24 Hours of Le Mans - 2016

[gofast182]

The weekend hardcore race fans wait for all year is upon us: Le Mans.
In P1 the gloves are off between Audi and Porsche as the latter defends its title. The battle in P2 is fierce with the largest group on the grid. Ford is making its return in the GTE class while Corvette Racing looks to rack up another in their long list of wins. Here is some info. on the 24 hour endurance classic. I look forward to our discussion!

U.S. TV Schedule (all times EST ):
FOX Sports GO (Saturday, June 13 at 8:30 a.m. to Sunday, June 14 at 9:30 a.m.)
Saturday, June 13 (8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., FOX Sports 2)
Saturday, June 13 (7 p.m. to 8 p.m., FOX Sports 1)
Saturday, June 13 (11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., FOX Sports 2)
Sunday, June 14 (3:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., FOX Sports 1)
Sunday, June 14 (7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., FOX Sports 2)
Sunday, June 14 (9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., FOX Sports 1)

Basic Track Info:
Surface: Tarmac
Length: 13.629 km (8.469 mi)
Turns: 38
Lap record: 3:17.475 (André Lotterer, Audi Sport Team Joest, 2015, LMP1)

Spotter's Guide:
http://www.spotterguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/LM_16_V1.pdf

IMSA at Le Mans:
http://www.highlandstoday.com/hi/sports/imsa-on-track-at-le-mans-20160616/

 

[Pontual]

Only 38 laps of 8 miles in 24h?

 

[Killer223]

38 turns not laps.

 

[Revving2Redline]

Love Le Mans! Its were all the technology comes to life. Didnt see the self operated Google car. Big fan of WRC too....gotta love fans being used as guard rails on the course. Thats dedication!

 

[bvance554]

You're calendar is different than mine - your dates don't jive. I've never watched it live, but I want to. Can I assume it starts this Saturday?

 

[bdcardinal]

Starts Saturday morning yes. I will be up to see the start.

 

[splinter]

Great stories from Hobbs, Gurney, Foyt, et al about GT40 domination in (and on) Racer.
Been a fan ever since those days.

I listen to streaming in-car audio during the wee hours whist drifting off. Pure music for gearheads.
It's easy to tell exactly where they're running on course after a while!

 

[Scum_Frog]

Lookin' forward to seeing those Ford GT's in action.

 

[gofast182]

Maybe there was something to Jan Magnussen's comment about sandbagging. After the GTs took pole they were handed a small BOP adjustment of added weight and reduced boost.

 

[Garak]

Check the WEC official site or the Autosport magazine site. Both will convert Le Mans time to the local time on your computer. I've got my WEC membership in order. Each year, it's always a major hassle with their weird website and French customer support, but it always works out in the end.

 

[gofast182]

My apologies, fellas. The original times I had posted came directly from FOX but it appears they were wrong! Update below.

Race coverage in the US can be found via the following outlets (all times EST):
* FOX Sports GO (Saturday, June 13 at 8:30 a.m. to Sunday, June 14 at 9:30 a.m.)
* Saturday, June 13 (8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., FOX Sports 2)
* Saturday, June 13 (11 a.m. to 2 p.m., FOX Sports 1)
* Saturday, June 13 (2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., FOX Sports 2)
* Saturday, June 13 (6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., FOX Sports 2)
* Saturday, June 13 (7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., FOX Sports 2)
* Saturday/Sunday June 13/14 (10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., FOX Sports 2)
* Sunday, June 14 (2:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., FOX Sports 1)

 

[billt460]

I'll admit I haven't watched Le Mans in several years. Do they still have that long 4+ mile, 250+ MPH straight that has been the cause of so many fatalities?

 

[whip]

My Dish guide has the first four hours of the race on FS1, but they're airing golf. That's two weeks in a row, that races have been preempted.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: billt460
Do they still have that long 4+ mile, 250+ MPH straight that has been the cause of so many fatalities?

They put in two chicanes many years ago.

 

[spackard]

I've been watching it via FS2/1 on DirecTV, and when it's not available somebody is doing a commercial-free stream on yt (were 90 viewers when I started, now at 2,890). Seems FS2/1 kind of dropped it and are trying to get me to view it on FS-GO.

 

[bdcardinal]

The coverage on Fox Sports Go is awesome.

 

[spackard]

You know, the "come to a full stop to perform a system reset" of a hybrid always looked stupid to me. Hopefully this race marks the beginning of the end to that, and a rolling system reset appears.

 

[gofast182]

Absolute heartbreak for Toyota. My mouth dropped open when the car lost power with 5 min left.

No luck for the American teams in P2. Other than ESM I doubt we'lls see any American teams in P2 for quite some time due to it effectively becoming a spec. racing class next year which snubs IMSA teams (hopefully they'll get some love in the LPM1-L class).

Ford comes out on top with the Le Mans debut of the GT. The last minute BOP adjustment was probably right for Ford and Ferrari and it's the Corvette that got short-changed without getting enough of a reduction in restrictor size to be competitive and really duke it out with them.

Also Scuderia Corsa in GTE AM did a great job.

 

[A_Harman]

Crushing heartbreak for Toyota, but it's the 24 Hours of LeMans, not the 23 Hours and 57 Minutes. But the finish is one for the ages. This one will be remembered.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
The coverage on Fox Sports Go is awesome.

You guys are lucky. There's virtually zilch up here. The WEC premium membership isn't too expensive, and at least I get to see the other WEC races, not to mention a whack of different views, and it is HD.

And the finish definitely is memorable and heartbreaking. Unfortunately, this isn't the first victory in racing that disappeared within the last couple laps, and it won't be the last, either.