24 hours of Le Mans 2014

rpstewart said:
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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To be honest I've only really been following the WEC since 2012 so I don't have much of a grasp of #3 drivers etc. I hope he bonds well with the other drivers in car #1 and then can retain their title :)

Blackvault
 
Audi have traditionally been pretty good at working out the line ups and to put it bluntly TK isn't going to put up with a duffer.

Whether they can retain the title is another matter. Without McNish in the car my money is on Fassler, Lotterer and Truleyer.
 
great to see Porsche in LMP1.

it will be interesting to see how VAG deal with the Audi/Porsche contest if it is one.

any idea of what each team has for a budget?
 
lunarwolf said:
any idea of what each team has for a budget?
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Back in about 2006/2007 the event became very dominated by Audi branding and it was clear that they were pouring money into the event. Rumours went round that they were spending ~€100million per year. Pescarolo, the privateers who came second that year (whichever year it was :D), had a budget of ~€12million for comparison.
 
ok thx. I am not surprised Audi outspends Pescarolo and even Peugeot back in the day.

But how much budget do Toyota and Porsche have? If I remember correctly Toyota F1 was spending close to what top F1 teams were spending which was well above the 100m mark, is their Le Mans budget well short of that?
 
lunarwolf said:
ok thx. I am not surprised Audi outspends Pescarolo and even Peugeot back in the day.

But how much budget do Toyota and Porsche have? If I remember correctly Toyota F1 was spending close to what top F1 teams were spending which was well above the 100m mark, is their Le Mans budget well short of that?
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IIRC more like 30m.
 
Le Mans budgets are traditionally quite small. I blagged a pit pass one year and ended up in the Corvette pit talking to the guys. Even them as a factory team with a big budget were made up of a large number of unpaid volunteers. The guy who was driving the little quad/trailer thing to collect their tyres wasn't even a car guy, he was a journalist writing about Le Mans. That 100m figure from Audi was way higher than anyone had ever been spending at Le Mans. For everyone else it's a lot of hard graft from a lot of people who are really into it.

In-car shot from the Corvette C7R night testing at Daytona 24:


**** me that acceleration out the pits is brutal :eek:
 
I always thought the GT classes were better racing and the cars a better test of skill. High-downforce, low-power prototypes are virtually glued to the track. Incidentally the LMPs sucked at Daytona because pure speed > downforce there, cue a ton of complaining that the LMPs were nerfed as a Nascar conspiracy :p
 
So hyped this year, warmed up with the Daytona 24 and getting ready for the main event.

Have made it abundantly clear to friends and family that anyone who disturbs me that weekend will be shived.
 
Toyota were spending $500m or more in F1. Nobody, not even Audi spen anywhere near that in WEC.

As for USC, I'm pretty sure the DPs wont see which way the LMPs went come Sebring. It's hourses for courses.

And I've booked the TV for Le Man's weekend, the GF just doesn't know it yet :p
 
On a related note, has anyone been to 6 Hours of Silverstone before? If so how busy does it get and is it easy to get a seat if moving around the grandstands.
 
Yep, went a few years back. Its dead in relation to the major events. Not all the grandstands will be open, but you won't have any trouble sitting in those that are. You will also find that there are only food vans and things around part of the track, the furthest points from the main straight paddock area will be deserted. Its actually a bit weird if you've been there for something like the F1 or MotoGP, seeing it so empty.

Great for taking photos, there's nobody in your way.
 
Kamerad said:
On a related note, has anyone been to 6 Hours of Silverstone before? If so how busy does it get and is it easy to get a seat if moving around the grandstands.
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Skeeter said:
Yep, went a few years back. Its dead in relation to the major events. Not all the grandstands will be open, but you won't have any trouble sitting in those that are. You will also find that there are only food vans and things around part of the track, the furthest points from the main straight paddock area will be deserted. Its actually a bit weird if you've been there for something like the F1 or MotoGP, seeing it so empty.

Great for taking photos, there's nobody in your way.
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I've been twice, 2012 and 2013 and it was definitely busier the second time around. Skeeter is right, it is dead compared to F1 and MotoGP but that does provide good viewing opportunities. I've been able to sit in most of the big grandstands and if I were to fancy the F1, I would be sure of what grandstand I'd wish to spend my money on.

In regards to the food, its very over priced and I would recommend heading into Silverstone and going to the corner shop and filling up on food there.

I hope this helps

Blackvault
 
Sounds good, I've been before for the F1 in 2011 but would like to try out the different grandstands. Did you get access to the pit lane/paddock whilst you were there?
 
Kamerad said:
Sounds good, I've been before for the F1 in 2011 but would like to try out the different grandstands. Did you get access to the pit lane/paddock whilst you were there?
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Yes I did. There is a free pit walk on Saturday and Sunday. I'll dig a few of my pictures and put them up.

Blackvault
 
Entry list has been published: [bum link removed - see below]

11 Ferrari 458's in GT!!!
7 Aston Martin
6 Porsche
2 Vettes
2 Vipers (though they don't count :D)
 
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