Le Mans 2023

Harika

Ferrari and Toyota too close to call. Porsche still in striking distance.

Harika

The live timing confuses me , is the Cadillac now on the lead lap?

Prediction: Ferrari to lead into the last hour only to loose against the Toyota. Before Toyota won they lost several races in the last hour and even laps.

Or Ferrari wins what explains their lacklustre campaign in F1

Harika

Drama in the pits, that race is better than anything else today on TV

Ghost Train

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120700676#Comment_120700676

Lost 1min and the lead. Need to power cycle the car. Next stop will be tense for them

Larbre34

Toyota had better hope the Italian electrics are on the fritz cos this Ferrari is fast when its on track.

Harika

Back in the lead with a ballsy overtake

Harika

Also live on Discovery+

Larbre34

Fassbender runs out of talent and bins the #911 911!

Sub-frame is cracked and they are out.

MadYaker

Sorry for Fassbender, The Nascar garage 56 car is also out, transmission failure, not sure when exactly I was asleep.

MadYaker

The #8 Toyota locks up and bins it, looks the Ferrari's race to lose now.

Larbre34

The Camaro is very much still running, just changed the tranny!

Our own Charlie Eastwood driving a blinder in the ORT Aston, still a possible win

Harika

Well deserved result. Always love it when a newcomer kicks the top dog off the top.

MadYaker

They earned it. The car is robust, very quick and the drivers barely put a foot wrong.

tigerboon

Toyota could have had it too. 9 seconds with about 2 hours to go. If they kept it on track they would have 20 seconds or so lead with Ferrari having the problem on the pitstop. Good race though. Lots of drama and chaos.

Flinty997

Where's the best streaming service to see the highlights.

Harika

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120702019#Comment_120702019

YouTube

Larbre34

Toyota were hoping to show everyone that their victories weren't just as a result of a scant field in P1/Hypercar and they could have done without a few errors and a bit of poor luck, but that's Le Mans.

Ferrari stepped up their reliability from the early WEC rounds and got their rewards with a durable and quick car in all conditions. Good day for the sport all round.

Great to see so many big factory cars back in the fight, will be even more crazy next year with Lamborghini, BMW, Isotta, Alpine and maybe Acura-Honda. A new golden era dawns.

And a big congrats to Charlie Eastwood and ORT Aston Martin for 2nd in GTE Am class

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120702077#Comment_120702077

Cheers. Anyone have favourite channels for Le Mans.

I usually watch and follow it, this year just wasn't possible.

MadYaker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120702151#Comment_120702151

The WEC have their own official channel where they've uploaded loads of clips from the race.

I have to say I really enjoyed that, what an epic event it is. There was no way I s aw staying up to watch it all but I think I only missed about 5 hours. There was always something happening that was worth watching.

Eurosport made a ten minute highlights video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUAKXrgCkE&ab_channel=Eurosport

Larbre34

I'd definitely recommend watching the extended highlights. The 10 min package doesn't capture the great racing in the Hypercar class early on in the race.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120702710#Comment_120702710

Thats what I want to see. Doesn't seem to up yet.

Montage of Feck

Will definitely have to keep a better track of the wec now. With so many works teams signing up for the hypercar class it has potential to get very interesting.

Harika

Alpine will join next year

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/motorsport/alpine-unveils-2024-le-mans-hypercar-and-eyes-us-prizes

Porsche, Peugeot will be more competitive. Dont see Ferrari, Toyota go away. With Cadillac you have 7 works team competing.

Chance of a lifetime if you want to go to LeMans.

Larbre34

A few mates just arrived back from the race, all veterans, said that with 330,000 there it was absolutely mental, difficult to get a restaurant booking in the City or meal or a drink at the track.

Worth bearing in mind, as next year will surely sell out early again.

MadYaker

Le Mans is a small town I’d say it’s like that most years. If I was going I would rent a camper van in Ireland and drive over.

Larbre34

I've been to 9 x 24LMs over the last 23 years and have found little difficulty getting tables in the old part of the City when the attendance was in the 200-250k mark.

The way we have done it in recent years is to pack decent camping gear and pre-book a double pitch at a serviced site inside the Circuit, where you'll easily fit up to four sizeable tents, a big gazebo for daytime shelter ,space for your BBQ and seating and park two cars (your cars must fit inside your pitch at most sites).

You can bring a motorhome to either dedicated motorhome locations or some of the campsites and while they are a very pleasant facility to have, they are very expensive to rent, very, very expensive to fuel and ferry and very, very, very expensive to book in.

MadYaker

BMW are going with a V8 hybrid and it looks like a proper batmobile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1APEQCQzSM&t=41s&ab_channel=BMWM

Killinator

On the ferry back now. An amazing show and worth every penny to be there!

Have been over a number of times previously so now (this year was number 8)

Can't say we had any issues on campsite (Beausjour) or in town getting food. No issues getting drink or food at track apart from long queues which have existed every year I have been there.

Notable longer queues at toilets at track and for some reason a reduction in stalls for both merch and food (variety) which was disappointing.

ACO need to sort out it's messaging for 'regular pleb' fans who attend. They have cut down viewing points and converted some to VIP areas like the embankment at the run between karting and final chicanes is now more or less gone for non VIPs or the terrace bar which used to let you view action above exit of pit lane but now is an Alpine VIP area (the new terraced bar is at Karting and view is obscured by the new pedestrian bridge there).

They also stopped many of us cycling to pit lane on Friday evening even though the track was open at the time because they decided to have an event on pit straight at the same time the track was opened to public, we were vaguely directed around the pit straight from chicanes to tetre rouge and then staff again tried to prevent us entering track even though you could see people walking and cycling it directly behind them, it took many angry English speakers for the staff to relent and let people on track. Other similar things seem to happen for 'pleb' fans who didn't have wristbands or special passes. The ACO is determined to step over the small fans to chase the money (which I understand to a point but it can only go so far before they get bitten)

But with all that said if you asked me would I return next year Id say yes before you even finished the question with no hesitation! The bug is as strong as ever since that first hit in 2010!!!

Till next time Lady Le Mans, till next time!