The Le Mans General Discussion Thread

I'm quite happy that Toyota has come in and won the last few races. It will make for a great WEC season next year. It's just what we need....a rivalry. There's no doubt everyone at Audi are going back to the shop nervous and are going to work hard over the winter.
 
Urgh I miss the WEC already. After really getting into sports car racing this year pretty much every other form of motorsport (except the BTCC which is also finished) seems so boring now!
 
R0ssingt0n
Urgh I miss the WEC already. After really getting into sports car racing this year pretty much every other form of motorsport (except the BTCC which is also finished) seems so boring now!
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Here, you can watch it all over again:
 
nitrorocks
Where did you take that one? Mosport?
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Pretty sure it's Road Atlanta.

Recently subscribed to Radio Le Mans' Mid Week Motorsport podcast on iTunes.
Some very good bits. I love it because I can download it and then listen while I'm doing anything else like manual labor. :lol:
They recently did a tour of Toyota's Motorsport headquarters in Cologne. I'd highly recommend you guys give it a listen. 👍
 
gogatrs
Pretty sure it's Road Atlanta.

Recently subscribed to Radio Le Mans' Mid Week Motorsport podcast on iTunes.
Some very good bits. I love it because I can download it and then listen while I'm doing anything else like manual labor. :lol:
They recently did a tour of Toyota's Motorsport headquarters in Cologne. I'd highly recommend you guys give it a listen. 👍
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Ah. I was going to ask that too.

Radio Le Mans has awesome podcasts. Reward winning coverage.
 
How could you not tell its from Mosport? The bright white Tire walls are a dead giveaway.
 
Jav
Lotus is a joke! Having Lotus support being out of the picture should move the sanctioning body to help the team which is pretty much on its own.
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I didn't even notice the Lotus in that final race. Probably because they didn't do so well.

I don't know. Sure, there's a bit of politics in racing, especially with Grand Am and ALMS merging. But, with SRT now backed by Fiat and Lotus backed by Proto Motors...I think it comes down to money and Well, with Fiat owning Ferrari and SRT...guess who has the bigger pockets. Lotus just simply might not have the money to support a competitive racing team.
 
SuperShouden
I didn't even notice the Lotus in that final race. Probably because they didn't do so well.

I don't know. Sure, there's a bit of politics in racing, especially with Grand Am and ALMS merging. But, with SRT now backed by Fiat and Lotus backed by Proto Motors...I think it comes down to money and Well, with Fiat owning Ferrari and SRT...guess who has the bigger pockets. Lotus just simply might not have the money to support a competitive racing team.
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Yeah, but the thing here is that they in fact came to AJR with a factory support deal wich we all know how turned out...
 
One thing that should be VERY interesting in 2013 is the factory orders between the SRT and Ferrari. You'd think that FIAT wouldn't really care since they own both companies. But Ferrari might care. And it would be more interesting if Maserati decided they wanted to join. They haven't expressed interest in that, at the moment, but it'd still be interesting. It's like when VW and Audi race together....or Audi and Lamborghini.
 
SuperShouden
One thing that should be VERY interesting in 2013 is the factory orders between the SRT and Ferrari. You'd think that FIAT wouldn't really care since they own both companies. But Ferrari might care. And it would be more interesting if Maserati decided they wanted to join. They haven't expressed interest in that, at the moment, but it'd still be interesting. It's like when VW and Audi race together....or Audi and Lamborghini.
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It isn't like that, the Fiat group may own the company but Chrysler/SRT/Dodge is its own company meaning they have they operate independently. What you're suggesting is huge micro managing wich just doesn't exist at this level.
 
Jav
It isn't like that, the Fiat group may own the company but Chrysler/SRT/Dodge is its own company meaning they have they operate independently. What you're suggesting is huge micro managing wich just doesn't exist at this level.
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Well, for the most part, it doesn't, that's true.
 
SagarisGTB
Not really. The gap at the end was 77.5 points. In addition to not racing Sebring, Toyota also would have had to overcome the Audi never retiring.

Next year though...
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They missed Spa, and retired at LeMans and Bahrain. If they didn't miss Spa that could have gave them the time running a real race to simulate their fuel efficiency outside LeMans (only Silverstone did this for them which they played very safe). They would have placed at least 3rd at Spa (barring an incident) since it was a 6hr race and at LeMans they lasted well into the 8th hour reliably. They should have won Bahrain (Lapierre cocked it up) and it would have been 4 straight plus a 3rd at least at Spa, and a possible win in Silverstone if they knew they could have gone further on their fuel (Brazil was a good indicator of this). But it would have been hard to win, they would have kept Audi honest though, especially with the infighting between the #1 and #2!
 
RACECAR
Here's my problem with Lotus: When it came to both their Road Car and Racing Programs, they made these huge announcements and big promises and where are all of those Road Cars they promised? Where the hell was that Support for their Indycar teams or for AJR? I'm not gonna even mention the F1 teams because as far as I can work out, it was some stupid fight over the right to use the name on their cars. So forgive me if I find it hard to Believe anything Lotus says anymore.
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I don't really care if you believe tbh. The information is readily available on the net ;)
 
RACECAR
Here's my problem with Lotus: When it came to both their Road Car and Racing Programs, they made these huge announcements and big promises and where are all of those Road Cars they promised? Where the hell was that Support for their Indycar teams or for AJR? I'm not gonna even mention the F1 teams because as far as I can work out, it was some stupid fight over the right to use the name on their cars. So forgive me if I find it hard to Believe anything Lotus says anymore.
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Please tell me you were following - or are at least aware of - the Group Lotus saga.
 
lfagte.jpg


LFA GTE... Akira Iida's new 'challenge' according to his twitter!
 
prisonermonkeys
Please tell me you were following - or are at least aware of - the Group Lotus saga.
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Believe me when I say I tried to make sense of it. I'm still trying to figure out what on earth was it.
 
Found this particularly interesting:



Good explaination on how this rolling piece of witchcraft & sorcery works.
 
It's supposed to run at the N24 next year (the Lexus LFA GTE), that's all I've heard about it so far. Of course it'll run it's V10.
 
So, is it gonna be a TMG effort, or a Gazoo Racing TMG backed effort? Anyways... Please let it be at Sebring, please let it be at Sebring, please please please let it be at Sebring 2013!!!

RACECAR
Found this particularly interesting:



Good explaination on how this rolling piece of witchcraft & sorcery works.
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Really good piece indeed, but I still don't like it.
 
Gazoo racing is Toyota, so yes it'll be TMG backed (they're not far from the 'Ring in Cologne). I really hope it's not just a 'VLN Special'. It needs to be raced on a world stage.
 

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