Le Mans 2005

The start at Le Mans is not far away!
Are there any good live timing sites that let you follow the event in real time over the 'net?

Sorry, don't know of any such sites :( There's a good chance of live timing and commentaries on www.eurosport.com though.

TV coverage is pretty good here (thatnk, Eurposport!). They showed the warmup (Pescarolo-Audi-Audi-Pescarolo) and are showing the LM historic race right now live with a couple of D-types dicing for the lead.

The Pescarolo Judds seem to be about 4 seconds faster per lap, but as far as I understand, the Judd engine is yet to complete the full 24 hours. Don't know who I'll be cheering for - I want both Seb and Tom to win, but can't have both this year, can I? :)

Oh, Pug have announced they are planning to return to LM in 2007.

Lucky man Alex, no TV coverage down under at all! :mad: I'll give the eurosport site a try, thanks.

Yeah Peugeot are coming back, reportedly with a diesel! :eek: Fingers crossed it won't be at the expense of their WRC programme.

Had to miss the start and all of the race so far (gf demanded attention ... wouldn't have been smart not to give in). From what I understand, the Pescarolos were leading the race until they hit tyre and gearbox trouble and are now way down, especially the 16 car which is now 4 laps down. This leaves 3 Audis in the top 3 positions with 2 Champion Audis reasonably close together and the Oreca Audi some way behind. In GT1 the DBR9 is leading 2 Vettes quite comfortably.

The cable package in my new home doesn't come with speed channel...bollocks!

Woke up this morning to see that the 16 Pescarolo Judd is now in 3rd behind the two Champion Audis and lapping much quicker. The last laps were:

3:41.398 for the nr 3 Audi in the lead
3:44.054 for the nr 2 Audi
3:36.613 for the nr 16 PJ.

That 16 car also holds the fastest lap at the moment at 3:35.875, just under 4 seconds quicker than anything any Audi has been able to do.

That 16 car is now in 2nd, just set a new fastest lap of 3:34.968 and the last lap was some 10 seconds faster than the leading Audi. The lead is about 3 laps now.

P.S. This (http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/live/pages/chronos_gb.html) is where I get my timing information from.

Just checked out timing and scoring on speed channel...the pescarolo car is now only 2 down, lapping around 6 or 7 seconds a lap consitently faster than lehto and kristensen...fuckin A I can't believe I'm missing this shit.

Thanks for the link Alex. Could be a nail biting finish!

The 16 car just took another lap back from the 3 car on the Mulsanne straight and is now 1 lap behind. That Pescarolo was much, much faster on the straight :eek:

The #58 aston martin just took 3rd in class away from one of the C6-Rs(forgot the number)...they are MUCH faster than the vettes...it comes as a surprise to me.

The 16 car just took another lap back from the 3 car on the Mulsanne straight and is now 1 lap behind. That Pescarolo was much, much faster on the straight :eek:
1 lap? Timing and scoring is still showing it 2 laps behind the audi.

Definitely 1 lap

Live timing does show it see-sawing between one and two laps, yet the Pescarolo is constantly quicker and the number of stops is the same?

Cancel that, they are now showing number 16 as having stopped again.

So I estimate about five hours to go, is that right?

Looks like the one remaining Pescarolo is rapidly running out of time to catch the lead Audi. If the Champion crew can keep it tight Tom Kristensen will have his record seventh win, including the last six in a row - astounding! :eek:

Missed all the action ... what happened to one of the PEscarolos? Also the DBR9s who'd been running so strongly hit trouble almost simultaneously, and now the Vettes are holding a very comfortable 1-2 in GT1

Yes a shame about the Aston Martins.
It's now all over and the #3 Champion Racing Audi has won the 2005 Le Mans 24 hours. JJ Lehto for the second time, Kristensen for an amazing seventh, Audi's fifth (sixth if you count the "Audi with a roof" Bentley). Don't know about Marco Werner, is this his first?

Yes, it is his first time. This is exactly the result I wanted - Tom one of the drivers to win the race! Yay!

Dissapointed that AM and pescarolo didn't win...kudos for the american team coming out on top though.

Just got back from the race (sorry to all those that couldn't even watch on telly).

It was truelly a great race. All four classes were nail biters pretty much to the end.

The Audi truelly won on endurance this year. It was visibly slower than the Pescarollo cars, but they kept having niggling problems and slower pit stops and in the end I think that's what cost them.

LMP2 was interesting, in that it was ultimatelly decided by reliability as well. All the cars had issues, but RML worked so hard with the little Lola it was great to see them get the reward of a class win.

To see both Astons run into pretty terminal problems at the same time was heart breaking. I was sat in the tribune right across from their pits and you could see how the drivers were suffering in the heat. Corvette were definitelly better prepaired on that score.

Good also to see the new Panoz lead GT2 for a while at the start. Really wanted them to get at least one of their cars home. Still, the ALMS regulars represented for the Americans in that class with the top 3 positions.

All in all a great year (all though a little warm for my liking). Time to start planning next years trip I think... but how do I tell the wife?

I've always wanted to go LeMans...not only because it's the greatest road race in the world, it looks like a 24 hour party as well! Did you experience any of the carnival or anything like that?

My dream is to participate in lemans. Ive been trying to acheive that since i was 6.(Karting)

I think it would be cool as a spectator. I mean its a carnival with the worlds sweetest roller coaster(The race itself)

One of those Panoz Esperante GTLMs was doing very well at the start, but both of the factory cars didn't finish the endurace race. It was their first time at Le Mans.

http://motorsport.com/photos/lemans/2005/24h/lemans-2005-24h-th-1513.jpg

http://motorsport.com/photos/lemans/2005/24h/lemans-2005-24h-th-1613.jpg

http://motorsport.com/photos/lemans/2005/24h/lemans-2005-24h-th-1719.jpg

http://motorsport.com/photos/lemans/2005/24h/lemans-2005-24h-th-1830.jpg

I've always wanted to go LeMans...not only because it's the greatest road race in the world, it looks like a 24 hour party as well! Did you experience any of the carnival or anything like that?

I've been four times now, '96 and '97, then 2000 (not a great race) and then this year. This year was a short trip, but we still got some partying in.

The longest trip was a 10 day affair in 97. We did scrutineering, which they run in the town center outside the cathederal. I got to chat breifly to one of my heros (the late Bob Wolleck) and you could get right up to the cars and crew. Qualifying on Wednesday and Thursday is always worth seeing if you can get down there in time, and the open day on Friday is excellent for looking around the pits and paddock. The parade in the town on Friday night is mad and always packed. It's also worth bearing in mind that you can get into the museum outside the curcuit for free with race tickets over the weekend, and there are always some great cars there.

If you do ever go, get to the track early on Saturday as the roads in get packed by 10:00 (the actual race usually kicks off at 16:00). There's usually historic race of some kind in the morning and then parades of drivers, some historics being displayed, the return of the trophey etc. Then there's the start, which to me is the most magical part of the weekend, it's impossible to describe really. Radio Le Mans do a fantastic English language commentary which you can ick up at the circuit and in the campsites so you'll always know whats going on.

As you can guess, I love the place and go as often as I can (it's only a 200 mile drive and four hour ferry crossing for me, so it;s a bit easier than it would be for most people on here). If you can ever find a way of getting to the race I recommend it, it's an experience you won't ever forget.