| Archive for The Motor Forum talking cars since 2006 |
| Eff One |
Le Mans 2009Sadly no terrestrial TV coverage, but I'm following the live commentary on Autosport. Peugeot vs Audi at the front, although there have been dramas aplenty since the race started at 2pm BST.And before - I reckon the most devastated man in motorsport right now must be Narain Karthikeyan. Months of preparation, three days of practice and qualy at La Sarthe - and just minutes before the race start, he dislocated his shoulder jumping over the pitlane wall! No hope of him being able to race - the #14 Audi R10 will attempt the whole race with two drivers. Utter nightmare. |
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| the other ct |
Can't believe a factory Peugeot was released into a Pescarolo-run customer Peugeot in the pit lane.
And then did a calamitous lap shredding bodywork leaving it on the Mulsanne Straight. |
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| Sav |
I'm watching it on Eurosport, the pace of the Peugeot is incredible, around three seconds a lap quicker than the next Audi.
The GT2 battle was brilliant in the first hour, three Porsche's v one Ferrari. Peugeot must be pinning all their hopes on their leading car now, its all or nothing basically. Mind you, Premat's Audi did have a power steering wheel failure, which meant he went off at indianapolis. I was surprised the officials did not call the safety car sooner, their were shards of carbonfibre and pieces of rubber all down the Mulsane straight from the Peugeot. I reckon Audi will need some magic strategy to win this. Lets see what happens. |
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| Rodge |
Re: Le Mans 2009
*Cough* While you are online *Cough* http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=41436&part=sports This may help......Alot! |
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| Sav |
Peugeot like bashing GT2 997's out of the way. 
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| Dr. Hfuhruhurr |
So they finally did it. If you count the 2003 Bentley as an Audi in a posh frock, this is the first time in ten years anyone has beaten Audi at La Sarthe. | ||
| Eff One |
Was sadly too late to take advantage of Rodge's useful URL, but caught ITV4's live coverage yesterday. Pretty emotive stuff, especially the finish - great to see the likes of Wurz, Gene, Montagny et al on the podium. Hell of a weekend off for Bourdais, too - he'll have earned a rest after Silverstone.
Karthikeyan never did make it into the race. His teammates - Andre Lotterer and Charles Zwolsman - did a monumental job to bring the #14 Audi R10 home in seventh place overall. Not names I'm familiar with, but that's a remarkable achievement IMO. |
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| Big TC |
Well done Peugeot - I hope they don't pull out now they've won the 'big one' again...
Now all we need is a manufacturer who wants to win with a petrol engine....(Aston-engined Prodrive-Lola was the best of the non-diesels....) |
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| Dr. Hfuhruhurr |
Interesting that two of the winning drivers were long-term F1 testers: perhaps being a good test driver also gives the right attributes for long-distance racing. Second time Wurz has won it, I believe. | ||
| TimR |
I'm not sure they're pulling out but the commentators said they've announced a freeze on development of this car because they've already shown a diesel/electric hybrid and they're just waiting for the rules to catch up so they can race it. I was quite happy to see a closed top car win again. I think the best lookers have always been covered. |
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| Dr. Hfuhruhurr |
I agree, though for the drivers, I think an open-top must be more comfortable. They probably have to hose the Peugeot and Aston cockpits out after the race. |
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| the other ct |
I’m sure they said most of the closed cars run with air-con but even so cabin temps get up to 30 degrees.
Couldn’t believe how much faster everything looks at night. The sensation of speed is translated much better than in daylight on TV. When I got home on Saturday night I flicked it on and the Peugeot on-boards were scary. Like watching in double speed, mind you perhaps part of that was down to Staropramen. The diesels don’t sound good though. The Corvettes, on the other hand, sounded bloody amazing. |
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| DaveGibson |
The article, on the Aston Martin, in last week's Autocar said that the rules require an air/con system to be capable of maintaining a cabin temperature of 32 deg C or ambient if higher. That's still over 89 deg F. | ||
| Scouse |
Probably does these days. All the top teams seemed to be saying that the race is no longer a case of pacing the car but basically a sprint from start to finish if you're looking to win. F1 is for pansies it seems if that's the case. Pity the Drayson Aston failed to finish. Whatever you may think about him being partof the NuLab bollocks, respect to the man to say 'nuts to this I'm off endurance racing instead'. Now all I need is that euromillions win and I'll do the same.... |
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| BeN |
Very interesting. I had no idea Bourdais was in it. | ||
| Sav |
A fully deserving victory for Peugeot Wurz/Gene/Brabbham. Audi were probably a little too cocky, only running at Sebring - where as Peugeot entered to the 1000km of Spa. All three Audi's had to go into the garage at some point, for long periods of time.
The factory F430 thrashed everything else in GT2. |
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| Dr. Hfuhruhurr |
That's a fair comment - maybe Audi's win at Sebring led them to think the R15 was more developed than it really is, and that their superior tactical knowledge and the Dream Team driver combination would give them the edge over Peugeot. |
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| Sav |
If you look at how Audi went about preparing the R10, they competed in the whole ALMS season, and last year did the whole LMS and ALMS season in the R10. After Audi had that extensive data in 2006 (ALMS rounds), they went to Le Mans with few problems.
This year, all Audi's had niggles of some sort, if they had competed in LMS/ALMS rounds before the race, they may have found the intercooler issue for example in an ALMS race - rather than at Le Mans. Peugeot were continuing with virtually an identical car, therefore entering the all the LMS races before Le Mans was not essential. The Peugeot was just quicker than the Audi, around 4 seconds a lap quicker around La Sarthe. Perhaps the result would have been closer if Audi not experienced so many glitches, but I doubt it. |