OMG I use to watch the broadcast of this VHS tape over and over for years as we attended this race when I was 10 years old. I lost the tape and the memory of it until just now when was thinking about it and lo-and-behold I found it here . THanks for uploading!
It's amazing to see how these cars just kept getting faster from year to year; the 1986 Lime Rock lap times were about 1 - 1.5 seconds slower than these, and by 1991 the cars were 6-7 seconds faster! Modern LMPs from 2000 to 2010 actually got 2 seconds... slower, over the span of the decade. On the bright side, LMP1 cars have been on the upward trend again since the reintroduction of the World Endurance Championship (canned in '93) in 2012, and (amazingly) from 2014 to 2015 the cars have improved by *4 seconds*!
Christian Ponicki Oh, yeah. I really think the difference is the aero and tire technology. GTP (and Gp.C) were absolute blasters in a straight line, but the LMP1 cars are so much quicker through the corners. Combine all that aero research on cars during the "flat bottom" era, and then let them have their tunnels back (2004? I haven't researched it.). And tires are just *better* now. Weird thing: I often compare GTP to FIA Gp.5 in the early '70s, or F1 when the Cosworth DFV showed up in '67, or even pre-war GP racing in the *Thirties* when Merc and Auto Union (can I call 'em Audi?) built those monsters. There are times when the engines are better than the tires. IMO, those times make for some pretty good racing. I'm just glad I was there for one of them. :D
oldSCCAguy yah I think the reason LMPs have been quicker through corners than on straights is because of absurd amounts of engine regulations; it's depressing reading about how strict the 2011 LMP regulations were. Engine performance was micromanaged by the FIA, who reserved the right to tweak them/ add ballasts to the car on a whim. This, coupled with the ban on ground effects, incentivized designers to focus on over-body aero instead of anything else. So I don't think that all other technology is further ahead than engines, I just think that we've yet to see what modern engines are capable of due to regulations. Thankfully, the Group C engine regulations have been reintroduced as of 2014 and have already drawn in Nissan and Porsche, as well as several engine developers. I think this is because of the departure of Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley from their positions of influence within the FIA - both were hugely anti-Group C in the '80s and Mosley was actually the one that killed it off in '93. Also, regarding ground effects, I'd love to see just how quick a modern prototype would be with full-body tunnels. I also love the aesthetic of those types of cars. And as far as older cars being rockets goes, I think we're about to see racing like that reemerge; LMPs have improved by over 5 seconds over a span of about 1.5 years with these new Group C regulations and no small part of that improvement is from engines. In fact, I'm expecting records to be broken at Le Mans within the next couple years; Nissan has the goal of hitting 250mph while the Porsche will likely set a lap record this year or next, and the amount of laps covered will probably be record-breaking as well. By the way, The first race of the 2015 World Endurance Championship season is on Sunday and will be televised in the US for the first time. It'll be the debut of the newest LMPs.
Christian Ponicki, I agree with you about Bernie/Max not wanting sportscars to kill the 'golden goose' (F1), and full-body downforce for sportscars. I know that during the GTP era, the cars eventually lapped quicker than the Indycars on the circuits the two series shared. Of course, there was never any jiggling the regulations about it because the manufacturers quit GTP and then Indycar had "The Split" (so the bad things that happened to both series were an accident, instead of on purpose). I suspect the same thing was going on with Gp.C vs. F1 back then, but haven't looked for the data to back up my suspicions. Oh, and WEC on television in the US? WHERE?!? Man, I was just going to look for streams and torrents of "questionable legality". Although the thought of a torrent lasting the 5-6hrs to cover a 1000km race kinda had my having second thoughts.. :D
oldSCCAguy yah IMSA never seemed to have malicious intent, which is something of a miracle amongst regulating bodies. In fact, John Bishop seemed like an awesome guy. I was going to mentioned the piss poor management of Can Am, with Chaparral and the rest of the competition being scared off by the regulators, but I don't think that was IMSA. The FIA on the other hand... that's another story, especially their handling of the F1 vs Group C situation. Also, the entire WEC is going to be televised on Fox Sports 1 and 2. The race this weekend at Silverstone will be on 1 and the rest of the races will have the first half on FS1 and second half on FS2. And if you don't have access to Fox Sports, then you can buy access to each race for like $5 on the FIA WEC website, where you get live streaming as well as the free scoreboard. By the way (and unfortunately), the race on Sunday (the 12th) starts at 7:00AM CST so I think that's 5AM if you're on the west coast XD.
