that's quite where I see the thickening.

What's the news, that once a driver leaves F1 he wants to continue in a world-level series? Or do you see this as somehow related to the current "plot"? You think that if Ferrari DID leave F1 then Alonso would too?

Definitely some thickening in your rather wide-of-the-mark assumptions, methinks.
 
TenEightyOne
I don't think that's quite where I see the thickening.

What's the news, that once a driver leaves F1 he wants to continue in a world-level series? Or do you see this as somehow related to the current "plot"? You think that if Ferrari DID leave F1 then Alonso would too?

Definitely some thickening in your rather wide-of-the-mark assumptions, methinks.
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No, more of a misused phrase on my part. Just seems now that Alonso himself has hinted that Ferrari may join Le Mans at some point in the near future like he himdelf intends to.
 
TheEnd35000vr
No, more of a misused phrase on my part. Just seems now that Alonso himself has hinted that Ferrari may join Le Mans at some point in the near future like he himdelf intends to.
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I was being a bit grumpy, I guess I was just tired of the whole Ferrari/F1/Sportscars nonsense :D

Bah humbug etc.

I do agree that Ferrari may rejoin F1 (although as I already said I see it fitting the Alfa brand better right now in view of their shuper-schmexy lightweight road hybrid) but I think Luca De Lizard is over-egging it.

However... in De Lizard's favour he's called a meeting between F1 bosses et al along with some big web companies to try to improve viewing of the sport. That seems, for once, to be a sensible move for the future.

Love or hate the Bernster he's brought the sport to where it is and it's hard to conceive of it existing in its current form (or at all) without him... but he seems to have no idea about how modern media works.
 
TenEightyOne
What's the news, that once a driver leaves F1 he wants to continue in a world-level series? Or do you see this as somehow related to the current "plot"? You think that if Ferrari DID leave F1 then Alonso would too?
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I think it's kind of a criticism-by-proxy. People want Ferrari to leave Formula 1 because that will be a justification of the criticisms of the sport. Their departure would then lead to the FIA moving heaven and earth to keep Ferrari, with the easiest way forward being to amend the rules to be something Ferrari would approve of.

Of course, it's a ridiculous abstract thought, motivated by a dislike of the engine noise moreso than anything else. Bahrain, Canada and - to a lesser extent - Monaco proved that the new regulations have not killed the spirit of the sport the way everyone predicted they would.
 
Well, first of, I highly doubt that Ferrari is actually willing to drop their F1 programme. From what little digging I did, it seems that they already get prefential treatment over other teams, larger shares of the money involved and so on. Ferrari's making a lot of noise right now because they're not doing too well in F1. The regulations don't seem to suite Ferrari that well - my impression is that they'll try to pressure the FIA to change the regulations to something more... Preferable.

And personally, I don't really care if Ferrari joins LMP1 racing. I don't even want them to, to be perfectly honest. I could imagine a lot of bickering and bitching on their part if things don't go their way from the start.
 
Luminis
Well, first of, I highly doubt that Ferrari is actually willing to drop their F1 programme. From what little digging I did, it seems that they already get prefential treatment over other teams, larger shares of the money involved and so on. Ferrari's making a lot of noise right now because they're not doing too well in F1. The regulations don't seem to suite Ferrari that well - my impression is that they'll try to pressure the FIA to change the regulations to something more... Preferable.

And personally, I don't really care if Ferrari joins LMP1 racing. I don't even want them to, to be perfectly honest. I could imagine a lot of bickering and bitching on their part if things don't go their way from the start.
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The difference is that LMP1 is Audis world at the moment. Ferrari could bicker all they won't, it'll fall on deaf ears (unless of course it's about something serious).
In F1, though diminished, they still have a lot of pull. Bernie and the FIA know that F1 without Ferrari is a far less enticing prospect for circuits and investors, not to mention it would remove a substantial chunk of F1s fanbase.

That said the more Prototypes at le Mans and in the WEC the better, especially manufacturer backed entries.
 
Is there a possibility for Ferrari do both F1 and the WEC if Ferrari build the engines and have someone else do the chassis with a lot of involvement from Ferrari? Like a semi-works effort.
 
Won't matter. I have full confidence that Porsche will win Le Mans next year. Everything Porsche does, it does well, and once the 919's issues are worked out it will be unstoppable.

To Ferrari I say good luck, but you'll have to wait a few years to beat Porsche and Audi.
 
Well, the news have quieted down, maybe this was all just another "bluff" by Ferrari to get some leverage in F1's discussions. Still, Alonso being the starter of the race is very uncharacteristic and a strange choice by the ACO ...

To end in a nostalgic note, I just watched a deçightful video about Ferrari's last true stallion in prototype racing, the 1972 312 PB. Who gave Ferrari many victories and a championship, allowing them to closethe door on endurance racing in a (near, Le Mans missing) perfect way.

Has to be said ... WHAT A SOUND! :drool:



Video description:

The Ferrari 312PB (officially known as the 312P, but appended with the 'B' by the media to differentiate it from the '69 312P) marked the end of an era. It was Ferrari's last new car developed specifically for sports prototype racing. In the hands of drivers like Mr. Mario Andretti it was a world-beater helping to cement his reputation. The thing is, that as great a racer as he was, other Scuderia Ferrari drivers were similarly successful with the Group 5 car. Drivers Brian Redman and Arturo Merzario each drove the car and combined to win three of the eleven races of the 1972 championship-winning season, a season that saw Ferrari win every race except the 24 Hours of Le Mans (which they sat out due to reliability questions related to the Formula One-derived twelve cylinder).

And reliability issues were the one concern that truly worried Mr. Steven Read before acquiring this endurance legend. He wanted to take it vintage racing but every photo of the 312PB that he found featured about twenty mechanics working on the car simultaneously while it was in the pits. Obviously such an extensive endeavor would have been prohibitive. Perhaps it was the Formula One-based cockpit that attracted him, or the fact that this was one of the last Ferrari sports prototypes of the golden age of racing. Or maybe the 312PB's racing pedigree, including races at Brands Hatch, Daytona, Nurburgring, and Watkins Glen and the fact that it can pull multiple Gs through corners and keep you motionless in the seat with your hands right where they need to be that convinced him it might be worthwhile. All of these factors probably contributed, but let's be honest, it had to be that sound!

The Ferrari 312PB is special for another reason too: it was Ferrari's last sports prototype before they exited sports car racing to focus their efforts solely on Formula One. They put the exclamation point on a long and storied history by winning the championship.

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