Hello.
I think it's time to start preparations for Le Mans 2008, so whit Peugeot announcing the drive line up, let's start discussing who will be best seated for an 2008 Le Mans victory.

So here is the Data:
Peugeot
http://tinyurl.com/2exolu
3 Cars.
According to Peugeot, the cars should be more reliable, and abel to keep the same speeds thru out a race week. (same speed in practice, qualification and race).
REAL bhp: Unknown.
Weight: over 900kg
Drivers:

GENE M.
KLIEN C.
LAMY P.
MINASSIAN N.
MONTAGNY F.
SARRAZIN S.
VILLENEUVE J.
WURZ A.
ZONTA R.
Races

Sebring 12 hours
Full LMS Season
Le Mans 24 Hours


Audi
http://tinyurl.com/3e582r
(this is the 2007 car)
3 Cars (not confirmed)
No announcements about changes in the car, altho we must expect a performance upgrade, and reliability upgrades.
REAL bhp: over 650bhp
Weight: Close to 900kg
Drivers

BIELA F
PIRRO E
WERNER M
CAPELLO R
KRISTENSEN T
McNISH A
LUHR L
PREMAT A
ROCKENFELLER M.

Races
Sebring 12 Hours
Full ALMS Season
Full LMS Season
Le Mans 24 Hours
General
This year is going to be the year Audi really have to fight for the victory, Peugeot, now has experience, and proved last year that the car is fast enough, just not reliable, which they have now fixed (so they say). On the driver side, Audi has 2 experienced cars, and 1 young, where Peugeot has a mixed bunch, whit over 300 F1 Gran Prix behind them.

So Who is it going to be?
Audi or Peugeot.

please, remember EVERY ONE may state there opinion, if you don't like it, ignore it, or discus it WHIT OUT flaming, or hurting any one.

I think Audi's got the upper hand once again. They've been dominating this category for a long time now and I dont see why they would lose.

PEUGEOT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!

07 was a 'testing' year for Peugeot and they pretty much proved they are real competition for Audi, so don't be surprised if they win Le Mans 2008 :D

Audi. Hands Down. Heck, they should go rename the R8 road car now.

I'm rooting for Audi. For the last 3 years (since I started watching le mans) the main competitors have started out strong with a fairly big lead and then suffered from mechanical failures while the Audi's have keeped on trucking. So I'm gonna bet (and hope) that this will repeat its self for this year. Audi FTW!!

On another note GT2 will be really exciting with the Corvettes in the mix now. I'm disapointed that they dropped out of GT1 but I can understand why, they really only had 1 race last year and that was the 24 hours of Le Mans. If I'm correct they will be running in GT1 for the 24 hours right? So... Corvette FTW!! lol

To help with the specs, both of the cars weigh 900kg (as this is part of the regulations), the Audi has spot on 650bhp and the Peugeot has 700bhp.

To be fair, this year, I reckon it's gonna be Peugeot - last season, they just had bad luck, and even though it was their first season, they came close.

And in GTR class, it's gonna be Aston, of course.

;)

I will wait to make my decision until I see what happens in Sebering. Whoever wins that race will be a force to recon with at LeMans. Since both Peugeot and Audi having entries for the race, we will have a great guage as to what might happen.

Audi will pwn because of their crew, and their greater experience - they are a year ahead of Peugeot at that point.

I don't know much a about the Pug pilots, but they gotta be pretty damn good if they want to match Audi. Biela, Pirro, Werner and Tom K, Dindo and Mcnish are bloody flippin' hardcore.

I like the Pugs new livery, by the way. It's small changes in terms of quantity, but by golly does it make it look good!

And whats that about Corvette dropping down in the GT2 class? As far as I've heard, there are three automatically entered Corvettes in the GT1 Class already. Two from the factory, and a French privateer

This is gonna be exciting.

Just like back in 2000 with the Viper vs. Corvette

I want the Pescarolos to win. Ever since I saw their cars I have for some reason been rooting for them. But with petrol engines, perhaps too much of an outside chance?

To help with the specs, both of the cars weigh 900kg (as this is part of the regulations), the Audi has spot on 650bhp and the Peugeot has 700bhp.
This isn't entirely true, because the Diesel engines weigh a lot more than a normal gasoline version, and Peugeot them self has said that they aint down at the 900kg. You must remember that the 900kg limit, is just a minimum barrier.
About the horsepower, i doubt that those are the real numbers, like Henri Pescarolo has said. He figured that the Audi engine produced more than 700bhp. (based on a old interview)
You must also remember that the 650bhp, was for the 2006 R10. Audi, i think, has squeezed at least 50 bhp more out of it!

I want the Pescarolos to win. Ever since I saw their cars I have for some reason been rooting for them. But with petrol engines, perhaps too much of an outside chance?
Yeah, they're that "little" team that deserves to be on top because of the effort and attitude, like the Spyker F1 team.

^if they should have won at Le Mans, it was in 2006!, the risk/chances that both Audi and Peugeot's 6 cars won't complete the race, is very little!
Any way, hope when Peugeot and Tom K is gone then they will win, but i hope not as long those 2 race! (hopefully they will smack the Toyota ass back to Japan in 2010!)

I think Audi will win the ALMS, they won it so many times and the car is prefectly set up for it..Peugeot won the Le Mans series in europe so this should be to their advantage to take..The 24Le Mans that is anyones guess..Its 3 vs 3..

People are voting Audi to win 70 to 18! (at time of post)

Anyways, welcome Plex! Why else do you think Audi will win?
I mean, the pit crew could screw up horribly and have the whole thing blast its arse flying acrosse Mulsanne!

People are voting Audi to win 70 to 18! (at time of post)
I mean, the pit crew could screw up horribly and have the whole thing blast its arse flying acrosse Mulsanne!

Yeah, the Audi's are still the favourites by a long shot (this was expected, though).

And they screwed up the pit-stop last time - a wheel was not tightened propperly!

Methinks that the problem will be rectified, or else there will be killin's.

The LMP cars are all going to be closed cockpit from now on aren't they? Or is that next year? I forget...

And when does the first race start? 12 Hours of Sebring right? :D

And... I vote Audi

Although Peugoet LMP1 looks better, I think Audi will have an upper hand

The LMP cars are all going to be closed cockpit from now on aren't they? Or is that next year? I forget...

And when does the first race start? 12 Hours of Sebring right? :D

And... I vote Audi
No they don't go closed cockpit until 2009, so the Audi will still be open just like last year.

Yup it is all kicked off with the 12 hours of Sebring on March 15th.

I thought the closed top rules go into effect in 2010, or is Audi already making a 2009 hardtop version of its smoker?

From what I've just read, it seems that the ACO will discuss with teams whether to introduce them in 2009 or 2010. In other worse, it could come next year or the year after.

I think if they haven't decided yet, they'll be coming in in 2010. The new regulations come with a raft of changes that I'm guessing most teams would rather develop from now 'til 2010 rather than 'til 09.

I would like to see Peugeot win, mainly because Audi are just getting a bit too good at this game. The Peugeot looks great, and it would be nice to stop Audi's run of consecutive wins.

Chris.

I would like to see Peugeot win, mainly because Audi are just getting a bit too good at this game. The Peugeot looks great, and it would be nice to stop Audi's run of consecutive wins.

Chris.
No way.

Unless it's some small, obscure, hard working, 1-2car team, then I'm all for the VAG dominating for the next 10 years*.

*As long as Audi's aren't the only ones to win. Bentley, Porschse Bugatti, VW, (hell, imagine if they rebodied the R10 into a Skoda!). Too much Audi can't be good for the sport...it'll be the CLK-GTR thing all over again.

It's part of the plan though, and Peugeot will try hard to upset Audi this year. I think they stand a good chance, have you seen the driver lineup for Peugeot?

Marc Gene
Nicolas Minassian
Jacques Villeneuve
Christian Klien
Franck Montagny
Alexander Wurz
Stephane Sarrazin
Pedro Lamy
and Ricardo Zonta.

Not bad eh?

Chris.

Woot go audi... hopefully

I would like to see Peugeot win, mainly because Audi are just getting a bit too good at this game. The Peugeot looks great, and it would be nice to stop Audi's run of consecutive wins.

Chris.
Well it kind of was upset last year with the Porsche RS Spyder in LMP2. Audi handley had it in the endurance races but it beat out the Audi in a couple of the normal races and almost always gave them a run for the money.

Yeah, the Audi's are still the favourites by a long shot (this was expected, though).

And they screwed up the pit-stop last time - a wheel was not tightened propperly!

Methinks that the problem will be rectified, or else there will be killin's.
Well, thats not really a major problem.

If they forget to oh say, pump up the tires, they could have a flat running at top speeds, the car would become a barrier for other cars and uh maybe make them crash too, killing innocent people at the stands and the drivers who already wanted to die a horrible automotive death.
Just a theory though ;).

Pescarolo is one of my favorites this year. I'd like to see an underdog win.

People are voting Audi to win 70 to 18! (at time of post)

Anyways, welcome Plex! Why else do you think Audi will win?
I mean, the pit crew could screw up horribly and have the whole thing blast its arse flying acrosse Mulsanne!

Thank you for the welcome..

Audi stands a better chance to win they have the experience in ALMS, also i heard that Peugeot is just using one car in that race and two will be race in Le Mans series..But the competition is still open so we wait and see..

^^ You're welcome :)

Anyways... didn't Audi have a winning streak a couple years back, which was why they named the LeMans concept after the F1 car that won?

If Pig-Out learns 5-10% from their debut showing last year; they might STOMP the stagnant/no-competition mentality that has produced (YAWN!) repeat Audi (doody) LeMans wins. HellYeah!

^^ You're welcome :)

Anyways... didn't Audi have a winning streak a couple years back, which was why they named the LeMans concept after the F1 car that won?

WTF? F1 Car? You mean LMP1 car?

And Audi is still on that winning streak (if you count the Bentleys as Audis - which in reality they were)

I would absolutely love to see Peugeot win at Le Mans, and Sebring as well, but the one thing Audi will always have the upper hand is experience, particularly with reliability.

Everyone knows the Pescarolos had the upper-hand with speed two years ago, but reliability was the deciding factor. The Audi's are nearly bullet-proof when it comes to that and when there is a problem, they can fix it very quickly.

Peugeot has the speed this year, but managing to fix reliability within one year? That's hard to do.

Go Peugeot, though!

WTF? F1 Car? You mean LMP1 car?

And Audi is still on that winning streak (if you count the Bentleys as Audis - which in reality they were)
Sorry, I did mean LMP1. Bentley belongs to VW, just like Audi. Bentley isn't owned by Audi like Lamborghini is.

I thought Bentley is a separate company, not owed by anyone..

I thought Bentley is a separate company, not owed by anyone..
I don't know if they are owed by any one, but the Speed 8, i know was build over the R8, the engine was "designed" by the same person (so Bentley said)

Thats interesting..

When BMW bought Rolls-Royce in 1998, Bentley was in ownership of Rolls. They sold Bentley to Volkswagen so they could have money for their new cars. Today Bentley is the uber luxury section of Volkswagen.

Or maybe the new Lola Aston Martin? It was fast at Paul Ricard testing!:)

wouldn't bet on it!, the package is still new, they know it picks up too much rubber in the radiators!, that problem doomed a Pescarolo in 2006. They have no rain, and few Safty Car episodes, and they have no testing in the high temps. there sometimes are at Le Mans, that could make the cabine temp. so high that the drives makes mistakes.
But i think in 2009, a Lola Aston, chances of a win could be just as big as Pescarolo!

When BMW bought Rolls-Royce in 1998, Bentley was in ownership of Rolls. They sold Bentley to Volkswagen so they could have money for their new cars. Today Bentley is the uber luxury section of Volkswagen.

Bentley isn't the 'uber luxury' section of VW, it's just owned by them. It's not like Lexus and Toyota, or Infiniti and Nissan, what so ever...

Bentley is a British luxury marque and always will be.

Alright Frewin, defending British cars.:p

What if I said Bugatti?

Bentley was bought by VW in 2003, and they say that to celebrate the increase of the family, VW/Audi pulled out their Audi factory team in 2003 and ran the completely redesigned and goddamn distractingly sexy 2003 Bentley's instead.

The Speed 8 was built by RTN, a company in England that belongs to VW. Windtunnel testing took place in Ingolstadt, it was powered by an R8 engine with a larger engine capacity, and piloted by Audi drivers. So in 2003, Team Bentley was the Audi factory team.

Still, I don't consider it an Audi. I look at it as Audi helping Bentley win Le Mans with a Bentley. Mainly because that after the 2003 Bentley victory, rich bastards would want to buy VW's Bentley Continental GTs instead of BMW-owned Royces. Now that is some high level pwnage.

Did BMW even compete in LeMans 2003?

I consider BMW's to be better overall that Audi and I hold true my opinion in Rolls-Royce vs. Bentley. Even if Audi just nudged Bentley in the right direction.

Nah, they didn't. But it was a part of VW's marketing strategy when they chose to run Bentleys for 2003. The Continental GT made its debut at the time of Le Mans 2003 - the first Bentley built under the ownership of VW.

Bentley was bought by VW in 2003, and they say that to celebrate the increase of the family, VW/Audi pulled out their Audi factory team in 2003 and ran the completely redesigned and goddamn distractingly sexy 2003 Bentley's instead.

The Speed 8 was built by RTN, a company in England that belongs to VW. Windtunnel testing took place in Ingolstadt, it was powered by an R8 engine with a larger engine capacity, and piloted by Audi drivers. So in 2003, Team Bentley was the Audi factory team.

Still, I don't consider it an Audi. I look at it as Audi helping Bentley win Le Mans with a Bentley. Mainly because that after the 2003 Bentley victory, rich bastards would want to buy VW's Bentley Continental GTs instead of BMW-owned Royces. Now that is some high level pwnage.

The first part dont make much sence!.. because Bentley also raced in 2002!, so that would mean the Bmw, also had developed a Bentley Le Mans racer!? :S

Well after watching bits of the 12 hour race this weekend, if Peugeot can work out the reliability issues from the longer races they've entered, they should be some stiff competiton for Audi this year.