Personally disappointed, but not discouraged. And I cannot imagine the disappointment and exhaustion felt now by everyone on the Porsche team.
As for the marketing hype, I don't recall any promises to win. My guess is the entire campaign was focused on building excitement and interest in Porsche's technology and return to its top level competition roots--not on claims of victory.
And as for future LeMans and other racing events--bet on Porsche….
Jun 17, 2014 6:21:11 AM
Car | #1 Audi | #2 Audi | #3 Audi | #7 Toyota | #8 Toyota | #14 Porsche | #20 Porsche |
Laps | 376 | 379 | 25 | 219 | 374 | 348 | 346 |
Fastest lap | 3:24.393 | 3:22.567 | 3:24.274 | 3:23.112 | 3:23.117 | 3:24.899 | 3:25.532 |
Fastest 25 laps (avg) | 3:25.669 | 3:24.656 | 3:34.638 | 3:24.965 | 3:25.087 | 3:26.330 | 3:27.561 |
Fastest 50 laps (avg) | 3:26.288 | 3:24.852 | NA | 3:25.190 | 3:25.244 | 3:26.490 | 3:27.776 |
Fastest 100 laps (avg) | 3:26.963 | 3:26.150 | NA | 3:26.772 | 3:26.323 | 3:27.601 | 3:29.204 |
Sub 3:30 laps | 209 (55.5) | 224 (59.1) | 17 (68) | 133(60.7) | 233 (62.2) | 167 (47.9) | 69 (19.9) |
Sub 3:27 laps | 42 (11.1) | 75 (19.7) | 11 (44) | 53 (24.2) | 70 (18.7) | 21 (6.03) | 6 (1.73) |
Sub 3:25 laps | 5 (1.33) | 14 (3.69) | 4 (16) | 10 (4.57) | 9 (2.4) | 1 (0.29) | 0 |
Source: Martin90 over at tentenths.com
Boyko23:
BiTurbo,
I have always wanted to ask you a friendly question - as you hate Porsche so much (it's obvious from every post of you), what are you doing on a Porsche board?
Thank you!
I don't hate Porsche, I hate the way they've been operating lately and treat their faithful customers. My GT3 order was cancelled 3 months ago after that cluster f*** worldwide engine recall. I already spent a lot of time in the workshop with a brand new Cayenne that failed to start on day 3, not gonna happen with a newer 911.
Currently, I own two 911's (GT2 + 4S) if that even helps
Jun 17, 2014 12:31:13 PM
What I took away form this race:
Positives
1. Car relatively quick in qualifying.
2. Blistering quick in sector 2
3. Team seemed very well organized (not surprising)
4. There seems to be a real camaraderie within the team
5. Strong desire to do well. (not surprising)
Negatives
1. Car slow in sector 2 and 3
2. Not as good as the competition in the twisty bits. (very unusual for Porsche – think RS Spyder)
3. Does small (less powerful) engine force them to have a low-down-force set-up thus compromising handling?
4. Race pace is at least 3-4 seconds off where it should be.
5. Suspension does not seem to be sorted/developed to its full potential (or is the concept wrong?)
6. Continuous drive train issues
7. Tire management is not as good as the competition (fruit of suspension and aero).
Jun 17, 2014 12:53:41 PM
Jun 17, 2014 2:15:01 PM
Jun 17, 2014 2:22:45 PM
Jun 17, 2014 2:25:15 PM
reginos:
@SpYderidol:
How was Porsche's fuel consumption/ fuel management compared to the others?
Car # 20 was doing 13 lap stints (same as Audi and Toyota). Car # 14 did do some 14 lap stints. All -in all their fuel consumption seems to be slightly better than that of their competitors, but it did not pay off in terms of time gained.
They were simply loosing too much time on track.
Jun 17, 2014 2:31:22 PM
Jun 17, 2014 2:39:58 PM
Incidentally: there are quite a few job openings for the LMP1 project. Among them is a a positions entitled "Head of Suspension". Other positions include Engineer development hydraulics LMP1, Power train Calculation LMP1, Engineer development transmission LMP1 , Chassis Manager,etc.
It was a great race at all. I sort of expected the Toyotas to lead, as they have the fastest race-pace and as well I expected the Audis to be strong because of their experience, reliability and of course their luck. So it was quite surprising for me to see #20 leading two times (the situation I hoped for).
Again the technical gremlins hit almost every time the leading car and after Audi needed the turbo change, I really hoped, that Porsche will win. But the race lasts 24 hours, not 22 (parallel to the leading 911 GT3 Hybrid at the Nürburgring 24h). Two thing is to mention as well: 1) Although endurance racing is a team sport, Andre Lotterer is the man of the race for me. He is absolutely the fastest guy in a LMP1 car. His performance after the turbo change was just stunning. 2) Rebellion did quite well, finishing the race in another new car. And whilst Porsche was in trouble at the end they were able to drive faster than the 919s.
Now back to Porsche: All in all they performed well in their first 24h race IMO, but as others said before, there was too much media attraction concerning the return I think. Just at LM the 919 wasn't quite THAT rocketship Audi and Toyota predicted and sadly both cars broke but I think, they will be able to finish next year. According to the problem being unable to recover more energy, it may be likely to see them in the 8MJ category next year, as far as I understood the problem. If the development goes the same way as it did with the 917, they will win one race this year with new aero and bring a dominating car to the races next year (dreaming). The team performed well IMO and so did the drivers, so keep pushing! There is only one thing I keep asking myself: Why didn't they put Hartley in the #20 for the last stint, but Webber, as the order was Bernhard>Hartley>Webber. Actually this is quite irrelevant, but I would have liked to see the young-gun turning some more laps.
At the end one thought about the revolutionary Nissan Zeod RC: It is quite a shame that this great concept failed because of a gearbox issue as far as I know. But the Zeod RC was running by far not enough laps in the earlier sessions as well IMO. And sort of they missed their original target to compete LM completely electric. Let's see how the next revolutionary Nissan that is no normal LMP1 performs next year and whether they will blast their opponents away...
Jun 17, 2014 3:57:36 PM
Spyderidol:
CAR # 20 also had a broken rear anti-roll bar. (remember the vibrations on the straight?)
Yep, watching #20 onboard, especially at night I understood that there was smthg wrong. Very strong vibrations on hi speed sectors. Amazing how drivers worked in such conditions during long stints!!!!
And michelin tyres are amazing!!!! 4-5 stints on one set. F1 tyres (condoms) die after 20 minutes!!!
sportcars-history.com
Jun 18, 2014 1:02:16 PM
But F1 tires are made to die after 20 minutes to "improve the quality of the F1 show", don't they?
The point is: you CAN manufacture long lasting tires...
996C4, Artic silver (gone) 997C2S, Seal/black, -20mm LSD, PSE (gone) 986S, Arctic Silver (gone)
Jun 18, 2014 1:30:54 PM
Jeannot:
But F1 tires are made to die after 20 minutes to "improve the quality of the F1 show", don't they?
The point is: you CAN manufacture long lasting tires...
Of course you can, but show must go on
Unfortunately, show is not = racing
--
sportcars-history.com
Jun 18, 2014 1:58:30 PM
Jun 18, 2014 2:22:15 PM
Jun 18, 2014 3:44:56 PM
It's always difficult to engineer a race car to save weight.
If something didn't last the whole race it will be the weak link and not beefy enough, but if something last longer than the race then it is over-engineered and has unnecessary weight.
Jun 19, 2014 12:13:22 PM
Jun 26, 2014 8:53:27 PM
Wow... what a week it has been! Thoroughly loved it, and already looking forward to next year's edition!
I went with 8 friends in two normal cars and two kitcars. Set up camp at the Houx camping. Spent the week walking around the track, bbq-ing, partying and visiting the town of Le Mans :-)
Some impressions:
Hi Adam,
Thanks for the compliment man, always feels good when people enjoy my photos!
Yeah, of course I'd be happy to share the full size picture, as long as you keep the signature and exif intact.
Here's a link to the full size picture: LINK (click to open)
Cheers,
-Joost-