The Greatest 24 Hours of Racing!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Greatest 24 Hours of Racing!

iospace: Jan 19, 2038

So, Le Mans is this weekend, and considering it's the greatest 24 hours of racing (spread over two days :colbert:

), let's have some fun.

Anyway, what's the 24 Hours of Le Mans? Well, it's the oldest and most prestigious endurance race in the world, being part of not one but two motorsport triple crowns: the "classic" triple crown (consisting of the Indy 500, Le Mans, and F1 WDC/Monaco GP wins) and the endurance triple crown (24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona, and 12 Hours of Sebring). Unlike Grand Prix racing at the time, the organizers wanted to have cars that were fast, but also fuel efficient and reliable. So with that in mind, in 1923 the first race was held, with the winner completing 128 laps of the then 17.261 km (10.725 mi) long circuit for a grand total of 2,209.408 km (1,372.8 mi). In 2016, the winning car completed 384 laps on a 13.629 km (8.469 mi) circuit, going 5,233.536 km (3,252.096 mi).

Today, the race draws in drivers from all over the world, with the starting grid being 60 cars with teams from four different series (and drivers from even more series). Each team is made of three drivers, and each driver must drive a certain amount each stint. There's four classes in the race: Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro), Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am). Yes, they all share the track together, which leads to some fun times when the leader runs into a bunch of GTE cars fighting for position.

A Toyota LMP1 passes an Aston Martin Vantage and Porsche 911

LMP1 are the fastest cars on the course in terms of lap speed, with all but one of them being hybrids. These are the cars expected to compete for the overall win and use cutting edge technology to put down impressive lap times. By regulation, all factory supported LMP teams must be LMP1 cars, and they must be hybrids. There's only three teams and six cars in this class: Porsche, Toyota, and ByKolles. Porsche is looking to defend its crown, and Toyota wants to avoid a repeat of the heartbreak of last year. ByKolles is the only privateer LMP1 team and is a joke. Total entries: LMP1-Hy: 5, LMP1-L: 1.

LMP2 has a new look this year, with four different chassis, all closed cockpits, and all the teams using the same engine. The cars rocket down the straights faster than LMP1, but lack the raw grunt of the hybrid motors coming out of the turns, so they're slower overall. Expect some fierce competition here. For the US fans, the ACO said no to allowing DPis this year, but who knows in the future. Expect at least one of them to beat ByKolles. Total entries: 25.

The final two classes are the LMGTE classes. All the cars in this class are based on road going cars, so you get to see the Ford GT (defending champ) duke it out with the Chevy Corvette, Porsche 911, Ferrari 488, and Aston Martin Vantage. Because of the large variance in the cars, a technique known as Balance of Power (BoP) is used, which tries to bring the cars into balance with each other by effectively either nerfing or buffing the cars. LMGTE is broken up into two classes, professional and amateur. Professional uses the most current race version of that car and has the best drivers. Amateur uses the prior year's spec for the car and has limits on how good the drivers can be (safety upgrades are allowed). Total entries: Pro: 13, Am: 16.

Oh, and there's a few other things to keep in mind. Teams only get a limited amount of fuel per race. Use up all your fuel? Tough poo poo. Same with tires. This is endurance racing after all: it's a marathon, not a sprint. Pit stops have to be done with the engines off (as a means to test reliability) and the hybrid cars have to shut their gas engines off on pit lane and move solely under electric power. Pit stops are much more regulated compared to other series such as F1, Indy, and NASCAR, with fueling have to be finished before any non-driver related service can be performed (such as tire changes). At night, expect a few stops where all they do is top off the fuel tank and send the car out without even touching the tires and the driver, except for maybe giving them a new water bottle.

The ACO, after the outcry of last year with how they dicked Toyota out of a second podium spot, also changed its rules regarding the last lap. Depending on how slow you finish your last lap, you can face lap penalties, and you now have 15 minutes to complete it or you get DQed.

The Track itself is a monster of a track, and is the 3rd longest closed circuit track in the world today (I'm pretty sure anyway), behind Snaefell Mountain Course (Isle of Man TT course) and the Nordschleife configuration of the Nurburgring. Yes, that back straight is huge and yes, they'll be pushing well over 200 mph down it. A majority of the track is on actual roads, and the only area with any significant lighting on track is the front stretch. The rest of the course is in the dark at night, meaning yes, headlights are required. A significant portion of the track is spent at full throttle, which of course, puts a lot of stress on the engine. Better hope your engine doesn't blow a turbo*!

So who's racing in this giant race? The spotter guide is here: http://www.spotterguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/17_LM24_v2.pdf (Thanks Lord Crapulus and Autech!). The prototype classes also use white headlights, and the GT classes use yellow. Speaking of headlights, if you see a car flashing its headlights, usually a Prototype at a GTE car, it means "faster car coming through", similar to a blue flag.

POINTS

For each class, predict 1st-2nd-3rd, with 9-7-5 points respectively. If a prediction of yours makes the podium but in the wrong spot you predicted, that's 3 points. No, even though there's LMP1-H and LMP1-L, for the purposes of this, they're the same class. ByKolles sucks anyway.
If you're feeling extra bold, you can predict a different overall podium from LMP1's. If you're right, you get 5 bonus points, plus the 9-7-5/3 points you'd get for the other podiums. If the overall podium is the same as the LMP1 podium and you made this prediction, you get zero bonus, and possibly lose the 5 points.
Every four hours, predict who is in the lead for each class. This is 5 points.
Pole for each class is 5 points each.
Bold predictions encouraged! Points awarded at my discretion.

Winner of course, gets an upgrade of their choice.

Loser may get sad Toyota dude from last year, haven't decided.

Good luck, and if you want to watch, just buy the WEC stream. You'll do yourself a huge favor by doing that.

Thanks Ants posted:

WEC streaming is available at:

https://members.fiawec.com/en/

Also available in-app:

https://appsto.re/gb/ZUOZY.i

Eurosport are also selling a streaming pass for the event:

http://uk.eurosportplayer.com/?ns_c...banner&ns_fee=0

Somebody else will need to explain if there's a difference between the WEC streams and theirs.

Easy form for predictions:

code:

[b]LMP1 Pole:[/b]
[b]LMP2 Pole:[/b]
[b]LMGTE Pro Pole:[/b]
[b]LMGTE Am Pole:[/b]

[b]LMP1 Podium:[/b]
[b]LMP2 Podium:[/b]
[b]LMGTE Pro Podium:[/b]
[b]LMGTE Am Podium:[/b]

[b]Hour 4 class leaders:[/b]
[b]Hour 8 class leaders:[/b]
[b]Hour 12 class leaders:[/b]
[b]Hour 16 class leaders:[/b]
[b]Hour 20 class leaders:[/b]

[b]Bold Predictions:[/b]

I'd prefer car # predictions please, given a lot of teams are running multiple cars in LMP1 and GTE.

Some ear candy for you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8JR7Wi2MEU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjxZkZYzuAU

And an onboard for you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpCFD0ASpA4

*now I made myself sad :smith:

iospace fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Jun 13, 2017

# ? Jun 12, 2017 17:23

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# ? Apr 16, 2024 06:18

Lord Crapulus: Feb 12, 2003; About as successful at Le Mans as Toyota

Something like this will be very helpful for learning the field: http://www.spotterguides.com/portfolio/17lm/

# ? Jun 12, 2017 17:42

iospace: Jan 19, 2038

Lord Crapulus posted:

Something like this will be very helpful for learning the field: http://www.spotterguides.com/portfolio/17lm/

Added, thanks!

# ? Jun 12, 2017 17:58

DoctorGonzo: Jul 25, 2016; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Ferrari is in this thing if not i dont give a gently caress

# ? Jun 12, 2017 19:16

iospace: Jan 19, 2038

DoctorGonzo posted:

Ferrari is in this thing if not i dont give a gently caress

They're in the GT classes.

# ? Jun 12, 2017 19:17

DoctorGonzo: Jul 25, 2016; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

iospace posted:

They're in the GT classes.

Thank you very much.

content: there is a way to watch this from Chile?

DoctorGonzo fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Jun 12, 2017

# ? Jun 12, 2017 19:19

dentist toy box: Oct 9, 2012; There's a haint in the foothills of NC; the haint of the #3 chevy. The rich have formed a holy alliance to exorcise it but they'll never fucking catch him.

LMP1 Pole: #2
LMP2 Pole: #13
LMGTE Pro Pole: #67
LMGTE Am Pole: #98

LMP1 Podium: 7, 2, 1
LMP2 Podium: 13, 31 37
LMGTE Pro Podium: 68 82 66
LMGTE Am Podium: 98 65 62

Hour 4 class leaders: 2 13 67 98
Hour 8 class leaders: 7 13 82 65
Hour 12 class leaders: 7 31 82 65
Hour 16 class leaders: 8 13 67 98
Hour 20 class leaders: 2 13 68 98

Bold Predictions: Lots of attrition with the P1 cars with Porsche and Toyota going into the garage a lot. Bykolles burns a stack of money. Ford is about the same as they are last year with Ferrari trying their best to attack them. A GTEAM takes out one of the p1 cars early in the race in a dumbfuck manner. overall win goes to last car standing. All my predictions are wrong.

# ? Jun 12, 2017 21:25

Autech: Jun 6, 2008; The Brazilian Legkick Machine

Haven't spotted much Nissan presence apart from the sole Nismo entrant?
Also Jackie Chan's very own race team will be competing too. He always seemed to be a bit of car nut based on his movies.

@iospace, spotter guide has been updated to V2 now;
http://www.spotterguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/17_LM24_v2.pdf

# ? Jun 13, 2017 02:29

iospace: Jan 19, 2038

DoctorGonzo posted:

Thank you very much.

content: there is a way to watch this from Chile?

WEC stream is your friend. Has to be paid for, and I'm pretty sure someone can provide the link for it.

# ? Jun 13, 2017 06:58

Proud Christian Mom: Dec 20, 2006; READING COMPREHENSION IS HARD

THE GREATEST DAY IN RACING IS UPON US

# ? Jun 13, 2017 16:00

Thanks Ants: May 21, 2004; #essereFerrari

WEC streaming is available at:

https://members.fiawec.com/en/

Also available in-app:

https://appsto.re/gb/ZUOZY.i

Eurosport are also selling a streaming pass for the event:

http://uk.eurosportplayer.com/?ns_c...banner&ns_fee=0

Somebody else will need to explain if there's a difference between the WEC streams and theirs.

Thanks Ants fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Jun 13, 2017

# ? Jun 13, 2017 16:10

Xisticide: Nov 27, 2005

Thanks Ants posted:

WEC streaming is available at:

https://members.fiawec.com/en/

Also available in-app:

https://appsto.re/gb/ZUOZY.i

Eurosport are also selling a streaming pass for the event:

http://uk.eurosportplayer.com/?ns_c...banner&ns_fee=0

Somebody else will need to explain if there's a difference between the WEC streams and theirs.

Different commentators and the option (at least it was an option last year and the only option for Silverstone and Spa) of a no-commentary raw feed through Eurosport.

Edit: someone's beached it at Mulsane already!

https://twitter.com/RSL_Studio/status/874623526837288960

# ? Jun 13, 2017 21:13

Lord Crapulus: Feb 12, 2003; About as successful at Le Mans as Toyota

LMP1 Pole: 8
LMP2 Pole: 13
LMGTE Pro Pole: 68
LMGTE Am Pole: 62

LMP1 Podium: 7, 1, 8
LMP2 Podium: 13, 31, 21
LMGTE Pro Podium: 69, 63, 82
LMGTE Am Podium: 50, 62, 93

Hour 4 class leaders: 8, 13, 64, 65
Hour 8 class leaders: 8, 31, 63, 65
Hour 12 class leaders: 2, 13, 66, 62
Hour 16 class leaders: 7, 13, 69, 98
Hour 20 class leaders: 7, 13, 69, 62

Bold Predictions: I will be really wrong about everything! Oh wait that's not bold it's common sense because I don't know a drat thing about endurance racing (or any other kind of racing based on how I'm doing in the Indycar fantasy league...)! Soooo...uh, ByKolles will be ahead of all of the Porsches or Toyotas at some point just to aggravate iospace. And Orecas will lead LMP2 for the entire 24 hours.

# ? Jun 14, 2017 02:49

TheNakedJimbo: Nov 18, 2004; If you die first, I am definitely going to eat you. The question is, if I die first...what are YOU gonna do?

LMP1 Pole: #1 Porsche (Lotterer)
LMP2 Pole: #13 Vaillante Rebellion (Piquet Jr)
LMGTE Pro Pole: #67 Ganassi Ford (Tincknell)
LMGTE Am Pole: #88 Porsche (Bachler)

LMP1 Podium: 1, 7, 8
LMP2 Podium: 38, 31, 22
LMGTE Pro Podium: 64, 63, 68
LMGTE Am Podium: 77, 65, 62

Hour 4 class leaders: 2, 38, 68, 77
Hour 8 class leaders: 1, 38, 63, 62
Hour 12 class leaders: 1, 38, 63, 77
Hour 16 class leaders: 7, 31 (38 on pit stop), 63, 77
Hour 20 class leaders: 1, 13 (38 is 3rd), 64, 77

Bold Predictions: Jota Sport (Jackie Chan DC Racing) will take the lead after the first round of pit stops and win LMP2. #2 Porsche will crash out before the halfway mark. ByKolles will run the whole race and finish #4 in class. No LMP1 or LMP2 will be taken out by a Ferrari (stop laughing).

# ? Jun 14, 2017 03:39

Schlesische: Jul 4, 2012

LMP1 Pole: 8
LMP2 Pole: 13
LMGTE Pro Pole: 68
LMGTE Am Pole: 62

LMP1 Podium: 1, 8, 2
LMP2 Podium: 13, 28, 31
LMGTE Pro Podium: 82, 95, 91
LMGTE Am Podium: 98, 65, 93

Hour 4 class leaders: 8, 13, 64, 65
Hour 8 class leaders: 2, 31, 91, 65
Hour 12 class leaders: 2, 28, 91, 93
Hour 16 class leaders: 8, 28, 95, 98
Hour 20 class leaders: 1, 13, 95, 98

Bold Predictions:
Porsche will get a "podium" (finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd) in all three classes it competes in.
~~ByKolles will not finish the race~~ That's not bold... hrmm...
ByKolles will finish the race with times that would disappoint an LMP2 team. (the bold part is the part where they finish the race).
Fabien Barthez will perform an amazing save that defies logic and potentially physics as well. (For the people that don't know, Fabien Barthez is driving an LMP2 car and used to be the French National Soccer team's goalkeeper).

Not a Prediction:
Ford and GM can gently caress off the face of the world already with their loving garbage cars.
Seriously, "Let's put Ecoboost on a car that gets less than 20m/g" loving die already.

Schlesische fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Jun 14, 2017

# ? Jun 14, 2017 03:53

Norns: Nov 21, 2011; Senior Shitposting Strategist

The Ford GT is good and cool

# ? Jun 14, 2017 04:32

Schlesische: Jul 4, 2012

Norns posted:

The Ford GT is good and cool

It's loving hideous, is a Ford, sounds terrible and is a Ford.
Kudos to Ford for getting that much performance from a V6 though.

# ? Jun 14, 2017 04:39

Norns: Nov 21, 2011; Senior Shitposting Strategist

What cars on the grid do you like?

# ? Jun 14, 2017 04:40

Schlesische: Jul 4, 2012

Norns posted:

What cars on the grid do you like?

Literally everything that doesn't have a Ford or Chevrolet badge.
And even then, I'm partial to the Chevy.

I really like the Aston Martin, but only blind people and people who know Aston Martin owners dislike Aston Martins.

# ? Jun 14, 2017 04:46

Norns: Nov 21, 2011; Senior Shitposting Strategist

Fair enough

# ? Jun 14, 2017 04:59

harperdc: Jul 24, 2007

LMP1 Pole: 7 Toyota
LMP2 Pole: 31 Rebellion
LMGTE Pro Pole: 95 Aston Martin
LMGTE Am Pole: 84 Ferrari

LMP1 Podium: 8 Toyota, 1 Porsche, 9 Toyota
LMP2 Podium: 36, 31, 26
LMGTE Pro Podium: 64, 69, 91
LMGTE Am Podium: 93, 98, 50

Hour 4 class leaders: 7, 13, 95, 84
Hour 8 class leaders: 8, 31, 67, 93
Hour 12 class leaders: 2, 36, 64, 93
Hour 16 class leaders: 2, 31, 91, 98
Hour 20 class leaders: 8, 31, 91, 93

Bold Predictions:
Tracy Krohn doesn't do something dumb; Toyota gets the win (FINALLY); Porsche's GTE cars are sandbagging; the ByKolles sees the flag; LMP2 is a lottery; and finally...No Rain

Real excited to see the race unfold this weekend.

# ? Jun 14, 2017 12:03

iospace: Jan 19, 2038

REMINDER, QUALIFYING STARTS TODAY AND FINISHES TOMORROW :havlat:

# ? Jun 14, 2017 16:53

gret: Dec 12, 2005; goggle-eyed freak

LMP1 Pole: 7 Toyota
LMP2 Pole: 26 G-Drive Racing
LMGTE Pro Pole: 71 AF Corse
LMGTE Am Pole: 98 Aston Martin

LMP1 Podium: 7 8 1
LMP2 Podium: 26 31 36
LMGTE Pro Podium: 71 67 69
LMGTE Am Podium: 65 88 98

Hour 4 class leaders: 7 26 67 98
Hour 8 class leaders: 8 31 71 98
Hour 12 class leaders: 1 36 68 65
Hour 16 class leaders: 8 26 71 65
Hour 20 class leaders: 7 26 71 65

Bold Predictions: Toyota finally wins!

# ? Jun 14, 2017 17:01

Norns: Nov 21, 2011; Senior Shitposting Strategist

I'm to lazy to do predictions but I'm glad you are doing these threads iospace.

I just want Toyota to win. Other than that I just want silly good racing.

# ? Jun 14, 2017 17:06

Kilonum: Sep 30, 2002; You know where you are? You're in the suburbs, baby. You're gonna drive.

I'm also too lazy to do a full prediction spread (plus I have a fully upgraded account anyway)

Overall/LMP1 winner: Toyota

LMP2: Rebellion

GTEP: Corvette or Ford :911:

GTEA: Larbre

Also, ByKolles does everyone a favor and wrecks an Amateur Porsche or Ferrari in the first hour.

# ? Jun 14, 2017 17:34

Dudley: Feb 24, 2003; Tasty

LMP1 Pole: 8
LMP2 Pole: 13
LMGTE Pro Pole: 51
LMGTE Am Pole: 98

LMP1 Podium: 8 2 4
LMP2 Podium: 13 26 36
LMGTE Pro Podium: 51 63 91
LMGTE Am Podium: 98 65 99

Hour 4 class leaders: 1 13 51 98
Hour 8 class leaders: 1 13 51 98
Hour 12 class leaders: 8 13 51 98
Hour 16 class leaders: 8 13 51 98
Hour 20 class leaders: 8 13 51 98

Bold Predictions: I predicted a ByKolles podium, you want better than that? Well ok then, a GT Ferrari takes out the current LMP1 or LMP2 leader at some point. No Ford is on the GT podium.

# ? Jun 14, 2017 17:50

biglads: Feb 21, 2007; I could've gone to Blatherwycke

Fords look very poor so far in qualifying. Probably trying to cheese it by sandbagging so they get a good BOP call.

# ? Jun 14, 2017 22:05

harperdc: Jul 24, 2007

Can we talk about the race/qualifying or is this dedicated to the contest?

biglads posted:

Fords look very poor so far in qualifying. Probably trying to cheese it by sandbagging so they get a good BOP call.

yeah you could say that at Test Day, or after the first practice session, but if it's qualifying, that's supposed to be when the bags of sand come out of the car, right? so if they're still slow then that's not good. we might see the Ford GT Fuel Run once more.

# ? Jun 14, 2017 23:43

biglads: Feb 21, 2007; I could've gone to Blatherwycke

harperdc posted:

yeah you could say that at Test Day, or after the first practice session, but if it's qualifying, that's supposed to be when the bags of sand come out of the car, right? so if they're still slow then that's not good. we might see the Ford GT Fuel Run once more.

The eurosport commentators were saying the ACO does the final BOP call on friday

# ? Jun 15, 2017 18:09

GOOD TIMES ON METH: Mar 17, 2006; Fun Shoe

Kobayashi 3:14.791 :eyepop:

https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/875427808755032068

# ? Jun 15, 2017 20:04

iospace: Jan 19, 2038

GOOD TIMES ON METH posted:

Kobayashi 3:14.791

https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/875427808755032068

Holy poo poo.

# ? Jun 15, 2017 20:08

Lord Crapulus: Feb 12, 2003; About as successful at Le Mans as Toyota

yeah I picked the wrong Toyota for pole

# ? Jun 15, 2017 22:23

Dudley: Feb 24, 2003; Tasty

Me too, I thought Ant would get it.

# ? Jun 16, 2017 07:59

DoctorGonzo: Jul 25, 2016; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

So in many hours this start?

# ? Jun 16, 2017 13:10

iospace: Jan 19, 2038

DoctorGonzo posted:

So in many hours this start?

24 hours, 40 minutes from this post.

Also: I'm still accepting entries! You won't be able to predict the pole obviously, but there's still lots of points to be had.

# ? Jun 16, 2017 13:20

DoctorGonzo: Jul 25, 2016; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

iospace posted:

24 hours, 40 minutes from this post.

Also: I'm still accepting entries! You won't be able to predict the pole obviously, but there's still lots of points to be had.

I dont know much about WEC and im probably going to watch the start and ending so i wont participate.

I HOPE FERRARI WINS EVERYTHING!

# ? Jun 16, 2017 13:24

Dubs: Mar 6, 2007; Stroll Own Zone.
Disregard Stroll outside zone.

LMP1 Pole: Mclaren
LMP2 Pole: Mclaren
LMGTE Pro Pole: Mclaren
LMGTE Am Pole: Mclaren

# ? Jun 16, 2017 14:00

GramCracker: Oct 8, 2005; beauty by stroll

Dubs posted:

LMP1 Pole: Mclaren
LMP2 Pole: Mclaren
LMGTE Pro Pole: Mclaren
LMGTE Am Pole: Mclaren

# ? Jun 16, 2017 14:27

Norns: Nov 21, 2011; Senior Shitposting Strategist

Wish I could just sleep for a day till the race.

# ? Jun 16, 2017 15:00

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# ? Apr 16, 2024 06:18

Shumagorath: Jun 6, 2001

Is there any way to watch the WEC stream via XBox or am I stuck hooking my laptop to the TV? Nurburgring spoiled me this year.

# ? Jun 17, 2017 02:10

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Greatest 24 Hours of Racing!

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