Non-Volvo car chat megathread

Post by **BlackBart** » 05 Jun 2023, 17:43

Le Mans is coming...... Sunday was the one-day test / practice.

All the different types of engines - the buzzing bees, the Ferraris, the rumbling Cadillacs, the raspy 911 flat sixes, the flat-crank Corvette V8, and that Camaro -

The rumbling Cadillacs - Listen to this guy come out of the pits on electric power and then explode.....

The "Garage 56" Camaro - Garage 56 is a one-off experimental class. It's big, it doesn't want to stop, but what a sound...

Post by **BlackBart** » 05 Jun 2023, 18:18

Ballard, Matt!

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Post by **matthew1** » 08 Jun 2023, 21:05

I love it! If you're going to put that on a automobile, that's about the best one.

Post by **BlackBart** » 08 Jun 2023, 23:12

Le Mans is coming.........

Ferrari wins pole for the first time since 1973. However, there is known to be sandbagging so that you don’t show your cards too soon. We’ll see.

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One of the top class Cadillac prototypes (the yellow one) caught fire during practice and had to be rebuilt. High pressure fuel line burst. They had decided to replace all three GM team Cadillac’s engines before qualifying and the race, so maybe just like us, they didn’t get everything back together quite right.

Our boys from Hendricks Motorsport and their highly modified NASCAR Camaro are running faster than all the GTE class cars and won the GTE class pit stop challenge and 5th overall of 62 cars. The local crowd loves it.

BTW, there are running 62 cars at this years Le Mans.

Rain, soft, medium, hard:

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Post by **BlackBart** » 09 Jun 2023, 12:50

I love the science and engineering design of race cars. This is the last year of the GTE class. Next year they will all go to the GT3 rule for production-based cars. All the Euros will be there, as well as a Corvette and Mustang GT3.

Post by **BlackBart** » 12 Jun 2023, 15:02

Le Mans was epic. I splurged $5 for MotorTrend+ tv, which was the only place in the US to see it live. NO, I did not sit through the whole thing. I do have a tv hangover as it is.

100th anniversary of the first Le Mans. 350,000 fans. So much tradition - it starts at 4PM Saturday and runs to 4PM Sunday. It is always close to the longest day of the year. The President of France makes a speech, bands play, there are thousands of flags, LaBron James dropped the starting flag. Drivers no longer run to their cars at the start - that stopped in 1969.

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It started raining on the first lap and by midnight several downpours moved over parts of the track (which is 8 1/2 miles long through the forest and towns) The current course is about 80% public roads, closed for practice and the event, the rest dedicated race track.

The overall lead changed back and forth through the night between 4 to 6 manufacturers in a constant battle. Toyota-Peugeot-Ferrari -Porsche-Cadillac. For many hours, the two factory Ferraris circulated in tandem, and pitted together nose to tail - it was cool. One of them later had troubles, but still finished 5th. The leading Ferrari started to build a gap, but never more than a half lap, over defending champions Toyota. At the very last pit stop before the finish, the Ferrari wouldn't re-start (these are complicated electronic hybrids in the top prototype class). Everyone watched the gap drop. They cycled through the re-start process twice and off it went to win by several minutes. First overall win for Ferrari since 1965. It was interesting that with all the complicated tech, only one prototype just failed - all withdrawals were because of crashes in the rain. Several years ago, the dominant Toyota that should have won QUIT ON THE LAST LAP IN FRONT OF THE CROWD JUST BEFORE THE LINE. After leading for 24 hours. Brutal.

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Second went to Toyota. They were in tears at the "great failure" of only getting 2nd. Cadillac came in 3rd and 4th to get on the podium. Great sounding car, V8 with no turbos, big deep rumble. Poor Sebatien Bourdais's yellow Cadillac was hit at least four times, once while almost stationary in a red zone and slammed from behind by a GT. But it was repaired and rumbled on to finish.

Cadillac

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The very heavily modified, 700 horsey powers Camaro from Hendrick Motorsports (Nascar) ran flawlessly for 24 hours in it's experimental non-class. Ahead of all the GT class cars, but then it had way more horsepower. A huge fan favorite as it blasted it's V8 roar down the straight. The Hendrick team won the pit stop competition, using an old school floor jack, not the fancy air jacks built into the cars now. It was driven by F1 World Champion Jenson Button, sportscar star and Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, and Nascar legend Jimmy Johnson. It weighs 3000 lbs, it had to stop during the night for new brakes.

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In GTE (production-based) class, the lone Corvette entry caught fire last week in practice and had to be rebuilt. It crashesd heavily in practice crushing the right side and had to be rebuilt. It had a damper failure in the first few hours, pulled into the garage, and went 2 laps behind (17 miles). It maintained a fast pace with reliability through the night and emerged as the leader over the 2nd place Aston Martin. The Corvette runs a flat plane crank V8 (like a Ferrari) and sounds great. Another fan favorite in France. Only 9 out of 21 GTE class cars finished the 24 hours.

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An all-women Porsche 911 team called the Iron Dames led GTE for many hours, but were pushed off the podium into 4th place only in the last hour.

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The LMP2 class is the second level prototype class, which I don't pay much attention to. They all look the same, they run bland-sounding V6's. BUT...a small private Polish team won P2 and the joy of that team was overwhelming to watch. Really great. You don't just win a race, you win a battle against the track, the clock, the weather, the night, fatigue, and 62 other cars. One of those drivers had a broken foot, from having a Ferrari run over it in the pits.

The Poles -

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The rains caught many teams off-guard. Some were just drizzles and they decided not to put rain tires on. Some were very local storms so they decided not to put rain tires on. Some were deluges. People were bouncing off each other and into the fences, shredding carbon fiber everywhere. Those that could dragged bodywork, broken wheels, smoking tires, and sparks all the way around the course to the pits, only to be rolled into the garage for 15 minutes or two hours of work. Around midnight there were three hours of continuous safety car, to clear crashes and rebuild safety barriers.

OOPS! We have MISSED the turn!

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Wrecked Cadillac trying to get home -

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One of the things I like about Le Mans is the connection to its roots as a development platform for technology and safety. Long range electric lights were developed at Le Mans (Lucas, Cibie, Marchal), reliable disc brakes, etc etc. It is based on road cars - the prototypes have to have room for a passenger (long since filled with electronics) and used to carry a spare tire and a suitcase. If you broke down on the course, no outside help was allowed, no pushes, no mechanics. There are famous B&W photos of a driver hand-digging his Ferrari out of a sandpit while cars pass him by. Unlike most forms of racing, in a pit stop you are required to shut the car off. Your friendly gas station attendant looks all around with a flashlight. They change tires and drivers, they put it back down. THEN they refuel it, with the ever present French fireman standing by. Only then is it re-started and sent back out. Just like your road car, it has to start again to be useful.

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Post by **volvolugnut** » 12 Jun 2023, 16:29

BB,
Thanks for this extensive photo report.
volvolugnut

Post by **BlackBart** » 12 Jun 2023, 16:59

Welcome. I'm nerdy about this stuff.

Le Mans to Mulsanne to Arnage to Le Mans

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Post by **Sveedy** » 13 Jun 2023, 17:43

I watched as much as I could, but it seemed like every time I tuned in, the safety car was out. Lots of sliding around in the rain.

Post by **abscate** » 13 Jun 2023, 17:45

Sveedy wrote: ↑13 Jun 2023, 17:43 I watched as much as I could, but it seemed like every time I tuned in, the safety car was out. Lots of sliding around in the rain.

Just like driving on the LIE , Route 495

Non-Volvo car chat megathread

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