24 Hours of Le Mans 1985 highlights

[RolandRacing]

Sorry, but I dont agree. Look at Le Mans cars today......its all "group c" cars. Take a look at the review from Le Mans 2011. Great race!

Toyota and Porsche are comming back for Le Mans....even better!

But I miss the old Mulsanne, and the hill at the end at Mulsanne... :)

[bertyUK]

Why does everything great have to be destroyed by rules & regs?

[fgtxpaco7458ss]

This is Le Mans!!! wish it came back!!

[eskimodude812]

aw man i hope when i grow up i can get in a sport just like this!

[myPETsnailFRED]

such an amazing race held before i was even born, im pretty glad they were recorded i would much rather watch the classic races

[HoustonRocket101]

This was back in the days when a relatively new team could show up and finish well:

But then group C was killed off and the technology became stupidly expensive which is why we now have a monopoly so to speak, of the same manufactures winning year in year out :

The same thing happened in f1, Its kind of symbolic of how big buisness and politics are killing everything.

[Quadrant14]

If only Tiff Needelland Bob Wollek had won a Le Mans I would be happy, Bob sadly now is dead, Vern Shuppan/Hurley Haywood came second so many times, he should have up to 4 wins, Bell and Jackie always had the better car I miss Croup C1 and C2

[aqua5boy]

Bell's verdict on Stuck ? it's at 2:34 ..... "Tosser!"

[verkorxt]

Tiff Needell? I had no idea he ever started in Mans.

[ghicaccatta]

the Lancia Lc2 too!!!

[rdtli]

la sarthe was never the same withou the class C......

[macluvyoutoo]

Those were beautifull and powerfull cars indeed.

But in the other side the group c regulations almost killed the 24H le mans.

Wasnt there a year that only 20 or so cars started?

[FormulaOneSpy]

because Porsche might want to have a chance.

Since Audi is now bringing new car, they're probably committed to at least to 2010 - in 2011 engine regulations are going to change so that might be a good time for Porsche to slide in, and Audi might want to go IRL as a engine supplier. Just my speculation.

[FormulaOneSpy]

After so many wins Audi has kind of got the marketing job already done. That's my point.

[FormulaOneSpy]

something :) you said "but I think Porsche will be in GT2 and Audi in LMP1 for a long time."

I was just saying if that Autoweek story means Porsche is really looking at LMP1, then Audi probably won't be there at the same time...

Porsche will of course never quit GT cars, that's a customer car business for them. RS Spyder was supposed to be too but it didn't quite work out so

[FormulaOneSpy]

I don't know, but interestingly Porsche board member not so long ago said ALMS (the prototypes) suits Porsche's image better than IRL (remember IRL is looking for new engine providers for 2011/12). Google "Porsche unlikely to race in IndyCar Series" and you'll find Autoweek article.

[FormulaOneSpy]

Who is saying they would? :) At least forget Bentley. I think for future (after 2011) it is either Audi or Porsche, not both because that just doesnt make any sense.

RS Spyder program started in 2005/2006, before Porsche bought big chunk of VAG, so at that point situation was a bit different.

[aimanrs2]

porsche wont be able to buy VW it faces bankruptcy.

[schroener]

sorry!!!!

Palmer and Weaver of course!!!!!!!

[schroener]

hehe lol - Palmer n` Lammers smashin` the 956 ! (got the DVD)

great!

[motorsportnutter4eva]

This is when Le Mans was great, unlike now with the LMP rules. Bring Group C back because the cars looked and sounded much better.

[dbell962]

Porsche doesn't want to open the purse strings to buils an all out dominant le mans car. They need their finances to do things like acquire VW ownership and develop sedans --the Panamera. The RS Spyder is a LMP2 customer car that Roger Penske foots the bill. I guess if they can't win on the race track, they win in the balance statements.

[borde049]

Porsche is the ALMS class champion three years running... Not to mention beating the LMP1 cars on occasion. They have won on the race track, a lot. Developing an LMP2 car vs and LMP1 car from the ground up is going to cost about the same. Generally, more weight and more power = LMP1. Maybe by acquiring VW (and thereby Audi) they didn't want to be footing the bill for two LMP1 cars?

[delaney917]

Point well taken. But Porsche purists recall the glory days when their dominance at Le Mans in the 1980s by 956/962 just as the Audi has for the last 10 yrs.

[borde049]

Very true, I would love to see a Porsche win the overall at LeMans again someday. I wonder if they could do it without diesel power though? At least Audi has a reason to develop diesel power for use in their road cars. Perhaps a hybrid powertrain (Panamera or Cayenne perhaps)? I sure wouldn't want a hybrid 911... Anyway, we can only hope Porsche sees the need to move up to LMP1 and contest the overall, no matter how much I love the RS Spyder just the way it is.

[delaney917]

Porsche has built a hybrid Cayenne for 2009 and most likely have a hybrid Panamera as well.

[delaney917]

I am also dbell962

[f1guy17]

gotta love the classics

[BlueFox284]

I guess @ 4:00 that race fan was drunk??? :-/

[pooedcunt]

oh my god top 5 porsche! they were amazing

"porsche on the front row" as they always were!

[AyrtonSennaGODsPilot]

yeah porsche dominated group c they were amazing i wish they would come back to win and show everyone how its done 16 wins for porsche

[deggis4]

wouldn't be hard to transform RS Spyder LMP2 program to LMP1... at least I don't see why they would stick with LMP2 forever, that's why they don't come to Le Mans (Penske team would want to, but Porsche won't allow) because obviously LMP2 has no chance at overall win.

[AyrtonSennaGODsPilot]

yeah but over in alms the rs did pretty well last year it beat audi many times because of the fuel advantages i think but in le mans lmp2 never do very well at all

[deggis4]

partly because of tighter and slower tracks and partly because IMSA screwed the LMP1/LMP2 rules little bit. le mans is so much faster track and it has no chance at all.

[AyrtonSennaGODsPilot]

yeah it was even faster in those days without the chicanes in place

your right they had to change all the rules in alms to "favour" (in a way) lmp1 - namely audi and other lmp1 entrants because the not so long track (compared to le mans) favoured the lmp2 cars

have u seen the new gulf aston dbr9 it looks amazing

[jraybay]

porsche doesn't enter le mans, but thats what we want!. porsche says they will never come to le mans if they don't have a car that will challenge audi immediatly there not gunna test an unproven car and look like fools :D. They only want a car that will challenge audi they are working on it :D . they will be back and I think it could be a bubble design like peugot. alot of teams are heading in that direction.

[bartjeej]

great vid, thx!