A couple of months ago Ford released in their YouTube channel the documentary “Ford GT: The Return to Le Mans”. In almost 80 minutes they talk about the whole project, from the original GT40 to the new GT project. And just as cool, you can see a lot of race backstage.
For a race fan this is a real treat, to the point that I downloaded it to watch on a big screen TV. And one last thing: guess what will be the next model review here at W-143? 😎
Michelin Motorsports released last year a very nice video with highlights of the 24 Heures du Mans of 2019. Can’t wait for June to arrive!
Le Mans, June 14th, 1990. Nissan Motorsports had three cars on the track, ready for the gruesome 24 hours of racing on the following Saturday, June 15th. Two of them were RC90CK and one was the older RC89CP. Mark Blundell was piloting RC90CK #24, and it was his turn at qualifying on that Friday.
Specially at high level endurance racing, there’s an equilibrium between raw power and engine lifespan. All cars can produce more power then what they race with, but their engines would not last the 24 hours. So essentially engines are detuned for reliability. However, unbeknown to Mark or the whole Nissan team, his engine was faulty. When he started his qualifying lap, the wastegate for his RC90CK’s turbo system stuck shut. That translated to instead of the optimal 700-800 hp normally produced by his 3.5-liter twin-turbo V8, the turbos were delivering in excess of 1000 hp!
With that kind of raw power he lapped La Sarthe in an eye-watering 3m27.020s. Okay, but is that fast? If you take into consideration that the second fastest came a full 6 seconds (!!) behind, that’s unheard of. During that lap, on the Mulsanne straight he reached 383 km/h. As a comparison, the 2019’s pole position (Rebellion’s R-One AER #13) clocked 339.1 km/h in qualifying.
So unbelievably, a mechanical issue in your own engine can bizarrely be to your advantage 😲.
A couple of weeks ago Porsche’s YouTube channel released this video about their top five most iconic liveries. A short video, just five minutes, and for a confessed 917 fanboy like me, it’s really cool.
But you know what is really cool about this list? I have all those cars in the W-143 Garage 😊.
The French “Le Mans 1955”, directed by Quentin Baillieux , is a CG animation was released last year. This year it won a few awards and was nominated for quite a bunch more.
The film, about the 1955 Le Mans crash is narrated from the perspective of John Finch, Pierre Levegh’s co-driver. Though the film takes a lot of artistic liberty in terms of historical facts, it shows a view that I for one never had of the accident. The animation style is quite dramatic, but I think it works well to show the tragic event.
Released as Le Mans 1966 in Europe, I watched it last Friday. I was looking forward to seeing it, but I confess I didn’t have great expectations. However, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Both Christian Bale and Matt Damon work fantastically, and the really important part (= cars & races, of course) was very well recreated. In terms of historical accuracy there are some few things wrong as expected, but nothing that gets my panties in a (tight) bunch.
The only part that was a bit off in my eyes was Damon’s Shelby. I really doubt Hollywood would portrait him differently, but from what I know of him, in the film he’s too-much-adorable.
Still, even with these small issues, I had a very enjoyable two hours in the cinema. And yes, I need a Miles’ car now.
Admittedly, I’m a sedan/coupe kind of guy. Or perhaps, also a sedan kind of guy. And I abhor SUVs and the likes. If you don’t have to haul a whole bunch of people, you don’t need a small bus. So basically, for me a proper car is a coupe or sedan (or maybe a fastback/hatchback). Station wagons, on the other hand, are kind of a gray zone. I don’t dislike them, but I’m not a great fan either. However, I would be open to an Audi RS4 (or a Volvo 850), without the need for much persuasion.
Audi just released the new RS6 Advant, and the thing is phenomenal. And to launch the car they made a very nice commercial showing a bit of the car’s pedigree.
I would also accept that one too, thank you.
PS: If you’re wondering, the soundtrack is “Run Boy Run” by Woodkid.
VINWiki brings up another cool car story. After their piece on the Whittington brother’s win in 1979 (as told by John Ficarra), I’m always stopping by their YouTube channel. This time John tells the tale about the 1965 Le Mans race. I’ve read about this story before, but he provides a LOT more detail on the whys and hows. Trust me, if you’re a Le Mans nut it will be a very well spent 20 minutes.
The bad part is that I don’t have the 1965 250 LM #21 in the W-143 Garage.
And now I need it.
Bad…
The Bloodhound LSR is undergoing test runs at the Hakskeenpan desert track in South Africa. Yesterday it reached 537 km/h for the first time – it went from from 80 km/h to 480 km/h in 13 seconds! The testing has to be done incrementally, so it will take a while for the Bloodhound to get to it’s top speed. And since the current LSR is at 760 km/h, it still has a way to go before it becomes the new King of Speed.
If you want to read more, head to the Bloodhound LSR page. They’re always updating with news of the project.
Rod Emory, founder and owner of Emory Motorsports, has a new car to show. Though his “restomods” are not always universally approved (specially by the Porsche purists), I find some of his cars really cool. The 356 RSR is quite unique – you can easily see the 356 part and at the same time the Carrera RSR part. Okay, maybe not for everyone, but interesting nonetheless. And as always, a very nice car video from Petrolicious.
Plus, you can also see part of Emory’s model car collection – looks like he collects 1:18 and 1:43 alike.
