Le Mans 2014....

[jerryd]

I put a link to watch the action at Le Mans over in the parking lot, but not sure if anybody has noticed it or whether nobody is interested in the racing.

Action live here

Video: Le Mans 24 Hours 2014: Watch live - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motoringvideo/10887306/Le-Mans-24-Hours-2014-Watch-live.html)

Mark Webber and his fellow team drivers are currently in second place although they do have a problem with the car, Tom Christensen's car is currently leading the race. A couple of the Toyotas have retired from the race :) with 5 hours remaining.

[Kev the Fridgy]

I should check other parts of the forum more often..... still, get to see the 2 hours of the race,,,,,,,,,,, Thanks JerryD

[jerryd]

Audi has captured its 13th win in 15 years in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the trio of Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler winning their third Le Mans in four years (2011, 2012).:)

The 2014 edition wasn’t so much an edition of pace versus pace as much as it was pace versus reliability, as the new LMP1 regulations threw a number of curveballs at the field.

Audi ended 1-2 although both of its cars required turbo changes. Meanwhile a series of issues plagued Porsche, which was down on outright pace but used a tortoise strategy and a fewer pit stops to play the No. 20 car (Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley) into contention.

Webber’s car though, ground to a halt from an unidentified mechanical issue with just over two hours remaining, which stunted the charge and ended their race. :(

Behind the top two, Toyota’s No. 8 made it onto the podium despite losing eight laps and 50 minutes in the garage early in the race from accident damage.

The remaining class victories went to Jota Sport (LMP2) with the venerable Zytek Z11SN Nissan, AF Corse with its No. 51 Ferrari F458 Italia in GTE-Pro and the No. 95 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage in GTE-Am.

Another exciting Le Mans and superb live coverage, I've watched most of the race and am feeling absolutely wacked :zzz: Shame about Mark Webber's race but he'll be back next year I'm sure .

[Pedro_The_Swift]

It should be said Toyota were winning for the majority of the race,, Audi only won this year due to others failures

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Porsche knew going into the race they didnt have the outright speed,,
(one of ) their press release said "the race is about the use of the least amount of energy"

a PR win over Engineering?:p

[jerryd]

It should be said Toyota were winning for the majority of the race,, Audi only won this year due to others failures

I think you'll find it was a bit closer racing than that. But that's the beauty of Le Mans it's anyone's race :)

Toyota had extended its lead in the seventh hour mainly because of another safety car period that split the field when the #47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan car crashed in the Porsche Curves. Both the leader Kazuki Nakajima in the #7 Toyota TS040 Hybrid and Benoit Treluyer in the #2 Audi e-tron quattro pitted but whereas the Japanese driver stayed in the car, Treluyer handed over to Marcel Fassler.
The extra time in the pits cost Audi time and when Fassler rejoined he was nearly two minutes behind. However, as night fell at Le Mans and the air cooled, the e-trons looked to be circulating faster than the Toyotas.

[uninformed]

It should be said Toyota were winning for the majority of the race,, Audi only won this year due to others failures

I laugh when I hear this type of comment when racing. a few statements that seem to fit it better:

to finish first, first you must finish.

no one cares where you are in the middle of the race, its where you are at the finish that counts.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I'm glad you enjoyed it,,:D
your race reports must be a joy to behold.



Audi won.

[worane]

Second place is the first of the losers!

[worane]

Second place is the first of the losers!

[Cobber]

Toyota were untouchable early on but at the end of the day Audi won because they were a better team with a better car. Again.

Porsche will definitely go away and re-engineer until it's right and come back next year a lot stronger. That's what they have always done throughout the history of their motorsports programme :cool:

[jon3950]

I laugh when I hear this type of comment when racing. a few statements that seem to fit it better:

to finish first, first you must finish.

no one cares where you are in the middle of the race, its where you are at the finish that counts.

Ditto.

That's the beauty of endurance racing and why it is so much more appealing than sprint racing. Just finishing after 24 hours at those speeds is still a huge achievement.


Cheers,
Jon

[worane]

X 2 Jon. the the speeds were quite amazing.

[Fifth Columnist]

Sitting in a grandstand at 4am when there's just a few humped over sleeping lumps is pure magic. You get the feeling the race is put on just for you. Cars are wizzing by as regular as clockwork, just the occasional pitstop to alter the sequence. Then a leader comes in, just a few laps past his scheduled stop and everything changes. How many laps was the next car behind? How long has he been in the pits?.......

'tis magic.

[jerryd]

Sitting in a grandstand at 4am when there's just a few humped over sleeping lumps is pure magic. You get the feeling the race is put on just for you. Cars are wizzing by as regular as clockwork, just the occasional pitstop to alter the sequence. Then a leader comes in, just a few laps past his scheduled stop and everything changes. How many laps was the next car behind? How long has he been in the pits?.......

'tis magic.

Couldn't agree more :)

I was very fortunate to know this man very well, here's a clip from 1984 (Nick Mason) was his second driver, it just shows how easy it could so easily go wrong after all the hard work.
The following year Richard drove his car over the finishing line in second place which to me was his greatest achievement :) I'm pretty sure he was the second or third privateer to purchase a Porsche from the factory. He modified it and made it a better car than the factory team cars, he was soon noticed and later went on to mastermind the Audi team cars and was very much responsible for the "Bentley" victory at Le Mans.

Richard Lloyd - Porsche 956 @ Le Mans 24 Hours 1984 - Video Dailymotion