The Le Mans General Discussion Thread

[Shinshiki]

Wow! Fuji is absolutely flooded right now.

 

[RACECAR]

And the race has been red Flagged. The whole track is a river right now so I can see why they would throw that out.

 

[Sam48]

According to WEC announcers, AF Course is "90% certain" they'll have a car in the NAEC. Considering this class is nearly at maximum capacity I don't see how they'll pull this off, but nonetheless it's great news.

 

[Bo]

Red flag again at Fuji. I doubt this thing will get going.

 

[MHPALA]

The Fuji race is a flooded disaster. Love to hear the engines idle as their temps are maintained tho.

 

[RACECAR]

So I'm confused. First I read "Chequered flag at 5pm (9am in UK) at the latest", then the race is being resumed in about 20 minutes.

 

[MHPALA]

Storm begins clearing up... Heavy rain comes out of no where.

 

[Crashbroke23]

"This is the most extraordinary motor race I've never seen." -John Hindaugh with the quote of the year. This is Fuji's Microclimate at it's meanest.

 

[SagarisGTB]

The non-race really saved Toyota's blushes with the #8.

Feel bad for the fans, but that's how the weather is sometimes. Congrats to Nakajima and Toyota.

Really good move by the organizers at the end for forcing the teams to make all drivers available and opening the pits to fans at the end.

 

[RACECAR]

"This is the most extraordinary motor race I've never seen." -John Hindaugh with the quote of the year.

Forget everyone else, that's your winner there.

This is Fuji's Microclimate at it's meanest.

I would've said Most annoying, but that works.

 

[Third Reign]

‏@alex_wurz

@jamesmoy wet t-shirt competition (WTC) instead of WEC... Why not

From Alex Wurz's twitter, also quite applicable

 

[Ninners]

Radio Le Mans say Toyota #7 is under investigation.

 

[Müle]

I don't want to hear any of you criticize Nascar for not racing in the rain anymore.

 

[Wilbur]

I don't want to hear any of you criticize Nascar for not racing in the rain anymore.

It's kinda hard to race in a river with no boat!

 

[cnd01]

I don't want to hear any of you criticize Nascar for not racing in the rain anymore.

 

[RACECAR]

I don't want to hear any of you criticize Nascar for not racing in the rain anymore.

I would've thought the called off 2010 Petit Le Mans and the cancelled Chinese Grand Prix would've already been convincing.

 

[FoolKiller]

I don't want to hear any of you criticize Nascar for not racing in the rain anymore.

Funny. The track announcers at Petit actually said something along the lines of, 'We will start on time. Unlike NASCAR, we race in the rain unless it floods.'



Anyway, I'm home. I'll sort my pics and post them, but for now, here are some teasers.

 

[Zuel]

Funny. The track announcers at Petit actually said something along the lines of, 'We will start on time. Unlike NASCAR, we race in the rain unless it floods.'



Anyway, I'm home. I'll sort my pics and post them, but for now, here are some teasers.

I would like to have that flag, they will not look the same next year.

 

[FoolKiller]

I would like to have that flag, they will not look the same next year.

They were just handing them out.

I get a feeling that Don Panoz is nervous about how USCR will be when it comes to fans. As you can see in the flag, the "For the fans" quote is clearly on the ALMS side, not centered. Its on the Farewell poster too. At the race he was grand marshall and multiple times he recounted the story of sitting in meetings trying to figure out how to attract more than 2,500-3,000 fans to races when he looked across at fans in the stands and asked, "Why is no one asking them?" The ALMS was built around the fan experience, and as I've stated, it shows. It was the series' first motto or slogan. It was basically the mission statement.

I don't know if the constant focus on the "For the Fans" mentality at the race was just the sentimentality of an old man, unnecessary marketing, reminding us of the legacy, or a message delivered to USCR, but it was everywhere and constantly brought up.

 

[Zuel]

They were just handing them out.

I get a feeling that Don Panoz is nervous about how USCR will be when it comes to fans. As you can see in the flag, the "For the fans" quote is clearly on the ALMS side, not centered. Its on the Farewell poster too. At the race he was grand marshall and multiple times he recounted the story of sitting in meetings trying to figure out how to attract more than 2,500-3,000 fans to races when he looked across at fans in the stands and asked, "Why is no one asking them?" The ALMS was built around the fan experience, and as I've stated, it shows. It was the series' first motto or slogan. It was basically the mission statement.

I don't know if the constant focus on the "For the Fans" mentality at the race was just the sentimentality of an old man, unnecessary marketing, reminding us of the legacy, or a message delivered to USCR, but it was everywhere and constantly brought up.

I hope that the TUDOR series is able to grow from the bases that the ALMS,LMS,FIA have built, the first race at Daytona will be a testament.

 

[R0ssingt0n]

So were there any laps run at Fuji without the safety car? If not I feel so sorry for the fans that went.

 

[Furinkazen]

Nissan have said they are building towards an LMP1 attack after the ZEOD project. Also Ross, no, just 16 safety car laps, but I believe teams opened the paddocks after and let the fans come in instead?

 

[R0ssingt0n]

Hopefully it'll be a more conventional shape!

I cant believe they weren't able to get and proper racing laps completed! Yeah they opened up the pit lane and made the drivers hang around in the garages. Really good of the organisers to do that.

 

[Shinshiki]

Killer, you should get that poster framed.

 

[Wilbur]

I will say as a new fan of both series, ALMS showed alot more for the fans in the one event I want to with no restrictions.

 

[FoolKiller]

Killer, you should get that poster framed.

I will. I also got the 10th anniversary poster, with Don Panoz's face in the corner, looking done over the cars going down the esses. I'm going to get both framed, along with the poster from my first Petit in 2000.

 

[RACECAR]

 

[Furinkazen]

Welter Racing return to LMP1 for 2014.

 

[Roger the Horse]

Are they running a team? Surprised they're not going into P2, that was always their traditional haunt.

Speaking of Welter:

 

[R0ssingt0n]

Nice to see some more LMP1 interest! Looking forward to next year even more now