[MikeyV]

Originally Posted by MrClean335i

I hope that after the race it crawls back to the whole it came from.

Which hole would that be?

[Sylon]

Holy cow, what a race so far! The #2 Audi is just 1 second ahead of the #1 Audi. We might have a full speed finish between teammates! Still, 6 hours remain.

[NL-J]

Originally Posted by MrClean335i

The Delta Wing is horrible. It just caused and accident too. I hope that after the race it crawls back to the whole it came from.

It was the Toyota driver that caused the accident. Bummer to see it go, would have been a pretty cool sight during the night I think.

@Sylon, didn't the crash last year involve an F430?

I still think BMW should come back to Le Mans.... grmbl. And Porsche in LMP would be cool too.

[Sylon]

Originally Posted by NL-J

It was the Toyota driver that caused the accident. Bummer to see it go, would have been a pretty cool sight during the night I think.

@Sylon, didn't the crash last year involve an F430?

I still think BMW should come back to Le Mans.... grmbl. And Porsche in LMP would be cool too.

There were no Ferrari F430's in last year's race. All the Ferrari's were 458's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_24_Hours_of_Le_Mans

[NL-J]

Ah thanks, my bad

[Sylon]

The #2 Audi has crashed, not too heavily, but it took a front impact. The Audi team was able to repair the front, but it took a lot of time. Speed thinks it was caused by a Ferrari. What a surprise.

The #3 also crashed, caused by fluid on the track in the first chicane on the back straight. They crashed in the same place earlier in the race.

With McNish's crash, the #2 is 1 lap down, and it looks like a battle to the finish won't happen.



EDIT: After seeing the new replay of the #2 crash, yes a Ferrari was there, but it looks like McNish was to blame, trying to hug the corner too much, touched the grass and went off. He hit the wall hard.

[Andrew_K_AZ]

Yes, most of these accidents are caused by Prototypes trying to get by GTs on the inside of an Apex. The Prototypes come up on the GTs so fast and too late that sometimes the GTs just don't see them quick enough to leave the inside line open. Even though it seems like all these are the fault of the GTs on replay videos in slow motion, I personally think that most of these are caused by the Prototypes being far too aggressive. Faster cars should pass on the straights or at the turns if they have sufficiently pulled alongside the car being passed to claim the inside line of a turn. But, in a lot of these crashes, the Prototypes dive inside far too late assuming that the GTs would get out of their way... which is not really fair for the GTs who are in a race of their own.

Delta wing was a great concept and I would have loved to have seen it finish, but I am not sure whether a 1,000 pound car with a very vulnerable front-end/cockpit design belongs in a race with heavier cars, where there is frequent contact and other mishaps.

[Andrew_K_AZ]

Audi 1-2-3-4. I am not a big Audi fan, but you have to hand it to these guys. Running these cars with leading edge technology on 24 hour races and winning consistently for 13 years in this highly competitive age is unimaginable.

Its the American Starworks Honda Team which won P2 in their Le Mans debut, and not Corvette Racing, that secures the Star Spangled Banner at Le Mans.

Not all bad for Corvette. Although Corvette Racing didn't do so well in GT Pro (finishing 5th and 6th), last year's GTE Pro winning C6.R ZR1, now owned by the French Team Larbre Competition won GTE Am.

[MrClean335i]

Originally Posted by Andrew_K_AZ

Audi 1-2-3-4. I am not a big Audi fan, but you have to hand it to these guys. Running these cars with leading edge technology on 24 hour races and winning consistently for 13 years in this highly competitive age is unimaginable.

Its the American Starworks Honda Team which won P2 in their Le Mans debut, and not Corvette Racing, that secures the Star Spangled Banner at Le Mans.

Not all bad for Corvette. Although Corvette Racing didn't do so well in GT Pro, last year's GTE Pro winning C6.R ZR1, now owned by the French Team Larbre Competition won GTE Am.

Audi was 123 and 5 not 4

Rebellion Racing Lotus got 4th place

[Andrew_K_AZ]

yes, indeed. My mistake.

[Sylon]

Another epic victory for Audi, they are just 5 away from matching Porsche's count. I was cheering for Audi, but not the #1. I was hoping for McNish, TK and Dindo to pull off another win for Dindo's final Le Mans.

Starworks Racing winning at their first Le Mans, thats awesome!


The Toyota's showed huge potential. They started strong, especially in qualifying. I hope they stick with it and give us a great show with Audi next year. Audi needs a competitor, its what makes these races amazing to watch.

[Itgb]

Originally Posted by Sylon

Another epic victory for Audi, they are just 5 away from matching Porsche's count. I was cheering for Audi, but not the #1. I was hoping for McNish, TK and Dindo to pull off another win for Dindo's final Le Mans.

The Toyota's showed huge potential. They started strong, especially in qualifying. I hope they stick with it and give us a great show with Audi next year. Audi needs a competitor, its what makes these races amazing to watch.

I was pulling for the #2 Audi too as I have been watching those guys previously in ALMS years ago, before Audi pulled out. Unfortunately, McNish made that mistake late in the race and it wasn't to be. I'm glad Fisichella got his class win in the 458 Italia.

Toyota did make a good start to the race, and Porsche will be back in LMP1 for 2014, so lots to look forward to in the next couple of years.

[Sylon]

This is just heart breaking to watch. Motoyama, driver of the #0 DeltaWing, tries everything to get his little racer running again. What adds to it is that the pits are so close, just a few corners away.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/06/18/w...mpts-to-reviv/


I heard that Le Mans will ban open cockpits, but I didn't catch what year. Is it for 2014 or 2013? If for 2014, then I hope Nissan brings the DeltaWing back for 1 more try. I really want to see that car cross the finish line at the end.

[Silver E90]

Originally Posted by Sylon

This is just heart breaking to watch. Motoyama, driver of the #0 DeltaWing, tries everything to get his little racer running again. What adds to it is that the pits are so close, just a few corners away.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/06/18/w...mpts-to-reviv/


I heard that Le Mans will ban open cockpits, but I didn't catch what year. Is it for 2014 or 2013? If for 2014, then I hope Nissan brings the DeltaWing back for 1 more try. I really want to see that car cross the finish line at the end.

2014 is when the new rules take effect.

As for the DeltaWing I would guess that you will see it at Petit Le Mans this year. ALMS will let it race to try to attract people to the race since they lost the WEC.

[ptack]

Not as interesting a race without Peugeot. Hopefully Toyota will keep at it, get better and add another car. Wish the coverage was better. Speed does a pretty cheap effort. How hard would it be to do comprehensive updates at scheduled times instead of the random stream of consciousness you get now? Why can't the crawler be more intelligently designed such as to provide team names along with car # and driver?

[mike@Vossen]

Started off real interesting.... Congrats to Audi