2013 ALMS Race News, Results, and Insults

[MOTV8]

There is no 'trying'....you DO need that.

In other news, I think I'm gonna hurl. Patrick Dempsey just gave Patsy Long a ride at Le Mans.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/le-mans-long-added-to-dempsey-del-piero-lineup/

[Shifty]

So much for any respect I may have had for Patrick...

[Desertdawg]

Let's see if Patsey can figure out a way to bump into one of the Vettes again from a different class...

[MOTV8]

Now that we've determined none of us are actually going....barring teh Shifter winning that contest...I went off searching for some mouth-watering Le Mans blurbs. Instead I found a cool retrospective piece. Enjoy.

A look back at the last 50 years of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
By Jim Casey Sports Car Illustrated contributor

Le Mans is a name that immediately conjures images of Porsches, Ferraris, Fords, Jaguars, Audis, and other cars roaring through the French countryside for 24 hours every June. Steve McQueen’s movie about the race, simply titled “Le Mans” captured one of the magic eras of the race, with Porsche 917’s battling Ferrari 512’s.

The greatest tragedy in the history of the sport also took place there, when Pierre Levegh’s Mercedes sailed into the crowd, killing nearly 100 people in 1955. I was only 4 when that tragedy occurred, so I have no memory of it, and don’t think I read about it until some time in the 60’s.

My first real awareness of the race came in the early 60’s, when the new ABC show, Wide World of Sports, introduced me, and many others, to Le Mans and other great racing events like the Monaco Grand Prix.

My earliest memory of seeing tv coverage of the race came in one of the years when Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien won while sharing a Ferrari. Hill brought the car into the pits in the night, got out, and Gendebien got in after the fuel was filled and the tires changed. Chris Economaki approached Hill and uttered the immortal question, “So, Phil, what’s it like out there?”

Hill’s eyes got like saucers, his voice went up an octave as he described the chaos of approaching slower cars on the Mulsanne, limited visibility, heavy rain, and other issues at the time. Hill was still apoplectic as he walked away talking to himself about how dangerous it had been “out there.”

Chris posed the same question to the laconic Gendebien when he came in a few hours later, having dealt with the same conditions. Olivier’s response; “It is like, ‘ow do you say in America, like driving down to the corner for a pack of cigarettes.”

In those days the race, and other major races, began with the “Le Mans start.” The cars lined up on one side of the track, the drivers on the other. When the starter’s flag was waved the drivers ran across the track, got into their cars, started them, and off they went. This was to show that the cars had self-starters, one of the rules in those days.

This type of start continued until 1970, when the safety issue of drivers needing help with their belts was deemed more important. Jackie Ickx, 6-time winner of the race, called attention to this by walking instead of running to his car for the start in 1969, which left him well behind early, and since he won the race by less than 5 seconds, could have left him open for one of the great second guesses in racing history, had he lost by a similar margin.

But after World War II, as sports car racing began to take hold in the US, American participation in the event increased significantly, led by Briggs Cunningham, founder of the SCCA. Initially, Cunningham brought two Cadillacs for the 1950 race, one with a standard body, and one a streamlined coupe. They finished 10th and 11th. Cunningham started building his own cars, and his best finish was 4th overall in a Cunningham C4R in 1952. A Cunningham-entered Corvette did win the GT class in 1960, driven by John Fitch and Bob Grossman, the first class win for Corvette at Le Mans. Cunningham’s cars were also the first to appear with racing stripes, as, unlike other countries whose signature colors were individual, like British Racing Green, the light blue of France, the silver of Germany, the US colors were blue and white, so Cunningham mixed them together by means of the stripes, still a popular style exercise on many performance cars.

ABC’s coverage increased in 1964 when Ford began their attempt to win the race, and I was riveted. By this time I had become a serious sports car racing fan, despite very limited coverage on tv and in the newspapers.

I subscribed to Sports Car Graphic, and was a big fan of Jim Hall’s Chaparrals. Beautiful white cars with innovative aerodynamics, automatic transmissions, and powerful Chevy V-8’s made for a winning package. The battles in the GT ranks were just as exciting, with Ferraris, Cobras, and Corvettes.

Many races were available on the radio in those days, and I remember listening to the 1964 Daytona Continental, then a 2000 kilometer race for GT cars only, which was a battle between Ferrari 250 GTO LM and the Cobra Daytona Coupe, won by Pedro Rodriguez and Phil Hill in a Ferrari.

I also listened to the epic 1965 Sebring 12 hours on the radio, which featured two of Jim Hall’s Chaparrals and numerous other cars from the US Road Racing Championship, the forerunner of the Can-Am, running in a special Sports Prototype class, essentially invented by the organizers for that race. These cars had never run a race longer than 500 miles, and were all expected to be back in the garage within a couple of hours of the start. This was the case with all of those cars except the Chaparrals, with Jim Hall and Hap Sharp dominating the race, well ahead of the GT-40’s and Ferraris running in the Prototype class.

A huge rainstorm hit the track about 5 pm, reducing lap times for the leading cars to nearly 10 minutes, and bringing the site of an MG passing the Chaparral and a GT-40 on the front straight. The rain stopped after an hour or so, and Hall and Sharp went on to win the race by a wide margin.

Ford was back at Le Mans in 1965 with more cars, including the new Mark II, with a 7-litre V-8, which had won its class at Sebring and was considered the favorite for Le Mans. Ferrari had several of their new 330p’s, beautiful, curvy red cars with shrieking V-12 engines, and the GT class would again be a battle between Ferraris and Cobras.

The Fords and the newer Ferraris wore each other out, and that year the race was won by Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory in a Ferrari 275 LM, a car neither of them liked much, and they had run it as hard as they could early in the race, hoping to break it, but it and they hung on for Ferrari’s last overall victory at Le Mans.

For the second year in a row, the Cobra coupes dominated the GT class, and at the next race at Reims locked up the GT manufacturers championship, the first for an American car.

Ford came back loaded for bear in 1966, having spread their operation among three major teams, the Ford factory effort, Shelby-American, and Holman-Moody, long a power running Fords in NASCAR.

Jim Hall had built a coupe version of the Chaparral to compete in the long-distance races, and continued to innovate aerodynamically, with a movable spoiler/air brake, but their one-car effort achieved little success, winning the Nurburgring 1000 kilometers in ’66, and the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch in ’67.

Henry Ford II finally had his victory to celebrate with Fords finishing 1-2-3 at Le Mans in ’66, with Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren credited with the win, as Ford orchestrated a group finish for the sake of a publicity photograph, preventing Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby from completing the long-distance triple of winning Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans all in the same year.

Not yet satisfied, Ford came back with a vengeance in 1967, with several of the new Mark IV’s, many Mark II’s, and Jim Hall showed up with the most radical-looking car in the field, the Chaparral 2F, featuring a high, suspension-mounted wing, and with the radiators moved out of the nose and into the middle of the car.

Sadly, Ken Miles had been killed testing a version of the new Ford, but the team had most of the great drivers of the day, including Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, and A. J. Foyt. Ford dominated again, with Foyt and Gurney sharing the winning Mark IV, and in his exuberance, Gurney invented the now standard winner’s celebration of spraying champagne.

The 7-litre Ford cars were so dominant they were immediately banned by the organizers, the Automobile Club of the West, and for 1968 the engine size was limited to 5 litres. John Wyer’s Gulf-sponsored team ran GT-40’s and won the next two years with the smaller, 4.7 litre V-8, over Ferrari, and the developing Porsche 917. After 4 consecutive wins, the Fords were retired, and no American car has won since.

With the withdrawal of the Fords, tv coverage of the race virtually disappeared until the arrival of cable tv, and there was no radio broadcast in the US either, so the Sunday paper would have the standings at about the 10 hour mark, and the Monday paper would have the result. A month or two later, Sports Car Graphic would arrive with the full race report.

Porsche’s dominance of the event began in 1970, with the first win for the 917. Porsche continued to control the race with the 917, 935, 936, 956, and 962 for the next 20 years, interrupted by three consecutive wins for Matra and their ace, 4-time winner Henri Pescarolo, one win for a Mirage-Cosworth in 1975, Renault in 1978, Rondeau-Cosworth in 1980.

In the Group C era, from 1983 to 1994, the Porsche 956’s and 962’s dominated early, then Jaguar, Mercedes, and Peugeot took their turns at the top of the podium into the early 90’s, which brought the greatest change to the circuit itself.

In the 70’s the section from Arnage to the start/finish was changed with the fast Porsche curves added, as well as the Ford chicane. But in 1990 the character of the course was forever changed with the addition of two chicanes on the Mulsanne straight, which has added as much danger as it was supposed to cure, with many overtaking accidents occurring there, as the faster prototype cars attempt to pass the slower production-based GT cars. Derek Bell, 5-time winner of the race, has called the chicanes a travesty, a sentiment with which I agree.

TV coverage came back of the race in the US returned in the 80’s, first on ESPN, then on Speed, where the race can be seen again this year.

The rules for the cars changed again in the mid-90s, with the race won by production-based cars like the Porsche 911 GT1, and the McLaren F1 GTR. A new prototype class came in in 1999, and Audi came to Le Mans for the first time, with their R8. The BMW V12 LMR won that year, but Audi has been dominant since, winning every race except 2003 when Bentley won, in an Audi-engined coupe, and 2009, when Peugeot finally prevailed, after years of trying.

American cars have participated in the last 15 years, with Cadillac struggling to be competitive in the early 2000’s, and the incredibly loud front-engined Panoz cars providing plenty of entertainment, also in the early 2000’s. The Corvette team, running in the GT class, has carried the American flag much more effectively, winning the GT1 class several times, and the new GTE class as well.

For this year, it looks likely to be another Audi win, as they have dominated the first two rounds of the World Endurance Championship, run at Silverstone and Spa. Toyota has taken up the mantle from Peugeot to try to challenge the Audis, and after winning three races after Le Mans last year, hopes were high for a highly competitive race this year, but to this point Toyota is off the pace. The P2 class for privateers promises to bring close racing, as do both of the GT classes.

The Le Mans test day is coming up on June 9, which will give some indication of what can be expected in the race, which this year will be June 22 and 23. Let’s hope for an exciting and safe race.

[Shifty]

Any idea if LeMans test day will be televised/streamed anywhere?

[MOTV8]

Any idea if LeMans test day will be televised/streamed anywhere?

This says radiolemans.com, but I assume that would be audio only....??

LE MANS: 61 Entries For LM24 Test Day

Buildup to 90th anniversary 24 Hours of Le Mans (Live!, SPEED) continues with this weekend’s one-day test...

With the 24 Hours of Le Mans just over two weeks away, teams from around the globe have arrived at Circuit de la Sarthe to begin on-site preparations for the world-renowned enduro on June 22-23 (Live!, SPEED). The first major step comes Sunday when drivers are unleashed for the annual Official Test Day.

Sixty-one cars are scheduled to take part in this year’s test, including some additional entries that will be taking advantage of the rare track time on the full 8.5-mile circuit, which is only in use professionally for this test and the race week each year.

Additional entries include a fourth Audi R18 e-tron quattro, which will be tasked with 2014 tire development, along with second cars from Level 5 Motorsports and Signatech Alpine, both of which will enter only a single LMP2 car in the race. The test will also see two Oreca FLM09 cars, regularly seen in the LMPC class of the European Le Mans Series, also gain track time, despite not being eligible to race.

The requirements for the eight-hour test are simple: Any driver making his or her debut, or haven’t competed in the 24 Hours since 2008, must complete a minimum of 10 laps in order to be eligible to take part in race-week activities. Additionally, any new car or team that has not raced at Le Mans before must also turn laps.

This year sees three new cars (Lotus T128, SRT Viper GTS-R and Porsche 911 RSR) make their respective debuts, with a field of no fewer than two-dozen rookies, including former F1 drivers Lucas Di Grassi and Kamui Kobayashi, IndyCar stars Ryan Briscoe and Mike Conway plus Australian V8 Supercars ace Jason Bright.

There will also be others, such as Audi’s Marco Bonanomi, James Walker from G-Drive Racing by Delta-ADR and Aston Martin Racing’s young guns Johnny Adam and Richie Stanaway, all nominated reserve drivers for their respective teams, that will also get seat time over the course of the day.

While Audi and Toyota headline LMP1 with their hybrid-powered prototypes, LMP2 is comprised this year of a massive 24-car grid, all but two which will be returning for the race in two weeks’ time. Making up the numbers in the cost-capped ranks is Nissan, which powers 16 of the prototypes.

GTE-Pro sees the aforementioned debuts of the SRT Viper GTS-R and Porsche 911 RSR, both run under factory efforts that will do battle with works Corvettes, Ferraris and Aston Martins, while 14 entries make up GTE-Am, reserved for cars at least one year old with gentlemen driver-enforced lineups.

The big variable could be the weather, with forecasts calling for a 40 percent chance of showers on Sunday. Last year’s test saw some drizzle in the morning before clearing up by the afternoon.

The test will be split into two sessions, the first coming from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by 2 to 6 p.m. (all times local). Follow the action live on http://www.radiolemans.com and check back in the evening on SPEED.com for a full report and rundown from the day’s activities.

Guess nobody read or liked teh retrospective. Teh Ferrari - Ford battles were a-w-e-s-o-m-e, and if you think there are shenanigans today with BoP penalties, etc....imagine Ferrari somehow having teh balls and teh ability to flat out just cancel teh 1964 race at Monza to allow his cars to still win teh world championship and deny Shelby's dominant Daytona Coupes.

If you do listen to teh test day, post up some results. I hafta work and no can do teh audio stream.

[MOTV8]

Breaking...

Target Le Mans: Corvette Racing Ready for Test Day
by CORVETTE RACING on JUNE 7, 2013

First steps toward eighth victory in world’s greatest endurance race

LE MANS, France (June 6, 2013) – With seven class victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours since 2001, Corvette Racing is an established force at the world’s greatest endurance race. The drive for an eighth championship begins this weekend with the two Compuware Corvette C6.Rs taking part in the annual Test Day at the 8.5-mile Circuit de la Sarthe on Sunday (June 9).

The eight-hour session is as critical as ever for the No. 73 and No. 74 entries. This serves as the first chance to verify settings and engineering the team established since the 2012 race.

“As is our standard practice, the objective will be to achieve the absolute best track setup for all conditions and not necessarily set the fastest lap time,” said Doug Fehan, Corvette Racing Program Manager. “We have learned throughout our time at Le Mans that having a car in which all the drivers are comfortable is far more meaningful than sitting on the pole. Simply put, getting everything right is required for success at Le Mans.”

The test also is key to getting Corvette Racing’s two endurance drivers – Jordan Taylor and Richard Westbrook – reacquainted with their teammates and cars. Neither Taylor nor Westbrook have driven the Corvette since the Sebring 12 Hours in March to open the American Le Mans Series.

“Normally, it only takes a few laps to readjust,” said Westbrook, who will drive the No. 74 Corvette with Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner. “But Le Mans is Le Mans, and it’s a very different track than anything else in the world. Things do take longer there. But I’m not too worried. The last two years I missed the test and it wasn’t too much of a problem. So this year being able to do it is a bonus. More track time is better.”

While Westbrook will contest Le Mans for the fourth time – third with Corvette – the 23-year-old Taylor made his debut in 2012. The magic of Le Mans wasn’t new; he spent his formative years watching his father, Wayne Taylor, compete at the 24 Hours. As was the case a year ago, Taylor teams with Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia who have seven class wins at Le Mans to their credit.

“It will be nice having seat time in a car that you don’t drive that often,” Taylor said. “Taking a couple months off is difficult, but that’s the benefit of the test day. Getting more laps at Le Mans is always a good thing, as is learning from my teammates who all have massive amounts of experience.

“I knew (Le Mans) so well last year having watched the race my whole life that when I got on the track I already knew where I was,” Taylor added. “It was a matter of braking points and how much speed you could carry. The track itself is fun for a driver but for an engineer it’s a little tougher because you have high-speed corners where you need downforce but long straights where you want to take it (the downforce) off. There is definitely an engineering compromise but the Corvette guys do a really job with that and always give us a good car.”

A great car and great strategy netted Corvette Racing a class Victory Lane at Sebring. The Gavin/Milner/Westbrook trio drove from two laps down due to an electrical problem and gave the team a huge endurance boost.

“Sebring was a monkey off our backs,” Westbrook said. “Even though we won the ALMS championship last year, in endurance races we had a bad record. The last two years I’ve been in the No. 74 car, we were leading by more than a lap and failed to finish. So I personally really needed Sebring and I know the crew wanted to prove they could do it not just in a two-hour race but also in a 12-hour race. It’s a massive confidence builder going into Le Mans.”

[Shifty]

I read teh narrative Dean, I appreciated it just dandy, but I'm usually reading from work between calls, and I was so damned busy at teh time, that my answer was snipped. Sorry mang, Ido read anything ALMS related as much as I can-I'm going to miss it.

[Desertdawg]

Guess nobody read or liked teh retrospective.

I'm just here for teh pictures!

I read it too. it was neat, Thanks fer posting it.

[MOTV8]

I know you guys are in here. I was hoping to generate some interest. Whatevs.

Le scrutineering was today. Teh Milner also posted some cool pix on his twitter.

[Shifty]

Looks as if those Aston's are going to be tuff this year....

[Marana Rich]

I know you guys are in here. I was hoping to generate some interest. Whatevs.

Le scrutineering was today. Teh Milner also posted some cool pix on his twitter.

As always, I looked, I read. I am old enough to remember that nostalgia. Nice wallpaper this.

[Shifty]

I know you guys are in here. I was hoping to generate some interest. Whatevs.

Le scrutineering was today. Teh Milner also posted some cool pix on his twitter.

As always, I looked, I read. I am old enough to remember that nostalgia. Nice wallpaper this.

I did teh wallpaper too! (well, for teh Opera Speed Dial, anyway)

[Shifty]

Corvette Racing Off to Solid Start in Le Mans Magnussen fifth, Milner seventh in testing for highly competitive GTE Pro field LE MANS, France – Corvette Racing successfully worked through its testing program Sunday for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The pair of velocity yellow Compuware Corvette C6.Rs completed eight hours of running with no major issues ahead of the world's most famous endurance race on June 22-23. Jan Magnussen set the team's best time of 3:59.491 (127.3 mph) in the No. 73 Corvette C6.R to finish fifth in the GTE Pro order. Magnussen, driving with Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, opened and closed the test in differing conditions. The session began cool and damp, but the track eventually dried in the afternoon when the fastest times were set. The No. 73 Corvette turned a class-high 42 laps in the second session. Meanwhile, Tommy Milner posted the best time in the No. 74 Corvette he shares with Oliver Gavin and Richard Westbrook. Milner's best effort was a 4:00.319 (126.9 mph). The top six cars in class were separated by less than a second. "Our guys followed the three golden rules today - don't hit anything, don't break anything and stay on the race track," said Doug Fehan, Program Manager for Corvette Racing. "Considering the weather and track conditions, we feel comfortable with where we are in the program. Recording the fastest lap is never our ultimate objective during this test. Our experience at Le Mans has taught us that speed isn't the single deciding factor. Our goal is simply to be capable of running a competitive pace and keep our time in pit lane to a minimum with great execution on every stop. You meet those objectives and good results will follow." The next time Corvette Racing takes to the circuit at Le Mans is 4 p.m. CET/10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, June 19 for free practice and qualifying. Corvette Racing will go for its eighth class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2001 at 3 p.m. CET/9 a.m. ET on Saturday, June 22 with coverage on SPEED. Corvette Racing's last victory at Le Mans came in 2011. JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 73 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R You were out early in the wet conditions. It had to be less than ideal. "It wasn't so nice out there. The track was right in between were the tires work best. Some parts of the track were dry-ish - not quite dry, but at least there was no spray. But it's good to see the track again and get into the rhythm. But in those conditions you don't really learn anything. You just get through the motions. I think that laptime-wise we were quite OK considering the conditions when we were out." ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 73 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R How much did the track conditions improve in the afternoon? "Finally we got to put the slick tires on the car, which was good for us because every single lap you can do in the dry here may be very important toward the race. I know It's only two hours in dry conditions but we just need to focus on making the most of every single lap we can do. I was the first out on slicks in tricky conditions, which wasn't maybe the best moment for the track (conditions). But at least I got to run a bit in the dry. The car felt quite good, as it has been doing during the season. We still need to double-check how it really goes, but so far it's heading in the right direction." JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 73 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R: Did you enjoy your return to the Corvette and Le Mans? "It was good to be back in the car for the first time since Sebring, and first time back at this track since last year's Le Mans. So it was good. This was the first time I did a run in the rain in this car so I learned a few things, but overall we're learning as much as we can on a day like this. So far so good." TOMMY MILNER, NO. 74 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R Were you satisfied with the test day? "It was a kind of boring first half of the day. It was good to get some wet weather running since we don't do that a whole lot on those cars. We got a good feeling for the car in the wet. It was good to get some dry running at the end there and prove some of the bits and pieces we've developed over the year. We got some new tires from Michelin to try and see how those worked. It's nice to have sort of a baseline going into race week. For me it was good. I think I could have gone quite a bit quicker; my in-lap would have been quicker and probably have put us right at the front (note: Milner's sector 1 and sector 2 times were the fastest of the day for the No. 74 car before he pitted). So the pace is good, and the car is comfortable to drive." OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 74 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R The changing weather didn't do anyone a favor, did it? "The track was drying out, which was good as it gave us some good data. It looks like we're there in the ballpark with everybody else so that's encouraging. But it's been a frustrating day for everybody; it's been wet and then it's been dry again and then wet again. You have one day a year here to test and it was beautiful the week before and it looks like it's going to be nice next week. It's frustrating for all but it just so happens that the wet day was today. But the car felt pretty well and things look good for next week." RICHARD WESTBROOK, NO. 74 COMPUWARE CORVETTE C6.R Do you feel confident for the race after today? "It's always good to be back at Le Mans. It was a good test for us but it's clear the competition has stepped up as it always does in GTE Pro. Just when you think it can't get any tougher it seems to be getting more competitive. We've definitely got our hands full this year, and therefore it's important we focus on our own job and that's what we did today. The main thing is the car feels good and drivable for 24 hours. We've definitely got a good starting point for race week."

[MOTV8]

If you missed it, and we all did obviously, teh frenchies have posted their photos up to a facebook page this year. I realize Dawg cannot go to Facebook, due to legal restrictions, so he is ass out. I will not be spending hours culling teh frenchies pix for your perusal, so you may want to enjoy them on your own.

https://www.facebook.com/24heuresdumans/photos_stream

Sample:

[Shifty]

No Fagbook for me either....

[Desertdawg]

I realize Dawg cannot go to Facebook, due to legal restrictions, so he is ass out.

Hey ... oh never mind.

[Marana Rich]

I, on the other hand, have no such restrictions, and thank you very much. Lots of good old pictures there.

[Shifty]

I, on the other hand, have no such restrictions, and thank you very much. Lots of good old pictures there.

You could vader them for us...

[MOTV8]

I have tied one on in the absence of hockey and taken pity on all you non-vadering semi-Luddite types. Never let it be said that I have fagbook either, as I steal my hotlinks from teh frenchies at:

http://www.24h-lemans.com/fr/mediatheque-resultats_2_1_1927.html?motscles=&type=0&nbparpage=27

I hope that link works, I don't read french.

Enjoy teh fruits of my loins, er....labors....

[MOTV8]

[MOTV8]

....and KAPOW!

[Desertdawg]

Thanks for teh vadering Dean...... Is teh #50 and #70 wearing the same fenders as CR? Same width?

[Shifty]

Thanks for teh pick up Dean!

[MOTV8]

Thanks for teh vadering Dean...... Is teh #50 and #70 wearing the same fenders as CR? Same width?

Should be the same, they are last season's C6.R's after all.