The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2004

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Just seen 2 big GT4 banners on the chicane. đź‘Ť :)

They look huge when they look down the road with the long shot. I haven't seen the Pescarolo yet, because they're focusing on the leaders.

TVR could be the 1st casualty, there's one crawling around. Struggling on the 2nd lap.
 
Already a hour into the race, it seems like 10 minutes! Nice to see one of the Corvettes leading GTS, but the other Corvette, #63, is in the pits after crashing into a tire barrier. Damn. I want them to win this year.

I wanted Ferrari to win last year, and they did. But, for this year, I'm changing once again.
 
Wow, so far it has been one hell of an interesting race, so much action, too bad the 2 audi's crashed 'cause of the oil, nice to see one of them back on track. Although I've always been an audi fan it'd be cool to see a courage win. Its also nice to see some Gran Turismo 4 advertising on the Mulsanne straight.
 
After 13 Hours:

1st - LMP1 - #88 Audi Sport UK - Audi R8 (204 laps)
2nd - LMP1 - #5 Audi Sport Japan - Audi R8 (204 laps)
3rd - LMP1 - #18 Pescarolo Sport - Courage C65-Judd (198 laps)
4th - LMP1 - #6 Rollcentre Racing - Dallara-Judd (197 laps)
5th - LMP1 - #2 Champion Racing - Audi R8 (196 laps)
6th - LMP1 - #9 Kondo Racing - Dome-Mugen (193 laps)
7th - GTS - #66 Prodrive Racing - Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello (189 laps)
8th - LMP1 - #17 Pescarolo Sport - Courage C65-Judd (188 laps)
9th - LMP1 - #16 Racing For Holland - Dome-Judd (183 laps)
10th - LMP1 - #4 Taurus Sport Racing - Lola B2K/10-Judd (183 laps)

14th - GT - #85 Freisinger Motorsport - Porsche 911 GT3-RSR (177 laps)

33rd - LMP2 - #27 Intersport Racing - Lola B2K/40-Judd (151 laps)

12 cars have retired so far.
 
:yuck: dangit ever since they got back from the ARCA race the brodcast has sucked! The SPEED commentators arent there anymore???? And now some panzy french radio station is the commentators with crapy 56k streaming sound quality. WORST of all is that we cant hear what we really want to hear, THE CARS!!!! Every now and then you will get a feint engine noise in the background and thats it :grumpy: I liked the first 8 hours of coverage better than what the french station is doing. I've actually been watching something else because the sound is so crappy and they are just blabbing about crap đź‘Ž

bring back the SPEED commentators they know what they are doing.
 
Radio LeMans is British, and you were listening to their actual radio broadcast, they have a internet stream of the broadcast but that wasn't what you were listening to.

The Speed guys need a break, its either watch the live feed and listen to Radio LeMans, or get NOTHING.
 
The speed guys could have done shifts, they all didnt have to be on at the same time, Steve and David could have taken the first 8 hours, Derek and Derek could have taken the second 8, then Steve and David could take a 4 hour stent and Derek and Derek finish the brodcast off with David and Steve chiming in during the last hour. The only tough spot would be the PIT commentators theres only 2 SPEED, and there were some other's not affiliated with Speed?

I would have rather there been NO commentatoin and the high quality SPEED audio. At least we could have been hearing what we were watching, Not some boring british commentators with little to NO on track sound.

Are you sure it was a british broadcast? When they came on at 9 PM central time, they said this is French something 95.something FM live from Lemans. Why would a british station call themselfvs French 95.something?
 
The359
They're AutoSport Radio LeMans.

I listened to them last year and listened to them this year. If you don't like them, tough nuggets, its still better then no commentary or no video.
Click to expand...

Did you watch the actual SPEED broadcast? While they had the 95.something station commentating?

That 92.1 station's steaming sound quality was hella better than the sound quality that was on the SPEED broadcast, and i'm streaming on 28K. For one, the 92.1 online broadcast you can actually hear the racing going on in the background, and you can clearly hear the commentators, AND the audio was very good. The 95.x you could only hear the boring broadcasters, and every now and then you'd hear feint sounds of a car as it would go by, plus they sounded like they were talking into tin cans.

Once again, did you actually watch on your home tv the SPEED broadcast? Not the online stuff.
 
Hello, GTPlanet. Hope you're enjoying the 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans. I'm saving my energy on GTP, so I'm not posting anything until the race is over. Let's go on to my commentary of at least 15 hours of Le Mans racing.

Let's do this.

First of all, happy time. Happy 65th birthday to David Hobbs. He's one of the more lively and very educated racing commentators within the abounding Speed Channel talent. He can be heard from Formula One coverage on Speed Channel. So happy 65th, Sir Hobbs.

Oh, man. Let me tell you something. I seen at least three hours of this race, and attrition came pretty early. A NASCAR translation would be: trouble down the track. To continue the NASCAR translation, the "big one" of the first three hours was the two Audis and the 550 Maranello of Tomas Enge (at the time) spinning out, bringing the safety car out.

Later, I hoped that Team Goh would have a great showing, and so far, they are. But by checking out the Le Mans nightlife, I was like, oh yeah. I may have gone out with my parents, but I was home just enough to see what real darkness can be like. I love watching the night racing. It's dark, it's challenging, and the night was a beautiful one. You take the country roads of Le Mans, France for one big event of the year, and you'll have an exciting race- even in the dark.

Speaking of the dark, when ARCA was done (they could have shown it AFTER Le Mans), one of the Ferrari GTS cars had the left front brakes just BURN. I just seen a KFC commercial, and that flame was probably big enough to burn up some chicken :)! The radio broadcast (in which I thought was late-breaking news about something bad that happened at the Le Mans race) was pretty good, even though I missed Bob Varsha or Leigh Diffey's wonderful voices momentarily. And I agree that Pescarolo should have a good showing. And in so, I want to say they are right now (1:17 AM in Houston, TX, USA). But if they don't, the next machine should feature (call me crazy, but) GTPlanet.net and Gran Turismo 4 sponsorship! Imagine how many more worldwide buddies we'd acquire! Anyhow, that Pescarolo is beautiful. And it's no wonder this little baby will be in GT4, if not the 2004 variant.

Anyhow, thank you for giving me the chance to make my commentary. I know it's been quite a lot, but I really love this race and I'm glad to open this thread to all of you for discussion. From where I am and the time right now (1:20 AM CDT), there should be at least 7 or 8 hours left. And as a fact, I've never seen the end of Le Mans LIVE. NEVER. I hope to break that streak this year. So ladies and gentlemen, get back to your Le Mans watching. And have a good time! John out.
 
:rolleyes:

What more proof do you need that Speed Channel was airing Radio LeMans commentary?

That they said on air that they were going to be using Radio LeMans commentary? That Speed Channel even interviewed the Radio LeMans people and talked to the people who would be giving commentary during that time? That the Radio LeMans people said repeatedly that they were being aired on Speed Channel during those two hours? That the Speed Channel website has a link to the exact same website that I gave you? That both on the air and on the internet stream they refered to their pit commentators as the Deutschebank X Group?

The better question is have YOU been watching the broadcast, or are you just dense? If your station had sound problems, then I think it's your own fault.
 
No. I've seen the race around 9 PM Central Time and Bob Varsha even said that the coverage would go to the radio station. So don't tell me that I didn't know that to begin with. As much as I would like to listen to it online, I'm watching it on TV. It's 2:30 AM and change here in Houston, and I'm going to watch as much as I can before the race is done for. From here, it's about 6 1/2 hours left.

But to respond to your comments, I DID see the broadcast (watching it as I type), and I DID hear that the Le Mans radio coverage was simlucast on the Speed Channel. Even though I don't mention some stuff, it doesn't mean that I don't know it. I just haven't posted. I forget to post sometimes even. So anyhow, hey. Martin Short was released from the hospital after a pretty hard crash. He's pretty banged up with his right ankle and leg. I'm pretty sure Sebastien Bourdais was trying to get around, and unintentionally (by the look of it) took somebody out past the Dunlop curve.

Okay guys, keep us updated. I'm definitely NOT going to be online once the Le Mans 24 is over. So don't expect to see me (sick of these damned Bowflex commercial overkills) at Le Mans' end. If I don't see what happens on Speed News, I'm pretty sure you guys will have us covered, right? Well, the race is back on. I'll see you later.
 
Ok my bad, That first time they didnt mention who the radio station was, nor did it sound as good as it does right now. But for some reason they said and I repeat they said this just after 9 pm central time, News about Iraq, then they say this is French 95.something live from Lemans.
NOW this time I heard them say they are going to Lemans radio, the commentators say welcome to Lemans radio. They didnt start out with a new's broadcast AND the sound quality IS 10x better than it was earlyer, still no on track sounds.

John, what made you think I was talking to you? I was asking the359 that question if he had watched during the first radio broadcast, I posted asking that 5 minutes before you had posted. Didnt you notice that, my question post was before yours?

posted by the359
The better question is have YOU been watching the broadcast, or are you just dense? If your station had sound problems, then I think it's your own fault.
Click to expand...
Yes i've been watching all day long, 8 am when the race began, still watched SPEED during F1 qualifying, watched the second Lemans stent with SPEED commentation and the part where a guy inadvertanly cussed on air and the commentators had a laugh over it, then thru the ARCA race, then saddly to the third stent with the radio station with uber poor sound quality and no track sounds, then thank GOD back to the SPEED commentators and actual track sound, then were up to current time and back with Lemans radio with no track sound for the past hour and 6 minutes and NO it was not my fault that the sound quality was piss poor bad. I have direct TV, SPEED is channel 607 on my system and i'm not the only one who noticed the poor sound quality, quite a few people on other forums complained about it as well. MAYBE directv could have had a sound issue and got the wrong radio station. All I know is that the first radio commentation was a very piss poor sounding broadcast where it sounded like the commentators were talking through tin cans. Then in this current one, the commentation sound quality is 10 times better than the first one.
 
I'm watching DirecTV as well and I have had no problem with the sound. DirecTV wouldn't be selecting the radio station, Speed Channel would, and you would be hearing the same thing that the entire nation is hearing.

And the lack of engine noise is because they are not airing the French TV feed, hence they do not have the microphones around the track. The sound you are hearing is merely from the microphones the announcers are using to speak into from their locations on the front stretch.
 
The leading GTS Ferrari has had a left front wheel problem, its in the garage for repairs while the 2nd place Corvette is making up the 5 laps it was down!!!! Go vette GO!!!!
 
Corvette has the GTS lead, again. I tell ya, it's been a very amazing race, so far. The Ferrari is running a 3:55:439 lap time. The Corvette is running a 3:55:444 lap time, and is just 12 seconds ahead of the Ferrari. Talk about a race! Very entertaining race. All this afer 20+ hours of racing. Not to mention the 4th, 5th and 6th place GTS race cars are just 1.5 minutes of each other. Very close race in GTS class!
 
3rdGen and 359, I'm sorry. My most sincere apologies. I didn't know who the commentary was focused on. I'm sorry.

Anyhow, who I hoped would win finally did. So much, much, MUCH respect to Teah Goh. I knew Team Goh would finally win Le Mans after their great performance last year. So good job to Saiji Ara, Tom K., and whomever else I may have forgotten. The Mugen Dome had a great effort before I turned the TV off and off to sleep, but I don't think they scratched the top ten. And it looks like Corvette, after a wild race, finally got it together and gave Ferrari the finger. GT? What you expect? Porsche. Sascha Massen. It seemed like a no-contest. But another good performance by Japanese racers as that all-Japanese team placed second overall in their Porsche.

Okay, Audi Japan. You won Le Mans. Wishes for next year: (1) dethrone Audi, or maybe (2) win Le Mans for Japan (meaning, Japanese muscle from a Japanese manufactuer)! I'm not real fond of the 550 and 575 Maranellos, so I hope the GT Ferrari contingent can take care of Porsche's dominance. Ferrari's little baby, the lovely 360 Modena, can one day whip Porsche. Dodge, get your butts back into sportscar racing! I think the Viper competition coupe has done pretty well. Now it's time to re-create Viper/Corvette. Having said that, hopefully we can see Team Oreca work its magic like it did at Daytona and Le Mans with the Viper.

Other than that, I knew I wouldn't have any favorites for this year's race. I knew it would probably be a dead lock all race long. Well, that seems to be it. Let's look to next year's race. See you around!

-John M.
 
Given this year's winning car, here is a website I found a few minutes ago which features all of the Le Mans winners. The site is:

http://www.speedlegends.com/misc/lemanswins.htm

It seems like in 1936 and the period of 1940-1948, no races were held. My best guess was because of World War 2. But this is a good site for those who may not know a lot about Le Mans winners. It even features the drivers who were in the winning cars. This site hasn't been updated from this year's race, but you can imagine who won this event.

As a mini-topic, remember my "Racing When You Were Born" topic? I was born in 1983, I mentioned that Porsche won outright. So it was a Porsche 956 with the team of V. Schuppan / A. Holbert / H. Haywood. Alright, there you have it. Of course, congratulations to Team Goh.
 
The race wasn't held in 1936 because of a labor dispute in which workers went on strike.

It wasn't held from 1940 - 1948 due to WWII and its aftermath.
 
Wow, it was one hell of a race, there was so much action going on in the early hours of the race, proably even more than last years race. Thats crash that Ron fellows was big, I was actually amazed by the lack of damage after it slammed into a barrier at almost 190mph. I don't know why the hell the other involved car driver said there was a '' ****ing C*nt'' that nailed his back causing him to spin, in the video, it shows no 3rd car just fellows crashing, then the prototype spinning and no 3rd car in sight.
 
FWIW, there indeed was a 3rd car involved with the Courage hitting the Corvette. The replay when reviewed slowly, shows a third set of headlights. Circumstantial evidence, based upon lap charts and resulting pits suggests it was the Pescarolo with Sebastian Bourdais at the helm. It seems Sea Bass made quite a spectacle of himself this weekend at LM, between that and his punting of the Dallara off the track, which he gloated about to boot.
 
:( I missed the race.Had a problem with the local tv coverage(it went down all weekend)Now I will have to wait for the condensed version.
 
Oh, no! Kart buddy, sorry you couldn't get a chance to check out the race. Aw, man...

Well, that's okay. I hope you get to check out a condensed version of this great race.

But with Le Mans done for, let's see how Speed Channel's "Grand Slam of Endurances" go:

Rolex 24 @ Daytona - complete
12 Hours of Sebring - complete
24 Hours of Le Mans - complete
Petit Le Mans - unraced

The next big race shown on TV will be Petit Le Mans in Braselton, GA, USA at Road Atlanta. Anyhow, I hope you get the coverage you're looking for, Kart Racer. Take care, buddy.
 
Thanks fogelhund, I did see the video in super slow motion, and yes I did see the third car, so my mistake, but it sure was funny when the guy cussed, the announcer that was interviewing him kinda chuckled if you listen closely.
 

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