Congrats to Ford at Le Mans

Bernica · #1 (**permalink**) 06-19-2016, 03:47 PM

Congrats to Ford for making quite a statement and taking 1-3-4-9 with the GT's , which may change to 1-2-4-9 since Ferrari blew off the stop and go penalty and went for it. Just like the good old days! Ferrari and Ford both protesting..
It's good to see them back and seeing the committment to win by Ford.

PS; Sorry to be a spoiler if some of you haven't caught up but you had your chance all day!

lippy · #2 (**permalink**) 06-19-2016, 04:52 PM

What is the significance of a class win? It is a big accomplishment?

tkb289 · #3 (**permalink**) 06-19-2016, 05:10 PM

I would say yes it is a big accomplishment … great effort and result by Ford and the Team. From the 1966 overall 1,2,3 to 2016 class win 1,3,4,9 (or 1,2,4,9) it is impressive. Good for Ford to have the talent and resources to build the car and then win. Did anyone go to the race … if so …any pictures?? Too bad about Toyota, they ran a great race and came so close, but as they say, that’s racing.

dallas_ · #4 (**permalink**) 06-19-2016, 05:19 PM

yes, impressive showing for Ford.

I wasn't really rooting for Toyota, but that must have been a heartbreaking loss for them. What's the old saying, "to finish first, first you must finish".

Bernica · #5 (**permalink**) 06-19-2016, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lippy

What is the significance of a class win? It is a big accomplishment?

Yes it is. They are actually running 4 races at the same time. Back in the day it wasn't like today. The first 2 classes (P1 and P2) can literally do circles around the GT's class and in a league of their own. Ford was in the 3rd class of GTE Pro and brought it home against Aston, Porsche and or course Ferrari.

Yes, a heartbreaker for Toyota.

Here's the final lap for those that may have missed it....

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mewpxd0KXZI[/ame]

MHNCO · #6 (**permalink**) 06-22-2016, 08:39 PM

Integrity be damned by Ford. Just not the same as it was in 66.

Political Decisions at Le Mans Could Lead to Sports-Car Explosion

Quote:

Balance of Performance is a high stakes game of poker with every manufacturer having a seat at the table. Every team bluffs, sandbagging during the off-season testing, not showing their cars full potential at the early races of the year. And they try to hide or manipulate data for the various sanctioning bodies. Ford did this better than anyone else leading up to Le Mans. BoP adjustments were made and Ford had a massive advantage compared to the field. And then Le Mans qualifying came. Ford, instead of going just fast enough, say 1.5 seconds faster than it ran during the Le Mans test weekend, went a blistering 4 seconds quicker. It essentially sent a message of “we played all of you.” What it also did was embarrass the WEC technical staff. So that staff adjusted the BoP again the day before the race. But it did so not nearly enough for most of the grid, as the Ford ran a race pace several seconds quicker than Corvette, Porsche, and Aston Martin.

Bernica · #7 (**permalink**) 06-22-2016, 08:45 PM

Well put that is racing...

MHNCO · #8 (**permalink**) 06-22-2016, 08:50 PM

Some would call them sand bagging cheaters but hey if it will help them sell some eco boost pickup trucks it's all good I suppose. That was the point of this entire exercise right?

twobjshelbys · #9 (**permalink**) 06-22-2016, 09:26 PM

Well, looked like Ford and Ferrari had a pretty good match at the end. So if one was sandbaggin so was the other.

The days of a 10's of laps win in GT class are long gone. The BoP is designed to make it like NASCAR.

I wish they would go back to the bounded box. The FIA rules (I have a copy on my desktop) are very clear. Technically the Ferrari was running on a waiver. As has the Viper since day 1. Technology moves on and the Corvettes are outclassed.

Headhunters are active.

About the other classes: The LMP classes are very close to the performance of Formula 1.

Note that a few of the GTAM teams beat GTPRO teams. That is where the real talent is.