This is a topic dedicated to the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Audi, Toyota and Porsche are vying for overall victory. 

 

This is a short into to the topic, as I have a few thing I wanna do before I post in further detail later tonight.  But here's a list of cars and links to their technical info for this year's race (just click on the photos under the "cars" section of the page):

 

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/LeMans/

 

And information and a map of the track:

 

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

 

I'll be back and post more stuff in detail, but I hope that you enjoy the into

 

 

OK, I now have some stuff I'd like to post her other than the intro thread. 

 

First, an Audi Sport press release (it gives the top 10 overall times from last Sunday's test and some info on what all teams did during the test as far as what they were up to):

 

http://fourtitude.com/news/motorsport_news_6/successful-test-day-audi-r18-e-tron-quattro/

 

And the LM test gallery from Audi:

 

http://fourtitude.com/galleries/?c=show_thumbs;p=Motorsport/Sportscar/24%20Hours%20of%20Le%20Mans/2014/01%20-%20Le%20Mans%20Test%20Days

 

And to compare sprint race vs Le Mans aero packages, here's the gallery from the previous race at Spa:

 

http://fourtitude.com/galleries/?c=show_thumbs;p=Motorsport%2FSportscar%2FWorld%20Endurance%20Challenge%2F2014%2F02%20-%206%20Hours%20of%20Spa-Francorchamps%2FRace%20Week

 

And additional photos of one of my favorite cars from the LM test, the OAK Racing Ligier JS P2 LMP2 car.

 

https://www.facebook.com/oakracingcommunity/photos_stream?ref=br_tf

 

https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t31.0-8/10339394_522923611146364_497248985040066924_o.jpg

First major update:  Photos of cars from day two of inspection.  Includes Audi R18, Corvette C7R, and Ferrari 458GT2/GTE

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.464581313676587.1073741847.170201103114611&type=3

And a reminder, probably one of the eeriest racing cars ever made as far as noises it makes:

 

A couple of new galleries:

 

http://fourtitude.com/galleries/?c=show_thumbs;p=Motorsport%2FSportscar%2F24%20Hours%20of%20Le%20Mans%2F2014%2F05%20-%20Tuesday%20at%20Track

 

http://fourtitude.com/galleries/?c=show_thumbs;p=Motorsport%2FSportscar%2F24%20Hours%20of%20Le%20Mans%2F2014%2F03%20-%20Scrutineering%20Day%202%2C%20Monday

 

And some videos:

 

 

 

Final video in the R18 tech series:

 

 

If you read my blog or Lemonade Stand posts, Audi driver Loic Duval escaped serious injury when his R18 spun and got airborne during practice for today's race.  Though the car was destroyed, Duval only suffered minor injuries.  The car is being rebuilt around a spared monocoque, but Loic himself won't see further action this weekend on the advice of Audi Sport and ACO doctors, who may be worried about Loic possibly having a concussion.  Marc Gene will replace Duval for the rest of the weekend starting tomorrow when the new car will be ready.

 

Porsche have provisional pole as of qualifying session one.  And they're may be issues at Toyota, as one car stopped in the session with low oil pressure. 

I'm kind of terrified of how fast these cars  go,especially if I were to be the one in it when it crashes. Its fun to race, its not fun to crash though. I've been in one wreck before and that was a horrible experience. Imagine how much worse it would be if it were on a race track.

Believe it not, Jupiter, Loic is perfectly fine aside from some cuts and bruises (though he's sitting out the race on advice of doctors), and there is a newly rebuilt car sitting in the garage ready to go.  But Le Mans did have a fatality last year with Allan Simonsen in an Aston Martin and Tetre Rouge corner has modified barriers.  I really think that barrier in the Porsche Curves needs to be moved back about 50 feet and either a gravel trap or some run-off area added.

 

Here's a pic of the accident in progress

 

http://cdn.images.autosport.com/editorial/1402572129.jpg

 

Both Loic and the ACO are both pretty luck this wasn't a fatal accident or one that resulted in critical or serious injury.

I don't see how anyone could survive a wreck like that. He's got to at least be sore from it. Wouldn't his body absorb some of that impact? I feel bad for Loic. He's gotta be feeling some of that.

 

Loic is due to be released from the hospital this afternoon.  He'll be watching on the sidelines as a spectator in the Audi garage areas, but he's in one piece and not badly hurt.  There's plenty of other cars that if involved in the accident would've produced a fatality.  Audi also have the replacement car ready to go for the remaining pre-race sessions.

 

Sign of encouragement from Audi Sport Team Joest:

 

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t31.0-8/10295930_10154291815380192_1023691449948152993_o.jpg

 

And the new Lotus LMP1 car got shown today as well:

 

http://www.lotus-lmp.com/car.html

 

And Audi will have a public launch of the Audi R8 LMX at Le Mans tomorrow.

Video on the rebuilt #1 Audi:

 

New gallery.  Mostly Audi stuff, since it's from an Audi site, but has numerous shots of other cars taking part in the race:

 

http://fourtitude.com/galleries/?c=show_thumbs;p=Motorsport%2FSportscar%2F24%20Hours%20of%20Le%20Mans%2F2014%2F06%20-%20Wednesday%20Practice%20and%20Qualifying

Final word on Le Mans (unless anyone wants to add anything ):  Audi 1-2, fastest race lap, ideal fastest race lap would've won them the pole for the race, and they defeated the toughest field of cars in the LM24 in several years:

 

http://fourtitude.com/news/motorsport_news_6/triumph-le-mans-audi-defeats-porsche-toyota/

Short report on the race and a photo gallery:

 

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/event/348/2014-24-Hours-of-Le-Mans.html

Random fact.  A quadruple stint at Le Mans for Audi this year was 52 laps around a 8.47 mile track.  That equals just over 440 miles.

 

The average NASCAR Sprint Cup points race, once all the math is done (adding race distance and dividing by 36, the number of points paying races a season), is about 365 miles.  Meaning that Audi ran more than an average NASCAR race's distance on one set of tires, and they did it almost the whole race until the end with how driver rotations played out and they did full service on the cars when they had their turbocharger issues.  But Audi did average more than a NASCAR races' average distance on one set of tires.