85th Running Of The 24 Hours Of Le Mans, 17-18 June 2017Sports Cars

[Michelin Man]

Unrelated to the action on track, but from watching the stream, La Sarthe looks very majestic under dusk . Certainly jealous of those lucky buggers who are spectating at the track...

Edit:

 

[Furinkazen]

Tracey Krohn off. DRINK.

 

[Scuderia Paul]

 

[Furinkazen]

Results:

Also:
From FIA WEC website - All 60 #LM24 cars in graphics form, useful for banners or avatars ahead of the great race!

All 60 cars are in the MEGA link provided
https://mega.nz/#!tk9ASbYT!ZkcHNniZ3fLN_Ze2FfaoABHdJVhjTv9RfJ36MnoY3Tc

 

[Scuderia Paul]

Also:
From FIA WEC website - All 60 #LM24 cars in graphics form, useful for banners or avatars ahead of the great race!

View attachment 654243 View attachment 654244 View attachment 654245
All 60 cars are in the MEGA link provided
https://mega.nz/#!tk9ASbYT!ZkcHNniZ3fLN_Ze2FfaoABHdJVhjTv9RfJ36MnoY3Tc

The graphics are brilliant. I have them downloaded already and you may not have noticed but they have provided the high and low downforce versions too. You just have to click on a tiny dot below the car on the website.

 

[Michelin Man]

Went out, so was away from the stream for the last 90mins or so, but had the 24H Le Man app on the go. Got quite excited and perhaps a little too hopeful when I saw the #69 Ford go top of GTE-Pro in the closing stages, so somewhat presumed it'd be on pole as that was the last time I checked. However, coming back to see #97 Aston on pole, I'm not going to complain; pretty happy TBH, was a pretty brisk lap too , (BoP aside ) with the #95 3rd,

And with the leading #69 Ford 5th in class it's certainly not a bad position for the race. Besides that, Toyota's on pole, thanks to Kamui's stunning lap, so all is looking good at the moment .

 

[Betty blue]

Great to see Toyota on pole with that monster of a lap. However, I'm still disappointed about the GTE Pro class and the BoP, I mean,the Aston Martin is almost 10 years old car, why would they slow down the others that much just to make them competitive? What's the point of the development the manufacturers are doing? Yes I get the Idea of the BoP but this is far to much tbh

 

[Michelin Man]

Great to see Toyota on pole with that monster of a lap. However, I'm still disappointed about the GTE Pro class and the BoP, I mean,the Aston Martin is almost 10 years old car, why would they slow down the others that much just to make them competitive? What's the point of the development the manufacturers are doing? Yes I get the Idea of the BoP but this is far to much tbh

That's the ACO for you, they never seem to be able to get the grasp of BoP changes in GTE. Whilst on the face of it, GTE-Pro being close and the Aston's quick, may seem all fine and dandy and quite good, but the way the Bop changes have been handed out are just incorrect. As you say, as much as I like Aston, and want them to do good, simply slowing all the others down "to their level" is not the way to do it. The changes made just don't seem to have been made with much thought or attention.

As someone mentioned here earlier, the people over at IMSA have been able to manage the BoP really well, and it's produced closely fought, fair racing, so how the ACO have managed to do it so poorly is quite funny really.

 

[Kurei]

Perhaps all LMP1-H will encounter issues and fail to finish, leaving ByKolles to take the win and LMP2 to fill the remainder of the podium. Wonder what odds I'd get on that?

Or perhaps going on from that even more, a major pileup in the opening hours some how takes out all of the front-running LMP's, with all the GTE cars miraculously getting through unscathed, with a GT machine taking the overall win .

Now I'm not hoping those or the following happens this year, but to add a third possibility - remember the weather last year? It's another factor that could affect the outcome. I'm also not a Chevy-fan or anything (Ferrari ftw actually), but if Ford pulls the same sandbagging-crap from last year - I think a little piece of me will die, not because they won, but because they'll have gotten away with it again.

I just want fair, equal racing under the most challenging conditions for all. I know I know "keep dreaming"...

 

[Suzumiya]

Now I'm not hoping those or the following happens this year, but to add a third possibility - remember the weather last year? It's another factor that could affect the outcome. I'm also not a Chevy-fan or anything (Ferrari ftw actually), but if Ford pulls the same sandbagging-crap from last year - I think a little piece of me will die, not because they won, but because they'll have gotten away with it again.

I just want fair, equal racing under the most challenging conditions for all. I know I know "keep dreaming"...

Everyone sandbags and cheats. It's just the ones that make it obvious or get caught get the most shame.

 

[GTP_Nail]

Anyone else having problems with the official WEC stream? It works as it should except for the Fullscreen. Neither google chrome nor MS Edge are working, a restart didn't help either. Anyone else with this problem? It worked for Q1 yesterday...

Yup... and it was replaced with a desktop in Spanish?

 

[aarror]

Great to see Toyota on pole with that monster of a lap. However, I'm still disappointed about the GTE Pro class and the BoP, I mean,the Aston Martin is almost 10 years old car, why would they slow down the others that much just to make them competitive? What's the point of the development the manufacturers are doing? Yes I get the Idea of the BoP but this is far to much tbh

Until this year the ACO has had to balance the GTE cars so that gentleman LMP2 drivers could still pass them without too much trouble, which I'd guess is the reason the GTE cars have stayed roughly the same pace for a few years now. With the new LMP2 regs still an uncertainly heading into this year they were probably playing it safe with the BOP, but now that we know just how much faster the new P2 cars are I'd think they'll allow the GTE cars to be closer to their maximum potential next year.

 

[Northstar]

I would love to see the distance record get beaten as well to cap off the weekend, but I'm sure a GTE-Am car will ruin that by causing a prolonged safety car or two.

 

[sumbrownkid]

I don't think the Astons are gonna stay up front for long considering it was qualifying trim.

 

[ScottPuss20]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_24_Hours_of_Le_Mans

This pole position time is actually faster than the 1985 pole time. When there were no chicanes and cars did 230+ mph...

How? Bloody hell, the cars really are fast nowadays!

 

[dingodile_r89]

288 km/h through the kink before Indianapolis...

🤬🤬🤬

 

[Mike458]

Holy 🤬 .

Umm... okay...

Toyota might actually win!

 

[Obelisk]

Holy 🤬 that's a fast lap. It's scary seeing that car just bounce around after going over the rumble strips (look at it right at the last chicanes).

Hats off to this driver and his balls of steel.

 

[Roo]

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Posted up the fantasy game for the race for those who are interested. Good luck and have fun.

2017 24 Hours of Le Mans fantasy game

 

[AerodyManiac]

Just watched Kobayashi's pole lap, and the sheer speed is simply phenomenal. I think I let out a small 'Wha-' when I scrolled down this thread and saw the lap time in Scuderia Paul's post. At first I was like 'probably fake news!' but then I saw Furi's post underneath and finally believed it.

Also, I think it's possible that those outsiders unaware of how fast today's LMP1s are may think the moments when Kobayashi corners are put in fast-forward.

Now if Toyota also have excellent reliability and a bit of luck... 💡

 

[TDZdave]

Given the pace of the entire field, anyone think that the distance record will be broken?

 

[catamount39]

Given the pace of the entire field, anyone think that the distance record will be broken?

If it doesn't rain and there aren't a slew of wrecks, then yes. Very possible if the LMP1's stay wihtin even a second or two of this pace.

 

[sumbrownkid]

https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/n...ce-could-compromise-toyota-at-le-mans-919014/

Apparently if temperatures reach 32 degrees C, then Toyota will probably be forced to cut driving stints to 80 minutes at a time. That's something that would probably worry a fan, though I'm sure Toyota has gone over this rule and made sure the cockpit can be kept below that without needing AC.

 

[Spacegoat]

The two 911 RSR's in GTE Pro have been given a performance break. Both will run eight kilograms lighter for the race.

 

[C-ZETA]

Oh you've got to be kidding me. Surely Kenwood aren't doing that god awful advert with the WTCC again. That'll automatically be the worst part of this race.

 

[Earth]

You need a bulldozer to get rid of all the sand that just came out of the Fords.

Chip Ganassi right now

 

[Scuderia Paul]

For those who may not have seen it, here is Alex Wurz recording most of the other Toyota drivers as Kobayashi approaches the end of his record breaking lap.

​

Oh you've got to be kidding me. Surely Kenwood aren't doing that god awful advert with the WTCC again. That'll automatically be the worst part of this race.

One of the worst adverts I have ever seen. Who green lights this rubbish?

 

[Scuderia Paul]

Apologies for the double post.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

The two 911 RSR's in GTE Pro have been given a performance break. Both will run eight kilograms lighter for the race.

Concerning no other changes, I don't know what to expect out of the second half of the field to be honest. Since the second half has at least one car in the first half of GTE pro. It's almost like they assessed the BoP with the Porsche time of 3:51.847 being the base line and the slowest of all cars and ignored the other times after that. I think they should have a break, but I'm concerned about the other times.