Rouen-les-AFX

Wednesday, 10 August 2022

2022 Le Mans Classic - Plateau 6 - 1972 to 1981

Some of the leading cars at the Esses in their first race on Saturday evening. Lola leads TOJ and Porsche. Paul Lafargue was very fast in this 1979 Lola T298 but lost 3 laps in the final race having won the first two.

Plateau 6 at the Le mans Classic covers the period 1972 to 1981 and thus is the latest period covered by the six main grids. An interesting selection of cars but not really representative of those who did well during this period. Nevertheless, some close racing. Caron didn't win any of the three races but consistency was what put him at the top of the podium at the end.

Just after the start of the final race on Sunday and Lola and Mirage battle it out into the Dunlop Chicane.

Further down the field they try three abreast into the chicane! Osella vs Chevron vs Lola.

Eventual winner was Ludovic Caron in this 1975 Chevron B31.

Second was this 1976 Cheetah G601 driven by Beat Eggimann.

Third was the 1976 Chevron B36 of Philipp Bruehwiler.

Fourth was the 1979 BMW M1 Procar of Sebastian Glaser.

Fifth was the Duby/Vannelet/de Sibenthal 1977 Porsche 935.

Sixth was this 1982 Ferrari 512 BBLM driven by Alexander Wittweger and Sam Hancock.

Seventh was this 1972 Mirage M6 driven by Chris Mac Allister. He won the final race.

Jean-Marc Merlin was eighth in this 1980 Porsche 935 K3.

Ninth was this 1979 BMW M1 Grp 5 driven by Albert Weinzierl.

Tenth was Frédéric Da Rocha in this 1979 Lola T298.

A 1972 Lola T290 leads the Mirage through the Esses.

The 1977 Aston Martin RHAM/1

René Arnoux was one of the drivers of this 1979 BMW M1 Procar.

1976 Sauber C5

1976 TOJ SC304

1976 Inaltera LM

1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Grp IV

1973 Lola T292 battles with a 1976 Cheetah G601

1975 March 75S.

1976 Dodge Charger.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost. However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0.

2022 Le Mans Classic - Endurance Racing Legends

The early battle for the lead. Pole position man, Christian Gläsel in a 2004 MG EX257 leads Shaun Lynn in a 2003 Bentley Speed 8.

Endurance Racing Legends is for enthusiasts to race sports prototype and GT cars from the 1990s and 2000s. Thus everything after the Group C era to 2010 plus the occasional invitee in a later car. Racing is for overall victory plus about nine classes. A really great addition to the races at this year's Le Mans Classic (they only had a demonstration run at the 2018 event). I particularly loved seeing the Bentley's the Ford Mustang Cobras and the Ferrari 333SP. The fastest cars covered just over 10 laps in their race of about 47 minutes. In practice pole position was at an average of 217kph, so fast cars!

The eventual winner was Shaun Lynn in a 2003 Bentley Speed 8.

Second was Mr John of B and Soheil Ayari in a 2002 Bentley Exp Speed 8.

Third was Mike Newton in a 2001 Lola-MG Ex257 seen here leading the fourth placed Audi. Mike also won his class.

Fourth was this 2002 Audi R8 LMP driven by Erik Maris.

Fifth was Joe Macari in a 2005 Maserati MC12 GT1 which won its class.

Sixth was this 2002 Riley & Scott MkIIIC of Emmanuael Brigand.

The early leader Christian Gläsel in his 2004 MG EXX257 finished seventh after getting penalised for speeding in a slow zone.

In ninth place was this 2005 Ferrari 550 Maranello Prodrive,

Tenth was Olivier and Grahame Bryant in this 1995 Ford Mustang Cobra TA. This car also won its class.

Eleventh was this 2005 Maserati MC12 GT1 driven by Ivan Vercoutere and Alex Müller.

Twelfth was Marc Jully in this 1998 Keiler KII which won its class.

Thirteenth was Pierre-Loup Boch in this 2005 Lola B05/40.

Fourteenth was this 2006 Ferrari F430 GTC driven by Phil Quaife and Sean McInerney which won its class.

Amongst the class winners was this 2008 Mosler MT900R of Colin and Fergus Paton.

This lovely 1999 Ferrari 333 SP finished second in its class.

This 2001 Saleen S7-R didn't finish.

This strange looking 1998 Cannibal Chevrolet IMSA was driven by Edouard Deguemp.

The 1997 Panoz Esperante GTR1 of Xavier Galant.

Scooter Gabel makes a move in his 1997 BMW M3 GT but did not finish.

One of the later cars, a 2010 Ford GT (001 PT GT1) driven by Philippe Scemama.

A GT battle a 2010 Chevrolet Corvette C6 leads the Porsches.

Monday, 1 August 2022

2022 Le Mans Classic - Plateau 5 - 1966 to 1971

Peter Vögele and his 1970 Porsche 917. Essential to have a 917 in this plateau as it won in both 1970 and 1971. In the LM Classic this year it finished eleventh.

Plateau 5 at this year's Le Mans Classic had a very representative field of the period with a Porsche 917, a Ferrari 312P, a number of Ford GT40s including two MkIVs (which won in 1967), loads of Lola T70s, a Howmet TX and of course a host of 2 litre sports cars from Chevron and Lola and GT cars from Porsche, Ferrari and Chevrolet. OK so some of them are continuation cars or recreations but frankly I for one don't care. Always better to see an actual car that raced at the time but some cars have become almost too expensive to race and I would rather see a couple of continuation models than never see a particular model ever race in my life.