Le Mans ignorance

[nautoncall]

Hey guys, I was hoping you all could enlighten me on some of this. Since becoming a Ford GT owner, I have come to embrace the history of the car and I have been following all the posts on the new car and even watched some of this weekend's race. Here is my confusion, I see and hear everyone talking about the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners in the 60's, but all I see from media to on the 24 hours of Le Mans site is that it was Porsche, Porsche, Audi this year. These were the overall winners and all others are just "side stories", ie the Corvette in the GTE class. I assume the GT40 won the overall race. Now, it seems that the only real winner is the overall winner who I saw on the podium on Sunday and that was Porsche.

I know everyone excited about the Ford GT returning but seems like the "only" winner all the hoopla is about is the overall winner and those car are WAY different and way more roadworthy than any Ford GT.

Sorry for my ignorance but hope you guys can enlighten me.

 

[dbk]

In major media you'll hear more about overall winners, but within the group of people that show up at and watch motorsports events, GT class racing gets a ton of attention. People recognize GT cars immediately because they've seen the road versions, and can buy something related. The Ford GT is really related to the upcoming race car. I love LMP1 racing, but the casual observer is going to have a hard time telling the difference between a Porsche, Audi, or a Rebellion LMP1 car. I think next year when you have Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari, Ford GT, Aston Martin all racing, you're going to see big interest in GTE (which is one of the reasons the ACO would do just about anything to get Ford GT back racing).

It's really not possible to compare the 60s with today. This year's LMP1 cars aren't terribly far off Formula 1 right now. At Spa this year, the LMP1 winning Porsche averaged 1:54.7, the winning Aston Martin road car based GTE car averaged 2:16.8. Different planets of performance.

 

[RALPHIE]

In addition, the end coverage of the event truncated the awards (in addition to studio chat instead of presenting the podiums of each of the 4 groups), whereas past coverage has shown all of the awards. I remember a couple of years ago watching Andrea Robertson on the podium with her team, for finishing 3rd in their Ford GT in the GT-AM Class. It was great watching her there!

Yes, the elite coverage will always be for the overall winner, especially when they are competing strongly. But, the Class winners are just as important, for, as Dave said, people can relate to these cars. Remember that the LMP1 cars are prototypes, and generate gobs (an engineering term) of horsepower and torque, whereas the class cars are severely constricted to specified power levels - and if you produce more than the specified amount, they will restrict your air intake to reduce your power back to a competitive level.

 

[nautoncall]

Thanks guys. I knew the winners looked more like Formula 1 cars. I saw them swap a complete front clip in like 10 secs and was like... Ummm... This is way advanced!!

Good to see Corvette win!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GKW05GT]

In addition, the end coverage of the event truncated the awards (in addition to studio chat instead of presenting the podiums of each of the 4 groups), whereas past coverage has shown all of the awards. I remember a couple of years ago watching Andrea Robertson on the podium with her team, for finishing 3rd in their Ford GT in the GT-AM Class. It was great watching her there!

Dave and Andrea were such gracious people at Carlisle this year spending countless hours talking and sharing their cars and stories. On an early Saturday morning presentation they were discussing the race in detail and when Andrea described the feelings as she finished the race she was shaking and in tears.
A very informative and moving presentation.

 

[Specracer]

Ive done 3 24 hour races (SCCA club racing, not glamorous like LeMans or Daytona) and the emotions and happiness associated with just FINISHING is amazing, rewarding and infectious. Then add in success, especially after a few tries, this explains why in the post race TV coverage you see so many tears of joy.

On an early Saturday morning presentation they were discussing the race in detail and when Andrea described the feelings as she finished the race she was shaking and in tears.