"zipfuel" (zipfuel)
06/09/2015 at 22:33 • Filed to: lemans, black flag
35
90|
"zipfuel" (zipfuel)
06/09/2015 at 22:33 • Filed to: lemans, black flag | 35
| 90 |
In talking to my coworkers about the recent Montreal Grand Prix I mentioned I was actually more excited about the 24 hours of Le Mans coming the weekend after.
I then had to explain what/where it is, who’s running and why they should care.
So here are my 24 random reasons to watch Le-Mans this year for the uninitiated:
It’s going to be a fight: Audi’s TDI race cars have dominated Le Mans of late taking 13 wins in 16 years but the Porsches have more raw speed and are going all out for the win. Toyota are slower but took the overall championship last season so don’t count them out of the mix.
It’s the only race that matters: sure there’s the WEC championship attached but Le-mans is the big one, the cup final, superbowl and world series rolled into one... Teams run extra cars and build their programs to peak for this race.
It’s surprisingly close: even after 24 hours of racing the lead cars are often only separated by a few minutes, one slip up and you might be done.
Shit happens: breakdowns, crashes, weather and night all contribute to a war of attrition on the track, LeMans is brutal on both man and machine.
It’s four races in one: the LMP1 prototypes are the fastest cars going for the overall win but there are also LMP2/3 prototypes, then the GT classes below which are recognizable as street cars GTE-Pro is for fully professional racing teams while GTE-Am requires some team members to be “amateurs”.
The technology is diverse and awesome: Audi has a turbo V6 diesel with flywheel energy recovery, Porsche has a 4cyl gas turbo hybrid with Lithium Ion batteries, Toyota has a normally aspirated gas V8 with super capacitors and Nissan has a gas turbo V6 with a flywheel.
Nissan’s car is insane: most prototype class racers are mid engine, rear wheel drive but in the name of aerodynamic advantage mad genius/race car designer Ben Bowlby (of deltawing fame) has designed a front engine, front wheel drive GTR batmobile for Nissan which will make its race debut at Le Mans. It’s unlikely to be competitive first time out so just getting to the finish will be a win for them; but with exhausts that spit fire straight up through the hood and a “Godzilla” button I sure as hell want to see it run.
Flat out speed: the winning car last year average 242km/hr speed over 24 hours in all kinds of conditions. Endurance racing has effectively become a sprint for 24 hours now and no one is holding back.
Aston Martins: want to see an Aston driven in anger outside of a Bond film? Course you do.
Corvettes: flying the flag for the USA with bright yellow paint and a V8 that sounds like god’s sledgehammer.
Ferrari crashes: if you like seeing wrecked exotics the gentleman racers in Ferraris have a reputation to uphold.
Ginetta cars: small Yorkshire based race/kit car builder have acquired the rights to a LMP3 design and will be running 2 of them. Edit: bummer, they were only there for free practice, looks like no LMP3s can run at Le Mans.
Ford: Bill Ford is scheduled to start the race so everyone is expecting them to unveil Ford’s new GT race car for next year’s Le-Mans.
Mark Webber: the likeable Aussie quit F1 to join Porsche’s Le Mans team and this is the year he might win something, or come second to a German, again.
Patrick Dempsey: whether you’re a McDreamy fan or not he has proved to be a solid competitor in GTE-AM and is looking for better luck this year. Plus he adds some Hollywood glamour to the proceedings; I wonder if people complained about the press following Paul Newman back in the day.
Max Chilton: the former Marrussia driver might have been dead last for much of his F1 career but he was good at looking after tires and bringing a dog of a car home - big positives in an endurance driver. Let’s see what he can do in a factory Nissan LMP1.
Chris Hoy: the British Olympic cyclist will be driving one of the Ginettas, I’m sure there’s a story behind that.
Leena Gade: race engineer for Audi’s #07 car, her crew has won Le-Mans 3 times now. There are nowhere near enough women in the STEM fields never mind motor racing so seeing Leena kick ass at the highest level is hugely positive for encouraging more girls to consider engineering. Also she’s Alumni from my old dept at Manchester so even if Audi win again I won’t be mad. This is also because...
Everyone’s so damn likable: maybe it’s the teamwork required or because the races are as much against the conditions as the competition but endurance drivers just seem to be less douchey than the show ponies in F1.
There’s no bullshit rules: no push to pass/DRS zones, no toilet paper tires and you save fuel because more stops will cost you the race not because of an arbitrary flow requirement.
You can watch it anywhere for cheap: the whole thing is streamed live on the official website and less than $15 buys the whole race on the app; which allows for multiple devices and a bunch of different camera options. Considering that millions of people paid $100 for a few hours of boxing recently this is a bargain. Lots of teams run their own in car streams too.
Radio Le-Mans: great knowledgeable commentary is vital to enjoying any race and especially one this long. Radio Le-Mans has this in spades and entertaining accents to boot.
Truth in 24: you can watch this Audi documentary and it’s sequel for free on YouTube now. Its an excellent primer for the race and you get Jason Statham dramatically intoning “it always rains at Le-Mans”.
It’s a giant racing camping festival and party: Le-Mans attracts hundreds of thousands of people from all over Europe who camp in the French countryside dress-up in crazy themes and drink heavily.
These are just the first 24 I dashed off the top of my head - feel free to tell me some of the stories I missed or just why I’m flat out wrong in the comments.
DrJohannVegas
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 10:20 |
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Radio Le Mans. A Thousand times Radio Le Mans.
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zipfuel
> DrJohannVegas
06/11/2015 at 10:24 |
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Why-aye to that
Bluecold
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 10:40 |
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Perhaps the Chris Hoy driven Ginetta is run without brake servos to save weight.
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zipfuel
> Bluecold
06/11/2015 at 10:54 |
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Pedal powered KERS, that's gotta be their secret weapon!
Wheelerguy
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 11:02 |
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You forgot Viper.
It’s gonna be Riley-Viper vs Larbre-Corvette fighting each other and the Aston boys for the AM group.
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Bluecold
> Wheelerguy
06/11/2015 at 11:10 |
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They haven’t exactly shown pace during the first qualification.
Skinnayyyy
> Bluecold
06/11/2015 at 11:50 |
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He definitely skips arm day..
Gene Lewis
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 11:50 |
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I can’t wait to see the Ford GT racecar
hhbean
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 11:53 |
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Fox’s coverage this weekend is absolutely pitiful, definitely pick up the app, the race is only 9.99 euros (less than 12 dollars), so why on earth would you even watch it there for what little time theyre actually playing the race?
the 1969 Dodge Charger Guy
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 11:53 |
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I’ve attended Le Mans. You go there, pack a raincoat.
Le Monstre
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 11:55 |
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Where can I find live streaming outside of Fox Sports? At this point and time I’m willing to pay for complete coverage.
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Jake Moon
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 11:55 |
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There won’t be any Ginetta LMP3 cars, they were there for the test day only.
The359
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 11:56 |
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Chris Hoy and the Ginettas are not in the race. They ran the public test session two weeks ago but those cars are not allowed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
llll
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 11:56 |
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You forgot about this guy
Leon711
> Le Monstre
06/11/2015 at 11:58 |
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I’m certain the ACO run their own, free.
EDIT - http://www.lemans-tv.com/
thebullfrog
> Le Monstre
06/11/2015 at 11:58 |
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fiawec.com. pay for the official stream on the website and you also get access to it on an android/ios app. I bought the full season for like $25 and its worth every penny.
slan3d0g
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:01 |
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LMP3 is not running at the 24hr this year. They were allowed to test there during the test week, they do however run in ELMS.
bre92ser
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:05 |
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only one reason is needed for me. It’s LeMans.
SWITAWI
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:05 |
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#19. “ Everyone’s so damn likable: maybe it’s the teamwork required or because the races are as much against the conditions as the competition but endurance drivers just seem to be less douchey than the show ponies in F1 .”
YES!
I’ll say it again... The spirit of competition is in sports car racing these days. No other heavily-sponsored professional-level motorsport matches the environment and attitude at all these multi-driver teams.
http://oppositelock.kinja.com/the-spirit-of-…
JMoney
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:06 |
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A lot of those reasons can be applied to the WEC as a whole. It's become my new favorite motorsport series because of those; the racing is brilliant, and engineering is at its peak.
They call me the Beav
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:06 |
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God save the Ginettas.
RallyWrench
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:10 |
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And so I shall. Well put.
Om3ga73
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:10 |
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Note that the Ginettas are not running in the race itself.
Ladymopar
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:15 |
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All the numbers-because race cars! Thanks! I have the APP and enjoying the race
Sneaky Pete
> Wheelerguy
06/11/2015 at 12:19 |
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The answer is always Viper.
904 GTS
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:20 |
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Surely you want to be correct, it’s Le Mans , not Le-Mans or LeMans. Trust you do not mind
Atomic Love Zombie
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:23 |
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25. Nightime racing. Not your candy ass “under the lights” crap either. Cars racing in the darkness with only their own headlights lighting the way. Bonus: Headlight beams bouncing off the trees at Tertre Rouge.
Jid
> Wheelerguy
06/11/2015 at 12:28 |
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THANK YOU. So happy to see Viper there. SO HAPPY.
Urambo Tauro
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:30 |
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Art cars!
LIGHTONFUEL
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:30 |
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Endurance racing is way more enjoyable to watch than F1. I love it when the race leaders for different classes are fighting hard for the lead and end up in the same vicinity as each other. Nothing more exciting. It’s also way more innovative than F1. Where else will you see team skin a cat in so many different ways. I’ve followed F1 since 1999 and feel that they (Bernie) have totally lost the point. It’s a shame.
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Gurble
> Skinnayyyy
06/11/2015 at 12:35 |
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and calf day
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boilerdam3
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:37 |
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I really thought at least one of the listed reasons would simply be “It’s LeMans...! How can you not watch it”
Stephen
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:50 |
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Who needs 24 reasons? The main reason I tune in: I am alive and breathing.
SirUno
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:51 |
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I can’t wait. This is, without a doubt, my most anticipated day of the year.
Not sure if that’s sad, or awesome. But either way, I love this race!
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S11Steve
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 12:51 |
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It’s Glastonbury/Woodstock/Burning man all rolled in to one for petrolheads, and it’s the Hajj for motorsports fans.
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icelandr
> Sneaky Pete
06/11/2015 at 13:00 |
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Except it isn’t. Corvette has a way better record at Le Mans.
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icelandr
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 13:02 |
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Like you said: Corvette. They want to add another win to the banner. I enjoy walking through their bay and seeing the banner. needs another year added.
MonkeePuzzle
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 13:07 |
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two things to help convince you further, just watch:
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zipfuel
> llll
06/11/2015 at 13:07 |
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I did remember the Hulk but unfortunately after I hit 24 and 25 reasons just wasn’t as catchy
DCV
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 13:10 |
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Chris Hoy won’t be driving at Le Mans, he is driving that Ginetta LMP3 in Le Mans Series as a preparation for the next year, when he is supposed to drive a factory Nissan.
And I don’t think that Max Chilton is one of the reasons to watch Le Mans.
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DCV
> Bluecold
06/11/2015 at 13:10 |
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Chris Hoy won’t actually be driving at Le Mans, he is driving that Ginetta LMP3 in Le Mans Series as a preparation for the next year, when he is supposed to drive a factory Nissan.
Fix It Again Tony
> the 1969 Dodge Charger Guy
06/11/2015 at 13:14 |
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Was there last year without raincoat. But I got seat under a roof so turned out ok.
hessen
> the 1969 Dodge Charger Guy
06/11/2015 at 13:21 |
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I am here, it rained a wee bit yesterday. Read the forecast and panicked. Forced to pay $10 for a fucking poncho. Hopefully it’ll last through the weekend.
Vox Calamitous in Deserto
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 13:27 |
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By far the greatest spectacle in sports. Keep your bowls of super and your oval tracks and horses. Le Mans is where it’s at. I was incredibly disappointed last year by the (lack of) television coverage. The app, well, my connection sucked. This year, I have the app, the Apple TV to swipe the feed to, and a whole lot of me sitting in bed with some popcorn and watching people vie for the right to wear the only watch I’d ever want.
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hessen
> SWITAWI
06/11/2015 at 13:28 |
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Anybody is willing chat with you if you said hello. And I mean anybody...
dapper_otter
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 13:29 |
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Can someone point me to a schedule for the 24h of Le-Mans weekend that’s in US time? The race’s site is horribly arranged and just confusing me.
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SasquatchElvis
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 13:40 |
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It’s freaking LeMans - the only reason you need
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Z06blake
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 13:42 |
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Good list, you just left out Lucas Ordonez.
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SasquatchElvis
> hhbean
06/11/2015 at 13:45 |
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It’s a disgrace really. The biggest race in the world and they’re cutting it off for NASCAR practice and some UFC show at 5AM that I’m sure has TONS of viewers.
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zipfuel
> Z06blake
06/11/2015 at 13:57 |
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I don’t really know enough about the GT Academy kiddies but that's another cool story
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dedoverde_uk
> DrJohannVegas
06/11/2015 at 14:01 |
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Absolutely and now they’ve added a countdown clock to their ‘studio cam’ it makes it much easier to sync with the TV pictures. The alternative in the UK is listening to Eurosport’s dreadful commentary that you get in between the almost US levels of ad breaks! The uninteruppted WEC website stream at least fills those gaps.
Deven
> Ladymopar
06/11/2015 at 14:19 |
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What is the app called I’m trying to find it in google’s store
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NotCreatingYetAnotherAccount
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 14:22 |
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Sadly points 5 and 12 are inaccurate - LMP3 cars are not eligible to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. As a Yorkshireman I’d love to see them in the race...
They were in attendance at the recent test day, which might explain your confusion.
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jo6pac
> Le Monstre
06/11/2015 at 14:35 |
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Speed cares the Corvette channel, Audi has there own streaming sight, and as Leon points out Le Mans channel is free also. It's lots of fun bounce around between then. Go Porsche
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gvxdhdf
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 14:37 |
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Ryanator122
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 14:55 |
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P3 cars won't be in the race
BUTT SANDWICH
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 15:03 |
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Dumb out of the loop question, but is SCG not competing in Le-Mans this year?
Herr Quattro - Has a 4-Motion
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 15:13 |
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Ug.
I want Audi to win, because I’m a fan of Audi, and to keep the streak alive,
But I also want Porsche to win, because Porsche,
But I also want to see Audi to surpass Porsche in manufacture wins.
But Porsche also has the Salzburg-inspired livery...
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Le Monstre
> jo6pac
06/11/2015 at 15:19 |
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My wife an I went last year. My wife does not like Corvettes.....until she heard the C7R on the front straight. She now loves Corvette racing, so when my wife asked to find a channel to watch Le Mans, I think she’ll be quite content with the Corvette channel on our tv with the surround sound.
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WMUCarGuy
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 15:20 |
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Regarding #5, #12 and #17 LMP3 cars are NOT racing at Le Mans. They ran at test day to see where they would fall within the hierarchy of the classes and how quick they would go, but they are NOT competing in the race. As such, Chris Hoy is not in the race, either.
And regarding #20, there are rules for the LMP1 cars regarding energy usage. They can only use X amount of energy over a three lap span. If they surpass it, they get a penalty.
Sounds like whoever wrote this whole thing doesn’t really know Le Mans very well...
BaylorCamaro
> Leon711
06/11/2015 at 15:23 |
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What time does it start?
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zipfuel
> NotCreatingYetAnotherAccount
06/11/2015 at 15:23 |
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Ah, my confusion stems from them being on the list of competitors and I knew they were at Le-Mans.
Brother of a high school friend drives in their junior challenge series and I’m obviously a big fan of pretty sports cars built in a shed near where I grew up.
squelchUK
> dapper_otter
06/11/2015 at 15:28 |
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It starts at, I believe, 1500 Paris time, 1400BST, 0900EST, 0600PST
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Rmoleman
> hhbean
06/11/2015 at 15:34 |
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The app does not work with Chromecast so be ready to watch in on the little screen
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Jack86
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 15:38 |
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Anyone who wants to follow i strongly advise you download the official app. It is £7.99 and utterly fantastic. Live, timing, news, live video coverage and more in car cameras you can shake a stick at. Puts F1 to shame, not that it is very hard to do so at the moment.
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borkborkborkbork69
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 15:41 |
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20: There’s no bullshit rules: no push to pass/DRS zones, no toilet paper tires and you save fuel because more stops will cost you the race not because of an arbitrary flow requirement.
wrong. there are very strict fuel restrictions for the LMP1 cars:
from
http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/ins…
“ Each LMP1 car is equipped with two meters, one as a backup, in order to regulate the allocated fuel flow per lap.
As an added twist, cars that exceed their allocated fuel consumption by more than 2 percent over a three-lap consecutive average will be given stop-and-hold penalties ranging in severity.”
and the actual fuel cosumption table from the rulebook ( http://www.lemans.org/wpphpFichiers/… )
BriGaid
> dapper_otter
06/11/2015 at 15:42 |
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Check out www.tvracer.com . All their times are in Eastern Standard Time.
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Henry Beal
> Wheelerguy
06/11/2015 at 16:00 |
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GTE has Aston, Ferrari, Porsche and Corvette factory efforts and a privateer Viper. It’s awesome.
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hhbean
> Rmoleman
06/11/2015 at 16:04 |
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I’ve heard conflicting reports about that, people on /r/wec told me it worked, I havent gotten a chance to try it yet. If so, I’ll just watch it on my PC (which you could potentially stream from chrome to your chromecast as well), you can also watch it through the daily motion roku app.
Remember dialing "popcorn" for the time?
> LIGHTONFUEL
06/11/2015 at 16:12 |
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This combined with #20 ... more technologically advanced and varied, not to mention the different classes!
The Stig's Canadian Cousin
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 16:39 |
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In case no one posted this already..
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zipfuel
> borkborkborkbork69
06/11/2015 at 16:48 |
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Oh for sure they try to limit fuel flow and balance it against the ERS system to even it all out but my point is that these teams aren’t trying to sandbag to stay juuust on some arbitrary limit like F1, they are going to try and beat the limit cos it allows them to log more laps.
etotherescue
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 17:01 |
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You really only need one reason.
1. It’s fkn awesome.
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Leon711
> BaylorCamaro
06/11/2015 at 17:31 |
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2PM BST, so if you are east coast US that’s 9AM I believe.
(I don’t know the US Time zone during British Summer Time)
Viggen
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 18:46 |
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Ginetta was only there for the test day to give the Nissan GT-R-LMRGTLMGTR drivers additional track time.
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bfromop2
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 19:42 |
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1, 10, 14, and 18 will be the reasons I’ll be watching , flipping between FS1 and FS2 channels
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zipfuel
> DCV
06/11/2015 at 20:09 |
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I’m just fascinated by the backmarkers, pay drivers and perpetual losers of F1. You are at the highest level of motorsport but utterly uncompetitive. What’s does victory look like? How do you stay motivated? What do you tell girls in bars? “Yeah baby I raced at Monaco”, “that’s like totally awesome, did you win?”, “I finished dead last, 3 laps after the leaders”, “I’m going to go talk to the lawnmower racing champion over there now”
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hhbean
> Rmoleman
06/11/2015 at 21:22 |
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Manged to make it home in time for the last hour of the stream today, working fine on chromecast!
1111111111111111111111
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 21:51 |
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If only my bank would accept an out of country charge!
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zipfuel
> 1111111111111111111111
06/11/2015 at 22:06 |
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Well you pay for the app through google’s play store and that’s usually in whatever currency you’re operating in - that then translates back to access on the FIA WEC website.
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1111111111111111111111
> zipfuel
06/11/2015 at 22:20 |
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My bank suspended my card...I have to go in tomorrow to get it bought.
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zipfuel
> 1111111111111111111111
06/11/2015 at 23:29 |
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People have been posting what look like free streams on the Mulsanne’s Corner Facebook page if that helps
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1111111111111111111111
> zipfuel
06/12/2015 at 00:05 |
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I want commentary and timing too. It’ll work out .
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ff3
> zipfuel
06/12/2015 at 00:08 |
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You actually need 24 reasons to be hyped for Le Mans? :|
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DCV
> zipfuel
06/12/2015 at 08:03 |
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The thing is, Chilton is a pay driver, and a very unremarkable one. We haven’t seen anything remarkable from him and that finishing record means nothing if he didn’t actually race .
A few pay drivers turn out to be good (like Nasr), but most of them are Maldonados or Chiltons.
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tacotruck88
> zipfuel
06/12/2015 at 08:22 |
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You should have mentioned Hulkenberg instead of Max Chilton...
chaozbandit
> zipfuel
06/12/2015 at 09:00 |
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Corvette* (singular) #63 crashed in qualifying and they dont have enough left to repair the car :(
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zipfuel
> tacotruck88
06/12/2015 at 09:46 |
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I’m hearing that a lot, but I don’t know all that much about him. Make the pitch for me.
See my response to DCV on why I picked Chilton, I’m curious to see how much suck was caused by the car and how much was driver.
Kyle
> zipfuel
06/12/2015 at 10:27 |
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Made this handy chart to see the diversity between the big 4 in LMP1
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
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Ladymopar
> Deven
06/12/2015 at 11:59 |
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The App is 24 Heures du Mans,
I am currently looking at it
After the race is over the APP will change to World Endurance Racing.
Sorry for late response, I work nights :)