Had a good time, but lack of race suspense!

[Froggy porker]

Well apart from the soaking at the supercar parade on the Friday night my son and I had a good time. He was disappointed by the lack of burnout action due to rain and cops, but for me the downer was the lack of racing competition.

A real shame that there was no team to put some race pressure on Audi as it lead to a pretty unexciting race. All credit to the Toyotas for a promising debut, but I didn't wake up this morning with the same eagerness to turn on Radio Le Mans to find out what had happened during the night. Compared to last year with the Peugeots it was too much of a walk in the park for Audi.

The Corvettes and the Aston sounded amazing, the Ferraris impressed me by their endurance, and the 911s looked the business as usual. If only Porsche would hurry back to racing at LM - not before 2014 I heard?

One surprise - I was expecting the hybrids to be the quietest vehicles on the track - in fact I thought that the Audi e-trons made more noise than the Audi diesels.

[eps]

Lack? Far from it!

There was action in quite a few of the classes for a lot of the race.

And Toyota should have posed more of a threat. But saying that they looked purposeful and the next few races should be amazing!

[Ekona]

Wait... You went to sleep at night? Shame!

I thought it was a great race, despite not having any real competition for Audi today. Very different to watch, but not the snoreathon I expected.

[t1grm]

eps said:

Lack? Far from it!

There was action in quite a few of the classes for a lot of the race.

And Toyota should have posed more of a threat. But saying that they looked purposeful and the next few races should be amazing!

It was Toyota’s first race (that’s first race, full stop - not first Le Mans) and they were there about on the pace of the Audis until they were both involved in accidents. I thought they did very well and look forward to them giving Audi a hard time next year.

I have to say I think the Audi publicity machine is killing the atmosphere of the race. It’s getting like going to an Audi product launch. Do they really need FOUR VIP buildings (note I say buildings because that’s what they were – not marquees or motor homes). Add that to the fleets of Audi courtesy cars outside the railway station, every hotel in town, and in every circuit car park and the fact that all the official circuit cars are Audis. They even managed to get their tentacles round the vintage car that does the parade of the trophy round the circuit on Saturday morning. The Toytoa hospitality was virtually non-existent (or very discreet). Next year I think I will camp in a field behind my local Audi dealer and be done with it!

[eps]

t1grm said:

eps said:

Lack? Far from it!

There was action in quite a few of the classes for a lot of the race.

And Toyota should have posed more of a threat. But saying that they looked purposeful and the next few races should be amazing!

It was Toyota’s first race (that’s first race, full stop - not first Le Mans) and they were there about on the pace of the Audis until they were both involved in accidents. I thought they did very well and look forward to them giving Audi a hard time next year.

I have to say I think the Audi publicity machine is killing the atmosphere of the race. It’s getting like going to an Audi product launch. Do they really need FOUR VIP buildings (note I say buildings because that’s what they were – not marquees or motor homes). Add that to the fleets of Audi courtesy cars outside the railway station, every hotel in town, and in every circuit car park and the fact that all the official circuit cars are Audis. They even managed to get their tentacles round the vintage car that does the parade of the trophy round the circuit on Saturday morning. The Toytoa hospitality was virtually non-existent (or very discreet). Next year I think I will camp in a field behind my local Audi dealer and be done with it!

I know it was Toyota's first race. I just think that they would have learnt more by avoiding the two incidents that brought about their demise as opposed to instigating them, but then again that is racing.

I don't think any manufacturer should be allowed more than 2 cars. Audi and Peugeot have enjoyed too much of a cushion, which allowed them to cover all strategies. Then again customer cars, which are customer cars should be allowed like the Audi NA ones..

[t1grm]

eps said:

I know it was Toyota's first race. I just think that they would have learnt more by avoiding the two incidents that brought about their demise as opposed to instigating them, but then again that is racing.

I don't think any manufacturer should be allowed more than 2 cars. Audi and Peugeot have enjoyed too much of a cushion, which allowed them to cover all strategies. Then again customer cars, which are customer cars should be allowed like the Audi NA ones..

How did they instigate the first one? The Ferrari just barged him off the circuit. It could have just as easily been an Audi.

[Froggy porker]

t1grm said:

I have to say I think the Audi publicity machine is killing the atmosphere of the race. It’s getting like going to an Audi product launch. Do they really need FOUR VIP buildings (note I say buildings because that’s what they were – not marquees or motor homes).

Yep, I know what you mean. The Audi "canteen" visible from The Village looks like it could seat 100 people, and I bet that's not the one used by the mechanics. The sheer scale of the VAG machine is impressive, while their nearest competitor pulled out of the race because business is bad. That says something about the French inability to compete industrially with the Germans while within the €, but that's for another thread....