[WEC] 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours

[MonteCristo]

Provisional entry list is out. PDF details:

https://assets.lemans.org/explorer/pdf/ ... s-2024.pdf

23 Hypercars
16 LMP2
23 LMGT3

Got to be on Team Seabass and Human Cockroach.

[Cheeveer]

Spectacular field, finally a full field in the top class, and minimal amateurs. Stoked.

[MonteCristo]

Spectacular field, finally a full field in the top class, and minimal amateurs. Stoked.

Nine manufacturers in the top class. Brilliant! If only Glick had managed to stay afloat, even with one car.

Should be quite the sight on lap one down Mulsanne.

[Michkov]

What is going on with Lamborghini's numbers?

[Cheeveer]

What is going on with Lamborghini's numbers?

19 & 63? 1963 was the year when the first Lamborghini was launched:

[Everso Biggyballies]

Spectacular field, finally a full field in the top class, and minimal amateurs. Stoked.

Nine manufacturers in the top class. Brilliant! If only Glick had managed to stay afloat, even with one car.

Should be quite the sight on lap one down Mulsanne.

Not only cars but drivers also...... 16 former F1 drivers in the current Hypercar field alone. Plus 3others in the top class either expected to run or reserves.

I guess Button is top in terms of him being the only ex WDC. .... JB ran in the NASCAR entry last year but is back in the top class with Hertz Team Jota / Porsche.
No surprises that Antonio Giovinazzi is back, given he won LM last year.
Robert Kubica is a regular LM entrant of late, but is this year in the big class driving a Ferrari, (albeit the AF Corse 499 along with Ferrari Academy driver Robert Shwartzman. He finally gets the Ferrari drive he had been set to take up when he had his career put on hold by his dredful rally accident.

A list of the ex F1 contingent at LM this year.

Jack Aitken
Sebastien Bourdais
Sebastien Buemi
Jenson Button
Nyck de Vries
Antonio Giovinazzi
Romain Grosjean
Brendon Hartley
Kamui Kobayashi
Robert Kubica
Daniil Kvyat
Andre Lotterer
Mick Schumacher
Will Stevens
Stoffel Vandoorne
Jean-Eric Vergne
Felipe Nasr*
Paul di Resta*
Gianmaria Bruni**

* not on the entry list but expected to race
** on the reserve entry list


23 cars entered in the Hypercars makes it the largest category in the field.... ok its equal with the new LMGT3 class at 23 cars, but its much higher than we have seen for years

Hypercar class.

[erwin greven]

What is going on with Lamborghini's numbers?

19 & 63? 1963 was the year when the first Lamborghini was launched:

yep. The Lamborghini 350 GT was launched then. Think the pic is from a 350GTV.

[Cheeveer]

What is going on with Lamborghini's numbers?

19 & 63? 1963 was the year when the first Lamborghini was launched:

yep. The Lamborghini 350 GT was launched then. Think the pic is from a 350GTV.

Ok! I am not the most knowledgeable on old Lambos, but then the Wikipage for the 350GT should be updated, because that's where I took the picture from!

[Everso Biggyballies]

What is going on with Lamborghini's numbers?

19 & 63? 1963 was the year when the first Lamborghini was launched:

yep. The Lamborghini 350 GT was launched then. Think the pic is from a 350GTV.

Ok! I am not the most knowledgeable on old Lambos, but then the Wikipage for the 350GT should be updated, because that's where I took the picture from!

Yes the pic is of a 350GTV (aka the GT Veloce). The GTV was the first ever Lambo car and was the car used to launch the brand at the 1963 Turin Car Show. It was also used for publicity shots and brochures However, it was a one off prototype and never went into production. It went from the Turin Motor Show into storage until c1980.

The 350GT (which didnt have pop up headlights) was the first production Lambo and was released later in 1963. Ferrucio Lamborghini did not like some of the design features of the GTV and thought it impractical. He also did not like the highly tuned near racing spec 340bhp engine ... the GT when launched had design differences and sported a detuned version of the same engine (down to c275bhp)

I dont believe that the GTV was never a complete drivable car until later years after it came out of storage and was sold.

So the GTV was the first Lambo shown to the public.... albeit not the first production Lambo.
The 350GT, which was the first production Lambo actually produce the public later in 1963.


Pic below is of the 1963 GT, the first production Lamborghini

Here endeth the lesson on early Lamborghinis.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Ferrari show off their WEC AF Corse livery..... complete with Kubica's Orlen stickers.

The #83 Ferrari has been primarily painted in Giallo yellow, the colour of Ferrari's home city of Modena, with red stripes around the cockpit and the sides of the car completing the livery.

AF Corse said the aim of the paint scheme was to differentiate the third, customer-run car from the two full-factory entries that will also compete in the WEC's Hypercar class in 2024.

The team has taken the livery of the 2023 Ferrari that triumphed at Le Mans 24 Hours and inverted its colours, giving it a yellow look while retaining the red accents that have always formed a part of Ferrari’s rich racing history.

I like it. At least its far away from the usual Black Red and White horrors we see all the time.

[Everso Biggyballies]

BMW Unveil Official LM24 Art Car

#20 M Hybrid V8 for Le Mans 24 Hours

The car, which will be driven by Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns, and René Rast, has been presented in its new livery at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France on May 21st, with its new livery designed by artist Julie Mehretu.

I have seen many far better, but also seen worse. A bit too fussy and complex for me for something seen from a distance on screen.

The event, attended by several hundred invited guests, was also attended by the artist, as well as Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, and Ilka Horstmeier, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Human Resources and Real Estate.

“The BMW Art Cars are an essential part of our global cultural commitment. For almost 50 years, we have been collaborating with artists who are just as fascinated by mobility and design as they are by technology and motorsports. Julie Mehretu’s vision for a racing car is an extraordinarily strong contribution to our BMW Art Cars series,” said Zipse.

This is BMW’s first Art Car since the 2017 season, when a BMW M6 GTLM designed by John Baldessari raced at the 24 Hours of Daytona

[MonteCristo]

BMW Unveil Official LM24 Art Car

#20 M Hybrid V8 for Le Mans 24 Hours

The car, which will be driven by Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns, and René Rast, has been presented in its new livery at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France on May 21st, with its new livery designed by artist Julie Mehretu.

Funnily enough, I wanted to go there yesterday!

... But it's closed on Tuesdays.

Boo!

[Everso Biggyballies]

More liveries for BMW at Le Mans.... these a bit better than the Hypercar art car I think.

WRT BMW GT3 liveries.... the blue car is the #46 Rossi car.














The Red Car could almost be classed as a throwback to the 1977 Luigi BMW.....

[Everso Biggyballies]

DKR LMP2 Livery

DKR Engineering are the latest squad to reveal their colours for the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours.

[SAM_HBSK]

DKR LMP2 Livery

DKR Engineering are the latest squad to reveal their colours for the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours.

I quite like this actually, it's...something.