[e1000]

Originally Posted by car_fan

It looked like the 458 driver had already committed to the line he was taking right at the apex of the curve, obviously the overtaking speed of the Audi R18 is much greater. I think McNish thought he would be able to get there before the 458 however, the Ferrari driver didn't realize, and probably couldn't have seen McNish coming anyway. IMHO, I think McNish made a poor call on that move. It's crazy that the R18 was basically totaled while the 458 was repairable. Not to mention the bystanders who were incredibly lucky. McNish was probably the must lucky of all.

Overall I am glad BMW had a podium finish - I was hoping they would take the class judging by how strong of a start they had. But you need more than just speed at Le Mans.

From the interview, it also sounded like McNish said the Ferrari guy saw one R18, and didn't realize McNish was coming up beside him in a second R18. That's motorsport racing though. Amazing how nobody got hurt. A tru testament to the engineering of modern monocoques, track run offs and barriers.

I thought it was a fantastic race.

[Sylon]

Originally Posted by e1000

From the interview, it also sounded like McNish said the Ferrari guy saw one R18, and didn't realize McNish was coming up beside him in a second R18. That's motorsport racing though. Amazing how nobody got hurt. A tru testament to the engineering of modern monocoques, track run offs and barriers.

I thought it was a fantastic race.

Yeah, sounded like to me that McNish wasn't placing blame on the Ferrari, that it was just an unfortunate accident. That area, that early in the race is definitely a cluster spot, no surprise a collision happened.

[Sephiroth]

Like clockwork for the 73 Corvette. Well deserved win in only their 2nd year in GT2/GTE.
The BMWs and Ferraris put up a good fight. Hats off.

[Pauldramos]

I'm bummed BMW did not beat the Vette. Now, I have to listen to my uncle talk smack since he's a corvette guy and I'm an M3 guy. I will remind him that BMW had faster lap times in the finale and the fastest lap time overall...

[e1000]

Originally Posted by Pauldramos

I'm bummed BMW did not beat the Vette. Now, I have to listen to my uncle talk smack since he's a corvette guy and I'm an M3 guy. I will remind him that BMW had faster lap times in the finale and the fastest lap time overall...

Of course, true to the commercial, he's going to bring up the fact that they had to reduce the HP on the vette.

[Pauldramos]

Originally Posted by e1000

Of course, true to the commercial, he's going to bring up the fact that they had to reduce the HP on the vette.

True. Then I remind him I'm 155lbs and he's 355lbs... So he needs the extra hp.

[Sylon]

Originally Posted by Pauldramos

I'm bummed BMW did not beat the Vette. Now, I have to listen to my uncle talk smack since he's a corvette guy and I'm an M3 guy. I will remind him that BMW had faster lap times in the finale and the fastest lap time overall...

Faster lap times, even with a misfire going on!

[Pauldramos]

Originally Posted by Sylon

Faster lap times, even with a misfire going on!

Good point!!!

[bhoch]

Faster lap times don't mean crap if you don't win the race. Hats off to the Corvette team. BMW did excellent as well.

[330iToy]

A great accomplishment, considering the mech/elect problems. Super job on the driving!!!

[MonteCarloM3]

corvette won, ferrari 2, bmw 3rd. respectable i guess but hardly something to cheer about.

[MikeyV]

Originally Posted by Sylon

Audi spend an enormous amount of money on their LMS cars. And now they will be spending even more when they rebuild their R18's that were destroyed.

But they spend a hell of a lot less than they would spend if they were in F1.

[Sylon]

Originally Posted by MikeyV

But they spend a hell of a lot less than they would spend if they were in F1.

They mentioned that during the Le Mans race too, that Audi was asked if they were thinking about joining F1 and Audi said no. Audi'd bread and butter is LMS, I couldnt see a reason why they would want to do F1.

[Matski]

Originally Posted by IS3andME

Good for BMW, but I'm impressed with the 458...right out of the box a second place finish in the GTE class...

Meanwhile, Audi wins again...when will BMW contest for the overall? When Audi is out?

BMW collaborated with Williams on the LMR whilst developing a V12 F1 engine in the late 90's, this relationship developed into the BMW.WilliamsF1 team.. which BMW obviously sunk Billions into over the BMW.WilliamsF1 and BMW Sauber F1 team... over that time Audi have probably spent billions at Le Mans with their prototype program. Audi didn't really start winning until most of the competition had left. In '99 when BMW won, I think Audi finished 3rd IIRC.

I don't think BMW will decide to go back to the Prototype class, realistically they would have to give themselves 3 years to be competitive, thats a lot of money to spend whilst being seen to loose to Audi. BMW motorsport have previously stated they want to focus on close to production racing (ie. Touring Cars and GT cars), and LMP's definatley don't fall into this category.

Several of the Judd LMP2 cars were BMW powered and they didnt do so great.

[speedfan]

I honestly don't think the M3 could beat the Corvette.

I watched live on http://stream.speedtv.com/corvette more than TWELVES HOURS In-car camera of the #73 Corvette.

To me, the Corvette was cruising to the podium.
You could tell the drivers shifted VERY early, not even close to redline.
It also out-brake the Porsche easily.

You could argue that the driver shifted early to take it easy on the car (because of the endurance race).
But the point is, even driving with 8/10, the #73 passed the Ferrari on the straight like piece of cake.
AND FYI, It did even overtake the LMP2, too.

[archfarseer]

I talked to an ex-Corvette LM driver on Saturday. He said he thought BMW would go 1st. Oh well, we'll get them next year.

[Itgb]

Originally Posted by speedfan

But the point is, even driving with 8/10, the #73 passed the Ferrari on the straight like piece of cake.

They said the Ferrari had a problem and was down on power, so I wouldn't assume Corvette was that much faster than the 458.

Overall it was an exciting race, but probably a bit disappointing for BMW even though they started on pole. In Le Mans... reliability > outright speed.

[speedfan]

Originally Posted by Itgb

They said the Ferrari had a problem and was down on power, so I wouldn't assume Corvette was that much faster than the 458.

Overall it was an exciting race, but probably a bit disappointing for BMW even though they started on pole. In Le Mans... reliability > outright speed.

Fair enough.

After dawn, I saw the #73 passed the M3 without problems though.

Toward to the end of the race when the rain started falling hard, the M3 had a chance to catch up with the Corvette, but couldn't pass it.

I'm not sure WHEN the Ferrari had a problem & was down on power.
But for MOST of the race, Corvette was 1st & Ferrari was 2nd.
Ferrari led the race for only a couple of hours.

& but clearly, for the entire race the M3's couldnt get the 2nd place.

If the M3's couldn't beat the problematic ferrari, & couldn't beat the Corvette, clearly they had no hope to win 1st place in Le Mans.

I'm glad they kicked some Porsche's a$$ though.

[rismo]

Hi Guys,

Just back from Le Mans, it was a great event! The atmosphere at the BMW team was top, they did there best, in the night there was some issues with the tire traction and they changed out 3-4 ECU's because of the missfires. In the morning it al went back to top speed again which resulted in great lap times. Just bizare to see so close how great the team operated.

I also had the possibiltie to take some pics of the M5 concept which was showed in the BMW Team Hospiltality area. Will open a thread to share some of the pictures.

Great thanks to the BMW Motorsport team for this great event!

[Andrew_K_AZ]

Originally Posted by blipit

Exactly.

Also it was quite obvious that Corvette Racing was sandbagging in qualifying. They were right on the pace from the opening lap.

And the faster of the two Vettes didn't finish, due to driver error. The 74 car was much quicker, it had a two lap advantage over the winning Vette at the time of the wreck.

I don't think it was driver error. According to the reports I saw, apparently the 74 Corvette was squeezed onto the curb and off into the dirt by the blue Porsche he was lapping, which caused the Corvette to zig zag and go out of control and eventually slam into the Porsche. If you watch the replay, you can see a puff of dust just before the cars come into the straightaway which is most likely when the 74's left wheels were in the dirt - essentially the same thing that happened to Rocky's #1 Audi.

[DTM-R13]

#2 R18 was nuts! What a race!