2019's 87th running of the 24 Hours of LeMans

[racerbruce]

Watched the start live and the next 8 hours on the world feed for free on Motor Trend TV channel....lemans.org

The Toyota LMP1's continue to lead their class....this is world-class motorsport at it's finest.

[RMachuca3d]

Always count on maldonado to crash out lol.

[mk1-fan]

Originally Posted by RMachuca3d

Always count on maldonado to crash out lol.

Yeah, I am surprised any team is still interested in hiring him, for any type of event.

[3798j]

Thought the coverage and commentary was wonderful...and...congratulations to Toyota.

[racerbruce]

Originally Posted by 3798j

Thought the coverage and commentary was wonderful...and...congratulations to Toyota.

Toyota dominated the LMP1 class (again)....with 1 hr and 1 min to go, the lead car Toyota 7 had a RF puncture and then a sensor issue....does anyone know when the car came in for a RF replacement if it wasn't the RF and it was really the RR??....and then the sensor that limits the car to 162 kph if tire psi is not in tolerance woudln't reset? Was this because they changed the wrong tire?? Was the sensor faulty?? Car 7 had an appx 1 min 30 sec lead over the sister car and lost it all when it stopped twice to deal with tires and sensors. The sister car 8 inherited the lead and won by 17 sec.

Audi's withdrawl from the FIA World Endurance Championship created a massive hole in the competition....unsure how any top LMP1 teams would fare against the Audi if they were still in it.

[SunnyD]

Originally Posted by racerbruce

Toyota dominated the LMP1 class (again)....with 1 hr and 1 min to go, the lead car Toyota 7 had a RF puncture and then a sensor issue....does anyone know when the car came in for a RF replacement if it wasn't the RF and it was really the RR??....and then the sensor that limits the car to 162 kph if tire psi is not in tolerance woudln't reset? Was this because they changed the wrong tire?? Was the sensor faulty?? Car 7 had an appx 1 min 30 sec lead over the sister car and lost it all when it stopped twice to deal with tires and sensors. The sister car 8 inherited the lead and won by 17 sec.

Audi's withdrawl from the FIA World Endurance Championship created a massive hole in the competition....unsure how any top LMP1 team would fare against the Audi if they were still in it.

As much as I'd like to see Audi back in it as well, Toyota went head to head with Porsche when they were still around and led the entire race in 2016, then had electronic issues with 10 mins left when Porsche passed them. The TS050 has been an amazing car for Toyota.

[3798j]

Originally Posted by racerbruce

...Was this because they changed the wrong tire?? Was the sensor faulty??....

From Motorsport.com:
Toyota will face a tough debrief on the #7 car’s side after not electing to change all four tyres when Lopez came in with a puncture.

"The simple question was asked why we didn’t change all four tyres to be safe," said Leupen. "We didn’t do that. It’s all in the game and then you have to make a decision.

"I don’t know what happened [with the sensor]. I don’t think we’re really thinking about that right now. I think the people of the #7 car have a lot of problems with this and we first have to accept it."

https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/ne...drama/4475746/

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by racerbruce

The Toyota LMP1's continue to lead their class....this is world-class motorsport at it's finest.

But it was pretty much a one-horse race: No other big boys in LMP1 to challenge them.

[mKilgore]

Unsurprisingly the M8 GTE send-off was as expected....uncompetitive. Enjoy retirement fellas!

[pseto]

Originally Posted by bmw1racer

But it was pretty much a one-horse race: No other big boys in LMP1 to challenge them.

Yep, with Audi and Porsche pulling out the past few years, Toyota is essentially racing themselves. They'd probably still be winless if they had competition

Originally Posted by mKilgore

Unsurprisingly the M8 GTE send-off was as expected....uncompetitive. Enjoy retirement fellas!

With the lack of success in WEC, why did the M8 get reduced boost and added weight for LeMans? At least BOP kinda helped BMW in IMSA with a few wins, but they kept getting screwed in WEC. It was probably best that they left

[mKilgore]

Originally Posted by pseto

With the lack of success in WEC, why did the M8 get reduced boost and added weight for LeMans? At least BOP kinda helped BMW in IMSA with a few wins, but they kept getting screwed in WEC. It was probably best that they left

BMW has been given some breaks on BoP as well during the 2018/19 season. It goes up and down dependent on the data, and there have been times when they lost weight and were given boost, and then times when they were given added weight and had boost taken away. But to me, BMW knew BoP was going to be part of the game, and it seems like they did not produce a car that had a large enough window so that it could be competitive. There is obviously some sort of inherent flaw in the design because no matter the BoP, the car wasn't competitive. It's just unfortunate and disappointing. BMW is on a downward spiral in the GTE ranks over the last few years (WEC and IMSA) and they can't seem to get it turned around.

[racerbruce]

[QUOTE=pseto;24921165]Yep, with Audi and Porsche pulling out the past few years, Toyota is essentially racing themselves. They'd probably still be winless if they had competition

Well said....without the factory teams of Audi, Mercedes Benz and Porsche this does leave Toyota racing themselves; it appears the not-so-subtle shift is occurring in our generation from internal combustion (HP) to electric (KW)....I read that BMW began their increased focus and resources in the Formula E category....and Mercedes and Audi recently announced they are increasing R&D and production of full-electric vehicles (saw the first full-size Audi SUV all-electric in Seattle on Father's Day)....when Mercedes announced this shift recently, they said they're spending $12,000,000,000 US (yes, that's twelve billion) to increase their all-electric vehicle lineup.

I'll start a new thread to discuss the future of motorsport as we know it.

[Fliplegend]

Toyota is that one lone kid on the basketball court playing against himself.