by "bhtooefr" (bhtooefr)
Published 06/19/2017 at 00:04
by "bhtooefr" (bhtooefr)
Published 06/19/2017 at 00:04
Tags: Le Mans 2017
; toyota
; Toyota TS050
; Toyota LMP1
STARS: 10
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
So, this just leaves me speechless.
Apparently, this video depicts the incident that led up to the #7 Toyota’s failure at Le Mans, and I’ll just quote Sportscar365, and their interview of Pascal Vasselon , on this.
The pole-sitting No. 7 Toyota of Kobayashi retired in the 10th hour with clutch failure, in what Vasselon said was triggered by a bizarre pit lane incident.
He said it was the “most amazing” problem they had during the race.
Kobayashi pitted for routine service while under the race’s second safety car period before going into the queue at pit exit, where Vasselon said he was signaled to re-enter the track by a fake marshal, believed to be a driver from another team.
“It’s amazing… Someone came to tell him, and we have it on video: ‘Go go go!’ And normally, our drivers are used to the human action dominate signs,” Vasselon explained.
“From our side, we told him stop because the safety car queue was coming, and it was not possible.
“There has been, as you can imagine, some confusion. Start, stop, start, stop.
“So he had done several restarts with the clutch and the combustion engine… and burned the clutch because he has been thrown into a situation which should not exist.”
Kobayashi ground to a halt moments later and was forced to retire the car at the Porsche Curves.
Looks like the offending “marshal” was Vincent Capillaire, from the #45 Algarve Pro Ligier LMP2. And, it seems from the Reddit thread that the TS050 is not designed to handle starting the car with the clutch normally (saves weight that way) - instead, it starts rolling on electric, rev matches the engine, and drops the clutch. But, this is apparently at least somewhat automated, and it fell out of that mode, instead using the engine to get started. That then destroyed the clutch.
Seriously, what the fuck.
Edit: And Vincent Capillaire explains . (French article, Google Translated quote below.)
On Saturday night, during the race, I was waiting for my relay, helmeted at my box, I wanted to show my encouragement to the lead car, stopped in red a few meters in front of my box. Was a spontaneous encouragement, as it happens between pilots, and I was fined by the commissioners for this gesture and I admit it was inopportune.
He was fined €1000, and the penalty was actually handed down during the race.
"PS9" (PS9)
06/19/2017 at 00:23, STARS: 16
More promising cadets foiled by the kobayashi maru. Damn...
"RallyWrench" (rndlitebmw)
06/19/2017 at 00:28, STARS: 3
Looks like maybe the guy was joking about hitching a ride and Kamui took it as a go signal? Man, that’s weird.
"RallyWrench" (rndlitebmw)
06/19/2017 at 00:28, STARS: 0
What you did there, I saw it.
"TheTurbochargedSquirrel" (thatsquirrel)
06/19/2017 at 00:31, STARS: 2
There was also another suspicious incident under that safety car with the Labre Corvette being released in front of the safety car train by someone in a orange firesuit. It is worth pointing out that the exit of the pit lane is controlled by a red light and the marshal is just there to report cars blowing through the red light. You can see the marshal behind where the Toyota was stopped and with the ambient noise of the track and the radio headset it would be very hard to discern the Toyota leaving from behind him.
This case looks like an excited team member going to give the car encouragement which was miss interpreted as a sign to go.
"DrJohannVegas" (drjohannvegas)
06/19/2017 at 00:53, STARS: 1
I don’t really have it in me to do another “for want of a nail” for Toyota this year.
But damn do they seem snakebit at Le Mans.
"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
06/19/2017 at 01:17, STARS: 1
Damn, what the fuck indeed.
I fully understand that poor Kobayashi thought it was a marchal signalling him to go. I mean those cars are not easiest to see out off, and it was dark, and the guy was wearing orange.
I guess this will lead to a new rule, restriciting driver movement/actions in the pitlane. I know the guy probably only wanted to show his appreciation to Kobayashi, but still he did something that could be confusing.
"V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches" (jbv12)
06/19/2017 at 02:04, STARS: 2
Fucking LMP2 monkeys...
"Jason Spears" (shadestalker)
06/19/2017 at 12:10, STARS: 2
Back up a bit - people who aren’t track officials are running around on the tarmac near the pit exit? Is this a thing?
"MotoArigato" (MotoArigato)
06/19/2017 at 12:18, STARS: 1
Just the general notion of so blatantly trying to undo someone else’s achievement in a race like this infuriates me. I still like to believe there remains an element of gentlemanly competition at this level of motorsport. What a dick move.
"Racer mind" (r-1)
06/20/2017 at 08:52, STARS: 1
Banned orange overalls for all team personnel. Exit pit box brightly lit, have 2-3 men team not 1, rotate daily to prevent complacency.
"Racer mind" (r-1)
06/20/2017 at 08:53, STARS: 1
In simple sentence, mind your own business right?
"MotoArigato" (MotoArigato)
06/20/2017 at 11:56, STARS: 0
True! I’ve never been good at brevity, thank you.
"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
06/20/2017 at 16:03, STARS: 0
That is what I thought too.
"Roundbadge" (Roundbadge)
06/21/2017 at 07:22, STARS: 0
More stars, this needs...