Le Mans: race 7-12 hour

[joost]

alvast klaargemaakt

[Lambo]

foute post, mijn excuses

[joost]

The 71st Le Mans 24 Hours
Hours 7- 9

The remorseless twin turbo V8s - 3.6 or 4.0 capacity - continue on their way at the front. The Goh Audi had a slight delay for new rear bodywork, after a moment at the Ford Chicane for Ara.

Near the end of the seventh hour, the #31 675 Courage C65 returned to the race to complete its - 18th lap. Fortunately for Yves Courage, his #13 was still running impeccably in eighth overall - although it has dropped one place to the #18 Pescarolo Courage.

The Team NASAMAX Reynard is now pounding along, stopping for bio-ethanol every eight or nine laps, and about to move up throuh the forties, running steadily and well.

So it's more or less the same at the front after seven hours: Bentley, Bentley, Champion Audi, Goh Audi. Whatever we thought about the Bentleys and their prospects, they haven't hit a problem yet, and they do have the pace to beat the Audis.

There's only a lap or so between the top three in 675....the Reynard leads, Intersport a lap down, DBA another lap down. Both WRs are still in touch: the C65 is rolling again, the Pilbeam - that's right, just the Pilbeam - is the only one of the seven to have retired.

The Prodrive duo continue to circulate in fairly close formation, with Fellows in the chasing #53 Corvette matching their pace. That is until the hour begins to draw to a close when the 550s turn up the wick turning in laps in the 3:58s. The Corvette cannot live with the Ferraris on pace just now.

The #50 Corvette though in the hands of Gavin is steadily catching the Luc Alphand 550, the deficit now less than a lap.

The #92 TVR rejoins at 22:05 after a diff change which took just over 30 minutes.

The Spyker has reached its pit after all. Tom Coronel began to lose drive at the Dunlop esses and the car struggled around until the Porsche Curves, where the drivetrain gave way altogether. Luckily for Coronel it's mostly downhill from there. The team are busy changing the gearbox.

Liddell in the PK Porsche continues to charge, picking up places (now up to 33rd overall 8th in class) and chasing the #75 Perspective Porsche ahead. He passes Ian Khan as the hour draws to a close.

The Racers Group rejoin after a very lengthy (clutch change) stop, now down in 41st position and more than 20 laps off the lead.

Another much delayed car, the #94 Risi Ferrari spins into the gravel at Dunlop but rejoins - no further harm apparently done.

Prototypes At 7 Hours
#7, #8, #6, #5, #15, #11, #18, #12, #4, #13. #17.

675
18th #29 Reynard
19th #27 MG-Lola
24th #26 DBA
28th #24 WR
31st #25 WR

GTS
#88 100 laps
#80 100 laps -2 mins
#53 99 laps
#72 98 laps

GT
#93 95 laps
#77 94 laps
#95 93 laps
#70 92 laps

The official attrition rate is quite low as only the British Audi, Pagani, and TVR have retired, although the Courage-JPX has been stationary for hours. They continue to work on its motor and David Hallyday triumphantly returned to the circuit at the end of the hour. Similarly, the Pilbeam has been doing the odd lap every hour or so. A bit of trivia about Hallyday’s drive - with his turn all of the listed drivers have had a stint apart from the early retirements.

Others among the walking wounded are the Spyker (moving again), the Risi Ferrari, lapping uncompetitively, the Racer’s Group Porsche (among the quickest), the XL Ferrari (brutally slow), the Norma (slower than most GTs), the T2M Porsche (never has done much), the Scorp Viper (reasonable run [but goes off in response to my praise]), Konrad Saleen (no longer making much headway), the Perspective Porsche (very inconsistent lappery), and the PK Porsche (steady, but no longer really moving up). The hour ends with the no. 70 JMB Ferrari taking an excursion.

Hour 8


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