Hi guys,
First of all, I hope that those of you who went this year had a great race and a safe return to Blighty.
I made my first pilgrimage in 1999 and have since missed just 3 races since, including this one.
Most of the races in that time have been Audi/Volkswagen group testimonials. However, it never seemed to matter before and this is the first time that I've honestly felt that I've not missed anything.
Unfortunately, as I watched the race unfold on Eurosport, I realised the sad truth that my love affair with Le Mans is coming to an end.
Here are a few of the reasons why:
1) Audi
Audi must have known that Toyota were not going to provide a real threat this year. So why bring 4 cars? When I heard that they were bringing 2 hybrids and 2 diesels, the reason seemed obvious. Could it really be that they still wanted to demonstrate the effectiveness of their hybrid technology to road car buyers so brought two of their 'old' diesels to beat into third and fourth place?
For me, it's no use trying to convince myself otherwise. Audi's total domination has now killed the event.
When the Toyotas crashed out, it was depressing listening to the Eurosport commentators trying to talk up a non-existant race between the Audis as if there was a possibility that Audi would have let one of their 'normal' cars finish ahead of the hybrids.
Do I care if Audi no. 1 finishes before Audi no. 2? Er, no.
2) Cynical marketing
Quite simply: 'Morgan-Judd'; 'Lotus-Lola'. WTF!? Please stop it. Stop it now.
Lotus in particular are fast becoming a dirty word in the world of motorsport. Just look at the ridiculous Team Lotus/Caterham/Lotus-Renaut debacle in F1.
'Chunky' must be turning in his grave.
Also, too many Gulf cars. They aren't GT40s or 917s and never will be. Cars like the AMR One from last year are just ruining the racing heritage of this once-iconic livery.
3) Fugly cars
Not only do all the LMPs now look the same but vertical wings sprouting up on the prototypes now mean that the GTs are the best looking cars in the race.
Nothing wrong with that in itself, but for for me, Le Mans is all about futuristic and sexy-looking LMPs.
4) On the subject of ugly cars. Please tell me what the Deltawing was all about. No wonder the Indy guys turned it down. For me, it looked totally out of place at Le Mans so why did Nissan bring it?
Could it be so they could keep telling us at every opportunity throughout the race how the engine was 'based' on that in the Juke?
The only connection I can see is that the Deltawing looked like a phallus and that's what you'll look like in a Juke
5) Nissan/GT Academy
OK, credit where credit's due. Ordonez and co are proving to be good racers and maybe it was worse because of the repeated Eurosport ad breaks but please please please Nissan, stop implying that these guys honed their skills playing Gran Turismo on the Playstation. They didn't.
What they did was win a marginally relevant Playstation competition which then gave them the chance to go through another tough physical selection process which in turn allowed them the chance to race for Nissan in a 24 hour GT race before going on to have careers (probably forever more with Nissan).
I am sure that there are millions of other guys (and no, I'm not one of them) who entered the Playstation competition and who could have gone on to be just as good as Ordonez in real-world racing but who didn't get the chance because they weren't geeky enough with the steering wheel and pedal set in their living rooms.
Being good at Grand Turismo does not mean that you will be fast in real life. They could have had a Mario Karts or even Call of Duty competition and still found a couple of good racing drivers at the end of it.
6) Fixability/reliability
Exhibit A: 'F1 reject turned sports cars journey man' Fisichella crashes his Ferrari during practice. Car totally destroyed or so you might think but after being entirely rebuilt throughout the night, its back again for qualifying.
Exhibit B: Audi crashes at first chicane. Driver gets out, rips off whole nose section and limps back to pits on 3 wheels. After a short time in the garage, the car is rebuilt and finishes in top 4.
Exhibit C: Audi stops on track. End of race? No. Car's electonics are rebooted and said Audi finishes the lap back on race pace.
Nowadays, if a car needs a new light bulb teams replace the entire front end. If they need a new gear box, they can replace the whole back end.
OK, so I know that some cars still don't finish the race but with cars allowed to be rebuilt to the extent they are, it makes a mockery of Le Mans as an endurance race. If we get to the point where all the cars finish because nothing goes wrong with them and even when it does, they're fixed by replacing whole sections of the car, what's the point?
Furthermore, cars can also be refuelled as often as teams want and use as many tires as they want. I'm not for a minute suggesting that we go down the F1 route but it's making the race too easy to finish, particularly for the teams for whom money is no object.
7) Pecarolo
Oh Henri, where did it go so wrong? On the subject of money, watching Pescarolo this year has been a depressing experience. It's so sad that the team most passionate about Le Mans seems to have the least money. Privateers make Le Mans what it is and when the big manufacturers get bored and leave, who will pick up the reigns? Not Pesca because he'll have packed up and gone home long ago through lack of sponsorship. Sadly, I feel that the future of Le Mans is GT racing and pay drivers.
I could go on but won't as I realise that I'm probably not winning any friends on this forum.
All of the above is meant to be a bit of fun but is also based on what I genuinely feel.
I don't want to spoil anything for you guys and just hope that the comments you make will help reignite my enthusiasm for Le Mans.
You've got a year to do it!
S
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