24 Hours of Le Mans 2017

[erlik]

Congratulations to the winners.

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[Sevach]

I usually hate BOP classes/categories but that was an exhilarating finish.

Kudos to Porsche who went from last to first.
For a race that looked finished at the halfway point this was a dramatic 24H of Le Mans.

[F1NAC]

Gutted for Toyota. arrived with 3 cars, 0 on podium. Feel so sorry about Kobayashi. Mighty pace he had. As a Ferrari fan that sucks in GTE pro, but the finish was mighty

[etusch]

LMP1 class remembered me the times Mclaren with Hakkinen. That times a mclaren fan always had concern if the car could finish the race. Now F1 is became reliability race. At LMP1 class there is no any other exiting point at race. Just reliability.
GTE Pro finish were really exiting.

[ENGINE TUNER]

BoP has destroyed this once glorious race.

Politics decides the winners in the GT ranks, not the quality of the cars. How can the Aston Martins be allowed to be both the lightest cars and have the largest fuel tanks, while the Ferrari 488, probably the best performing of the GT cars(when it comes to the street version) has absolutely no chance at victory because of BoP?

[jz11]

LMP1 class remembered me the times Mclaren with Hakkinen. That times a mclaren fan always had concern if the car could finish the race. Now F1 is became reliability race...

McLaren are keeping that tradition alive with Honda today

[ENGINE TUNER]

This looks like LMP1 has hit a dead end ... there will be massive changes or no Lmp1 next year. Anyway #2 may win unless some more problems occur :/

Main issue seems to be development of a competative and reliable powertrain. You now have a number of credible supercar hybrid engines. Mclaren, Ferrari, Porsche, Audi and soon Mercedes. I think that opens the door for a formula based on stock engines and custom chassis.

Something needs to happen, But with most of the consumer cars moving in that direction I think Le mans cannot turn back on hybrid technology. Otherwise it ends up being like the Daytona prototypes, fun racing, but push rods in 2017, really?

100% agree, they must stay with hybrids, they could get rid of the prototypes and allow hypercars, like the McLaren P1, La Ferrari, Porsche 918 and others(run by factory or privateer teams), or they can mandate a standard chassis(or 2) and allow F1 PU's similar to what they have done for LMP2, or they can keep the super expensive anemic LMP1 rules they have now.

[Holm86]

I'm so fascinated by Le Mans, you can have a lot of trouble and still win it in the end.
Toyota keeps having problems, they are still too unreliable, but at least they have speed (are you watching Honda?)

And it amazes me that you can race for 24 hours, and still battle for P1 to the very last lap in GT Pro, I'm gutted for Jan Magnussen, so close after the Aston's being quicker all weekend, and then lose it at the final lap. But this is what makes Le Mans so popular

[zac510]

This looks like LMP1 has hit a dead end ... there will be massive changes or no Lmp1 next year. Anyway #2 may win unless some more problems occur :/

Porsche has committed to 2018 and Toyota committed through to 2019.
Did you research these facts before writing your post (genuinely curious).

[etusch]

I'm so fascinated by Le Mans, you can have a lot of trouble and still win it in the end.
Toyota keeps having problems, they are still too unreliable, but at least they have speed (are you watching Honda?)

And it amazes me that you can race for 24 hours, and still battle for P1 to the very last lap in GT Pro, I'm gutted for Jan Magnussen, so close after the Aston's being quicker all weekend, and then lose it at the final lap. But this is what makes Le Mans so popular

I think there is a bit unlucky about Toyota's retirement same as #1 numbered Porsche. Cars broke just after pit entering. One of Toyota had accident what I heard from speakers. If they could return to pit they could keep going to race like #2 Porsche.
In fact I have not got problem with Honda's reliability. It has more F1 soul for me. But they have not got performance and thats what I don't like.

[erlik]

This looks like LMP1 has hit a dead end ... there will be massive changes or no Lmp1 next year. Anyway #2 may win unless some more problems occur :/

Porsche has committed to 2018 and Toyota committed through to 2019.
Did you research these facts before writing your post (genuinely curious).

I did not research I heard just some info made by commentators. Well 2019 is not distant future and certainly is not 2018 either. What if some of these two pull out? I just wonder if there will be other manufacturers willing to cope with these expenses and technology at this moment or two years time (pretty much the same as in f1).

I am for hybrid technology but I guess some compromises could be done in order to cut costs.

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[Edax]

I think there is a bit unlucky about Toyota's retirement same as #1 numbered Porsche. Cars broke just after pit entering. One of Toyota had accident what I heard from speakers. If they could return to pit they could keep going to race like #2 Porsche.
In fact I have not got problem with Honda's reliability. It has more F1 soul for me. But they have not got performance and thats what I don't like.

True but there are retirements and retirements.It is one thing to see a car disappear in a cloud of carbon fiber debris on the back stretch.Also if some new critical component is breaking down that is also fine ( as long as it produces a decent amount of smoke and fluids). Has been happening since the Bentley Blowers.

But it is something else to see a car limping home while the driver is trying to figure out why the computer is not responding. This was about as painfull and frustrating to watch as me trying to get my laptop to work on a bad day.

Reset, reboot, safe mode.....

But even that is besides the point. Two manufacturers is dangerous. No contract is bulletproof and if one calls it quits then the class is gone. They have walking this thin line for a while now, someday it will go wrong. And without a prototype class much of the appeal of Le mans is gone. They really need to get 5 or 6 teams in. And then the price tag of (which lasts a F1 team a whole season) for a single race is IMO too much to make that happen

[graham.reeds]

A GT1 class is needed to deal with the slow demise of LMP1. Silhouette class, just modification in front/behind wheels, no active aero, roll cage and road going drive train.

This would allow Bugatti, Pagani, McLaren, Keonigsegg all to race at Le Mans.

I think in a couple of years LMP2 will allow manufacturers to run their own engines with some arbitrary hp limit.

[Sevach]

An important thing to notice is that both the #2 Porsche aka the race winner and the #8 Toyota had front MGU failures, the same problem slowed both down, but Porsche mechanics were almost an hour quicker in fixing it.

[roon]

Anyone know what failed specifically on these front MGUs?