LeMans 24 hours 2011

[Jersey Tom]

Just shows why Le Mans is the Mecca of motorsport engineering

Oh?

[Tozza Mazza]

Just shows why Le Mans is the Mecca of motorsport engineering

Oh?

It may not be the pinnacle of motorsport, F1, but winning Le Mans is a greater engineering achievement.

[flynfrog]

Just shows why Le Mans is the Mecca of motorsport engineering

Oh?

It may not be the pinnacle of motorsport, F1, but winning Le Mans is a greater engineering achievement.

Do tell.

[flynfrog]

so after watching most of the race I can say I love having the different engine sounds and different cars.

[Ciro Pabón]

Do the winners at the GT class get a golden mirror instead of a cup?

[flynfrog]

Do the winners at the GT class get a golden mirror instead of a cup?

??

[Ray]

YES! My boys in the Corvette team overcame a 1 lap deficit to win! So happy. I was heartbroken when Jan lost it and crashed out of the lead, same as last year when they crashed out at about the same time in the morning while leading, and they still overcame being a lap down. So so happy. What a great race overall. Lots of good passing, two scary crashes and everyone was okay and a showdown to the finish. Great race. Good to see the ACO sticking to their guns and allowing the Pugs to block the Audi so the others could catch up too!

[Jersey Tom]

Just shows why Le Mans is the Mecca of motorsport engineering

Oh?

It may not be the pinnacle of motorsport, F1, but winning Le Mans is a greater engineering achievement.

I think that's just a bit of a stretch. Le Mans has a lot of heritage, but don't fall victim to letting a name get the best of you.

If they did a 24 hour race at Estoril, would winning that be a greater engineering achievement than a F1 win at Monaco? Or how about 12 Hours of Sebring? Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta?

Not that I trivialize the engineering talent behind a Le Mans win - nor do I necessarily hold F1 to some magical technical standard that many do - but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

If anything, I would say endurance racing puts a premium on stellar race craft.

[Tozza Mazza]

Ahhh, yet you miss the magic, heritage and prestige of the Le Mans 24 hours is what drives the teams involved in their quest for brilliant engineering, in order to join the Le Mans legend. The cars race over 2800 miles in just 24 hours, putting the engine and brakes under incredibly heavy stress. The sheer quality of engineering surpasses F1. But I prefer to watch F1!!

[Ciro Pabón]

Do the winners at the GT class get a golden mirror instead of a cup?

??

You spend all the race looking on your mirror for the LMPs.

[Ciro Pabón]

... I think that's just a bit of a stretch. Le Mans has a lot of heritage, but don't fall victim to letting a name get the best of you.

If they did a 24 hour race at Estoril, would winning that be a greater engineering achievement than a F1 win at Monaco? Or how about 12 Hours of Sebring? Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta?

Some people find hard to appreciate a brand, but to appreciate history is a different matter. I actually like it. It brings good memories. I'll never forget the first time I saw the first Ford GT. I've never seen such a beautiful thing again (and I have been in El Prado by that age and when older I went to the Uffizzi), but then I've never been so young again.

Let's remark for the forum that Le Mans has held the Efficiency Award for a long time. This is, to me, the world cup of mechanical engineering.

So, it may not be enough if you look for perfection, but it's among the best we have, don't we? I definitely fall victim. Moreover, I enjoy it. In fact, in this case you only find a severe case of Stockholm syndrome around my house.

So, Jersey Tom, yes, there is a Le Mans. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Le Mans. It would be as dreary as if there were no Jersey Toms.

There would be no racer-like faith, no bravery, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which those who believe in human capacity fill the world would be extinguished.

Not to believe in Le Mans! You might as well not believe in fairies.

I repeat this: "you have for it the affection you have for your old shoes"... or for the 24 Hours of LeMons. Their motto says it all: "it's not just for rich idiots, it's for all idiots".

[Ray]

And there are many more people who, if Le Mans were on, would say... what is this crap?

Speed is an American channel. NASCAR is premiere American racing. Not surprising that they wouldn't have ALL 24 hours of Le Mans coverage. Perfectly reasonable to me.

Perhaps sad. But definitely true.

All I'm saying is that it's stupid to break into the broadcast at least 5 times to play the same 10 minute highlight reel. There wasn't any change to any news and all of it was available on their website. What was really stupid is they stopped Le Mans coverage for an ARCA race. An ARCA race. That's at least a 4th or 5th teir racing series, nowhere near as good or important as Le Mans. They didn't even have big name drivers in the cars and two hours of crappy spec cars versus Le Mans? Guess I'm the only one. SpeedTV used to have a diverse lineup of great racing mixed with great commentary. Now all it's showing is bullshit NASCAR qualifying and 3 hour talk shows about one single incident or --- no on cares about. It was a racing channel, now it's reality shows, NASCAR talk and subpar racing coverage. I miss the old days when it was Speedvision I guess. I know they can do better because they have.

[flynfrog]

Do the winners at the GT class get a golden mirror instead of a cup?

??

You spend all the race looking on your mirror for the LMPs.

ahhh i was thinking of some sort of narcissism

[donskar]

Congrats to Audi. Overcame misfortune and long odds to win.

[Shrek]

And there are many more people who, if Le Mans were on, would say... what is this crap?

Speed is an American channel. NASCAR is premiere American racing. Not surprising that they wouldn't have ALL 24 hours of Le Mans coverage. Perfectly reasonable to me.

Perhaps sad. But definitely true.

All I'm saying is that it's stupid to break into the broadcast at least 5 times to play the same 10 minute highlight reel. There wasn't any change to any news and all of it was available on their website. What was really stupid is they stopped Le Mans coverage for an ARCA race. An ARCA race. That's at least a 4th or 5th teir racing series, nowhere near as good or important as Le Mans. They didn't even have big name drivers in the cars and two hours of crappy spec cars versus Le Mans? Guess I'm the only one. SpeedTV used to have a diverse lineup of great racing mixed with great commentary. Now all it's showing is bullshit NASCAR qualifying and 3 hour talk shows about one single incident or --- no on cares about. It was a racing channel, now it's reality shows, NASCAR talk and subpar racing coverage. I miss the old days when it was Speedvision I guess. I know they can do better because they have.

never understood that too, they could've fast forward through the red flags and save some time for le mans, instead we saw nothing happening.