The Le Mans General Discussion Thread

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Haven't seen this on here yet, and I'm hoping they win something early on. I'd like to seem them at Le Mans against their old nemesis and my team!

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hawkeye122
Open cockpit is to Spitfire as Closed Cockpit is to F22.

It's just a preference i suppose.

Ya, preference. i love being able to spot whos driving at the races without having to look at a tv monitor. watching the wind buffering the helmet and watch their head dip from the g forces under hard braking. closed cockpit cars look cooler, but i enjoy watching the drivers more in open. that could be a cool thread idea. what type of car everyone prefers...
 
Ya, preference. i love being able to spot whos driving at the races without having to look at a tv monitor. watching the wind buffering the helmet and watch their head dip from the g forces under hard braking. closed cockpit cars look cooler, but i enjoy watching the drivers more in open. that could be a cool thread idea. what type of car everyone prefers...

Well, most helmets...

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Wait...Melo and Vilander back together this season? I'm getting more and more excited.

EDIT: NM. It looks like Vilander is with AF Corse and Melo is with Luxury Racing. Though he seems to fluctuate between teams.
 
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Haven't seen this on here yet, and I'm hoping they win something early on. I'd like to seem them at Le Mans against their old nemesis and my team!

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And here is the Corvette they will be fighting with. And like always, I would like to see them kick everyone's ass. I would also would like for them to go back to the 2008 "Jake Scrape" livery, it was the best one they had.
 
The mystery has been solved: Nissan will be providing the engine for the DeltaWing.

[YOUTUBEHD]3wlQAvEfmeI[/YOUTUBEHD]

In before "OMG, its comin to GT5!!"
 
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And here is the Corvette they will be fighting with. And like always, I would like to see them kick everyone's ass. I would also would like for them to go back to the 2008 "Jake Scrape" livery, it was the best one they had.

They should have done a retro one last year.
 
So the DeltaWing has an official Engine provider and sponsor:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151408561480298.840037.212717370297&type=1

It is now the Nissan DeltaWing. My question is: will this be something the GT Academy guys will be driving. It has the "GT Academy" look to it with that livery. I guess we'll have to wait and find out....and don't forget to celebrate St. Patrick's Day by watching the 12 Hours of Sebring this weekend.

(Seriously, why St. Patrick's Day? Did Florida go to ALMS and say "Hey, since this is Florida, and we have a reputation to uphold, do you mind holding the 12 Hours on St. Patrick's Day, so we can see what sort of crazy stupidity the fans will come up with?" Honestly, I hope everything goes okay down there. Maybe Florida did it to give people something to do other than go to the bars and get drunk. Who knows.)
 
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Nissan GT Academy livery shouts "Le Mans Pack" With the Deltawing and the Oreca LMP2..

Im not entirely sure why its on the day it is either. Maybe just how the dates happened to fall?
 
The mystery has been solved: Nissan will be providing the engine for the DeltaWing.

[YOUTUBEHD]3wlQAvEfmeI[/YOUTUBEHD]

In before "OMG, its comin to GT5!!"

Now they need to get Bryan onboard with the team!
 
You been Tree'd, bro.



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Joking aside, Its happened many times before. I believe the 50 anniversary was also on St.Patricks day. Maybe thats just how the dates fall.

Yeah, I noticed that....I took of the Youtube, video, though, so I get points for that.

And I guess it could be just how dates fall...but...I don't know, it still seems a strange day to hold an autorace. Although....Earth Day or Arbor Day would be stranger...and more ironic. But...At least not ALL the cars are green...although....I think with Lotus being a Sponsor/engine provider (which is weird, as well) I think a lot of cars do have some green on them.

I am also curious to know if the Delta Wing will be at Sebring for some testing by Nissan, which is why they've unveiled it before the 12 Hours. I mean, I know a lot of teams stay out after the 12 Hours to run 12 more hours at Sebring to test their cars in a full 24 Hour stretch. (Which...hasn't seemed to help a lot during the past couple years as only half the field has finished the past couple LeMans....I wonder if 50% is really a high finish rate as I think it is, though. Maybe that's just a normal 24 Hour of LeMans thing. Although, more cars than that finished the 24 Hours of Dubai and that was in the blazing heat....But, LeMans is a longer, rougher, narrower track with a couple very high speed sections. I guess that's why Sebring, with it's bumpy surface and long back straight is a good 24 Hour testing facility.)
 
The DeltaWing will make its first public appearance at Sebring. However, it will not be contesting the race. I think it will be doing a demonstration run some time before the race begins before being parked. The testing Marino Franchitti was talking about will be carried out elsewhere.
 
The DeltaWing will make its first public appearance at Sebring. However, it will not be contesting the race. I think it will be doing a demonstration run some time before the race begins before being parked. The testing Marino Franchitti was talking about will be carried out elsewhere.

Maybe. It wouldn't surprise me if Nissan snuck in some testing at Sebring before they left. Just to see how the car handles the bumps of a rough track. The thing they REALLY need to test is how that car is going to handle bumps at 200+ and then going into heavy breaking like the Mulsane at la Sarthe. What they NEED is to actually test at LeMans. And I'm sure that's going to be their next stop: Get to LeMans early so they can test.

Sebring is really the closest surface to la Sarthe's back straight. Nurburgring has some rough spots but it's straight is relatively smooth, and a car like the Delta Wing is going to behave differently on a bumpy surface like la Sarthe than a smooth surface like Nurburgring.

So...I suspect Nissan might do SOME testing at Sebring. Maybe not a lot, but...I doubt they'll pass up an opportunity like this to get some data on how it performs on a uneven surface. Even during that "demonstration" run, you know the Nissan team will be collecting data from it.
 
How would they be able to test at La Sarthe? Or I'm just reading too much into your post...

They wouldn't be able to do a test at La Sarthe and the only pre runs they get are the practice and quali before the actual 24hrs. La Sarthe being part of public roads is only open to racing once a year. Or at least this is what I've read and heard during the 24h event.
 
The DeltaWIng will do demonstration laps before the race. After the race, Highcroft will remain at Sebring for a few more days to conduct extensive testing. They'll have all the data from the race (lap times by all cars in all classes) so I guess that'll give them a good idea on where they stand pace-wise.
 
How would they be able to test at La Sarthe? Or I'm just reading too much into your post...

They wouldn't be able to do a test at La Sarthe and the only pre runs they get are the practice and quali before the actual 24hrs. La Sarthe being part of public roads is only open to racing once a year. Or at least this is what I've read and heard during the 24h event.

That's a good point. I forgot about that.

The DeltaWIng will do demonstration laps before the race. After the race, Highcroft will remain at Sebring for a few more days to conduct extensive testing. They'll have all the data from the race (lap times by all cars in all classes) so I guess that'll give them a good idea on where they stand pace-wise.

Yeah. Exactly what I said. You don't take a car like that to a race like Sebring and NOT do testing while you're there. I mean, other teams are going to be there, too, so not only will they get testing from a rough track, but how the Delta Wing behaves in the intermittent traffic like it will encounter at LeMans. I wonder if Speed will show any of those demonstration laps. It'd be nice to see the car run from the race cameras.
 
How would they be able to test at La Sarthe? Or I'm just reading too much into your post...

They wouldn't be able to do a test at La Sarthe and the only pre runs they get are the practice and quali before the actual 24hrs. La Sarthe being part of public roads is only open to racing once a year. Or at least this is what I've read and heard during the 24h event.

There is a test day Le Mans before the race every year. (not run in '09 or '10) It's held in April and it is when new drivers have to run laps in daylight and nighttime to allow them to race on the track.

Edit. 3rd of June this year.

http://www.lemans.org/en/races/schedule.html
 
There is a test day Le Mans before the race every year. (not run in '09 or '10) It's held in April and it is when new drivers have to run laps in daylight and nighttime to allow them to race on the track.

Edit. 3rd of June this year.

http://www.lemans.org/en/races/schedule.html

Not only that, I think all teams entering the race MUST be present at test day, or else they lose their entry. Not 100% sure on this but pretty much 95%.

PS - And yes, the public roads will be closed and the track will be in full race configuration. It's a sort of a shakedown, or "all systems check" situation also for the ACO, not only for the teams.
 
There is a test day Le Mans before the race every year. (not run in '09 or '10) It's held in April and it is when new drivers have to run laps in daylight and nighttime to allow them to race on the track.

Edit. 3rd of June this year.

http://www.lemans.org/en/races/schedule.html

Thanks Tired Tyres, that's probably why I said what I said. I'm still stuck in 2010 mindset and not 2011 (now 2012). Thanks again for the help.
 
No comments on Sebring?? My wife let me watch most of it. Did a little housework during the full course cautions. :)

One of the most exciting races I've seen. Awesome GT battles throughout. Hand's pass in the last corner was crazy, though a little less "epic" once it was pointed out that the announcers had it wrong and it was the 51 instead of the 71. I was yelling at the TV anyway. :)

And how heartbreaking was it for MuscleMilk to just sit there in the pits with a broken fueling valve?? With the #3 Audi having issues of its own, MuscleMilk might have been able to push into 2nd place, but instead they end up 8th.
 
I'm reading reports of another R18 (not sure what version) destroyed yesterday in an accident, while being driven by Timo Bernhard in the testing Audi is doing (or was) at Sebring.

The condition of Timo Bernhard is unclear. First reports were that he was ok, but Audi didn't show up on track yet today and nobody is commenting. Unconfirmed rumour (stressing BOTH words) is that he may have broken vertebrae.

Wishing the best to him and the Audi crew.

EDIT - Apparently it was an "Ultra" R18 ('12 spec of their normal car). And it was a huge shunt against a wall, well over 120 mph (200 kmh).
 
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