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Everything Else => General Automotive => Topic started by: Neil.P on June 16, 2007, 03:51:26 PM

Title: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 16, 2007, 03:51:26 PM
Le Mans kicked off just under 2 hours ago, watched the first 90 minutes, intermittent rain making things rather tricky :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_24_Hours_of_Le_Mans
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/frame.php?file=feature_item.php&fid=14

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 16, 2007, 04:12:37 PM
Don't forget our friend Jacques Villeneuve is racing here :yahoo:

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 16, 2007, 04:15:56 PM
Adrian Newey also racing, thought he would've been in the States with Red Bull :DntKnw:

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: The Stig on June 16, 2007, 04:48:33 PM
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/motorracing/story/0,,2104675,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=7

Neil you can get a live comment of the race here.
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 16, 2007, 05:02:56 PM
Excellent Stig, Kristensen still in the lead, surely he can't make it 8 Le mans wins can he :DntKnw: Still 21 hours to go yet!

For all you Freeview only peasents like me there is live coverage on Setanta between 19:00 - 19:30 and 21:30 - 22:00 this evening :good:

Cheers

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: The Stig on June 16, 2007, 05:18:34 PM
Neil,Lamy to win...For Me
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 16, 2007, 05:26:05 PM
Hmmm intersesting Stig, Peugeot to beat the Audi's eh!

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 16, 2007, 05:29:44 PM
5.05pm BST: A wee bit of a rejig at the head of the field, as Marc Gené first moves up the rankings, then slips into Sunday driving mode and is overtaken by both Pirro and Bouillon. After 42 laps Kristensen (Audi) still leads, then it's Bourdais (Peugeot), Pirro (Audi), Bouillon (Pescarolo) and Gené (Peugeot).

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: The Stig on June 16, 2007, 05:32:49 PM
Just thinking drivers rather than what they are in....Neil
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 16, 2007, 05:37:11 PM
I see Stig, like your style! :good:

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 16, 2007, 07:20:56 PM
It's just gone 7pm BST: OK, there's been a fairly major change at the top. A bit of smoke was coming out of Lamy's Peugeot, so they hoiked it into the pits and started poking around in it. That means Audi now have a 1-2, with McNish having taken over from Kristensen in the leading car (72 laps), and Werner in second place (one lap back) after grabbing the wheel from Pirro. Villenueve, replacing Gene, is third in his Peugeot (2 laps back), then it's Boullion in the Pescarolo (+ 2sec), and Sarrazin replacing Lamy in the smokin' Peugeot (3 laps back). We're five hours in. Of 24.

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 16, 2007, 08:03:33 PM
19:39hrs BST: Jacques Villeneuve in the No.7 Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 lost 3rd place to the No.16 Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Judd. The Peugeot had just completed an extended pit stop.

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 16, 2007, 09:42:51 PM
McNish flying 'round, Villeneuve struggling with car.

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 17, 2007, 01:19:33 AM
There have been no changes in the top 4 of the race. The Audi No.2 is still running like clockwork, just like the No.1 sister car. The Peugeot No.7 is still following, 4 laps behind the lead now, and the Pescarolo No.16 is 5 laps behind. The teams in LM P2 have suffered a lot since the beginning of the race, and all of them have fixed at least one major problem already. The No.24 Courage of Noel Del Bello and the No.31 of Binnie Motorsport are currently best in class.

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: The Stig on June 17, 2007, 09:41:35 AM
Neil up-date:
Both Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs see the sun come up...

As dawn breaks at Le Mans, Peugeot Sport's management is delighted to report that its two Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs are still running strongly and reliably in the top-five. The N7 car now with Nicolas Minassian back behind the wheel after night-time stints from Pedro Lamy and Jacques Villeneuve is still 3rd, while Stephane Sarrazin (N8, 5th) pushed hard throughout his run in his bid to close the gap on the N16 car which is 4th. The Frenchman posted the car's first times under the 3m 30s mark before handing over to Sebastien Bourdais .

Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 17, 2007, 11:13:36 AM
Nice one Stig, cheers!

The Audi No 2 car that had led the Le Mans 24-Hours race since the first corner crashed out of the race with seven hours to go.
Italian Rinaldo Capello was at the wheel when he lost control and hit a tyre barrier.

Earlier his British co-driver Allan McNish had set a lap record.

The Audi No 1 car, with the driving trio who won last year's race, are now in front with Jacques Villeneuve's Peugeot in second.

The Audi No 2, driven by McNish, Capello and seven-time winner Tom Kristensen, captured the lead on the first corner after an error by Peugeot pole-sitter Sebastien Bourdais.

They established a two-lap lead with Scot McNish setting a new record lap of three minutes 27.204 seconds, which eclipsed the 1993 mark set by Eddie Irvine in a Toyota.

But Capello's crash left the Audi No 1, driven by Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner, four laps clear of Villeneuve's Peugeot.

Audi are looking for their fourth consecutive win in the race.


Mike Rockenfeller was an early casualty in the third Audi

Canadian Villeneuve is making his Le Mans debut and hoping to join the late Graham Hill as the only other man to have achieved motor racing's 'triple crown' of the F1 title, the Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans.

Like Audi, Peugeot, who are returning to Le Mans for the first time since their one-two-three in 1993, are relying on diesel technology.

Audi, the first-ever diesel-fuelled winners last year, lost their third car, driven by German Mike Rockenfeller, 90 minutes into the race after it crashed out in changing weather conditions.

A safety car was introduced after just over an hour of racing, because of heavy rain, to allow competitors to change tyres.

The Audis opted for slick ones and the gamble paid off, the sun soon coming out and drying up the track.

Nightfall brought dry and still conditions to the 13.269-km circuit.


Johnny Herbert, a Le Mans winner in 1991, was leading the GT1 field in a works Aston Martin, over a minute clear of another Aston driven by Rickard Rydell.

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 17, 2007, 11:18:48 AM
After 20 hours of racing, the No.1 Audi is still in the lead, in front of the No.7 and No.8 Peugeots and the No.16 Pescarolo. Four hours from the finish, the sky is getting darker and the weather is becoming questionable. The list of cars withdrawn from the race has reached 22 entries. The LM P2 class seems to be the most decimated, with only 3 cars still racing. The 250,000 spectators that were here yesterday for the start should stay to the checkered flag, because there might be some surprises as we move toward the finish.

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Dare on June 17, 2007, 12:36:25 PM
Excellent Stig, Kristensen still in the lead, surely he can't make it 8 Le mans wins can he :DntKnw: Still 21 hours to go yet!

For all you Freeview only peasents like me there is live coverage on Setanta between 19:00 - 19:30 and 21:30 - 22:00 this evening :good:

Cheers

Neil.P


you should have Speed Channel Neil,LeMans coverage came on
again last nite at 10 pm and goes on to the end of race


Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 17, 2007, 01:01:18 PM
Wish I did have it dare, think I'll pop 'round my Dad's to watch the end on his satelite tv :good:

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 17, 2007, 03:00:38 PM
Just got back, watched the last hour, mainly under the safety car due to torrential rain.

The Audi driven by Frank Biela, Marco Werner and Emanuele Pirro came home first in the Le Mans 24-Hour race.
The team's No 1 R10 inherited the lead with seven hours to go after the No 2 car of Rinaldo Capello, Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen crashed out.

They had led the famous endurance event since the first corner, but Capello lost control and hit a tyre barrier.

Second place went to the Peugeot 908 driven by Sebastien Bourdais, Stephane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy.

With just 77 minutes left, the second Peugeot, with F1 champion Jacques Villenueve among its drivers, pulled out with engine problems.

It had been in second with a little more than two hours left when it dropped to fourth following a lengthy pit stop. Soon afterwards, it stopped for good.

Canadian Villeneuve was bidding to join the late Graham Hill as the only other man to have achieved a motorsport 'triple crown' of the F1 title, Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans.

It was a second straight win both for the victorious trio of Biela, Pirro and Werner - who took the chequered flag - and Audi diesel power.

Werner won for the third time, while fellow German Biela and Italian Pirro each have five victories to their name. Audi have now won seven of the last eight Le Mans 24-Hour races.

Audi's winning car was the only one of their three to make it to the finish.

Their third R10 lasted just 90 minutes on Saturday before Mike Rockenfeller went off in wet conditions and backwards into a barrier.

The second Audi, piloted by Dindo Capello Scot Allan McNish and seven-time winner Tom Kristensen, led for over 16 hours, with McNish setting a new lap record.

But Italian Capello had a 43rd birthday to forget when a left rear wheel came off at 160mph, sending him into a tyre wall.

In the GT1 category, Aston Martin returned to the winner's podium, courtesy of David Brabham - son of legendary racer Sir Jack - another Briton, Darren Turner, and Swede Rickard Rydell. The trio were fifth overall.

It is'nt all bad news for Jacques though, at least his album's being released in France tomorrow  ::)

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: The Stig on June 17, 2007, 04:33:38 PM
Nice report Neil, enjoyed it.
Thanks Stig.
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 17, 2007, 04:50:25 PM
Thanks Stig, really enjoyed keeping my eye on what was going on over the 24 hours. Was about to say I wished I was one of the 250,000 supporters that attended the race but looking at the weather... maybe not!

Cheers

Neil.P
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: cosworth151 on June 19, 2007, 04:04:23 PM
We had it on in the bar at Indy. Watched it until they closed about 3:30am. Glad that so many F1 fans also follow Sports Cars.
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Dare on June 21, 2007, 04:34:51 AM
Neil,found this on the Speed Channel site,thought you
may like it
play inside the Audi team

http://www.speedtv.com/speedvideo/
Title: Re: Le Mans 24 hours
Post by: Neil.P on June 21, 2007, 06:23:27 PM
Hi dare, thanks for posting the link. Shame the number 3 car never made it to the end!

Cheers
Neil.P
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