The Le Mans General Discussion Thread

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Spa and Fuji are mentioned in the press releases:

"The TS030 HYBRID will make its race debut on 5 May in the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. TOYOTA's return to the Le Mans 24 Hours will follow on 16-17 June before a home race at Fuji Speedway on 14 October." // link

"...intends to enter two TS030 HYBRID cars in the subsequent Le Mans 24 Hours (16-17 June). Participation in further rounds is yet to be confirmed" // link

No need to draw conclusions from that calendar. On the hand it is interesting that there is a page for the championship standings. If we assume that not a full season entry = not eligible to score points... This makes me want to think they have applied for a full season entry but are going to pay the fines for missing races (the fine in ILMC was 30 000 € per car per race) or they might have gotten some sort of waiver from FIA/ACO (now that Peugeot quit...).
 
^Sounds like a milk float just gave birth to a V8 monster. Which is fantastic. I want to watch Le Mans this year just to watch this leave the pits each time.
 
I love the sound too, heard one video where it was like wirrrrrrrrr *clunk* (insert loud V8 sound).
 
Why are you guys talking about the TOYOTA in this "catch all subjects" LM thread? If I want to speak of the ALMS schedule should I go to the TOYOTA thread? Or should I open a new ALMS thread? Maybe discuss the new Caterham in the F1 driver speculation thread?

I'm officially a confused member in this forum :dopey:
 
Lotus is apparently working on an LMP2 entry - I've heard it's little more than a rebadged Lola or something - because they're Lotus and they never miss an opportunity to waste money on motorsports. Given their pervasive motorsports coverage this season, I'm wondering if we could see the team launched on February 5. Their Formula 1 car is being launched there, and so I wouldn't be suprised if they show off their GP2, GP3, Indycar and WEC entries at the same time (and maybe even the Exige R-GT for the WRC), especially since all of their teams will be carrying a black-and-gold livery, so it would be a photo opportunity to have all five (or six) cars together.
 
Lola P2 coupe with a Judd/Lotus engine.

Hun200kmh
Why are you guys talking about the TOYOTA in this "catch all subjects" LM thread? If I want to speak of the ALMS schedule should I go to the TOYOTA thread? Or should I open a new ALMS thread? Maybe discuss the new Caterham in the F1 driver speculation thread?

I'm officially a confused member in this forum :dopey:
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Because Toyota is going to Le Mans? Mors relevant than posting about breakfast in a NASCAR thread I'd have thought....
 
Stavelot
Lola P2 coupe with a Judd/Lotus engine.
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And all badged as Lotus. Anyway, I still think that having all five/six (still no idea what is going on with the Exige R-GT, and I've also heard rumours of an entry in the GT World Series) cars together is an opportunity that would not miss.
 
Stavelot
Because Toyota is going to Le Mans? Mors relevant than posting about breakfast in a NASCAR thread I'd have thought....
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But there is the separate Toyota thread... not sure how the talk moved to this thread in the first place. Maybe some nice moderator could move posts to that thread.
 
Indeed. This was intended more as a cache for smaller news items than the big stories. Kind of like the one-thread-per-series setup we have for NASCAR, Indycar, MotoGP, V8 Supercars and the WRC. Big stories can have their own threads, since they're big stories.
 
prisonermonkeys
And all badged as Lotus. Anyway, I still think that having all five/six (still no idea what is going on with the Exige R-GT, and I've also heard rumours of an entry in the GT World Series) cars together is an opportunity that would not miss.
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Lola-Lotus. Don't remember the row Aston and Lola got into over the DBR1/2 do you?
 
Hun200kmh
Why are you guys talking about the TOYOTA in this "catch all subjects" LM thread? If I want to speak of the ALMS schedule should I go to the TOYOTA thread? Or should I open a new ALMS thread? Maybe discuss the new Caterham in the F1 driver speculation thread?

I'm officially a confused member in this forum :dopey:
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Toyota returning to Le Mans is such awesome news that we can get away with posting the same in both threads :p
 
That AMR had problems beyond just a low budget. It needed a serious redesign.

And it didn't help that the older car was faster. And much better looking.

Edit: @paulie: thanks for the correction.
 
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I honestly don't think Lotus has the money to buy out the chassis name to call it only a Lotus, not to mention it will look like every other Lola P2 coupe so there's no point.
I would love to see the Lola Aston back, swap the V12 for the I6T, stick on a fin, cut some holes and viola, 2012 spec chassis. Maybe even widen the front fenders to allow the wide front tyres and it would be a quick car.
 
Figured Heidfeld wasn't gonna be exactly a driver anyone wanted back in F1. Just waiting for the other undesireables to soon join sportcars.
 
Stavelot
I honestly don't think Lotus has the money to buy out the chassis name to call it only a Lotus, not to mention it will look like every other Lola P2 coupe so there's no point.
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Lotus Group doesn't seem to have a problem with that in every series they have "entered" by badging an existing car in last couple of years...
 
Heidfeld actually has a good endurance. His F1 days are definitely over so I think his move to Sport Car Racing is the only choice and he made... A good one!
 
Following late Peugeot withdrawal from the FIA WEC, FIA and ACO have decided to extend entry deadline of the WEC until 31st Jan.

http://twitter.com/#!/SportSystemeSPS/status/162824039843373056 , retweeted by http://twitter.com/#!/RebellionRacing
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This should be good news... in any case. Whether it's a decoy for Toyota or requested by some particularly important team (Pescarolo for example, or the team that was talking to Peugeot - so that they can go for plan B or something).
 
Toyota have already confirmed that they will enter the WEC. It will be a limited campaign - so far only Spa, Le Mans and Fuji have been confirmed - but they are looking at fielding a second car outside Le Mans as well.

I'd say it's to allow for any privateer teams who may have done a deal with Peugeot.
 
You can't enter only some races in the WEC, you'll have to enter for a full season and just suck up the fines for missing races.
 

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