A rather gentlemanly cultural event ended in France - Now with 24h Du Mans results!

[Junkman]

Yes, it's the 2014 edition of the 24h Du Mans, and the test runs began today.

 

I take the liberty to open a thread for this, although I know I'm in for quite some beating from the not so motorsports inclined fraction of Autoshite, and I'm fully aware of the fact, that this constitutes some form of masochism.

However, in my concept of highway romance and chivalry, this utter anachronism has a heartwarming place for as long as I live, so please be forgiving Christians. Free stiff Martinis will be served to all who visit me during the event.

 

I intend to post significant news (i.e. crashes and rather lethal deaths) as they happen, as well as worthy livestream sources (how newfangled), and would appreciate, if the ones similarly inclined as I am, would do the same.

 

From experience, it is the best to stream Radio Le Mans for the footage, and Eurosport for the commentary, which is done by the increasingly pissed as the night progresses English gentlemen Martin Haven, Ben Edwards, and Jack Nicholls. So this is my current recommendation.

 

The Team Corvette will have - as always - a live dash cam, so you can virtually ride shotgun for the duration of the event.

This is especially recommended during the night while being drunk. The view and the sound are addictive.

[spike60]

It'll come in handy for me, I'm setting off for there today and usually the ones there are the last to know what is actually happening.

[drum]

A few pals and I keep threatening to 'do' Le Mans one year. It's a long way from here but getting there would be half the fun, 'spesh if I take the allegro. Think I would have to get something with a bit more poke though.

I'll be dipping in and out..fnaar.

[Sloth in a bowl]

For the first time in years I won't be glued to the PC with radio le-mans on one window, ACO timing and scoring on another and Eurosport on a 3rd.

 

This year I will be spending the weekend in Rome which will be GR6 when England lose to Italy at the World cup.

 

So my plan is to avoid all Le-mans news and catch up with the radio le-mans podcasts as my commuting sounds for three weeks afterwards. It will be the longest Le-mans weekend going.

[Mr Lobster]

I've been saying for a while that I want to go. Next year I am 40 and a couple of friends and I have said that perhaps next year might be the time to do it.

 

Anyway, its a splendid event and I shall be following avidly (apart from Saturday afternoon when I'm doing a 12 miles / 12 pubs pubwalk)

[Sloth in a bowl]

Never been to the main event but would love to go. I've been to the le-mans classic twice and that is fantastic.

Watching the pre-war grid rolling start at 1am, all sound and headlights ablaze while there were only about a dozen spectators on the entire pits straight. Also watching porsche 917s at night through the porsche curves. Epic motorsport.

[chaseracer]

Cheers for this, JM.  I haven't been to les vingt-quatre heures since 1987, but I did drive round the circuit (twice, to the unutterable* delight** of Domestic Management...) on the way to a wedding near Bordeaux in '95.

 

We were in a rusty 1981 Volvo 240GLT, with iffy overdrive and a mysterious early history involving the diplomatic corps.  Thus the entropic integrity of Autoshite is preserved.

[spike60]

It is a fabulous spectacle and I've been most years since about 1988 but I find the rise and rise of the PH "look at me, aren't I wacky?" British knob spectator takes the edge off it. A lot of folk go with zero interest in the on track action, just trying too hard to impress and plain fucking selfish, - generator and mixing desk playing techno all night in a campsite? Thanks, boys. 

That said if you're thinking of it, do it, it's some experience.

I wouldn't be back but have found a quiet haven with a lovely French lady very close to the Porsche curves. Bonjour Edith!

[Junkman]

Never been to the main event but would love to go. I've been to the le-mans classic twice and that is fantastic.

Watching the pre-war grid rolling start at 1am, all sound and headlights ablaze while there were only about a dozen spectators on the entire pits straight. Also watching porsche 917s at night through the porsche curves. Epic motorsport.

 

If there wasn't the main event, there would be no classic.

And believe me, the main event today isn't that different from what it was 30, 50, or even 90 years ago.

Barreling through the French countryside at night with a 600 PS monster is as thrilling today as it ever was.

 

Ludi incipiant!

[jonny69]

I'm leaving tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn.

 

Shame to hear there's a football clash again this year. It usually means there are scores of football knobs down there.

[spike60]

It's good that the race seems more open this year, Porsche always a strong competitor, Toyota improving and appear to be about there now although Audi run by Joest will still be a crack outfit. I see the Toyota's have about 1000 bhp now, 480 regenerated electric what nots and 520 from the old style piston engine. Nissan back with the big boys next year too.

My favourites are the Lola's with Toyota V8's run by Rebellion racing, black and gold with red flashes and high revving petrol V8, - a proper racing car! None of yer whispering diesels or electrickery.

[Junkman]

If you like good old 7 litre V8s like God built them in the first place, the Team Corvette dashcam is for you.

[spike60]

If you like good old 7 litre V8s like God built them in the first place, the Team Corvette dashcam is for you.

I ran a 5.7 'vet with noisy S/S pipes for 6 years as a daily!

[Slappy]

Le Mans has been the plan for when I turn 30 in 2016 for a while, hopefully Audi will have given up by then and it'll all be glorious petrol power again.

 

I've been very jealous of seeing a myriad of vehicles heading to Portsmouth Ferry Port this past few days heading Sarthe

[spike60]

Le Mans has been the plan for when I turn 30 in 2016 for a while, hopefully Audi will have given up by then and it'll all be glorious petrol power again.

 

I've been very jealous of seeing a myriad of vehicles heading to Portsmouth Ferry Port this past few days heading Sarthe

I'm not a fan but Le Mans would have been a poorer event in the last 10 or so years without Audi, they have spent a fortune there.

[Sloth in a bowl]

It's good that the race seems more open this year, Porsche always a strong competitor, Toyota improving and appear to be about there now although Audi run by Joest will still be a crack outfit. I see the Toyota's have about 1000 bhp now, 480 regenerated electric what nots and 520 from the old style piston engine. Nissan back with the big boys next year too.

My favourites are the Lola's with Toyota V8's run by Rebellion racing, black and gold with red flashes and high revving petrol V8, - a proper racing car! None of yer whispering diesels or electrickery.

Based on what I saw at the Silverstone 6 hours at Easter then it is Toyota's race to lose. Audi don't seem to be quite as good as before (performance balance in favour of petrol?) and Porsche needs another year of LMP1 racing.

 

One of the joys of endurance racing though is that with 4 classes there is always something going on. At Silverstone on the 4 hour mark the LMP1 field was scattered but the 2 lead LMP2 cars were nose to tail.

[Junkman]

The nice thing about Le Mans is that you can't predict anything.

[Sloth in a bowl]

The nice thing about Le Mans is that you can't predict anything.

Quoted for truth, see 2010 when Peugoet should have had an easy win based on speed but lost the victory to two late race engine failures.

[Junkman]

We have an entry list: http://www.24h-lemans.com/en/race/entry-list_2_2_1980.html

A clear indicator of how I'm getting on with the odd years is that this is the first time I don't know a single driver personally.

[Junkman]

Fernando Alonso has been appointed by the ACO to start the race.

[Junkman]

Six Basic Principles Guide the 2014 Regulations

1. Efficiency and Sustainable Development
   
   The concept of allocating a quantity of energy to the cars is conditioned by thermal efficiency with a goal of reducing fuel consumption can reach 30% compared to the current LMP1 class of cars. Energy recovery systems will be allowed to capture up to four times more than present.
    
2. The Sport Will Not Suffer
   
   The level of performance will be equivalent to that of the 2012 season while improving acceleration. These regulations have been designed to ensure that the drivers have to go flat out without having to adapt their driving and without having to manage a fuel consumption strategy.
   
   To ensure that competition remains and that the spectators can understand what’s going on out on the track, a simple and comprehensible system with little in the way of complicated calculations will enforced. The car that finishes in front of the others is the winner. Dah!
    
3. Technological Advances
   
   The new regulations will allow manufacturers to showcase the soundness of their work and the quality of the technology used.
    
4. Cost Reductions
   
   Cost capping for the major manufacturers (control and limitation of certain technologies, rules) as well as enabling private teams to stay competitive on limited budgets were at the center of the rule making committees discussions.
    
5. Safety
   
   As in the case of every evolution of the regs it remains a priority for the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) to keep both drivers and spectators as safe as reasonably achievable.
    
6. Race Technologies Will Be Eventually Transferred for Consumer Use

Drawing up the Regulations

The 2014 regulations is the result of numerous studies, discussions and working groups spread over six months from September 2011 to May 2012 and carried out by the engineers of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).

The working group was made up of twelve manufacturers and designers (chassis, engines, tires, fuels) with ten meetings taking place.

The contribution of the participants focused on the following six points

• Definition of the technological factor (energy equivalence between diesel and gasoline engines)
• Definition of the engines allowed (thermal engines and energy recovery systems)
• Aerodynamic improvements
• Improvement in the driver visibility
• Evolution of race car chassis and dimensions
• Safety

After that simulations and calculations were carried out by both in-house and external engineering teams with the help of specialized technical consultancies before the data was homologated, the coherence of the results was checked with both the manufacturers and private teams.

Here are the main guidelines of the different sections in the 2014 regulations: the thermal engines, the energy recuperation systems and the chassis/bodywork ensemble.

Thermal engines

• 4-stroke piston engines (cost reduction – adaption to road-going use)
• Free cubic capacity for manufacturers, high turbo pressure (4 bars) (efficiency, adaption to consumer use)
• Cubic capacity limited to 5.5L for private teams (cost reduction)
• Power of the cars controlled by a homologated fuel flow meter (efficiency)
• Freeing air inlets: air restrictors cancelled, variable admission systems allowed
  (technological opportunities, efficiency, adaption to consumer use)
• Fuel injection pressure free (technological opportunities, efficiency, adaption to
  consumer use)
• Fuel: evolution to 2nd generation E20 bio fuels (currently E10) (sustainable development)
• Fuel: Diesel or gasoline (cost saving – adaption to consumer use)
• Possibility of an opening in the medium or long term to other sources of energy that have reached maturity (hydrogen, 100% electric) (technological opportunity)
• Very costly exotic materials and systems banned (electromagnetic valves) (cost reduction).

Energy recovery systems

• Five categories of energy defined from 0 to 8MJ per lap of the Le Mans circuit (technological
  opportunity)
• Systems are free provided they can be measured (technological opportunity)
• Number of systems limited to two per car (cost savings)
• Systems homologated on a seasonal basis. No evolution or category change will be accepted during the season (cost savings)

2014 LMP1 Rules

According to the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the following table enables each manufacturer to choose the option that best suits its project and budget.

 

[Angry Sheep]

Heading down on Friday for the first time. Training it rather than driving, unfortunately. Don't really know what to expect, but it seems that it's going to be an interesting race.

[forddeliveryboy]

All the basic principles garb reads well Junkman, but what does it mean in reality for the cars and the racing?

 

I'm looking forward* to a nip down to MotoristsMekka for a regen flywheel or some other ERS for £69.99. Perhaps a hydrostatic conversion for a Xantia, with a couple of BOC bottles in the boot for holding the compressed air stored on braking?

[Junkman]

It basically says, that in order to save fuel, they are now allowed to use bigger engines in smaller cars. I'm NOT kidding!

 

It also says, that now the airflow is no longer restricted, but instead the fuel quantity per lap, and the turbo pressure can now be increased to 4 bar.

 

And it says, that the non-works (i.e. private) LMP1 teams are allowed to run with non-hybrid technology, and the works-teams aren't,

which explains why the Audi factory uses its private* front organisation Joest.

 

I thought this might interest the tech savvy.

I wish Smokey Yunick was still around to give us a brilliant demonstration of how to bend those rules.

[forddeliveryboy]

It basically says, that in order to save fuel, they are now allowed to use bigger engines in smaller cars. I'm NOT kidding!

 

 

 

Half of everyone on here could have told them that's the route to fuel economy. Yet the future for Jenral Pubic is big cars and tiny engines, in order to save the planet. I want a 5.7 litre engine, a mahoosive regen flywheel to catapult me from the lights without using any petrol and then store up the megaton energy as I stop for the roundabout ahead. And so on. Or hydraulic motors in each hub, so no gearbox, no driveshafts, no heavy electric motors and batteries, with two great big fo compressed air tanks for 0-80 acceleration.

 

PS since the AV87 isn't ready yet, which car did you drive down in?

[Junkman]

Drive down where?

[Sloth in a bowl]

For knowing which car looks like what there is only one place to go

 

http://www.spotterguides.com/portfolio/2014-le-mans/

[filthyjohn]

http://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/loic-duval-suffers-horrifying-crash-during-le-mans-practice/

 

 

 

[Junkman]

Hmmm...

If they continue doing this, we could have 2011 repeated.

[Junkman]

Some footage of today with natural sound.