Teams getting ready for Lemans

[Bob Baldwin]

OK so your are the team manager and you are back at the shop . You ran Silverstone and SPA . Pick a team any team what are your Major priorities preping for LeMans ? Strengths or weaknesses . What needs Improvement ?

[MitchZ06]

What's Lemans?

[GT6]

I suspect Toyota will be the team most concerned and asking questions about why they appear to have been left behind by the others

[rich07]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

What's Lemans?

You mean Le Mans?

[deggis]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

What's Lemans?

It is the sibling of the mysterious "Le Man" race.

[BudLightJaguar]

Originally Posted by deggis

It is the sibling of the mysterious "Le Man" race.

Le Man TT?

[Simmi]

Toyota need to find a bit of pace certainly and hopefully they can get that from the new bodywork.

Watching Spa I was actually thinking Toyota might just be okay at Le Mans if they can keep pounding round - the race might come to them. But then the #1 started having all those issues and you realise no one has cast-iron reliability.

Porsche have tested so much but I still don't have the confidence they'll run trouble-free. That said, I don't think they had any issues (early crash aside) that would have put them a lap down at Le Mans. That has to be encouraging I guess.

Audi are my pick for the race all day long. They just need to refine what they've got I think.

[PascaLM]

Team getting ready ? The Ten-Tenthers big team !

[kvenom]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Toyota need to find a bit of pace certainly and hopefully they can get that from the new bodywork.

Watching Spa I was actually thinking Toyota might just be okay at Le Mans if they can keep pounding round - the race might come to them. But then the #1 started having all those issues and you realise no one has cast-iron reliability.

Porsche have tested so much but I still don't have the confidence they'll run trouble-free. That said, I don't think they had any issues (early crash aside) that would have put them a lap down at Le Mans. That has to be encouraging I guess.

Audi are my pick for the race all day long. They just need to refine what they've got I think.

Problem is, Toyota pounded around in 2013 and came 2nd vs. only Audi. Now they have to deal with Audi, Porsche and Nissan, all with 3 cars. Add in the fact that Toyota haven't really been all that reliable themselves in Le mans (be it crashing/mechanical woes), I think they are pooched unless they find 2.5seconds worth of pace from their LM-spec.

[Bob Baldwin]

For sure Toyota is in Big Trouble . Not sure what to expect from Nissan until LeMans!!

Not sure where I read it on this forum BUT a certain few drivers were unable to maintain speeds within 10% ?? of what the car qualified at yet the drivers were still allowed to participate ?

P2 team ESM USA based comes to mind Ed Brown ? Gentleman driver who is also the sponsor . If as example he is in the same situation at LM would he still be allowed to race ?

Same with other drivers on that list or will new drivers have to be obtained ?

Certainly as relates to P2 that team has a lot of bugs to work out of both new cars before LM

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by Bob Baldwin

P2 team ESM USA based comes to mind Ed Brown ? Gentleman driver who is also the sponsor . If as example he is in the same situation at LM would he still be allowed to race ?

It takes something pretty significant to get kicked off the grid at Le Mans. I don't think anyone will have any issues.

The last guy I think they denied was Steve Quick who turned out to be anything but at test day. 2012 if I remember correctly.

[wewantourdarbyback]

They let the DKR guys race, Ed Brown will be fine.

[Bob Baldwin]

Steve Quick , I vaguely remember the name though I can't say I have heard the name in the past few years , He must be out of racing . !! Also uniquely LM is Team " Invite Only " not neccessarily Driver Invite .

With the new Ligiers 2 for EMS there is still much to be learned with also working the bugs out of the car . Often times iy is only asmall little thing that can ruin your 24 hour race .

Somewhat curious what the other P2's and GT's are having to Prep to get ready for this event based on their first 2 events of the season ?

Lastly my Grandson asked me What the various class payouts for LM's are ??

[kvenom]

Tracey Krohn in an LMP2 at Le Mans scares the crap out of me.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by kvenom

Problem is, Toyota pounded around in 2013 and came 2nd vs. only Audi. Now they have to deal with Audi, Porsche and Nissan, all with 3 cars. Add in the fact that Toyota haven't really been all that reliable themselves in Le mans (be it crashing/mechanical woes), I think they are pooched unless they find 2.5seconds worth of pace from their LM-spec.

Just pointint out that kind of a logical fallacy to use past races of Toyota against it and yet put Nissan above them who has so far participated in 0 races.

[kvenom]

Originally Posted by deggis

Just pointint out that kind of a logical fallacy to use past races of Toyota against it and yet put Nissan above them who has so far participated in 0 races.

I just added Nissan to point out they weren't competing against Audi. I expect Toyota to thoroughly beat Nissan at Le Mans.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Simmi

The last guy I think they denied was Steve Quick who turned out to be anything but at test day. 2012 if I remember correctly.

The irony in that is pretty funny hahaha

I've never heard of any recent prize money for the classes, doesn't mean there isn't any though-would be a token amount compared to the costs of competing.

[Bob Baldwin]

I can't say that I have ever seen a published purse for any European series or WEC . F1 is a whole different world depending on which team you are

[Aysedasi]

From the Supplementary Regulations:-

3) Prize money
a/ General Classification:

1st : € 40,000
2nd : € 25,000
3rd : € 20,000
4th : € 15,000
5th : € 12,000

b/ Classification per Category: Competitor classified 1st in each of
the four categories: € 10,000

c/ Other Competitors (per classified car): € 7,000

Important: according to the French tax legislation, the amount of
prize money for Competitors resident outside France will be
subject to a withholding by the applicable rate (15% in 2014).


The regs (main and supplementary are freely available on the ACO site).

[GT3.14]

Porsche needs to work on reliability. The 17 has been the fastest car out there until it breaks.

My money would be on the 7 Audi as I can't see Porsche running trouble free.

Toyota can't even hold off the repaired Porsches. Hope for the best and throw the kitchen sink at next years car on the Monday after the race.

Two reliable G-Drive Ligiers are hard to beat in P2. It's their race to lose.

GT is pretty evenly matched except that we of course have no idea where Corvette is on pace relative to the others. I would expect Porsche to be sacrificing virgins to the rain gods in hopes of a monsoon.

[MoMedic9019]

Toyota is slower, but, they will be just fine. As Audi has in years past, Spa is a warmup to LeMans.

Should they come back and win it, from a points perspective, it negates any loss from Spa.

Outright pace isn't nearly as important as reliability. We've seen the issues that have befallen the others. Audi has been great at taking advantage of it.

At this point. June just needs to hurry the f*** up and get here. It's going to be a fantasmo 24.

[Aysedasi]

Let's face it - look at last year. They ALL had problems. When was the last time a top class prototype needed a turbo change and still went on to win the race....? Anything could happen - and I hope it does.....

[Mike E]

Le Mans suits Toyota's capacitor hybrid system much more than either Silverstone or Spa do, so that might count in their favour.

Having said that, the Audis and Porsches look stupidly fast.

Another variable for Toyota is the likely inclusion of Kobayashi in the #1 squad.

[Maelochs]

Unless the race is rained out, Le Mans is going to be amazing this year--no matter what happens. Even if all the P1 cars collided and retired on the first lap, the rest fo the field has enough to offer (based on Silverstone and Spa) to keep everyone entertained.

If most of the P1 cars make it to lap 2 ... hour 2 ... most of them hour 22 ... I might not need coffee to stay up this year.

[TF110]

I too think Toyota is going to their best track. Outside Le Mans in the 'regular' wec I think Shanghai is the best "Toyota track". COTA and Bahrain are up there as well.