Le Mans 24hr race

[norty303]

I've no idea if there are any motorsport fans here, I think there are a few bikers...

I'm not a big car racing fan (bikes are my thing), but the Le Mans race is usually quite entertaining, the stories that develop, the characters, the action, the (monster!) crashes (safety car for 2hrs last night)...

Anyway, this year is incredible, with 1 hour to race, the lead is between 20secs to 1.5mins (depending on where you are in the pitstops) and looks to go to the wire for Audi and Peugeot.

And who'd have thought diesels would be competitive in motorsport (ever!!)

[norty303]

30mins to go, 6.7sec gap 1st to 2nd places...

[kitatit]

Who won Norty?

Hey if you like bikes check out my house mates online store. www.ratedrparts.com
the heavily modified Suzuki TL1000 in the store front is his....300mm rear tire, nitrous air ride suspension..... quiet nuts, yes, does it handle well, not the best but it's one hell off a mobile advert for the parts he sells.

Enjoy.

Kit

[norty303]

The last remaining Audi, 13 secs ahead of Peugeot.
Amazing when you take into account all the variables.
If Audi's pitstops had taken 0.3secs longer each time, they'd have lost.
That said, Peugeot did play a bit dirty, with some of their other cars (3 in total) not giving way to the lead Audi even though they were 4+ laps down and having blue flags waved.
Poetic justice in the end though.

[kitatit]

How bout that crash? those spectators got there money's worth!

Ouch, pretty deep pockets needed to race in this sport.

Have a good week and have fun with your Kvant.

Kit

[norty303]

How bout that crash? those spectators got there money's worth!

Probably got some badywork, engine and suspension parts too!

Both crashes looked bloody horrific, but they all walked away thankfully.

Unreal how quickly they get the Armco barrier replaced though, it takes a week of works to do the same in the UK!


Nice story from the GTEAm class, husband and wife team, slowest on track all week, got a 3rd, which just shows that in endurance racoing, you still need to make the finish.

[Doc]

It almost defies plausibility to have a race conclude so close after such a long race, incredible really.

@ kit: I always fancied a TL1000 with a gixxer 1000 rear end mod; TLs are awsome wheelie bikes and I do like a nice wheelie (the missus doesn't).

Though an early carburetted R1 with a 16t front sprocket doesn't have much trouble lofting in 3rd and 4th

[norty303]

One of the things I also like about Le Mans is the fact they still allow prototype machines and actively encourage innovation.

This year, there was a hybrid engined car, I think using some sort of KERS system, but it was beset with technical trouble all race, which ironically lead to the funniest commentary moment of the 24hrs....

When discussing how often it had returned to the pits, one of the commentators ventured that it might be because the power cord wasn't long enough...

Caused me to spray beer at the time!