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24 hrs of Le Mans

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    #31
    I'm just happy I found a place where I can talk about this stuff! I really love the history but people my age don't really care... :(

    I think I'll share some photos of the Lola Mk6, the origin of the GT40. Eric Broadley, the founder of Lola, was originally brought on to help with the Ford effort but quickly left because he felt the new car was making too many design compromises which would affect is durability. He obviously knew what he was talking about if the first two years of Ford's effort are any indication. You can see the family resemblance.





    And yes, those are Cortina taillights.
    Interested in vintage cars? Ever thought about racing one? Info, photos, videos, and more can be found at www.michaelsvintageracing.com!

    Elva Courier build thread here!

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      #32
      Originally posted by flyboyx View Post
      fuck the race! this thread is a total history lesson! school is in session and i have my feet on the desk. 8)
      x2 Im really enjoying this. Im not a big Ford fan but I love the story of the GT40.
      Simon
      Current Cars:
      -1999 996.1 911 4/98 3.8L 6-Speed, 21st Century Beetle

      Make R3V Great Again -2020

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        #33
        I'm just glad Porsche won again. ;);););)
        Your signature picture has been removed since it contained the Photobucket "upgrade your account" image.

        garage queen 91 bmw 325is / 1972 Chevy El Camino 355 sbc 450hp

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          #34
          Originally posted by 2mAn View Post
          x2 Im really enjoying this. Im not a big Ford fan but I love the story of the GT40.
          If you're not a Ford fan yet, I suggest you look into the history of the Kent block, the Ford connection to Cosworth and the DFV, the MkI and MKII Escort (one of the best rwd rally cars of all time)...they're pretty cool.
          Interested in vintage cars? Ever thought about racing one? Info, photos, videos, and more can be found at www.michaelsvintageracing.com!

          Elva Courier build thread here!

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            #35
            Lol i agree with you. I have hardback books at home on shelby cobra/ daytona,gt40, chaparral,bmw,audi,porsche,ferrari,ford,chevy racing history.You need to spend hours/days/weeks/years on learning to become a racing history buff.
            Your signature picture has been removed since it contained the Photobucket "upgrade your account" image.

            garage queen 91 bmw 325is / 1972 Chevy El Camino 355 sbc 450hp

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              #36
              As much of a P-car fan as I am, I still feel really badly for the Toyota people. But the rules say you must have gone farther, and you must be running at 24 hours. You can't have trashed cars that they parked until the end out there limping around trying to finish on the last lap. They have the lowest budget of all the big teams and were truly the underdog doing well. I saw the Porsche guys went over to the Toyota garage to shake their hands, and the Toyota people went over to Porsche and were applauded - that stuff is nice.

              Here's a nice video of highlights, 10 minutes of just video with no talking - well done. It's interesting for me to see the super slo-mo drift with the tire loading and sidewall flex.




              That helicopter following shot down the Mulsanne.....oh...

              I watched live feeds from the various cars and listened to Radio Le Mans until I was sick of those guys jabbering about statistics. Some interesting things I noted:
              The Audi on-board feed had every kind of information - lateral g force, throttle, braking, batteries, everything - live, from a race car, in France....crazy talk! So it would creep up to 319, 320kph and just sit there, every lap. That must be the limit between downforce drag and horsepower. And it never gets above about 4500rpm, which is weird to me.
              The Porsche 919 sounds like a star wars spaceship taking off - crazy!
              The Ford GT does sound a bit farty....and I'd like to see some rpms!...but this is the era of fuel flow limits I guess.
              Corvettes weren't at all dominant like in the past - snookered by the sandbags it seems.
              The factory 911s didn't do shit. Then one of them BLEW UP! In the 70s and 80s, the entire GT field was 911s, they were like jellybeans out there!
              Racing in the dark just before the sun comes up - wow. Daytona is lit up like a stadium and it barely feels like night racing.
              "STAHP flashing your lights at me, asshole! I SEE you already!"
              Anyone know what caused the Corvette to just jerk to the right into the tires?
              I'd love to be one of those mechanics who swaps out a suspension or transmission in 10 minutes - all the right tools right there, bim boom bang.
              I kind of like the old fashioned safety rules in the pits - shut it off, fuel it, clean the windows...."now you may change a tire..."


              I once looked up all the different track configurations, as the towns grew too close and the speeds grew too fast. It started out as a long pointy thing, then they turned right at the edge of Le Mans to avoid the city.

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              Some of my favorite places - Mulsanne of course, the chicanes are annoying but the speeds were just too high and people were flying into the trees (Webber). The kink at Mulsanne, where fans would listen in the night to see if drivers would lift or go full throttle through there in the dark. The hump at Mulsanne - sad they flattened it out. The Mulsanne corner was cooler with the sharper turn, but they had to put a traffic circle in there, so they moved the track to the right to miss it.

              The Porsche Curves are cool and difficult, but fun to watch. I still miss White House. The Ford Chicane (and the second one there) are really annoying, but I guess that's the idea, it slows you WAY down before start-finish. I miss the curve up the hill to Dunlop, seems like with the Ford chicane they could put that back in. I read it was because the motorcycles were just way to fast going up the hill. The Esses below Dunlop are so sweet - as a kid I loved those photos with the high dirt banks around the curves, later I couldn't figure out where those pictures were taken because they opened it all up for safety.

              Tertre Rouge never use to bug me until that Aston guy died in the first hour against the trees. Now I sort of lean right as I watch them go through there.....

              I just love the rip through the trees and the approach to Indianapolis, and I love that connection between the two tracks. Indianapolis always feels like a slingshot to me. Then Arnage is cool (and so fun to say) where you hit the public highway again. The pictures from the 60s always show Ferraris stuck in the sandbank there and some poor sap trying to dig his car out with a shovel someone handed him.

              What's everyone's favorite corner or place? Have any of you been there?


              These are for Elva- those NART Daytonas were badass. So you are indirectly royalty in my book!

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              Last edited by LateFan; 06-21-2016, 12:39 PM.

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                #37
                Originally posted by LateFan View Post
                I saw the Porsche guys went over to the Toyota garage to shake their hands, and the Toyota people went over to Porsche and were applauded - that stuff is nice.
                They also sent out a tweet to them, you could tell Porsche felt bad for them, but I guess if you win 18 overall victories you start to feel guilty. I'm not going to lie I was really routing for Audi, but I don't know why. Maybe its because I grew up watching them win. That makes me sound sooooo young, lol.

                Keep up the history lessons! The race looks so much cooler back then.
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                  #38
                  Originally posted by ELVA164 View Post
                  If you're not a Ford fan yet, I suggest you look into the history of the Kent block, the Ford connection to Cosworth and the DFV, the MkI and MKII Escort (one of the best rwd rally cars of all time)...they're pretty cool.
                  And didn't the Le Mans effort kind of help lead to the era of factory supported Nascar teams, and some crossover with Holman & Moody building engines for Cobras and GT40s?

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                    #39
                    Originally posted by stonea View Post
                    I'm not going to lie I was really routing for Audi, but I don't know why. Maybe its because I grew up watching them win. That makes me sound sooooo young, lol.
                    Probably no older than I am, haha.

                    Originally posted by LateFan View Post
                    And didn't the Le Mans effort kind of help lead to the era of factory supported Nascar teams, and some crossover with Holman & Moody building engines for Cobras and GT40s?
                    You've got me there as I know very little about NASCAR, but I do know the GT40 was the first car designed almost entirely in a wind tunnel, and its engine was the first tested on a special dyno which simulated laps around a race track (Le Sarthe, of course).
                    Interested in vintage cars? Ever thought about racing one? Info, photos, videos, and more can be found at www.michaelsvintageracing.com!

                    Elva Courier build thread here!

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                      #40
                      I've thought it interesting that there were different eras of winners at Le Mans.

                      The 20s were the Bentley era, with the big blower Bentley's driving from London to win, then drive back.

                      The early 30s were Alfa Romeo (yay). Then a short Bugatti period before WWII.

                      1949, some upstart named Ferrari won once with a V12. But the post-war through the 50s was mostly Jaguar, with a couple of Ferraris, Astons, and one Mercedes win.

                      1960 was the start of the Ferrari domination, which ended after Henry Ford II and Enzo had a little financial disagreement. Ford of course won through the mid to late 60s.

                      Then the great Porsche 917s, which would have lasted longer in my opinion if the rules weren't changed to kill them. So they took their flat-12 toys and went to crush everyone in Can-Am.

                      Matras won three times in a row in the mid-70s. (The screaming Matra V12s were something). Then a crazy, winged 911 thing called a 936 with a turbocharged flat 6 started to crush everything. It won many times until the 956 / 962 became an amazingly reliable, unbeatable race car. Through the late-80s, with the last win in 1994. A crazy successful car.

                      The 1988 Peugeot set the all-time top speed record of 251 mph on the Mulsanne. I think the 917s could do about 245 in 1970. The current track configuration produces about 200 mph max between chicanes.

                      Then a jumbled period in the late-80s / early 90s of Jaguar / Sauber / Mazda / Peugeot and one McLaren until the open cockpit Porsche WSCs won twice, and the GT-1 once in 1998.

                      That brings us to the long dominance of Audi, roughly 2000-2014, with one Peugeot win in there. Diesels, hybrids, electric cars, spaceships - the future is here!

                      And welcome to 2015-2016 and the Porsche 919. (sorry Toyota)
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                      Last edited by LateFan; 06-21-2016, 04:34 PM.

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                        #41
                        Fun fact: When Luigi Chinetti won Le Mans in 1949 (his third time), he drove 23.5 of the 24 hours. The only reason he stopped at all was his co-driver was contracted to drive a minimum of 30 minutes.
                        Interested in vintage cars? Ever thought about racing one? Info, photos, videos, and more can be found at www.michaelsvintageracing.com!

                        Elva Courier build thread here!

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                          #42
                          Originally posted by ELVA164 View Post
                          Fun fact: When Luigi Chinetti won Le Mans in 1949 (his third time), he drove 23.5 of the 24 hours. The only reason he stopped at all was his co-driver was contracted to drive a minimum of 30 minutes.
                          Thats fucking insane!
                          Simon
                          Current Cars:
                          -1999 996.1 911 4/98 3.8L 6-Speed, 21st Century Beetle

                          Make R3V Great Again -2020

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                            #43
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                            White House - re-routed around it now at the Porsche Curves
                            [ATTACH]108791[/ATTACH]

                            This little orange restaurant has always been there as far as I know...along this quiet country road...
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                            Jacky Ickxx, 1969 - "Screw that shit, I'm walkin'" And he did, and he started last, in protest, and then he won. That was the last year they did the running start.
                            [ATTACH]108794[/ATTACH]

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                              #44
                              Originally posted by LateFan View Post

                              Jacky Ickxx, 1969 - "Screw that shit, I'm walkin'" And he did, and he started last, in protest, and then he won. That was the last year they did the running start.
                              It was an effective and necessary protest. A number of people had died as a result of taking off without buckling up--that very year a privateer in a 917 died because he crashed and was thrown from the car because he hadn't buckled up yet.
                              Interested in vintage cars? Ever thought about racing one? Info, photos, videos, and more can be found at www.michaelsvintageracing.com!

                              Elva Courier build thread here!

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                                #45
                                I built a scale model with my son of a particular yellow GT40 from 1968, #1079. Privateer, French team. I just liked the looks of it, and it was different from all the Gulf blue models everyone builds.

                                This car's only claim to fame was that it crashed on the very first lap because the driver hadn't latched the door correctly or put on his belts. The door ripped off at high speed, the car became unbalanced, and he crashed badly. It nearly killed him, and ended his career. That running start / first lap thing was real.

                                BTW, does everyone know that the reason Porsches have the ignition key on the left side of the wheel, was so that the driver could jump in and start the car with his left hand while putting it in gear with his right hand? Still there and that's why.

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                                We used an airplane wing tank to make a Gurney bubble, just cuz. I made a custom straight air outlet on the hood because the kit only came with the triangular split vents. I found a company that makes decal sets for obscure race cars so it would all be authentic.
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                                Side note - someone saved the bent-up tub of 1079 in a shop somewhere, and 30 or 40 years later it was restored into a functioning race car, still yellow, and it runs in vintage races to this day.
                                Last edited by LateFan; 06-21-2016, 09:08 PM.

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