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Posted
Dec 29 2010, 03:23 PM
by
John Brooks
with 6 comment(s)
Le Vingt Quatre Heures du Mans is without doubt the biggest motor race in the world. The Indianapolis 500 may have more spectators on the day or at least it did when it had relevance. There may be bigger yachts moored at Monaco with even bigger egos on display, during the Grand Prix but Le Mans is the daddy when it comes to recognition from the non petrolheads. From the hordes of fanatical supporters and fans to the teams and drivers, from all parts of the racing spectrum, it is the cornerstone of...
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Posted
Dec 28 2010, 07:00 PM
by
John Brooks
with 6 comment(s)
While the attention of the SpeedHunters' Tribe when focused on sportscar track action natuarlly gravitates towards the GT battles, witness the scale of coverage on this site, there is, of course, another side to that form of racing. The Prototypes. The contest is played out at the sharp end of the field and in the past few years the speeds have risen to all time record level. The winning Audi at Le Mans this June finally broke the distance record set by Gijs Van Lennep and Helmut Marko in the...
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Posted
May 10 2010, 09:35 PM
by
John Brooks
with 11 comment(s)
Spa Francorchamps was the venue yesterday for the opening skirmishes in the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours. Three factory Peugeots against three werks Audis..............plus some 44 other cars on the grid........a stellar line up at this stage in the global economic cycle. Peugeot took a convincing win but who can predict how things will pan out next month in France? It all looked pretty impressive as the Green Flag was waved. Cars as far as the eye can see. Sitting in a hotelroom at the Nurburgring I can...
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Posted
Mar 13 2010, 07:50 AM
by
John Brooks
with 13 comment(s)
"The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, gang aft agley". Rabbie Burns' take on the essential futility of making any kind of plans struck a chrord this week. Yes even here, on SpeedHunters. The traditional LMS Test held in early March at the High Tech Test Track is usually a crisp, bright affair with the Mistral blowing and keeping us on our toes. It is an event that we all look forward to as a way of chasing the cobwebs out of our brains and our cameras after the winter hiatus...
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Posted
Dec 20 2009, 02:12 PM
by
John Brooks
with 14 comment(s)
In 2009 Le Mans Series the prototype numbers held up well, from a high of 32 at Spa to a still respectable 22 at the Algarve. The same could not be said for GT1 which only had two season long entries with a straggler or two joining in along the way. It was a class that should have been culled from the first event. However the new rules for the GT1 World Championship would appear to have breathed life into this category. For Maserati, Ford and Nissan to gain the desired, prized invites to Le Mans...
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Posted
Dec 18 2009, 09:34 PM
by
John Brooks
with 5 comment(s)
2008 had been a great year in the world of endurance and GT racing, factory participation was everywhere, competition was fierce and grid numbers were good. In the back ground however, was the global financial turmoil that was bringing the entire economy of the world to a standstill, particularly in the automotive segment. Programmes that had seemed solid suddenly disappeared as budgets were annihilated and marketing took a back seat to fighting for survival. In Formula One Honda bailed out, subsequently...
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Posted
Sep 15 2009, 07:40 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 7 comment(s)
It's the last round of this year's Le Mans Series: 1000kms (195 laps) of the Silverstone Grand Prix track in Northamptonshire, England to decide the LMP1 and GT2 champions. Aston Martin require at least fifth place to secure the title for the #007 crew of Jan Charouz, Stefan Mücke and Tomas Enge. The cars are formed up on the grid 45 minutes before the race start, due for 11.35am. The grid girls march out to mark the grid order, different colour signs reflecting the different class cars...
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Posted
Sep 13 2009, 08:26 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 10 comment(s)
It's down to the wire at the last round of the 2009 Le Mans Series. The LMP1 championship has been thrown open this year, with the diesel Peugeot 908s only competing for a part-season and the non-appearance of the factory Audi R15s. The #007 Lola-Aston Martin crew is on course to win, with a seven point advantage in the drivers' championship over the #16 Pescarolo and then the #009 sister Aston only just behind and gunning for second. LMP2 is already decided, with the on-form Olivier Pla...
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Posted
May 14 2009, 09:02 AM
by
John Brooks
with 4 comment(s)
Round two of the 2009 Le Mans Series was held last weekend at the legendary Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. As might be expected the factory Peugeot 908 pair dominated the race, that is until the 9 car of David Brabham, Alexander Wurz and Marc Gene lost nearly 20 minutes in the pits while having the rear suspension attended to and while serving a four minute penalty. David Brabham had kicked off his Peugeot racing career off in the worst possible way by having a collision with an LMP2 car,...
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Posted
May 09 2009, 01:07 PM
by
John Brooks
with 10 comment(s)
Any colour as long as it is blue..................that's how qualifying ran at the LMS Spa race today. Not entirely unexpected a Peugeot was fastest, in fact it was debutant, Simon Pagenaud who snatched pole position. 2:01.056 was good enough to nose ahead of Alexander Wurz in the other Peugeot, so an oil burner front row. There is a feeeling around the paddock that the French diesel pair have gone just as fast they needed to...............so expect La Marseillaise to be ringing out at 7.00pm...
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Posted
Apr 17 2009, 08:59 PM
by
John Brooks
with 9 comment(s)
In all the excitement of last week's R35 GT-R announcement the first round of the LMS held at Barcelona got shoved to one side. A gentle reminder from Rod pointed this out even though he is up to his neck in Long Beach..............so here we go. Ok the bare statistics are that the four class race boasted 43 starters, an amazing figure in the context of the current economic position, just look at how other racing actvities have been curtailed and you wonder how long financial gravity can be defied...
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Posted
Apr 05 2009, 09:28 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 7 comment(s)
this is the scene.....
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Posted
Apr 03 2009, 03:59 AM
by
John Brooks
with 7 comment(s)
Now that the excitement of Sebring has subsided we kick start motorsport in Europe. In the next few days there is LMS at Barcelona, BTCC at Brands Hatch and then a quick blast up the highway to Le Castellet and the FIA GT media days. So here on SpeedHunters it is time to have a look at the gravity defying Le Mans Series. While doom and gloom is the order of the day elsewhere the LMS contrives to have almost full grids and folks jostling to get in, well almost. The 2009 series consists of 5 rounds...
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Posted
Mar 12 2009, 01:00 PM
by
John Brooks
with 12 comment(s)
It's that time of year again. The cars that are going to star in the coming season start to emerge from the winter gloom and in 2009 that gloom has gone on for far too long. So it was a relief to get on the plane bound for Marseille en route to Le Castellet for the Le Mans Series Test days. Star of the show was the first public appearance of the Lola Aston Martin LMP1, decked out in the iconic blue and orange of Gulf Oil. There is a saying in motorsport that if a car looks right at first glance...
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Posted
Dec 26 2008, 02:04 AM
by
Andy Blackmore
with 13 comment(s)
As the year comes to an end and 2008 becomes a distant memory, we thought we would highlight the many champions in the world of Motorsport during this year. Many of the images come from our Speedhunters posts during the year.
We'll start off with the main world championships and work our way around the various disciplines....
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