The Le Mans General Discussion Thread

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JRM ran SumoPower in GT1WC, who drove for SumoPower and also has HPD P1 experience? Looks like Brabs is getting a contract extension to return to Le Mans.
 
Hope so! Brabs and Le Mans have a long history, sadly interrupted last year when Highcroft quit their Le Mans HPD project.

And it really is amazing to check on what he drove down the Hunaudieres:



1992 - Toyota TS010 - DNF
1993 - Jaguar XJ220 - DSQ
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1996 - McLaren F1 GTR - 5th
1997 - Panoz Esperante GTR-1 - DNF
1998 - Panoz Esperante GTR-1 - 7th
1999 - Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S- 7th
2000 - Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S 15th
2001 - Panoz LMP07 - DNF
2002 - Panoz LMP01 Evo - DNF
2003 - Bentley Speed 8 - 2nd
2004 - Zytek 04S - DNF
2005 - Aston Martin DBR9 - 9th
2006 - Aston Martin DBR9 - 9th
2007 - Aston Martin DBR9 - 5th (CLASS WINNER)
2008 - Aston Martin DBR9 - 13th (CLASS WINNER)
2009 - Peugeot 908 HDi FAP - 1st (OVERALL WINNER)
2010 - HPD ARX-01C - 25th
 
Stavelot
JRM ran SumoPower in GT1WC, who drove for SumoPower and also has HPD P1 experience? Looks like Brabs is getting a contract extension to return to Le Mans.

That's good for him though. He wasn't doin much since getting laid off from HPD and Peugot
 
He hasn't raced for Peugeot since 2009....he was racing for Highcroft last year full time and would have been this season too had they not pulled the plug. I'm just amazed no-one picked him up for Le Mans last year....
 
Stavelot
He hasn't raced for Peugeot since 2009....he was racing for Highcroft last year full time and would have been this season too had they not pulled the plug. I'm just amazed no-one picked him up for Le Mans last year....

Yeah because he won with Peugeot at Le Mans in 2009 i remember
 
From Planetlemans.com:


Greaves Motorsport confirms drivers for FIA WEC
BY TEAM UPDATE ⋅ JANUARY 6, 2012 ⋅ E-MAIL THIS POST ⋅ PRINT THIS POST ⋅ POST A COMMENT
Greaves Motorsport is pleased to announce their driver line up for the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship. Christian Zugel, Ricardo Gonzalez and Elton Julian will drive for the team in Renate Ojjeh’s Zytek-Nissan in the LM P2 class. They will take part in the eight rounds of the new FIA World Championship, which includes the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Christian Zugel, originally from Stuttgart, is an enthusiastic competitor in the US Historic Racing scene. During the past two seasons, Christian has also raced a prototype successfully in the LMPC and FLM categories in the American Le Mans Series and the Le Mans Series.

Christian reflected on the proposed programme: “I am very much looking forward to our WEC adventure and to actually race at Le Mans for the first time. To be able to continue my driving partnership with Elton is really fantastic and to race with, as opposed to against, Ricardo will also be a great pleasure. We are very pleased to be joining Greaves Motorsport who have proved themselves to be winners in 2011, we will aim to continue that level of performance and achievement.”

Ricardo Gonzalez, a native of Mexico City, comes from a family of racers, both his father and brother competed at international level. Ricardo was a single seater driver from 1994 to 2003 in many top level series. In 2001 to 2003 he raced in the European FC Championship and the World Series by Nissan, scoring several podiums, pole positions and lap records. He returned to competition in 2010, also in the American Le Mans Series, driving a LMPC prototype. In 2011 he shared the LMPC Drivers’ Championship in the championship.

Ricardo had this to say about the prospects for the new season: “I’m very excited about this opportunity, after winning the LMPC Championship in ALMS it made sense to step up to LM P2, and we couldn’t have found a better way than to do it than with Greaves Motorsport in the FIA World Endurance Championship. They are proven winners and I look forward to continuing that tradition with them. Racing at Le Mans has always been my dream and I can’t wait to do my first laps around the circuit with Christian Zugel and Elton Julian who have been my fierce competitors in the past seasons but are also good friends, 2012 is looking very good for us.”

The third member of the team, Elton Julian from Quito, Ecuador, has an impressive record in motorsport over the past two decades. Elton has the distinction of being the youngest driver to win a round of the British Formula Three Championship and was a test and reserve driver with the French Formula One team, Larrousse. He raced in all forms of motorsport around the world before taking a break from competition in 2001. He returned to endurance racing at the 2005 Le Mans 24 Hours and has continued since that time principally in the American Le Mans Series.

Elton gave his thoughts for 2012: “It’s a real pleasure to continue racing with Christian Zugel for a third year, together we have achieved everything possible in the LMPC class. So, moving up to LM P2 is a natural progression. Joining a team like Greaves Motorsport, partnering with Ricardo and returning to Le Mans makes me the luckiest guy in the paddock. I’m looking forward to picking up where Greaves Motorsport left off and bringing this excellent team the results it deserves.”

Greaves Motorsport Team Manager, Jacob Greaves, commented: “ This is a great start to the new year for Greaves Motorsport, confirming a driver line up that will allow the team to challenge for victories in the new FIA World Endurance Championship. We are confident that together with these drivers and along with our partners Nissan, Zytek, Dunlop and Motul, we can achieve our full potential.”

The 2012 FIA World Endurance will consist of eight rounds including the Le Mans 24 Hours and will commence in Florida with the 12 Hours of Sebring on 17th March.
 
Hope so! Brabs and Le Mans have a long history, sadly interrupted last year when Highcroft quit their Le Mans HPD project.

And it really is amazing to check on what he drove down the Hunaudieres:



1992 - Toyota TS010 - DNF
1993 - Jaguar XJ220 - DSQ
----
----
1996 - McLaren F1 GTR - 5th
1997 - Panoz Esperante GTR-1 - DNF
1998 - Panoz Esperante GTR-1 - 7th
1999 - Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S- 7th
2000 - Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S 15th
2001 - Panoz LMP07 - DNF
2002 - Panoz LMP01 Evo - DNF
2003 - Bentley Speed 8 - 2nd
2004 - Zytek 04S - DNF
2005 - Aston Martin DBR9 - 9th
2006 - Aston Martin DBR9 - 9th
2007 - Aston Martin DBR9 - 5th (CLASS WINNER)
2008 - Aston Martin DBR9 - 13th (CLASS WINNER)
2009 - Peugeot 908 HDi FAP - 1st (OVERALL WINNER)
2010 - HPD ARX-01C - 25th

It sucks that the XJ220 got DQed. It would have probably had a lot longer racing career had it not. And probably, by today's rules, it would've been fine. I blame it, however on FIA for not inspecting the car beforehand and informing the teams what needed to be done to make it legal.
 
It sucks that the XJ220 got DQed. It would have probably had a lot longer racing career had it not. And probably, by today's rules, it would've been fine. I blame it, however on FIA for not inspecting the car beforehand and informing the teams what needed to be done to make it legal.

Yeah...Had that not happened, TWR probably would've continued developing and racing the XJ220 with Jaguar's blessing. Funny enough, because that car got DQ'ed the class win was awarded to a locally entered Porsche with an all-French driving crew...:trouble:

Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing how JRM do with the HPD, Big-Honking-Fin and Big-Friggin'-Holes and all.:sly:
 
Maybe there WAS an inspection and the French just happened to neglect to tell the Jaguar team that their car was illegal until AFTER the race...or maybe the just wanted the all French team to win and were like "the XJ220 is too powerful. DQ'ed."

Anyone know how long the pre-race inspection rule has been implemented.

I think a full racing team wouldn't helped sell some more of the XJ220...but...thanks to games like Gran Turismo, Need For Speed and Forza, the XJ220 is still a classic supercar. :)
 
Hopefully Highcroft won't go out of business with the DeltaWing and return in an HPD.

The DeltaWing is not a coupe...regardless of weight,engine its still wont be as efficient aerodynamically as a coupe version would be.
 
The Toyota LMP car should be dropped onto the racing world soon.

I wonder if they are going to go with turbo charging, since the lightweight of a smaller displacement engine will help out with the added weight of Toyota's hybrid system. It must be a lot more complicated and potent than Audi's.
 
I know this aint about this years le mans but its bloody awesome! (and sorry if it has been mentioned....If it has feel free to kill me)

But porsche will in 2014 return to Le mans with a LMP-1 car. Porsche announced this with a video from the official porsche channel on youtube. The describtion is as follows.

"Porsche returns to Le Mans with a works-run LMP1 sports prototype. The first outing of the completely new developed race car is planned for the year 2014. With 16 overall victories, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in Le Mans. More information on http://www.porsche.com/motorsport"

Link to video so you can read stuff urself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhOsDzSJ0bk

 
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I know this aint about this years le mans but its bloody awesome! (and sorry if it has been mentioned....)

But porsche will in 2014 return to Le mans with a LMP-1 car. Porsche announced this with a video from the official porsche channel on youtube. The describtion is as follows.

"Porsche returns to Le Mans with a works-run LMP1 sports prototype. The first outing of the completely new developed race car is planned for the year 2014. With 16 overall victories, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in Le Mans. More information on http://www.porsche.com/motorsport"

Link to video so you can read stuff urself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhOsDzSJ0bk



It's been discussed a bit. The real question has been though, will Audi stay? Some believe that in 2014 they will pull the plug on the Audi program that way they won't catch up to Porsche in overall wins. But it has been said before by VW that they try not to have 2 of their marques competing directly. Personally, I think Porsche will come in, nick all of Audi's drivers and engineers, and not have a car that is in any way competitive in their first year. But I hope Audi stays. Over the years they've turned into a great program that turns out wins consistently.
 
I think VW said that they actually had no problem with Audi and Porsche competing but I still have doubts about Audi competing beyond 2014. Where would they go beside GT3 racing which im not a particular fan of besides the N24.
 
It's been discussed a bit. The real question has been though, will Audi stay? Some believe that in 2014 they will pull the plug on the Audi program that way they won't catch up to Porsche in overall wins. But it has been said before by VW that they try not to have 2 of their marques competing directly. Personally, I think Porsche will come in, nick all of Audi's drivers and engineers, and not have a car that is in any way competitive in their first year. But I hope Audi stays. Over the years they've turned into a great program that turns out wins consistently.

Bentley were tipped for a Le Mans return at some point as well... I see Audi in GT category in a couple years maybe with an R8 successor...
 
I dont think Audi will pull the plug. They have achieved so great succes, the le mans brand has made the road car brand so much more attractive and so much awesome technology have been converted from LMP to the audi road cars. Really cant see any point of them leaving Le mans.

Though if Peugeot do not win this year i think they will pull the plug. Not that i've any rumors or anything but i just think they've achieved so little succes compared to how much effort they've put into it. They have been here for 4 straight years with only one win with an extremely fast car but simply havent made it to the end or so.

I think its fantastic porsche is coming back in le mans and i really hope audi will take the challenge and beat them to death! :D Would be so perfect if Tom K could stop hes career at audi with 10 overall le mans wins...... Not even senna would be able to match him then ;)
 
I dont think Audi will pull the plug. They have achieved so great succes, the le mans brand has made the road car brand so much more attractive and so much awesome technology have been converted from LMP to the audi road cars. Really cant see any point of them leaving Le mans.

Though if Peugeot do not win this year i think they will pull the plug. Not that i've any rumors or anything but i just think they've achieved so little succes compared to how much effort they've put into it. They have been here for 4 straight years with only one win with an extremely fast car but simply havent made it to the end or so.

I think its fantastic porsche is coming back in le mans and i really hope audi will take the challenge and beat them to death! :D Would be so perfect if Tom K could stop hes career at audi with 10 overall le mans wins...... Not even senna would be able to match him then ;)

:D I want Porsche to do better just because their so legendary. I never go to see them race because I was born in 1997, but all the pictures in the 1970s, and 1980s, I am really excited to see them race in the Prototype class. ( Isaw the pesnke RS Spyders ans such, but not the same). Im a huge Audi fan, but when Porsche comes, I will like them more.
 
I have a theory about the whole "will Audi stay or go?" thing.

They will stay and VAG will play the hell out of them nearing the record(if they win the next 2 they will only be 4 back by the time Porsche returns) and Porsche trying to fend them off. I can already see a huge PR campaign focusing on Audi Vs. Porsche, just look what Ford Vs. Ferrari did for both companies in the 60's.

Assuming Audi stays competitive and Porsche can become competitive quickly VAG would win massively.
 
sumbrownkid
The Toyota LMP car should be dropped onto the racing world soon.

I wonder if they are going to go with turbo charging, since the lightweight of a smaller displacement engine will help out with the added weight of Toyota's hybrid system. It must be a lot more complicated and potent than Audi's.

Engine will be 3.4l V8 same as supplied to Rebellion. Proven engine is the only way to go for Toyota.
 
I have a theory about the whole "will Audi stay or go?" thing.

They will stay and VAG will play the hell out of them nearing the record(if they win the next 2 they will only be 4 back by the time Porsche returns) and Porsche trying to fend them off. I can already see a huge PR campaign focusing on Audi Vs. Porsche, just look what Ford Vs. Ferrari did for both companies in the 60's.

Assuming Audi stays competitive and Porsche can become competitive quickly VAG would win massively.

Yes. a lot of customer cars will be bought :dopey:
 
Engine will be 3.4l V8 same as supplied to Rebellion. Proven engine is the only way to go for Toyota.

Exactly, where did you that info from? Nothing has really been coming from Toyota in a long while. How do we know they aren't going to use a Hybrid engine?
 
They are going to use a hybrid engine. But the "petrol" part of it could indeed be that one. Not sure where Stavelot got his info, I didn't get anything new about Toyota lately also.
 
That's their best be for a proven package in terms of engine (no such thing as a 'hybrid engine' either...it's a hybrid system that complements the engine). The rules are unfavourable in P1 to petrol turbos (2l max...) so a proven and reliable V8 already in use by a fast privateer team is their best option. And yes, it's who you know ;)
 
Although it sounds like hear-say, It would make sense for Toyota to use the engine Rebellion has been running. Mountains of data already available, they know it's reliable, so all they have to do is insure that the electric part doesnt break off. No sense in running an unproven engine if the I.C. part of it doesnt even work.

Maybe an engine stolen from TRD in Japan, from the SC430? I can see that as a possibility(although I'm not sure on the exact specs, it may not be legal)
 
It is the exact same engine running in the SC430 in SuperGT.

...I know that. What I'm saying is they could take that, and put it in the LMP car. But I don't know if it's legal or not for the WEC. I hadn't done any research on it yet.

Oh, now I see what you meant. Never mind. In that case, they would be REALLY foolish not to use it.
 
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