Le Mans 24 Hours 2015

[MBKF1 91]

I thought I'd make a thread for us to chat about this awesome race! I know we have a WEC thread but this is the stand out event and it needs its own place I think!

So who's watching it this week? Practice starts tonight and Qualifying is tomorrow, with the race on Saturday and Sunday.

Come on Audi!

[buttonfan 5]

Come on Toyota! :p  It will be interesting to see how Nissan will go as well.
From what I read it's going to be a rainy weekend, maybe the end of qualifying and Sunday will be affected by rain.
 As I said at the WEC thread I'm planning to watch all 24 hours this year! 

[MBKF1 91]

I'd love to watch the whole event, but annoyingly I miss the start and first 2 hours (playing in a concert), and also the final 5 hours and the end! (Working that day)

Here's my timetable for the weekend!

Sat 13:30-15:00 | Playing in a concert, so miss start

Sat 15:30-16:00 | Watch highlights of first couple of hours

Sat 16:00-23:00 | Watch live, with dinner somewhere in there

Sat 23:00-07:00 | Sleep

Sun 07:00-08:30 | Wake up, watch highlights of the night

Sun 09:00-16:30 | Have to go to work for the whole day...

Sun 17:00-19:00 | Watch highlights of the rest of the race

I'm gonna watch the Practice tonight and Qualifying sessions I think, but it's just annoying I miss the crucial moments of the race!

[LiteralZero 0]

This might the first year in a long while that I don't manage to watch a majority of the race. (Damn real life job)

It'd be awesome to see the Nissan's make it to the finish in this crazy car they have. 

I'll manage to get out there to a race one year. :smiley:

[MBKF1 91]

I'm really looking forward to the LMP1 battle. To have 11 top cars from Audi, Porsche, Toyota and Nissan is just incredible, especially after having just 7 last year. Some great young drivers in there too.

It's gonna be so interesting to see how Nissan get on, I really don't know what to expect. Hopefully Practice and Qualifying tonight will give a better indication. Porsche should be good on the straights too if their pace from Silverstone and Spa is anything to go by. But Audi should be faster in the corners.

Toyota seemed a bit disappointing in the test day, but who knows. They're always there.

[buttonfan 5]

Don't expect to find out too much from practice because it's wet from what I read :p

[tbtstt 2,385]

So annoyed I'm not there this year. The last couple of years have been incredible and the line up this year looks even better!

Managed to stay awake for almost the whole race last year (had a 10 minute doze on the Saturday night), going to be harder to stay awake for the whole thing watching it on TV!  :D

So hard to call a winner in LMP1; I think Audi will be lucky to hang on again, but if any team is capable of defending the title its them. It's going to be very interesting to see how the Nissan performs. 

[LiteralZero 0]

Track action starts in about 30 mins and I have no way of watching at the office! :neutral: 

[MBKF1 91]

LiteralZero said:

Track action starts in about 30 mins and I have no way of watching at the office! :neutral: 

Does it?! I thought it was only on this evening!

Ah well that's typical, I need to leave the house in 30 minutes for a rehearsal for that concert on Sunday aha :p 

[LiteralZero 0]

According to the Audi Sport Twitter page it does! haha

[MBKF1 91]

Yeah you're right, just checked the TV guide and it's on Eurosport in 15 mins. Got it set up to record :p 

[buttonfan 5]

Green light and the Nissan stalled on the pit exit! :p

[Chadwick8505 0]

Don't expect much from Nissan this year, its rumor (if not confirmed) that they will be running without hybrid power. So the detriment they take due to the front wheel drive system will be expanded now that there is not added hybrid power. They should still be rocket ships down the back straight, but the twisty bits are going to be a nightmare. Speculation says they'll be about as fast as an LMP2 car.

It's a real shame because everything Nissan has done for this car has been completely revolutionary and potentially brilliant... they just need it to work all together for a change.

[MBKF1 91]

The final part of Qualifying is tonight, starting right now, and it's an extended session after the earlier shortened session due to red flags.

Current LMP1 order:
1) #19 Porsche (HUL, BAM, TAN)
2) #7 Audi (FAS, LOT, TRE)
3) #18 Porsche (DUM, JAN, LIE)
4) 17 Porsche (BER, WEB, HAR)
5) #8 Audi (DIG, DUV, JAR)
6) #9 Audi (ALB, BON, RAS)
7) #1 Toyota (DAV, BUE, NAK)
8) #2 Toyota (WUR, SAR, CON)
9) #12 Rebellion (PRO, HEI, BEC)
10) #4 CLM (TRU, KAF, MON)
11) #13 Rebellion (IMP, KRA, ABT)
12) #23 Nissan (PLA, MAR, CHI)
13) #21 Nissan (MAT, SHU, ORD)
.......
18)#22 Nissan (TIN, KRU, BUN)

EDIT: Actually, I don't think that's quite right, despite that being from the WEC website!

[LiteralZero 0]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHKF-nvWa7s
(Not great video quality)
Jan Magnussen managed to almost completely destroy the #63 Corvette last night, it's been pulled out the race weekend as a result. :(

He is fine though, which is great news. 

[VetteIfan 0]

Audi will win. Because, y'know, that's just what they do at Le Mans. It's almost an unwritten rule of WEC that, no matter of performance or circumstance, Audi just always find a way to win at the 24.

Hopefully Porsche will push them for it. Hopefully Toyota too, but their performance this season has been a little underwhelming thus far. And this is a learning year for Nissan. I really really hope they can get the car concept working though. It's one of the most fascinating and unique cars to come out of any racing series for years.

[RevolvingPrawn 1]

Not long till the start! Quest channel 37 on Freeview is having a 30 minute build up and showing the first 90 minutes live if anybodies looking for a bit of free coverage.

[Hughesy 254]

RevolvingPrawn said:

Not long till the start! Quest channel 37 on Freeview is having a 30 minute build up and showing the first 90 minutes live if anybodies looking for a bit of free coverage.

And Eurosport is showing the whole thing for anyone who has Sky B)  o:)

[f1since08 60]

RevolvingPrawn said:

Not long till the start! Quest channel 37 on Freeview is having a 30 minute build up and showing the first 90 minutes live if anybodies looking for a bit of free coverage.

Do they have any more of the race?

[RevolvingPrawn 1]

Yea from what I remember they have a few 1 hour shows with updates, think they're at 9pm, 7am, and then a longer one at 1pm tomorrow. 

They also have a bunch of other Le Man's stuff on tomorrow morning/afternoon too.

Safety car out, looks like a couple of P2 cars into a GT and the GT car is on fire.

[f1since08 60]

Why are there three safety cars? And if the race is red flagged, does the clock continue?

[Britpoint 4]

fIsince08 said:

Why are there three safety cars? And if the race is red flagged, does the clock continue?

There are three Safety Cars because the track is so long. They need to keep the pace under control over the whole track. Imagine how long it would take to group all the cars if  there was only 1 SC that came out just behind one of the GT cars - one of those things driving at a safe speed would take ages to get all the way around the circuit. So they split it up into three.

[f1since08 60]

Thanks, you can tell this is my first Le Mans :p

[RevolvingPrawn 1]

3 safety cars is because the circuit is pretty long and the cars are usually fairly well spread out :p 
As for the red flag I think the clock does keep running but I'm not sure, not really up to date with how that works at Le Mans. 

I know they can use something called Slow Zones though which is kinda like the VSC but actually works better I'd say, they all have to do 60kph in the zone rather than a specific time.

[RevolvingPrawn 1]

Woah, fairly big smash for the #8 Audi. Still running and heading back to the pits at least.