The 24 hour LeMans!!

[Paul Workman]

Ah, for us GT1 fans, (and GT2 also) the 24 hour LeMans is this weekend! I'll be watching as much of it - the finish especially - as I can.

The question is tho...
Compared to the Austin Martin DBR9s, how much smaller of a restrictor plate orifice are the C6R's going to be required to run this year, and how much more added weight (250 pounds last year) are "we" gonna have to carry to level the playing field this year?

Anywayz...I thought some might wanna know about the race. I wouldn't miss it!

P.

I was planning on going this year, but have put it off until next.

Corvette is not running E85 in Le Mans, I have not heard what the weight or restrictor penalties are.


Current times from qualifying
1 63 Corvette Racing MAGNUSSEN J. 3:49.406
2 64 Corvette Racing GAVIN O. 3:50.766
3 50 Larbre Competition BOUCHUT CH. 3:50.920
4 55 IPB Spartak Racing RUSINOV R. 3:52.175
5 007 Aston Martin Racing FRENZEN H-H. 3:52.527
6 009 Aston Martin Racing BRABHAM D. 3:52.955
7 72 Luc Alphand Aventures POLICAND J. 3:53.990
8 73 Luc Alphand Aventures BLANCHEMAIN J.L. 3:55.736
9 53 Vitaphone Racing Team NEGRAO A. 3:57.371
10 59 Team Modena BORCHELLER T. 3:58.193


Me in the pits.



Dinner with the Pratt & Miller guys

[Zr1 Destroyer]

Cool! More car/motor pics please.

[4DSZR1]

Cool Pictures Jeff!

[Hammer]

POSER

[djpatrick35]

Well, it's about 12:48 (Central Time) and I'm still watching the race... What I don't get is why Speed went to NASCAR during the day. I really wanted to try to watch the whole damn race but was subjected to other crap for hours!!!

BTW... Before the aforementioned NASCAR break, the top four was all Aston Martin except for the No. 64 C6-R. Now, at 1 a.m. it's one Aston Martin and all Vette, baby!

GO CORVETTE!!!

[Paul Workman]

Well, dangit! Aston Martin/Prodrive crossed first again, but not by much. Question is, what other (if any) races will the Aston Martin team compete with Corvette's teams yet this year? So far, it was just the 24/LaMans - one and only. What's up w/ that???

As for the coverage, I realize Prototype-I and -II are the speed merchants in the LeMans, but GT1/2 barely got a sliver of the total coverage. I mean, come on!!! It is a 24 hour race and during the coverage of LeMans, how much can be said about the P1/P2 cars?? "Oh, this is a fantastic race, and Audi ...and now they're going to the rain tires, yet their competitor is staying on the slicks... ...Yes, the diesels (this and diesels that)... Oh, this is a fantastic race in the P1... ...Oh, by the way, Ron Fellows is driving the Corevette C6R, but back to P1 "for a moment"...FOR A MOMENT????

No, I didn't watch the entire race, and no I didn't run a pair of stop watches, but it was obvious the GT classes were not really covered at all, IMO. I will say the camera coverage was great, however.

I look forward to seeing the GT races every year, but the coverage I see on SPEED sucks if there is any other class involved besides GT. OK...Rant off.

Now don't get me wrong, I despise speed channel with a passion. Delaying the world challenge races 7-10 days is stupid. And then to have 9 hours of coverage gap in the most prestigious race to cover nascrap practice?

Onto Le Mans. Speed does not have any coverage, other than what they have in the pits. Their race feed is coming from the French TV. With that being said, their main concern was covering the Peugeot. Which is a great battle which had three R-10's Vs. three 908's.

The Corvette Vs. AM battle was secondary as for a good majority of the race the 63 car could not get close to make it competitive (Ron gave it a good shot!) to warrant coverage throughout the race.

Paul, head out to Mid-Ohio. I think you'll have a good time at the race.

Originally Posted by Paul Workman

Question is, what other (if any) races will the Aston Martin team compete with Corvette's teams yet this year? So far, it was just the 24/LaMans - one and only.

Forgot to address this. AM was in ALMS for Sebring and St Pete races. At St Pete, the AM came around a blind corner and had a choice of either creaming the car stalled in the middle of the track or putting it into the wall. The driver went for the wall. The results, the car was smashed. The car had to be sent back to Europe twice to get the repairs done. They were scheduled to be at Salt Lake, but the car still was not ready. Look for them to run the rest of the season.

As a side note running in GT1 is not cheap, well racing is not cheap in general. GM spends roughly a million on each car, and then each race costs 1-2 to run. THhat does not factor in going to France.

[flyin ryan]

[quote=Jeffvette

As a side note running in GT1 is not cheap, well racing is not cheap in general. GM spends roughly a million on each car, and then each race costs 1-2 to run. THhat does not factor in going to France.[/quote] it is not cheap is a massive understatement, but then again with Jeff's money