Motorsport on Monday: 05/05/14
Toyota takes victory in Spa, World RX kicks off, Senna and safety
Spa spectacular as always!
Qualifying turned up some interesting information, too. With the run from La Source down through Eau Rouge and up the Kemmel Straight to Les Combes doing its best to simulate the long straights of La Sarthe, and Audi debuting its long tail, lower drag Le Mans setup, the speed trap data from qualifying revealed some eye-opening data that will almost certainly be relevant to Le Mans.
Speed is good
We'll stick to kph to begin with. The pole-sitting Porsche clocked 311.2kph, while the pair of Toyotas and the other 919 all recorded an identical 308.6kph. The number three Audi R18 e-tron Quattro - the one car that was running the long tail rear bodywork - hit 302.4kph, while its two 'regular' sister cars were beaten by the non-hybrid LMP1-L Rebellion R-One Toyota. It recorded 294.3kph while the remaining Audi's hit 288 and 285.7kph flat out respectively.
Porsches were fast...
But what does it mean for Le Mans? Well, around an 8.5-mile lap where the cars will be reaching close to terminal velocity on at least four occasions, a 25.5kph - 15.8mph, to put it into context - over 24 hours this is plenty of free time Toyota could gain on its German counterparts.
Of course, Audi's metronomic reliability (it ended up bagging a second place at Spa with Mr Le Mans, Tom Kristensen) and relentless development means we could see a new iteration of bodywork come June, but with Toyota working towards a three-year goal of winning Le Mans, it'll be gunning for top honours.
... but the Toyotas were faster still and took the win
Off-road on-road
Last weekend also marked the start of the World Rallycross Championship. World RX, as it's known, delivered as you'd expect World Rallycross to. Jacques Villeneuve's debut was less than auspicious, sliding off on the first corner, across the dirt and back onto the joker circuit.
Solberg chuffed with World RX triumph!
Senna and safety
Apart from the weekend, last week was a relatively reflective period as it marked the 20th anniversary of the death of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna.
Senna was the last fatality in Formula One, proving how far safety has come in motorsport. There have been other high profile deaths in top-flight racing since, but the events of Imola '94 was undoubtedly the main driver in spurring on advances in safety.
Advances made since '94 must continue
The risk drivers take every time they venture out onto track can never be belittled, but it can be mitigated. It's easy to forget other factors that detract from the entertainment, but safety shouldn't be one of them. Let's hope developments protecting drivers accelerate at the same rate over the next two decades as they have in the last.
[Senna pic: LAT].
But back to the weekend; don't write Audi off for Le Mans - they proved v Peugeot that they didn't need the fastest car to win; and they will have 3 cars to play with, while both Toyota and Porsche only have 2. They could run 1 as a hare hoping that Toyota chase it down, and still have 2 cars to play with the strategy.
It should be fascinating watching it develop - and I really hope Toyota can win it after a few near misses; it would also be good for the race/ sport for a new winner - Audi winning is like a broken record.
Although Porsche and Audi are owned by the same company, a Toyota victory would be less of a bitter pill for Porsche.
I think that Toyota have a stonkingly fast car and will probably take the victory, but history shows us time and time again that you cannot write off Audi in this race. Much like Roger Penske and the Indy 500, I'm pretty sure that Dr Ullrich would prefer a Le Mans victory over the world championship.
Porsche's hope of winning is purely on them being able to stay out of the pits and relying on the efficiency of their design to show. They could do it, but they dont have the reliability yet, I would suggest. next year or the year after, maybe.
Regarding safety, the area that is still lacking is the driver's head area of the cockpit.
Senna ultimately died fro head injuries caused by parts of his car hitting his crash helmet and penetrating his skull.
Massa had a close run with a part of a car hit his helmet and give him a head injury.
Henry Surtees died as a result of a part of a car hit his helmet and penetrate his skull.
Dan Wheldon died as a result of his car hitting the catch fencing "topside first" and one of the catch fence posts hit his crash helmet causing a blunt injury to his skull.
How many more deaths or near misses will we have before someone actually does something about it? Let's face it, Alonso and Schumacher were bloody close to meeting their maker within the last three years as well...
Firstly, the Porsche was fastest through the speed trap (as you said two paragraphs earlier), not the Toyota - so how can the Toyota be gaining the free time over the Porsches?
The speed difference you seem to be referring to was between the LM spec Porsche and the sprint spec high downforce Audi, which will obviously not run at LM.
The front aero speculation is, perhaps, a little wide of the mark. Please leave that sort of thing to those who know what they're talking about, like Mike Fuller at Mulsannescorner.com. You're comparing the top speeds of cars with different recovery systems, engine sizes and fuel, then suggesting it might be down to the adjustable front flap on the diesel one...
What the Porsche, or the Audi? I thought you just stated the Porsche was the quickest through the trap (not that that means a huge amount) have I logged onto the Mail or something?
But the BTCC, which is live on TV all day, gets its own article. Bizarre.
Maybe there'll be an apology from a PH staff member in a minute, but there probably won't. There never is. They don't care how many cock-ups they make or which drivers' names they can't spell. I hope they cringe occasionally when they realise what rubbish they've uploaded, but I doubt it.
Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff