[LM24 Race] 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans - Race week thread

[joeb]

The race needs very little introduction, it is the reason many of us are sportscar fans. It is both inspiring and unpredictable. Clear favorites on paper can fail through the night. New heroes can emerge with a single mega stint, or performance in less than ideal conditions.

This year is the first year of a new top prototype class - Hypercar. We have two brand new cars from reigning champions Toyota and two from Le Mans debutant Glickenhaus Racing. They will be joined by a grandfathered LMP1 R13 under the guise of Alpine Racing. The new cars have not had perfect reliability in the early races this year, so an overall race victor coming from this class is less than certain.

There are 25 LMP2 cars on the entry list this year. They are not racing in the same spec as previous years. They are heavier and have had their power reduced. Will this impact their reliability? If not, it will be entirely possible to have an LMP2 car on the overall podium, possibly locking it out!

In GTE Pro there are a pair of Ferraris and Corvettes taking the fight to four Porsches. Interestingly, this class features two non-platinum drivers. Cooper MacNeil in the Weathertech Porsche is Silver rated, and Dries Vanthoor is a Gold driver in the Hub Auto Porsche. The competitiveness of those cars will certainly depend on those drivers performances.

The GTE Am class is large with 8 Porsches battling 11 Ferraris and 4 Aston Martins. This class is wide open with many teams expecting to have a shot at the win.


Entry List

Schedule


Weather

Track Map

Radio Le Mans

Session Results

Timing & Scoring

Spotters Guide

[Aysedasi]

Great stuff, thanks Joe!

[Adam43]

Remember this is a race thread. For discussion on Sports car/endurance sporting regulations click on this link

[Adam43]

I can never remember where it is, so here is the link:

FIA WEC website
https://www.fiawec.com/en/live
(It is also available in the WEC app)

Let me know an alternatives and I will edit this post so the information remains on the first page.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Adam43

I can never remember where it is, so here is the link:

FIA WEC website
https://www.fiawec.com/en/live
(It is also available in the WEC app)

Let me know an alternatives and I will edit this post so the information remains on the first page.

I knew I was going to forget a link for something! I added Timing to the OP and will also try to update fresh options as they present themselves. In the past there has been a Chrome extension called "Better timing for no race in particular" Not sure if that still works.

[Adam43]

Fantastic. The race is nearly here

I haven’t set-up yet. Need to arrange monitors, set-up telly and radio, beer, etc…

Warned the neighbours not to come round…

[WyldStallion]

Too bad no sponsor was willing to provide the $$$ for Andy Blackmore to make a spotter guide this year. That spotter gudie that the WEC provides just is not in the same league as Andy's quality. I prefer the cars facing left the way Andy does it too.

[greenmachinets040]

Originally Posted by WyldStallion

Too bad no sponsor was willing to provide the $$$ for Andy Blackmore to make a spotter guide this year. That spotter gudie that the WEC provides just is not in the same league as Andy's quality. I prefer the cars facing left the way Andy does it too.

Big shame! My son was eagerly waitimg to cut out the different cars by scissors

[Aysedasi]

Just to spice things up (despite the torture for me), this was taken by my son about 30 minutes ago.... sadly it's only SD


https://youtu.be/Ouf9ETXsKUA

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Just to spice things up (despite the torture for me), this was taken by my son about 30 minutes ago.... sadly it's only SD


https://youtu.be/Ouf9ETXsKUA

Thanks for that. Agonising.

[Mike E]

Unofficial spotters guide...

https://twitter.com/GrosiakMateusz/s...687446529?s=19

https://spotters.guide/

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Unofficial spotters guide...

https://twitter.com/GrosiakMateusz/s...687446529?s=19

https://spotters.guide/

Both look like great work

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Just to spice things up (despite the torture for me), this was taken by my son about 30 minutes ago.... sadly it's only SD


https://youtu.be/Ouf9ETXsKUA

Brilliant, thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by Mike E

Unofficial spotters guide...

https://twitter.com/GrosiakMateusz/s...687446529?s=19

https://spotters.guide/

Printed

[greenmachinets040]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Just to spice things up (despite the torture for me), this was taken by my son about 30 minutes ago.... sadly it's only SD


https://youtu.be/Ouf9ETXsKUA

thank you for the video, nice to be so near the cars!

[Ferrari333SP]

Wonder if we'll have that Chrome extension again for that special live timing

[Michel Vaillant]

Hello, sorry if the question is redundant, but is there a public frequency of Radio Le Mans at la Sarthe this year ? If it is, which number on the radio ?

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Michel Vaillant

Hello, sorry if the question is redundant, but is there a public frequency of Radio Le Mans at la Sarthe this year ? If it is, which number on the radio ?

As far as I know -, we don't know yet. It is hoped for, but RSL are still in discussions with the ACO about it. That's the last I heard. If not, you're going to have to use data on your mobile.

[Aysedasi]

Yes, lucky for some, eh?

[Mike E]

Goodyear reckon LMP2 could stretch stint lengths from 10 laps to 12 laps because of the power cut this year.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...ts-at-le-mans/

[eps]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Goodyear reckon LMP2 could stretch stint lengths from 10 laps to 12 laps because of the power cut this year.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...ts-at-le-mans/

Really? Surely they're fuel limited and isn't there a mandated stint length or some nonsense or did I dream that up for P2s?

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by eps

Really? Surely they're fuel limited and isn't there a mandated stint length or some nonsense or did I dream that up for P2s?

Presumably they've taken the extra weight into consideration too....?

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by eps

Really? Surely they're fuel limited and isn't there a mandated stint length or some nonsense or did I dream that up for P2s?

provided lmp2 are still using a 75L fuel tank, for sure they will consume less because gibson engine is revving lower than usual (from >9000 to <8500rpm) and all lmp2 are using really long ratios like alpine, but I honestly don't think they would be able to do 2 extra laps

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by eps

Really? Surely they're fuel limited and isn't there a mandated stint length or some nonsense or did I dream that up for P2s?

There is no mandated stint length

[eps]

Originally Posted by Mike E

There is no mandated stint length

Cheers - maybe I was confusing it with the recent P1 shenanigans.

This could really put the cats amongst the pigeons if the P2s can stay out for longer they may get all kinds of advantages - especially when FCY/VS/SC/other incidents occur. Curiouser and Curiouser..!

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by eps

Really? Surely they're fuel limited and isn't there a mandated stint length or some nonsense or did I dream that up for P2s?

You may be conflating a mandated stint length with fuel tank and refill regulations that dictate the maximum stint length for each car/class.

In short, yes but it's not hard to see it that way, especially given that LMP2 is an Oreca-fest