24 hours of Le Mans 2014

Jonny69

Jonny69

Jonny69

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I don't think we have a thread for this year's Le Mans yet. It's 15/16 June and the countdown has begun with cars being unveiled, rumours about 2015 and technology being showcased.

The usual links:

Main site:

http://www.24h-lemans.com/en/

Wikipedia links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_of_Le_Mans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_24_Hours_of_Le_Mans

Radio Le Mans for live commentary during the race from John Hindhaugh et al. and regular podcasts leading up to the event:

http://www.radiolemans.com/

It doesn't look like there is a full entry list yet, but off the top of my head LMP1 will be Audi diesel hybrid vs. Toyota petrol hybrid and new petrol hybrid entry from Porsche. GT class sees a completely new Corvette car. Garage 56 entry is a wild hybrid loosely based on the Deltawing with a 400hp 1.5 litre 3 cylinder and, uh, that's about all I know for now :D
 
Audi revealed their new LMP1 car a month or so ago: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/111780

audi_1.jpg


Porsche called their LMP car the 919. Not a lot of information out there yet other than it'll be packing a 2 litre hybrid direct injected petrol and will be driven by Mark Webber. Some links to keep an eye on:

http://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/l...mp1-driver-squad-complete_2_2_1746_13504.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche_919_hybrid

Having said that, there's quite a lot about it on this link and some cool pics: http://www.racecar-engineering.com/cars/porsche-919/

porsche_1.jpg


porsche_2.jpg


The Garage 56 car is the Nissan Zeod RC. I'm pretty sure it was originally rumoured to be all-electric, but it is in fact a hybrid with enough battery power to get it round a whole lap on its electric motors. The engine side is a 400hp 1.5 litre turbocharged inline 3 cylinder allegedly weighing only 40kg. There's a cool 360 degree animation of the engine here: https://www.facebook.com/NissanZEODRC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_ZEOD_RC

zeod_1.jpg


zeod_2.jpg
 
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Will garage56 make it to the start line this year.
Can't wait, hopefully I'll get that weekend off work somehow. Should be a great battle now there's three LMP1s
 
The ZEOD isn't a hybrid. It will use either the petrol engine or electric motors, but not both at the same time.

From what I can tell they will use regenerative braking and other recovery tech to collect enough electricity per stint to do 1 lap on electric power.

Seems like a massive con to have got the 56 entry telling everyone they would make an all electric car, only to then turn it into a small capacity petrol DeltaWing rip off.

Anyway. P1 should be great. Do we know how much of the WEC races Porsche are planning on running in this year?
 
Skeeter said:
From what I can tell they will use regenerative braking and other recovery tech to collect enough electricity per stint to do 1 lap on electric power.
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Yeah I'm starting to like it less and less if that's the case.

P1. If porsche are going to run a whole season then they might actually be competitive by Le Mans. Could be good.
 
Yeah that was why I asked. Doing just Le Mans, without something like Sebring to shake down at would mean Porsche would be also rans against the established teams. But if they are going for a full on WEC assault then they should (fingers crossed) be competitive.
 
P1. If porsche are going to run a whole season then they might actually be competitive by Le Mans. Could be good.
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If Porsche MIGHT be competitive at Le Mans.... Porsche WILL be competitive at Le Mans.

No other manufacturer has as much experience at Le Mans!!!!!
 
I wonder how much knowledge transfer there has been from Audi?

From the outside, it looks like Porsche are as much a competitor to Audi as Toyota. Zero transfer and a proper inter VAG battle.
 
Listening to Radio Le Mans through last year, the GTE Porsche (and previously the GT2) was not designed or built by Porsche and doesn't much resemble the GT3 which is based on the road car built by Porsche. Porsche hasn't had a lot to do with actual endurance racing other than building the GT3. They didn't have a factory entry either, but kind of endorsed the GTE car to be built by this third party. When they canned support to the GTE project to concentrate on the LMP1 car they irritated a lot of racers who were depending on having the car to carry on racing in GT. Flying Lizard for example. Audisport were interviewed on RLM and maintained that they wouldn't be sharing secrets and that the car and team would be completely different and that they were a competitor in their eyes. There probably have been a few words of wisdom, but this is basically a brand new team.
 
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Did the LMP2 Porsche Spider ever make it to Le Mans? I know it had a lot of success in ALMS, but can't remember seeing it at Le Mans.
 
Awesome! So a diesel with flywheel KERS and turbo based ERS, a V8 with super capacitor KERS, and a V4 with 'some more hybrid'.

Can't wait!
 
Blackvault said:
Audi annouce LMP1 line up.

They have chosen Di Grassi to partner Tom and Loic in #1 this year after McNish retired at the end of last season. I'm not sure whether that's going to be a good pairing or not as to me Lucas is a bit of a unknown.

Blackvault
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He was very quick in his first run out in 2012 and put in a decent shift at Le Mans last year. Unless they were willing to split Lotterer et al (which would be daft) then Di Grassi is by far the best choice of the drivers on the books
 
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