La Sarthe - An Even Deeper Appreciation

Having sat thru most of Speedvision's 25-hour marathon coverage of Le Mans, I have an even deeper appreciation of the earlier iteration of this historic track...and Roland Ehnstrom's magnificent recreation of it. It's shocking to see how dinky the track itself has become, festooned with fussy little chicanes, even as the tribunes have become ever more grandiose. (Of course, it's also shocking to see how narrow the pit straight was, even 12 years after Levegh's horrific accident.) In Roland's version, I love the truncated escape roads--more like turn-arounds--where you can avoid getting beached on those treacherous sand banks (now gone...along with most of the rest of the charm of the old track). I also love the danger of scattering the engines in GPL; reliability has rarely been a strategic factor in the game. You can create your own 8-hour mini-Le Mans by setting the number of laps in the 67season.ini entry to 424, which gives you 128 laps (the max GPL will score) in Intermediate Long (the highest mode that will support a Shift-R). If you can squeeze 32 laps from a tankful of gas, you'll need to refuel 3 times (abt. every 2 hours) to complete the 1071-mile race. A more practical maximum for online racing might be an Intermediate Short, 64 laps, with one Shift-R. In a Novice test (unaccountably 34 laps, not 32), I ran out of gas at Tetre Rouge on the last lap in the Lotus. The undersized Brabham holds 43 gallons, good for a theoretical 30 laps. The Brobdingagian BRM and Honda both carry 50 (!) gallons/32 laps; the others are all 46/32. Warning: the handling suffers plenty with full fuel loads (50 gallons = 300 lbs.). I'd be willing to host and/or participate in an online feasibility run, if anybody's interested, but please let's cap the number of Shift-Rs so nobody's tempted to try the obvious: a light fuel load and a ton of Shift-Rs. Email me. --Steve Smith ([email hidden])

Just on Rolands track itself, here in the UK, channel 4, who had a little bit of live Le Mans coverage, showed a video from 1955 of Mike Hawthorn (?) driving round Le Mans in a Jaguar E-Type. They had stuck a (relatively) small camera on the back of the E-Type facing forward, and fitted Mike with a microphone. Although it was the day before the 1955 race (I think) there were cyclists, motorcyclist and pedestrians everywhere round the track, and Mike was having to drive round them all. Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that the track looked absolutely identical to Rolands track (despite being 10 years or so earlier). Every rise, every fall, every camber change was identical. Roland and his team did a fantastic job. "Stephen Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:amtX6.218113$[email hidden]... > Having sat thru most of Speedvision's 25-hour marathon coverage of LeMans, > I have an even deeper appreciation of the earlier iteration of this > historic track...and Roland Ehnstrom's magnificent recreation of it. It's ><snip> > > --Steve Smith ([email hidden])

Stephen Smith wrote..... > Having sat thru most of Speedvision's 25-hour marathon coverage of LeMans, > I have an even deeper appreciation of the earlier iteration of this > historic track...and Roland Ehnstrom's magnificent recreation of it. Having spendt 24 hours in the rain at La Sarthe last weeked - I'd say great track, great work (atleast the bits I saw) from Roland *& Co.* - but totally wrong type of cars. Give me something with 2 seats and we can talk :-) ed_

This whole GPL thing then and now is scary. :) Thanks alot to all those who spend so much time on these projects. Charlie Simon Brown <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:Y_tX6.38825$[email hidden]... > Just on Rolands track itself, here in the UK, channel 4, who had a little > bit of live Le Mans coverage, showed a video from 1955 of Mike Hawthorn(?) > driving round Le Mans in a Jaguar E-Type. They had stuck a (relatively) > small camera on the back of the E-Type facing forward, and fitted Mikewith > a microphone. Although it was the day before the 1955 race (I think)there > were cyclists, motorcyclist and pedestrians everywhere round the track,and

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> Mike was having to drive round them all. > > Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that the track looked absolutely > identical to Rolands track (despite being 10 years or so earlier). Every > rise, every fall, every camber change was identical. Roland and his team > did a fantastic job. > > > "Stephen Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:amtX6.218113$[email hidden]... > > Having sat thru most of Speedvision's 25-hour marathon coverage of Le > Mans, > > I have an even deeper appreciation of the earlier iteration of this > > historic track...and Roland Ehnstrom's magnificent recreation of it.

It's

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> > > <snip> > > > > --Steve Smith ([email hidden]) > > > >

The first time I blasted down the Mulsanne I kept glancing at those telephone poles. They gave me the chills even though I've yet to be hurt even once playing GPL. I have died (at least) a thousand deaths though. <g> "Charlie B" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:BtvX6.16532$[email hidden]...

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> This whole GPL thing then and now is scary. :) > > Thanks alot to all those who spend so much time on these projects. > > Charlie > > Simon Brown <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:Y_tX6.38825$[email hidden]... > > Just on Rolands track itself, here in the UK, channel 4, who had a

little

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> > bit of live Le Mans coverage, showed a video from 1955 of Mike Hawthorn > (?) > > driving round Le Mans in a Jaguar E-Type. They had stuck a (relatively) > > small camera on the back of the E-Type facing forward, and fitted Mike > with > > a microphone. Although it was the day before the 1955 race (I think) > there > > were cyclists, motorcyclist and pedestrians everywhere round the track, > and > > Mike was having to drive round them all. > > > > Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that the track looked absolutely > > identical to Rolands track (despite being 10 years or so earlier).

Every > > rise, every fall, every camber change was identical. Roland and histeam

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> > did a fantastic job. > > > > > > "Stephen Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > > news:amtX6.218113$[email hidden]... > > > Having sat thru most of Speedvision's 25-hour marathon coverage of Le > > Mans, > > > I have an even deeper appreciation of the earlier iteration of this > > > historic track...and Roland Ehnstrom's magnificent recreation of it. > It's > > > > > <snip> > > > > > > --Steve Smith ([email hidden]) > > > > > > > > > >

Actually the video was from 1956, the year after Mike Hawthorn won, and the year after the accident. And it was a D-Type Jag (thanks Steve) :) "Simon Brown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:Y_tX6.38825$[email hidden]... > Just on Rolands track itself, here in the UK, channel 4, who had a little<snip> > rise, every fall, every camber change was identical. Roland and his team > did a fantastic job. >

In article <amtX6.218113$[email hidden]>, ssmith12 @rochester.rr.com says... > In Roland's version, I love the > truncated escape roads--more like turn-arounds--where you can avoid getting > beached on those treacherous sand banks (now gone...along with most of the > rest of the charm of the old track). I agree with the comment about the charm, but I was watching the 24hr coverage at the weekend when they showed a car being pulled out of a sand bank, then restarted. As they pulled back it revealed the scene as being Arnage Corner, with that wooden fencing still in position! I'd have thought they could remove some of the chicanes now, with the improvements in car and driver safety. A prime candidate is the one that completely ruins the Dunlop curve just after the start/finish. - Michael

Haven't you noticed? Like taxes (and probably death), once chicanes are brought in, they never seem to go away. "MP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > In article <amtX6.218113$[email hidden]>, ssmith12 > @rochester.rr.com says... > > In Roland's version, I love the > > truncated escape roads--more like turn-arounds--where you can avoidgetting > > beached on those treacherous sand banks (now gone...along with most ofthe

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> > rest of the charm of the old track). > > I agree with the comment about the charm, but I was watching the 24hr > coverage at the weekend when they showed a car being pulled out of a > sand bank, then restarted. As they pulled back it revealed the scene as > being Arnage Corner, with that wooden fencing still in position! > > I'd have thought they could remove some of the chicanes now, with the > improvements in car and driver safety. A prime candidate is the one that > completely ruins the Dunlop curve just after the start/finish. > > - Michael

"Ed Solheim" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:8zQX6.3485$[email hidden]... > Stephen Smith wrote..... > > Having sat thru most of Speedvision's 25-hour marathon coverage of Le > Mans,> Having spendt 24 hours in the rain at La Sarthe last weeked - I'dsay great > track, great work (atleast the bits I saw) from Roland *& Co.* - but > totally wrong type of cars. Give me something with 2 seats and we can talk > :-) > > ed_ Perhaps we could get the two seat Arrows trainer from F1CS2k??? dave henrie

In article <wBHX6.4097$[email hidden]>, ssmith12 @rochester.rr.com says... > Haven't you noticed? Like taxes (and probably death), once chicanes are > brought in, they never seem to go away. I know:-( Mind you, they did remove one recently at Imola and returned Acque Minerali to its former configuration. Having said that, they also added new chicanes Tamburello and Villeneuve:-( - Michael

Michael, Even more significantly, they restored Eau Rouge @ Spa to its former glory...more or less. --Steve "MP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> In article <wBHX6.4097$[email hidden]>, ssmith12 > @rochester.rr.com says... > > Haven't you noticed? Like taxes (and probably death), once chicanes are > > brought in, they never seem to go away. > > I know:-( > > Mind you, they did remove one recently at Imola and returned Acque > Minerali to its former configuration. Having said that, they also added > new chicanes Tamburello and Villeneuve:-( > > - Michael