The Loud Pedal EditorComment

2016 24 Hours of Lemans Preview

The Loud Pedal EditorComment
2016 24 Hours of Lemans Preview

It’s the middle of June, which means that its time for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the worlds most famous endurance race, held annually since 1923.  For a few weeks out of the year, the quiet countryside of Le Mans, France transforms it's roads from everyday public motorways to a closed racetrack where the world's automotive factories, privateer racing teams or just plain wealthy folks (with a dream to race) come to see who can survive for 24 hours.  

Even people who not fans of racing (we don't understand you, by the way) should know that the race development that goes into preparing a car for Le Mans trickles down to the road cars we drive everyday.  Often, these developments save us fuel, increase safety, or provide better performance and handling.  The use of small displacement turbo power engines to give power while maintain fuel economy was largely developed by large automakers racing at Le Mans.   Do you enjoy adjustable damping on your road car?  Guess what, was tried and perfected by racing teams at Le Mans.  Do you notice that the headlights on modern cars are brighter and illuminate hard to see areas on the road? More efficient and bright headlights was first used at Le Mans, and continues to develop year after year.  No other sport has a more direct impact on the daily life some of anyone that drives a car. Its part grueling endurance race and part research lab.

Enough of the complicated talk, here is what you need to know:

  1. An expanded 60-car grid, the largest since the 1950s, has allowed for the arrival for a number of high-profile entries, including the four-car Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT effort in the GTE-Pro class. It marks Ford's return to La Sarthe (the proper circuit/track name) on the 50th anniversary of its first overall win with the legendary GT40 in 1966. We're especially excited to have hometown ace Joey Hand in one of those new GTs.  GO JOEY!!!!
     
  2. The LMP1 class (the BIG GUNS) has been reduced to a nine-car entry, with only two entries each for Toyota, Audi and defending race winners and FIA World Endurance Champions, Porsche. Budget cutbacks for both German manufacturers, which ran three cars last year, have resulted in 2015 overall winners Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber being moved to Porsche's GTE-Pro effort. 
     
  3. All three LMP1 manufacturers have new or revised machinery, which were struck reliability issues in the opening two World Endurance Championship series rounds. Both Toyota TS050 Hybrids had issues with its new 2.4-liter V6 turbo engines at Spa, while hybrid failures have hit both Porsche and Audi, the latter which has switched from a flywheel to battery-based system this year. Porsche has even reverted to its 2015-spec battery system for Le Mans.
     
  4. The Balance of Performance has been a major talking point in GTE-Pro, which sees a titanic five-way factory fight between Ford, Ferrari, Corvette, Aston Martin and Porsche. Corvette Racing topped the time charts at the test day but has been hit with a power reduction for the race, while both the Ford GT and Aston Martin Vantage GTE have received a weight break and the Porsche 911 RSR handed a minimum weight increase for the weekend.
     
  5. There's a significant American presence this year, even beyond the two Detroit brands. Tequila Patron ESM, Krohn Racing and Michael Shank Racing are in LMP2, with Risi Competizione joining Ford and Corvette in GTE-Pro and Scuderia Corsa represented in GTE-Am, totaling 12 entries. In all, there 23 American drivers taking part in the race (this is very good)!
     
  6. The LMP2 class features a massive 23-car field, up from 19 last year. It largely features closed-top prototypes, in the final year of the current regulations. Twenty of the cars are Nissan powered, with two by Judd and a single Honda. Onroak Automotive is the most represented constructor, with nine Ligier JS P2s and one Morgan LMP2 Evo, while there are seven cars under the Oreca badging (03R/05), plus two Oreca 05s badged as Alpine A460s.
     
  7. A tire war has returned to all four classes for the first time in a number of years. Both Rebellion an ByKolles Racing have switched to Dunlop tires in LMP1, with Aston Martin Racing also on Dunlops in GTE-Pro and GTE-Am. Michelin, however, still holds the advantage in numbers, with 33 of the 60 entries on French rubber.
     
  8. While being an event of its own, Le Mans also counts towards a round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Double points are awarded for this race, adding extra incentive to more than half of the field, which are made up of full-season entrants.
     
  9. Following efforts from DeltaWing and Nissan, Garage 56 returns this year for Frederic Sausset, a quadruple-amputee who will drive a specially adapted OAK Racing-run Morgan LMP2 Nissan with Christophe Tinseau and Jean-Bernard Bouvet. Sausset had all four limbs removed following a bacterial infection in 2012
     
  10. Spotters guide: http://www.spotterguides.com/portfolio/16lm/ 

Where to Watch

  • FOX Sports GO (Saturday, June 13 at 8:30 a.m. to Sunday, June 14 at 9:30 a.m.)
  • Saturday, June 13 (8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., FOX Sports 2)
  • Saturday, June 13 (7 p.m. to 8 p.m., FOX Sports 1)
  • Saturday, June 13 (11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., FOX Sports 2)
  • Sunday, June 14 (3:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., FOX Sports 1)
  • Sunday, June 14 (7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., FOX Sports 2)
  • Sunday, June 14 (9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., FOX Sports 1)
  • Listen via Radio LeMans: http://www.radiolemans.co/ 
  • Sirius 93 / XM 101 will have the Radio Le Mans feed

Other interesting things to know:

Corvette racing likes to announce lunchtime in a big way.

Previous Winners: