The Motorsport Thread (was the F1 thread)

KoS wrote: sleeper wrote: KoS wrote: I hate Le Mans. They allow diesels, hybrids,  but no rotary after Mazda showed 'em how it's done. I didnt know the Rotery was banned, is their a link to that anywhere? What really gets to me about Le Mans is that the diesels have an unfair advantage, hugely more powerful than the petrols by as much as 100hp, and yet the ACO, Audi and Peugeot all say that they dont, despite the obviouse evidence every time they compete in a race. As for this year, I'm rooting for Audi only because I'm a big McNish fan, but I'drather see the Lola Aston-Martin win. EDIT: Besides, I've heard one of the three drivers in the 91 winning Mazda, Volker Weidler, is deaf now because the 787B was so loud. http://www.tenerife-training.net/Tenerife-News-Cycling-Blog/2007/10/inspirational-people/the-1991-le-mans-mazda-team-and-the-legendary-rotary-renown-787b/ But they have been racing in other  24hr races. and, what did you say? Too Loud? I can't hear a thing! http://youtube.com/watch?v=Go3Fgd1wgic

D'oh, silly me, I forgot 91 was the last year of the fuel formula rules that Group C was designed to. That muppet Ballestier had his way and changed the rules to effectively make Group C cars F1 cars with roofs and enclosed wheels, and so killed off sports car racing in the early 90's (I believe only 24 cars started in 93, the last couple of years the ACO has had to choose 55 cars from 75+ entries, at least 60 of which will be quality entries, though thats no guarentee that they will get in with the quierqy (sp?) French). He'd been trying to do this since the mid-80's for some reason, though Porsche didnt want to know.

I suspect if someone told the organisers they wanted to run a w**kel engine, the ACO would find a way to make a set of rules for them, its what they did with the Team Nasamax car in 01 when they started running on biofuel.

sleeper wrote: Qualy results from Le Mans, were we had ANOTHER LMP flip,

I've seen the footage of that, a scary incident the fact that the driver walked away just shows how strong modern cars are.

Really good race. Congrats to Audi, they deserve it (again).

^To be honest, I think GT2 is the only class that would get a full grid. LMP1 would only get a couple more cars over this years entry, there's a lot more LMP2 cars out there, but that would still just take it past 25 and its a notoriously unreliable catagory for some reason. GT1 could hit 30+ but I think most of them would be French national and amature teams. GT2 would be having to beat of the extra's with a stick though, they would easily hit 55 cars their. 

The only one I can think of off the top of my head is that it would all but remove the drivers skill of dealing with traffic, something that the likes of McNish is brilliant at. I saw the Barcelona LMS race and Nishy would close up to Gene in the GT traffic quite quickly as he was so much more agressive through it, without looking dangerous.

Cant think of any others at the moment, will get back to you on that.

EDIT: Right, I think the multi-class racing in sportscars has become part of the excitment, except for the butt ugly Daytona Prototypes the cars in sportscar and GT racing are as much the stars as the drivers are. In this weekends race the Dome S102 and Lola Aston Martin were getting as much attention as many of the drivers, and the same goes with the battles between Aston and Chevrolette and Ferrari and Porsche. Keeping the multiple classes means that someone is going to find something interesting out there no matter what there preference. Also, having four seperate races is going to devalue the event slightly, its no longer this massive one off event, is four smaller specialised events catering to different vehicles.

Having said that, the GT3 cup seems to do very well on its own.


Edited by sleeper - June 16 2008 at 15:28

sleeper wrote: The only one I can think of off the top of my head is that it would all but remove the drivers skill of dealing with traffic, something that the likes of McNish is brilliant at. I saw the Barcelona LMS race and Nishy would close up to Gene in the GT traffic quite quickly as he was so much more agressive through it, without looking dangerous. Cant think of any others at the moment, will get back to you on that. EDIT: Right, I think the multi-class racing in sportscars has become part of the excitment, except for the butt ugly Daytona Prototypes the cars in sportscar and GT racing are as much the stars as the drivers are. In this weekends race the Dome S102 and Lola Aston Martin were getting as much attention as many of the drivers, and the same goes with the battles between Aston and Chevrolette and Ferrari and Porsche. Keeping the multiple classes means that someone is going to find something interesting out there no matter what there preference. Also, having four seperate races is going to devalue the event slightly, its no longer this massive one off event, is four smaller specialised events catering to different vehicles. Having said that, the GT3 cup seems to do very well on its own.

Both good points, something I've also considered.

I have mixed feelings on the lapping, though. Yes, it is really challenging for the drivers, but at the same time it's a bit of an absurdity. The last backmarker should never, under any circumstances, find himself ahead of the leader. Sure, it's inevitable on closed circuits, but I really don't like it when it changes the course of the race, slowing down the leaders or being a factor in a crash. 

BTW, the Daytona Prototypes look quite good, IMO (except for that 77 Kodak one), and they put on a good show. Sure, technologically they're not a patch on LMPs, and they really shouldn't monopolise the Daytona 24 Hours, but the racing is often delicious. 

Practice times from Magny-Cours here, I dont think were going the top of the times looking like this all weekend.

1.  ALONSO        Renault       1m15.778s
2.  MASSA         Ferrari       1m15.854s
3.  RAIKKONEN     Ferrari       1m15.999s
4.  HAMILTON      McLaren       1m16.232s
5.  VETTEL        Toro Rosso    1m16.298s
6.  KUBICA        BMW           1m16.317s
7.  KOVALAINEN    McLaren       1m16.340s
8.  HEIDFELD      BMW           1m16.458s
9.  PIQUET        Renault       1m16.543s
10. COULTHARD     Red Bull      1m16.572s
11. ROSBERG       Williams      1m16.682s
12. TRULLI        Toyota        1m16.743s
13. BOURDAIS      Toro Rosso    1m16.758s
14. NAKAJIMA      Williams      1m17.002s
15. GLOCK         Toyota        1m17.092s
16. WEBBER        Red Bull      1m17.106s
17. BUTTON        Honda         1m17.244s
18. FISICHELLA    Force India   1m17.394s
19. BARRICHELLO   Honda         1m17.591s
20. SUTIL         Force India   1m17.868s

Honda arent looking too good, and they thought this would be a good race for them. Also, this might be the last visit to this track, which I'm not particularly disappointed about, but theirs no replacment lined up to take over he worlds oldest Grand Prix.

^ Yes, that's really sad. I used to follow drag racing somewhat, and remember Scott and his father Connie from their Top Fuel days. It's terrible that motorsports can still be so dangerous. Race on in peace, Mr Kallita.

On a less somber note...it was another not so spectacular race in France
Personally, I dont even remember it really, and it just ended and hour ago....

However, for all the flak he took, Massa has now won his 3rd race out of his last 6
And after starting with 2 DNF's he is now the points later

Agreed. Hamilton got scrwed.
And yea, Massa was lucky for sure I'm still confident that Kimi is the best driver there is right now.
But I still like Massa, and was glad to see him get another win.

I actually though it was a very un-kimi like drive. Maybe its just me but I couldn't really picture kimi driving a race like that, quite schumacheresque


Edited by JJLehto - June 23 2008 at 15:15