The Le Mans General Discussion Thread

[Northstar]

Corvette will wipe the floor with the Vipers . Haha.

I hope for a Corvette 1-2 and a Viper 3-4.

Honestly though, the Vipers had a hard time lasting through some of the ALMS events last year so reliability is a big question mark.

 

[SagarisGTB]

Porsche vs Aston vs Ferrari vs Corvette vs Viper all with factory support? I'm salivating right now just thinking about it..

+ 2 factory Porches vs 2 factory Astons vs 1.5 de facto factory Ferraris, all year long.

Along with 2-on-2 Toyota vs Audi (well, 3 Audis at Spa/LM) and the incredible depth in LMP2, should be a great sports car season. Can't wait for Silverstone.

 

[Jav]

I'm just surprised they invited this green GT car or whatever it's called and not the Deltawing.

I'm just surprised they invited this green GT car or whatever it's called and not the Deltawing.

They're just not buying anymore into the silly Deltawing hype thing... The car is plain dangerous when sharing the track with cars that weight at least twice as much as it does. We've all seen the incidents on 2012 and how much worse the Deltawing got it than the other part involved. How some sanctioning bodies keep putting "exposure" ahead of safety is beyond me...

 

[RACECAR]

They're just not buying anymore into the silly Deltawing hype thing... The car is plain dangerous when sharing the track with cars that weight at least twice as much as it does. We've all seen the incidents on 2012 and how much worse the Deltawing got it than the other part involved. How some sanctioning bodies keep putting "exposure" ahead of safety is beyond me...

It has nothing to do with them not liking the Deltawing. It was eligible only for last year's "Garage 56" spot. This year, the Green GT is now selected for the Garage 56 spot.

Also, its going to be racing in the ALMS only fully classified.

 

[braunracing88]

Also, the Viper return appears to be one of the headlining entries.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105366?source=mostpopular

 

[Tower Turn 13]

I hope for a Corvette 1-2 and a Viper 3-4.

Honestly though, the Vipers had a hard time lasting through some of the ALMS events last year so reliability is a big question mark.

Don't forget, Risi is in the mix again...

 

[Mac K]

 

[Crash]

Looking forward to this year's race with the Vipers and Corvettes. Also, hopefully the Toyotas will be give Audi a greater run for its money this year.

 

[gogatrs]

That one's on the bucket list Mac!

 

[freshseth83]

Looking forward to this year's race with the Vipers and Corvettes. Also, hopefully the Toyotas will be give Audi a greater run for its money this year.

They passed Audi last year in their first race (at LeMans) I think the speed isn't an issue. The issue is or was, reliability. But that was their first race so I don't think that'll be a problem this year either.

 

[Mac K]

That one's on the bucket list Mac!

For sure!

 

[spooble]

Wow. Someone should make a soundtrack of that. I could just sit and listen.

 

[boiltheocean]

Aston have announced their driver lineup for WEC, they'll also race at Sebring. It's Fred Makowiecki, Rob Bell, Bruno Senna and Darren Turner, Peter Dumbreck and Stefan Muecke.

Well played Aston.

 

[freshseth83]

Bruno to Aston Martin in the WEC and LeMans. There will be two cars for the WEC all season. Good move Bruno.

 

[Clark]

Aston Martin better have a good supply of spares now they've hired Senna.

 

[peter_vod69]

Aston Martin better have a good supply of spares now they've hired Senna.

No no, they hired Bruno Senna, not Pastor Maldonado...

 

[freshseth83]

Exactly, and he's not new to this form of racing. He's done LMP2 before his F1 foray.

 

[Clark]

Exactly, and he's not new to this form of racing. He's done LMP2 before his F1 foray.

LMP1*

And Senna crashed almost as often as Maldonado.

 

[freshseth83]

He finished in the points more than Maldonado and had less practice sessions than Maldonado. Senna hate goes in another thread, no one cares to discuss that here.

 

[freshseth83]

 

[Clark]

He finished in the points more than Maldonado and had less practice sessions than Maldonado. Senna hate goes in another thread, no one cares to discuss that here.

I don't hate him, I supported him in GP2. I just don't think his aggressive driving style will suit GT cars.

 

[Furinkazen]

Senna should do fine, you complain about aggressive driving styles?

Well lets ask Alan McNish, Stephane Sarrazin, and Antony Davidson if you don't do well with aggressive driving styles then....

 

[freshseth83]

I don't hate him, I supported him in GP2. I just don't think his aggressive driving style will suit GT cars.

Then don't bring up his F1 drives. That's nothing to do with his GTE future. These cars have fenders and covered wheels, so rubbing isn't going to take him out of contention. There's plenty more aggressive GT drivers, take a look at the recent history of the Corvettes in ALMS.

 

[freshseth83]

Here's a shot of the drivers with the car

 

[Mac K]

Senna? Nice, looking forward to see how he does.

 

[R0ssingt0n]

I think he'll do pretty good, seems to be a trend with ex F1 drivers changing over to sports cars.

 

[peter_vod69]

F1 is in danger of disappearing up its own backside anyway. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when only five teams can really afford to pay both of their drivers, in what is supposed to be the absolute pinnacle of motorsport.

 

[Furinkazen]

I think he'll do pretty good, seems to be a trend with ex F1 drivers changing over to sports cars.

And Fisichella and Bruni didn't do too bad did they?

 

[Tower Turn 13]

I got the impression from last season of ALMS that GT racing can get pretty aggressive pretty quickly, whatever cars and drivers are involved.

 

[aarror]

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/alms-panoz-returning-with-new-deltawing-engines-chassis/

Don Panoz will be taking over the Deltawing project for 2013, with a closed top version of the car expected to debut at the round at Laguna Seca in May. Dan Gurney, Highcroft Racing, and designer Ben Bowlby have all confirmed they will not be part of this program.

Hopefully this means we can see highcroft return to the Prototype ranks, I'd love to see them back at Le Mans.