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[Elfforkusu]

Is that 2 seconds across the entire 24 hours?

2 a lap.

I'm not convinced Toyota has shown their hand yet. That said, hard to imagine they'll be able to keep up with Porsche (3:16?!?!?) under clear conditions, it'll be a mix of reliability and rain if they're going to contend for the win.

Nissan... well, it'll be interesting. Hopefully they can get their crap working, keep it working, and at least finish. They seem to be even further behind than anyone imagined. Probably could've stayed home this year, tbh.

 

[dubc35]

I figured I would bust out the vintage Le Mans gear

 

[Shaneus]

I want that shirt.

 

[NoFaceNico]

Nice shirt!!! I'm jealous

2 a lap.

I'm not convinced Toyota has shown their hand yet. That said, hard to imagine they'll be able to keep up with Porsche (3:16?!?!?) under clear conditions, it'll be a mix of reliability and rain if they're going to contend for the win.

Nissan... well, it'll be interesting. Hopefully they can get their crap working, keep it working, and at least finish. They seem to be even further behind than anyone imagined. Probably could've stayed home this year, tbh.

I think it's pretty clear by now that Porsche will be the fastest. Holy crap those are fast times. But again, whether that will win the race has yet to be seen. I remember back in the Peugeot vs. Audi years, Peugeot usually had the fastest cars and the fastest drivers. But they only won the race once with that formula during those years and there's a good argument that it was more like a case of Audi losing than Peugeot winning, but a win none the less. Still Audi demonstrated for many years that there's some wisdom in being the tortoise rather than the hare.

Nissan's entries will probably just be a big test session for them. But it's obvious they didn't arrive with that intention. When Toyota returned in 2013 they knew their entry would be an experiment and planned to only bring one car. Then Peugeot bowed out, so they picked up some of their drivers and brought a second car. But Nissan brought three cars! It's sad to watch. I hope they learn a lot and do no harm though.

 

[Shaneus]

Firstly, holy shit I almost jizzed myself with the amount of raw data available:
http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/

Also, is 3:16 some kind of record? I looked up the lap record and they had it at 3:19.074 but I'm assuming that's the race lap record and not qualifying.

Edit: Okay.

Two of Porsche's LMP1 cars just broke the Le Mans qualifying records for the current Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe configuration (2007-Current, 13.629 km )
http://live.fiawec.com/

Lap time records
Fastest lap in a race - 3:19.074 (2010, Peugeot 908 HDi)
Fastest lap in qualifying - 3:18.513 (2008, Peugeot 908 HDi)

Qualifying #1 current standings
Pos N°
1 18 Porsche Team 3:16.887
2 17 Porsche Team 3:17.767
3 19 Porsche Team 3:19.297

Seriously, holy shit. Second year in and Porsche are smashing it. Hopefully reliability doesn't become an issue. With this kind of speed *and* the fuel economy that comes from having a 2.0L engine, is it only reliability they have to worry about?

Hngh.


Would there be anywhere to watch/download the quali session? I assume yes because I did it with Spa (I think).

 

[NoFaceNico]

Hopefully reliability doesn't become an issue. With this kind of speed *and* the fuel economy that comes from having a 2.0L engine, is it only reliability they have to worry about?

I wouldn't say only reliability. There are other drivers from three different competing classes, all slower than you. There's red shells [read: AF Corsa Ferrari]. The track is so long it's not uncommon for it to start raining on one side while being dry on the other. Red and yellow flags can wreak all kinds of hell on pit strategy. Most of the track is unlit at night and I don't care how much experience a driver has, that's still dangerous as hell. Drivers get tired and make stupid mistakes, pit crews too.

So yeah, not just the car itself but the whole environment of the race as well.

 

[A Fish Aficionado]

I figured I would bust out the vintage Le Mans gear

Awesome shirt.

 

[Elfforkusu]

I'd expect basically everybody to have reliability issues, if last year's Le Mans is any indication. The key will be repairable ones vs terminal ones.

Nissan's entries will probably just be a big test session for them. But it's obvious they didn't arrive with that intention. When Toyota returned in 2013 they knew their entry would be an experiment and planned to only bring one car. Then Peugeot bowed out, so they picked up some of their drivers and brought a second car. But Nissan brought three cars! It's sad to watch. I hope they learn a lot and do no harm though.

I know people are saying "lol Nissan" and it's a shame and all that, but I don't really see that. It's blindly obvious they aren't ready to compete. But that would've been obvious to them before they even arrived. In a way it's kind of refreshing to see a big program just say "eff it, we won't be competitive but we're doing it anyway, let's see how it goes".

The only thing I can't figure out is why they brought three cars. I guess you can make a case for "more wheel time, more data" for next year... or maybe they figure that if they run three, one will make it to the end. ;p


e: Looking at the splits, it looks like Porsche is destroying everybody in sector 2... Which, come to think of it, makes 100% perfect sense.

 

[Shaneus]

I wouldn't say only reliability. There are other drivers from three different competing classes, all slower than you. There's red shells [read: AF Corsa Ferrari]. The track is so long it's not uncommon for it to start raining on one side while being dry on the other. Red and yellow flags can wreak all kinds of hell on pit strategy. Most of the track is unlit at night and I don't care how much experience a driver has, that's still dangerous as hell. Drivers get tired and make stupid mistakes, pit crews too.

So yeah, not just the car itself but the whole environment of the race as well.

Oh yeah, that's what I meant. You can never count out anything externally happening to the team/car, I was just trying to think if there's anything else internally Porsche need to worry about (like tyre wear or driver skill/fatigue, as examples).

e: Looking at the splits, it looks like Porsche is destroying everybody in sector 2... Which, come to think of it, makes 100% perfect sense.

How so? Pretend I'm an idiot.

 

[Elfforkusu]

How so? Pretend I'm an idiot.

Sector 2 is the Mulsanne straight and the chicanes interrupting it. Porsche has the full 8mj (more than anyone else -- and notably >2x Audi) of energy storage under braking. I didn't get a chance to see any video, but I imagine they're just rocketing out of the chicanes and back up to full speed.

 

[paskowitz]

I figured I would bust out the vintage Le Mans gear

Where does one purchase such an awesome shirt?

 

[Shaneus]

Sector 2 is the Mulsanne straight and the chicanes interrupting it. Porsche has the full 8mj (more than anyone else -- and notably >2x Audi) of energy storage under braking. I didn't get a chance to see any video, but I imagine they're just rocketing out of the chicanes and back up to full speed.

Ahhh, I didn't realise that. This is why I like super loose restrictions in racing categories. Imagine how much interest F1 would get if it were V6 turbos vs v8s vs V10s or something.

I need to find some onboard footage of the Porsche, hopefully during quali. I'm imagining it's not unlike something from 2001.

 

[dalin80]

Well the Nissan effort may be quite fruitless this year but if nothing else that car looks good on the move and those sparks are awesome, even if a little worrying after 24 hours of that (and with a full fuel load) there may not be much car left.

Goddamn at the porsche speed, first laps out and bang into the 16's although with a few too many liberties taken with track boundaries, shame the race looks to have a bit of rain coming as it looks like a great time to smash all time records.

Audi are right there as well, they can never be discounted and have won many lemans despite being slower in pure pace specs. It would be daft to discount them at this stage.

Toyota on the other hand can be discounted, their WEC effort this year has been lacking as they went from champs to also rans, promised pace improvements have simply not appeared and if anything the gap has only got wider.

The LMP2 field is mixed and manic as always, the series never gets much love but on their own the cars are fast and fun and they should get some good coverage this year as they fight with the Nissan LMP1's.

The Ginetta LMP3 looks awesome but I'm not entirely sure what role it is trying to fill at the moment, while it is very early days for the concept it's pace being so close to the GTE's will raise some concerns.

The GT am and pro fields are incredibly close, while the Astons look marginally quicker in qualy trim past WEC events have shown the other makes can have various advantages at various stages of the race.

So far it all looks great for an awesome race, let's just hope the weather doesn't cause too many safety car periods and multi hour long barrier repairs.

 

[DrM]

I hope not!
The v max is still the same or slightly faster.
Its just that the Porsche can get to v max so much faster with the 8MJ KERS.
Its acceleration is just insane, watch the Spa highlights for reference.

Yeah they have stronger KERS package compared to Audi. But Porsche is less reliable car

 

[dalin80]

At Spa the Audi running with it's low downforce package was really not far off the Porsches speed and was much better around the twisties, Porsche have done some great work to be so far ahead in qualifying. I'm expecting them to wander off into the distance at the start of the race but there is an awful long time for gremlins to appear.

 

[DrM]

At Spa the Audi running with it's low downforce package was really not far off the Porsches speed and was much better around the twisties, Porsche have done some great work to be so far ahead in qualifying. I'm expecting them to wander off into the distance at the start of the race but there is an awful long time for gremlins to appear.

Or one of 458s with bloodlust on their eyes

 

[Steiner84]

3:16 is sick...

Im a little worried at toyota.. what happened?

what exactly is the problem with the nissans electrical power? Why does it not work and why couldnt they fix it in weeks?



Also i highly regret subscribing to eurosport player.
That thing is a fucking PoS simple as that.
Image quality is sooo poor. Wished i spent that money for the WEC App.
But whatever, will see the race on TV most of the time anyway, just wanted to have a backup.

 

[Juicy Bob]

Also i highly regret subscribing to eurosport player.
That thing is a fucking PoS simple as that.
Image quality is sooo poor. Wished i spent that money for the WEC App.
But whatever, will see the race on TV most of the time anyway, just wanted to have a backup.

That's odd. I was watching it all yesterday hooked up to my TV and the quality was brilliant for me :/

 

[Steiner84]

That's odd. I was watching it all yesterday hooked up to my TV and the quality was brilliant for me :/

they didnt even broadcast the hd signal..
the player is a far cry from what the actual tv broadcast looks like.

 

[dalin80]

3:16 is sick...

Im a little worried at toyota.. what happened?

what exactly is the problem with the nissans electrical power? Why does it not work and why couldnt they fix it in weeks?



Also i highly regret subscribing to eurosport player.
That thing is a fucking PoS simple as that.
Image quality is sooo poor. Wished i spent that money for the WEC App.
But whatever, will see the race on TV most of the time anyway, just wanted to have a backup.

Toyota stood still during a time of development, probably got a bit complacent with their pace advantage last year and didn't expect the other two to go such a massive step beyond. They are very much in a class of their own this week with no way of challenging Audi or Porsche and far above Nissan.

Nissan went from being open about development to quite shy once problems appeared we don't know exactly what the issue is but going from 8mj+4wd to 2mj+2wd to just the combustion engine powering the fronts has left this weekend being pretty pointless for them.

I watched the practice and qualifying on the eurosport player last night and it was mostly OK, it would skip between good and potato-cam at the drop of hat having just a couple of websites on in the background was enough to make it wobble, it was much better last year. Hoping they bump the bandwidth up considerably for the race.

 

[Juicy Bob]

I do feel a bit sorry for Toyota.

Last year was definitely their year but despite dominating the race, reliability came and bit them in the arse with ten hours to go and that was the end of that.

Now their best ever chance of winning Le Mans looks like it's gone and they may never get another opportunity like it.

For what it's worth, I run Eurosport player in its own window in Internet Explorer on my TV and all the other stuff like Radio LM and live timing etc on Firefox and the quality and performance of the Eurosport stream was flawless for me yesterday.

 

[Steiner84]

Toyota stood still during a time of development, probably got a bit complacent with their pace advantage last year and didn't expect the other two to go such a massive step beyond. They are very much in a class of their own this week with no way of challenging Audi or Porsche and far above Nissan.

Nissan went from being open about development to quite shy once problems appeared we don't know exactly what the issue is but going from 8mj+4wd to 2mj+2wd to just the combustion engine powering the fronts has left this weekend being pretty pointless for them.

I watched the practice and qualifying on the eurosport player last night and it was mostly OK, it would skip between good and potato-cam at the drop of hat having just a couple of websites on in the background was enough to make it wobble, it was much better last year. Hoping they bump the bandwidth up considerably for the race.

its weird to see toyota doing not even the times they did last year in quali..
They either made the car worse or we havent seen their final form yet.

nissan is really tragic..

for the player: Does it show you the eurosport or the eurosport HD logo in the top right?
because i clearly only see the non hd feed.

 

[Juicy Bob]

No, I definitely had the British Eurosport HD logo watching the live stream.

 

[Shaneus]

its weird to see toyota doing not even the times they did last year in quali..
They either made the car worse or we havent seen their final form yet.

McLaren-Toyota

 

[Steiner84]

No, I definitely had the British Eurosport HD logo watching the live stream.

hmm
that is weird.
did you watch over iOS/android App or over the website?
If App, could you pls test the website once and look if its also the HD logo?

 

[Dilly]

McLaren-Toyota

We already have McLaren-Nissan.

 

[Juicy Bob]

Like I said earlier, I was watching through Internet Explorer (seems to handle Silverlight the best) in its own window on my laptop.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Ugh at Nissan. Maybe at least they'll reach the finish line and gather some priceless data for next year.

 

[Steiner84]

Like I said earlier, I was watching through Internet Explorer (seems to handle Silverlight the best) in its own window on my laptop.

yeah i did the same. IE11. very strange..
I also have a more than capable Laptop (i7) and a very reliable 50Mbit connection. So there should definately not be a problem on my end..


currently im at work, but this is the quality i get also at home, which is far worse then the TV signal...

I mean, i dont expect the bitrate i get over satelite, but at least 720p would be appropriate..

i was watching roalnd garros over it and almost couldnt even see the ball when they hit it hard..

 

[nature boy]

I hope not!
The v max is still the same or slightly faster.
Its just that the Porsche can get to v max so much faster with the 8MJ KERS.
Its acceleration is just insane, watch the Spa highlights for reference.

I also hope they don't, but if the speed difference between classes increases, do they have a choice?

But yeah the 919 is a monster. Hope it wins.

 

[Juicy Bob]

currently im at work, but this is the quality i get also at home, which is far worse then the TV signal..

I mean, i dont expect the bitrate i get over satelite, but at least 720p would be appropriate..

i was watching roalnd garros over it and almost couldnt even see the ball when they hit it hard..

Well, for comparison, this is what I'm getting:

I don't know what else to tell you. Except, I don't have any issue with that image quality. I think it's fine.

 

[Steiner84]

Well, for comparison, this is what I'm getting:


I don't know what else to tell you. Except, I don't have any issue with that image quality. I think it's fine.

well that looks alot more like what I would have expected.
but do you see the difference? I dont even get the chance of better quality because the stream I see is based on the SD broadcast. Yours sais Eurosport HD. That is also the case in german televesion. there is an HD and SD channel for both Eurosport 1 and 2.
And eurosportplayer in germany apparently does only stream the SD broadcast.

I will quit mit subscription as soon as lemans is over.
This is useless.
I get the same awful quality when i use some dubios russian livetv site.. no need to pay 7 Euro for this shit.

 

[dalin80]

I am little concerned about Saturday evening, peak time bandwidth here sucks so I won't be shocked if I'm stuck with the radio and a grainy slideshow for a couple of hours.

 

[dubc35]

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

Where does one purchase such an awesome shirt?

I bought it over at the Japanese Nostalgic Car shop.

 

[Roude Leiw]

yeah i did the same. IE11. very strange..
I also have a more than capable Laptop (i7) and a very reliable 50Mbit connection. So there should definately not be a problem on my end..


currently im at work, but this is the quality i get also at home, which is far worse then the TV signal...

I mean, i dont expect the bitrate i get over satelite, but at least 720p would be appropriate..

i was watching roalnd garros over it and almost couldnt even see the ball when they hit it hard..

yes the quality of eurosport player is really crappy. i get the same image quality. 7 euros not well spent. -.-

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

On the subject of streams, I didn't feel like putting up with FOX Sports and its bullshit this year so I sprung for Le Mans access via the official WEC app, and I couldn't recommend it more. The picture quality is outstanding, there are onboards aplenty, and the second (and third) screen experience is solid. Best $10 I've ever spent.

If you're at all on the fence, don't be. Jump in, the water's fine.

 

[dalin80]

Qualy 2 about to start, hot and sunny.

 

[Juicy Bob]

All ready for a Thursday evening of motorsport.

Awesome.

 

[Jezbollah]

HUGE shunt for Magnusson

 

[Juicy Bob]

Looks like something broke on the steering or suspension.

Scary stuff. Happened so suddenly.

 

[navanman]

That was a huge impact.
He is moving in the cockpit al least.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Luckily he seems okay, but yeah, the Porsche Curves are one of the last places you want to have an off.

 

[Dilly]

That's a big shunt.

 

[Jezbollah]

Looks like that was a concrete wall he went straight into there as well.

 

[navanman]

Oh that front on replay is sickening..

 

[LoveCake]

looks a bad one, having trouble getting him out by the looks if it, got the stretchers out.

 

[StriKeVillain]

Anyone know how to watch qualifying if I'm in the US? I can't find anything on the web.

 

[Roude Leiw]

eurosport player works better on chrome. you need to go through a lot of hoops to enable silverlight though.
on firefox i had bad quality and lots of stuttering. on chrome its smooth.

 

[Roude Leiw]

Anyone know how to watch qualifying if I'm in the US? I can't find anything on the web.

on the wec website for 10$

 

[StriKeVillain]

on the wec website for 10$

Nice - thanks.