Le Mans – Triumph, Agony and Controversy

Through various racing-related (or racing-adjacent) connections, I’ve been fortunate to gain a number of friends and acquaintances, all of whom I enjoy discussions about racing. One of my fellow “chatnecks” (an inside joke among one subgroup) wrote up his account of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Thanks speeddemon787!   You can’t make this stuff up for this year’s 24 Hours of LeMans with Porsche winning the overall race for the second year in a row.   How can you feel about Toyota’s devastating lost after dominating most of the…

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Le Mans – A Tale of Three Minutes and Two F’s

Or “How I learned to love Le Mans and hate the ACO.” I have a ritual for watching the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Of course, I watch as much pre-race as I can (usually through a bootleg internet stream) and through the start. My favorite times are the “golden hours” at sunset and sunrise. Watching sunset isn’t much of a challenge, but I usually fail to see the sunrise, as I invariably fall asleep about an hour before sunrise. None of our readers care about my sleep habits.  You…

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Episode 273 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadPodcast #273 for Wednesday, June 24, 2015 Tonights rally segment is condensed almost as much as the IndyCar schedule, but only because Mike had to rush to a meeting for work. Doug and John pick up the slack and cover the 24 Hours of LeMans and Austian Grand Prix in the UMMMMM segment.  We recap the Toronto IndyCar race and discuss Walker’s vision for 2018 and the Best Driver ESPY nominees.  Who do you think deserves one?

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LeMans – Who says video games are a waste of time?

Mike and I spoke on the most recent podcast about the drivers from Nissan’s GT Academy and their stellar performance at the 12 Hours of Bathurst last weekend. If you’re unfamiliar with GT Academy, it is a competition backed by Nissan, Polyphony (the developers of the Gran Turismo games for Playstation consoles). Although the competition has been around since 2008, SpikeTV backed a reality show or the 2011 competition.  The show lasted only one season, but they continue to film episodes, and all seasons are available on Nissan’s YouTube Channel.…

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Le Mans – Race to 24 Competition

As I’m perusing racing news, I happened upon a Facebook posting by Jonathon Summerton announcing his participation in Race to 24. This is something that I’d not heard of, so I started investigating as I listen to the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour race on Radio LeMans. Twenty-four drivers start a competition to earn a seat in a Team Sard-Morand LMP2. Sard-Morand is a merger of Sard Racing from Japan and Benoit Morand’s team that ran in ELMS. Benoit Morand will be selecting the driver to join the team behind the…

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Exclusive: Le Mans 24 LMP2 Winner Martin Plowman

Podcast: Play in new window | Download We are honored to talk with Martin Plowman who recently returned from winning the 24 Hour of Le Mans race. Fantasy Football gets things started before bridging into his experience at Le Mans through the highs and lows. We talk about how important team dynamics are to win a race like Le Mans as well as pick his brain about driving one of the most iconic race courses in the world.

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Audi On Pole, Clinch Front Row

Frenchman Benoit Tréluyer set pole position for the 24 Hours of Le Mans piloting the #2 Audi Sport Team Joest. It is Audi’s first pole at Le Mans since 2006. Tréluyer benefited from a clear lap to best the #1 Audi Sport Team Joest of Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas/Mike Rockenfeller. The Team Peugeot Total of Simon Pagenaud/Sebastian Bourdais/Pedro Lamy will start third. The Audis and Peugeots traded fast times but as often the case at Le Mans, traffic hampered flying laps for both teams.   The final session wasn’t without incident…

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LeMans – DeltaWing Partners with Gurney and Highcroft for 2012’s 24 Hour

Ben Bowlby’s DeltaWing concept has not faded into the past, as much as many IndyCar fans may wish it. The concept lives and will make an appearance in a place where we here at OpenPaddock had thought it was best suited from the beginning, endurance sports car racing. After all, the concept originally produced and displayed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2010 could only very loosely have been called an open-wheel car. It genuinely does resemble a prototype sports car more than a single-seater formula car. However, that…

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Le Mans Notes 06/08/11; Sarrazin Peugeot Set Pace

Just as it appeared Audi had lay claim to the top three positions during provisional qualifying Peugeot Sport Total‘s Stephane Sarrazin peeled off a blistering lap that undercut the German squad by nine-tenths of a second during an incident packed session. The Audi Sport Team Joest R18 TDI’s and Team Peugeot Sport Total 908’s were fastest throughout the session. The 908 of Sebring winners Team Oreca Matmut were seventh in LMP1. The Pescarlo Judd was the fastest of the petrol powered LMP cars, in eighth position, nearly two seconds ahead of…

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