So did the Peugeots basically fall apart by the end of the race?

[Mindspin13B]

So much conflicting information as to why the 8 stopped on the front straight. And what was the official reason for retirement of the 7 car?

[PascaLM]

I heard several informations : both Peugeot met troubles with oil pressure but the origin is not the same according to the staff.
Bourdais said in L'Equipe that the pressure went down and the temperature too (40°C) so Saulnier told him to stop anywhere he could, waiting for the end. Seb chose to stop in the Ford chicanes then he tried to keep the engine in some RPM range to make the temperature rising. Bourdais wasn't sure at all if his car could do one more lap.
I have no precise info about the engine of the n°7 car.

BTW, did anyone of you see the Audi #1 smoking at the checkered flag ? A very nice blue-grey colour.

[paul-collins]

When it turned around to go into parc ferme the smoke was pretty heavy.

I had heard that Bourdais also only had first gear. This from a driver of another car.

[minimangler]

The Audis emitted visbile smoke quite a few times, especially in and out of the pits.
And Rockenfeller's car to.
So a breach of regs? Though we can forgive car 3, i think

[isynge]

Originally Posted by PascaLM

BTW, did anyone of you see the Audi #1 smoking at the checkered flag ? A very nice blue-grey colour.

My opinion was that had it been the 25 Hours of Le Mans Pescarolo and Rollcentre would have been quite a way further up the rostrum...

The #1 Audi was producing an awful lot of white smoke come the last lap as I saw it. They were either trying to elect a Pope or had an engine that was no longer doing what it was designed to do...

That said, wasn't it Colin Chapman that described the ideal racing machine as the one that got across the line and then magically disintegrated into its constituent parts?

[djb]

I had noticed a few times earlier inthe race that an Audi made big puffs of smoke following the safety car, as if slow running clogged something up and it needed a big burp to get the bubble out (as it cleaned up and didnt do it afterwards)

le Belge--good joke about electing a pope!

[johnh875]

Originally Posted by isynge

That said, wasn't it Colin Chapman that described the ideal racing machine as the one that got across the line and then magically disintegrated into its constituent parts?

That is true, but I dare say Audi & Peugeot would both prefer not to cut it so fine! Must have been nerve-wracking

[chernaudi]

I think why the Audi's smoked after pit stops was because oil got pumped into the cylinders due to the oil pump not immediatly stoping like the engine(the R10 uses a dry sump scavenger pump if I'm correct). It wouldn't explain why oil still got pumped into the cylinders unless the pump couldn't break its momentum like the engine could.

The 3.6 AER V8 had similar problems when it debuted.

And both Pugs had oil pressure problems, but the "why" isn't known, and they'd better work on it if they really want to pressure Audi next year.

[Bentley03]

I suspect the large quantities of water the Pugs were shipping over the last 2 hours of the race played a part in their problems.

[dj choc ice]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

I think why the Audi's smoked after pit stops was because oil got pumped into the cylinders due to the oil pump not immediatly stoping like the engine(the R10 uses a dry sump scavenger pump if I'm correct). It wouldn't explain why oil still got pumped into the cylinders unless the pump couldn't break its momentum like the engine could.

The 3.6 AER V8 had similar problems when it debuted.

And both Pugs had oil pressure problems, but the "why" isn't known, and they'd better work on it if they really want to pressure Audi next year.

i can remember sebring in 2006 vividly with dyson, the car stopped out on track with huge plumes of blue and white smoke coming out of the engine bay, it got going again but god it looked bad, the engine was essentially drowning in oil and i think it was the cylinder's and being filled with oil and the fuel scavange pump deciding to go on holiday.

[AU N EGL]

I think after any hard fought 24 hour race, every car is about to fall apart and needs a complete rebuild.

[Mindspin13B]

Astons and Vettes weren't billowing smoke and stopping on the last lap....

[prototype]

Neither were the Pescarolos.