Provisional grid for the 2008

[CAL]

10 days and counting. However, today's test sesion was quite exciting with several red flags.

LMP1 the Peugeots are fast and are on top of the testing lap times ahead of Audi. However, the #7 Total Peugeot crashed hard, Marc Gene is okay but suffered a broken toe and bruised elbow. The #7 car is a total write-off and is petitioning the organizers for use of a new replacement chassis. The #8 Peugeot shatters the old lap record and does a 3:22.222. So if they stay reliable the will be the cars to beat.

GT2 Risi Competizione #82 Ferrari is on top of the GT2 board. The #83 Risi F430 entry was heavily damaged in a crash at the Ford Chicanes, and is not expected to make the show. Tracy Krohn was conscious, and is undergoing examination and observation by medical staff.

Right on Risi's tail... you guessed it. ###### FLYING LIZARDS. Only .031 of second seperates the two. BMS Scuderia behind them. This will be the fight to watch! -- disclaimer: if the Ferraris are reliable.

GT1 Looks like the Aston Martins are taking the fight to Corvette, sandwiching the Corvettes with a Saleen throw in for fun.

1. 009 Aston Martin Racing

2. Larbre's Saleen S7Rs

3. #64 Corvette Racing

4. #63 Corvette Racing

5. 007 Aston Martin Racing

LMP2 The Porsche RS Spyders lead the way and will be racing with the LMP1 cars for an unlikely overall. # 34 van Merksteijn Motorsport ahead of the #31 Team Essex car. However the #32 Barazi Epsilon Zytek was only 0.184 secs behind them. The 4th place Embassy Racing Zytek crashed heavy Dunlop chicane and ends up trapped in the gravel. Joe Foster is sent to the hospital but is okay.

Edited June 12, 2008 by CAL

[Len Woodruff]

Cal are the Penske LMP2 cars entered?

[Zoom Zoom]

Should be a great race, as usual. What are the odds on a close 3-way race between Peugeot, Porsche, and Audi?

Is anyone else doing a LeMans build during the race? A group of us will be meeting for the third year in a row for a LeMans palooza. Start with a model in primer, have the model finished by the end of the race. There are other groups around the continent that also do LeMans builds during the race. We all have various "rules", ours is simply that the model may be in primer. Other groups allow X number of parts to be prepped.

I'm prepping a Fischer D-Type for this year's event. It's so simple, I should be able to get some sleep...I hope

Last year I finished this Profil24 Jaguar E Type low drag aero coupe by 1 AM. Thanks mostly to spraying Tamiya paint outside on a hot/sunny day, using a food dehydrator to speed-dry the paint and decals, and partly because it's a simple curbside kit w/o too many parts and not covered in decals. 3 hours to prep/prime, 15 hours on race day.

[Nick F40]

Sorry Chris haven't been on the board for awhile, you were probably wondering where I was and why I wasn't the second post on here. Did you watch the practice online or did they show it on SPEED, I know they said they would. Where'd you hear about the test session. I can't wait!

Should be a great race, as usual. What are the odds on a close 3-way race between Peugeot, Porsche, and Audi?

Is anyone else doing a LeMans build during the race? A group of us will be meeting for the third year in a row for a LeMans palooza. Start with a model in primer, have the model finished by the end of the race. There are other groups around the continent that also do LeMans builds during the race. We all have various "rules", ours is simply that the model may be in primer. Other groups allow X number of parts to be prepped.

I don't know, the Presacarlo and Creations along with Judd and Mazda power are supposed to rip it up but that would be cool to say the least. I'm not mssing any of it, I don't want to miss anything besides all I have is the C6R. I've been hearing that it will be a real test between Audi and Peugeot and the rest. I seen that Aston Martin has got back with the LMP class and they brought back ALL of the DBR9's good call because this is the big race. I love the Saleens and the Murcielagos that are in it too. ###### LIZARDS! althouth the Risi's are doing good as long as they can keep it!

Right now I'm listening to the live coverage of the Spa 1000km race.

Edited June 4, 2008 by Nick F40

[CAL]

Cal are the Penske LMP2 cars entered?

Didn't see any times posted for them. There are some RS Spyders, and I am pretty sure I saw them on the entry list.

[ismaelg]

It's going to be a great race. But there is a MAJOR conspiracy against me watching anything related to it or any racing for that matter this year. My SCC (Stupid Cable Company) dropped Speed, I'll be out of town all week and during the race I'll be out of town

For the overall good of the sport it is good to see the top teams challenged. As much as I love MY Corvette team, and I really hope they kick butt, it is good to see the Astons and Saleen getting into the fight. Same with Audi and Peugeot and Porsche and Ferrari. And the talk of LMP2 challenging LMP1 supremacy is very interesting. Reliability is the key to this race.

I hope to see at least a summary or something

Thanks,

[CAL]

Sorry Chris haven't been on the board for awhile, you were probably wondering where I was and why I wasn't the second post on here. Did you watch the practice online or did they show it on SPEED, I know they said they would. Where'd you hear about the test session. I can't wait!

I don't know, the Presacarlo and Creations along with Judd and Mazda power are supposed to rip it up but that would be cool to say the least. I'm not mssing any of it, I don't want to miss anything besides all I have is the C6R. I've been hearing that it will be a real test between Audi and Peugeot and the rest. I seen that Aston Martin has got back with the LMP class and they brought back ALL of the DBR9's good call because this is the big race. I love the Saleens and the Murcielagos that are in it too. ###### LIZARDS! althouth the Risi's are doing good as long as they can keep it!

Right now I'm listening to the live coverage of the Spa 1000km race.

Risi killed one of their cars already.

The official 24 Hueres du Mans web site.

I am not seeing Penske or any of the Accuras on the current entry list.

[CAL]

There was a large number of cars registered for the race. 88 cars for 55 places.

21 of the 27 who automatically are invited confirmed. The other have not for various reasons.

Penske was invited and declined to focus on their ALMS title chase.

The Maserati MC12s first and second in the FIA GT1 Championship do not comply with the ACO regulations.

1st in LM P2 in the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours (Lola B05/40-Zytek). Bill Binnie, the team owner, has been obliged to withdraw for personal reasons.

1st in LM GT1 in the 2007 Le Mans Series with a Saleen S7R the team, which has since been renamed Oreca-Courage, has announced that it will change categories, and will send in an entry form in the LM P1 category.

[Nick F40]

It's going to be a great race. But there is a MAJOR conspiracy against me watching anything related to it or any racing for that matter this year. My SCC (Stupid Cable Company) dropped Speed, I'll be out of town all week and during the race I'll be out of town

For the overall good of the sport it is good to see the top teams challenged. As much as I love MY Corvette team, and I really hope they kick butt, it is good to see the Astons and Saleen getting into the fight. Same with Audi and Peugeot and Porsche and Ferrari. And the talk of LMP2 challenging LMP1 supremacy is very interesting. Reliability is the key to this race.

I hope to see at least a summary or something :D

Thanks,

That bites, but don't worry Ismael, I along with Chris will give you all the info, it'll be like listening to the online radios. Could you do that?

I know, poor Risi's. I'm glad too see that many cars though.

So ok, no Maseratis? only one S7R? no Penske? and come on Bill, No Lola?

[Brendan]

There was a large number of cars registered for the race. 88 cars for 55 places.

21 of the 27 who automatically are invited confirmed. The other have not for various reasons.

Penske was invited and declined to focus on their ALMS title chase.

The Maserati MC12s first and second in the FIA GT1 Championship do not comply with the ACO regulations.

1st in LM P2 in the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours (Lola B05/40-Zytek). Bill Binnie, the team owner, has been obliged to withdraw for personal reasons.

1st in LM GT1 in the 2007 Le Mans Series with a Saleen S7R the team, which has since been renamed Oreca-Courage, has announced that it will change categories, and will send in an entry form in the LM P1 category.

The Penskes don't fit under the rules for the 24 hours of Le Mans. The Accuras don't as well. The Porsches that are in the race are ELMS spec cars and they are 100 to 200 pounds heavier and also have a smaller air restrictor to fit into the rules of the LMP2...from my understanding. The ALMS allows the Penskes and Accura to run a bigger air restrictor and less weight to make them more competitive with the LMP 1 cars. Basically, they don't want Audi to win all the time. As for the Mazerati, the only reason they raced in the US is because they wanted a bigger GT1 field. It doesn't comply because it is too long of a car and too wide of a wheel base. As for Aston Martin, they are supposed to have a car in every single category within the next couple of years with factory support to privateers. Should be a good race.

[Brendan]

The ACO has allowed both the Peugeot and the Risi Ferrari to change their chassis and are allowing them into the race. Even though under their own rules if a chassis is damaged beyond repair, they're supposed to be disqualified. It will be interesting to see if they get put in the back of the field for the race day. Like they did for the Porsche last year.

[Nick F40]

The ACO has allowed both the Peugeot and the Risi Ferrari to change their chassis and are allowing them into the race. Even though under their own rules if a chassis is damaged beyond repair, they're supposed to be disqualified. It will be interesting to see if they get put in the back of the field for the race day. Like they did for the Porsche last year.

son of a......

I heard about that too, thanks for bringing that up, they said that in the Miller race I think, about the Porsches and Acuras and that they didn't plan to go for those reasons. Aren't LMP2 cars lighter and have less horsepower? The Astons should be interesting then!

Those Maserati's look like a wedge....or a boat....

[Brendan]

son of a......

I heard about that too, thanks for bringing that up, they said that in the Miller race I think, about the Porsches and Acuras and that they didn't plan to go for those reasons. Aren't LMP2 cars lighter and have less horsepower? The Astons should be interesting then!

Those Maserati's look like a wedge....or a boat....

The LMP2 cars are lighter and have less horsepower but you have to look at the power to weight ratio. So if you have a really light car that's producing 600 HP versus a car that weighs alot and only produces 800 HP, the horse power difference kind of gets canceled out. Then the lighter vehicle will have the advantage in acceleration and braking distance, ie they can dive into the corners deeper because they don't have as much mass to slow down. That kind of ended up being the downfall of the GPT cars because you had cars like the Toyota Eagles using a small motor and the car didn't weigh much. It was "destroying" these cars with the big V-12's and Turbo powered engines. Another thing you saw was the old Accura Spice that ended up beating a lot of the bigger teams even though they were in the Camel Lights class.

This is the issue I have right now with the ALMS that they are letting the LMP2 cars be competitive with the LMP1 cars. As it stands now, it's a disadvantage to try to race in the LMP1 in the US. It's going to end up killing the series. The whole idea of class separation was that there was a class of fast cars, slower cars, and the production cars. Le Mans is one of the few races that you see the LMP1 cars really dominating the field over the LMP2 cars.

[Nick F40]

ahhhh yeah power-to-weight ratio is everything, that's why I love those domestic vs. import races and the 450bhp Civic beats the Twin Screwed 850bhp Cobra.

Thanks

I never saw that Spice, I like it! Model?

[Brendan]

ahhhh yeah power-to-weight ratio is everything, that's why I love those domestic vs. import races and the 450bhp Civic beats the Twin Screwed 850bhp Cobra.

Thanks

I never saw that Spice, I like it! Model?

I believe there are a couple of 1/43 scale kits available, but not 100 % sure. I've been trying to talk MS Hobbies into making one for his next kit. There are so many possible decal options for that chassis. Those cars were powered by Chevy, Ford, Mazda, Accura/Honda, Porsche, and you name it, Spice ran with the motor.

[Guest zebm1]

Any Maseratis gonna race LeMans this year?

[CAL]

Any Maseratis gonna race LeMans this year?

They are non-compliant with ACO regs.

[Brendan]

Any Maseratis gonna race LeMans this year?

They've been trying to get these cars to be legal for several years now. They would have to cut off almost a foot off the back of the car to make it fit the rules for length. But they would be severely handicapped with the air restrictor if they were allowed to run. Here some pictures of my FIA GT Maserati.

[935k3]

Here is the link to the Peugeot carsh in testing.

I am really psyched about this race. I like seeing the roofs on the cars again. I think Lemans and Spa are the greatest racetracks on earth, Martinsville and all the NASCAR tracks are pitiful compared to these tracks. I really like the new Dome.

Here is a great scene from practice, you got love a real Highway Sign wth a racecar going by.

[Zoom Zoom]

Speed Channel has cut LeMans coverage this year...nothing between noon - 9 PM on Saturday

I figure by next year, if they cover LeMans at all, it will be an hour in the morning, an hour in the evening to recap, and an hour at the end on Sunday morning. You know those "test drives" and practice sessions and talk shows and Pinks are far more lucrative

[CAL]

Speed Channel has cut LeMans coverage this year...nothing between noon - 9 PM on Saturday

I figure by next year, if they cover LeMans at all, it will be an hour in the morning, an hour in the evening to recap, and an hour at the end on Sunday morning. You know those "test drives" and practice sessions and talk shows and Pinks are far more lucrative

My tv schedule is showing 960 mins 16 hours of coverage. About the same as last year, and TNN or another channel picked up most of the rest.

[Nick F40]

Here is the link to the Peugeot carsh in testing.

I am really psyched about this race. I like seeing the roofs on the cars again. I think Lemans and Spa are the greatest racetracks on earth, Martinsville and all the NASCAR tracks are pitiful compared to these tracks. I really like the new Dome.

Here is a great scene from practice, you got love a real Highway Sign wth a racecar going by.

I was wonderin when you'd post! I'm psyched and hope people keep they're cars on the track, Risi has been having that problem with testing. That just shows how much MORE hardcore this motorsport and series is compared to Not Any Sense Came At Richmond. What NANSCAR track do you know that races on PUBLIC roads.....for the most part.

Speed Channel has cut LeMans coverage this year...nothing between noon - 9 PM on Saturday

I figure by next year, if they cover LeMans at all, it will be an hour in the morning, an hour in the evening to recap, and an hour at the end on Sunday morning. You know those "test drives" and practice sessions and talk shows and Pinks are far more lucrative

Well, it's going to be the same as last year because god forbid they show it all, but as Chris said other stations will cover. You nailed it "far more lucrative" My dad was joking but I thought this would be a great idea....have all the stations that cover it and put all the tv's together, so that way I won't miss any of it.....or I could just change the channels I guess huh?

Edited June 7, 2008 by Nick F40

[Nick F40]

http://www.speedtv.com/schedule/filter/date/2008-6-14

Ok, I can understand the Final Practice bullcrap and the Craftsman Truck race, I might actually watch that but why in the do they have "Lexas Test Drive" "Tradin Paint" even though it's between the races, but STILL, and "Lucas Oil on the Edge"??????????????????????WHY NOT DO THE EXTRA COVERAGE MORONS???!!!!

Thank god for Radio LeMans, the WHOLE race in either French or English!

Edited June 8, 2008 by Nick F40

[935k3]

Don't forget next week on the Internet on Wednsday and Thursday afternoon Eastern Time you can hear the practice and qualifying live on the net at RadioLemans.com. I always listen at work every year. They do a great job and have a good position to pick up audio from the track. People at work might think it strange to hear Judd V10's going by but I agree with Enzo Ferrari when he said "there is a music in the noise". I believe that each days sessions are at 1:00 Pm to 3:00 PM and hour break and then 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM(all times Eastern Standard Time, GMT-5). Listening to these sessions always gets me psyched for the race.

Here is a good pic of the Dome S102.

[CAL]

They should have the whole thing on Speed.

It is with out question the BIGGEST SPORTING EVENT IN THE WORLD BAR NONE. 1.3 Billion, with a B, watch all or parts of it in 63+ countries.

In comparison the Super Bowl was fractional. 400 million?