Club Arnage

this car is f***ing ugly.

(http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q103/cooperlola/lm2011testscrut2426.jpg)

IMHO, of course. :angel:

Agreed !

Thank god for Gulf colours.  It does seem to have the looks and aerodynamics of an old shoe

Had the same feeling at Le Castellet a few weeks ago ... Actually, after a while it still looks so ugly that you start to like it ;D

Seems like they continue to impress in the track as well. One has blown an engine and Prodrive have forgot to pack a spare so its out until they rebuild it.

Have you missed the point?

Who gives a rats arse as long as it wins!

Is that a pig that I just saw flying past the window. ;D

Ha! Stranger things have happened. It probably is too much this year.  ;D Who would have bet against the pugs winning last year.

I think I'll make my mind up when I see it in the flesh (carbon fibre). If it's leading after half way I'm sure we'll all think it's the most beautiful machine ever built!

I'll be really happy if it is leading at half distance but it still won't change the fact that it ain't pretty.

TBH I dont really care if the car is ugly but that was not a good start, one car hardly turned a wheel and the other out before the 2nd session started. You could maybe excuse both cars breaking if they where even quick, but that was not the case.

Fingers crossed that the team get back to the UK and sort out the cylinder liners for Spa, but that sort of problem should have been resolved on the bench.

Dave Richards must be a very concerned guy, maybe they should pull the plug this year if they cant find some serious pace in the next few weeks, regroup and test before trying again in 2012.

There's the old saying in racing that if it looks right, it'll probably be quick.  Now, there have been some butt-ugly cars that have managed to be race winners, and some fast looking cars that have turned out to be turkey's.  But that car just doesn't look right, and judging by its pace, its not very quick.  I don't know where its losing time over the course of a lap (fast corners, slow corners, straight line speed, braking. etc), but the meeting at Ricard did not bode well things for Le Mans.  Ricard, although shorter, has a similar flow the Sarthe, relatively flat, smooth as a billiard table, with a very long straight broken up by chicanes. Doesn't look encouraging for the Aston guys.
Fax

They had an interview with darren turner who said it handled well but couldn't out accelerate a gt car.
Sadly it ain't pretty and the engine ain't good enough.
For what its worth yes I would have bet against the Peugeot last year. Audi will always be there at the end.

I was hoping that there would be a more balanced response today but I hardly saw the thing move, let alone got a chance to photograph it in anger.  Not that I care as it's never been a marque which captured my imagination but I doubt if they attracted many new followers this weekend.  Back to the drawing board, chaps. :(

I'm hopin' Audi puts it to the puggers but do you mean "Audi will always be there at the end" like at Sebring, 5 laps down???  ???
Endurance racing has it's twists and turns as always... ;)

Another pretty dire performance then. Ugly, slow and unreliable. I hope they decide to withdraw this year and take another year to try and sort it out. There are some good cars on the reserve list that deserve grid slots over that pile of crap.

Yep - all of them  ;)

you forgot to mention the pits - it is losing time in there too - on account of the fact it does not seem to be able to leave them  ;D

Both Astons pulled from Spa to continue testing instead

Continue testing???

Dave Richards said on RLM that these cars are too fast and noisy to test anywhere and that is why they continue to test in public at races. ::) :-\

I like Aston as much as anyone, but that car is a lemon. The engine is underpowered and seriously unreliable, its ugly, its slow (the LMP2 Norma set a faster time ;D ;D ;D), it is just too far back and no amount of testing and development is going to get it up to speed.

Please, please put it away somewhere dark and forget about it. Start again, look at what others are doing, take stock and come back next year with something viable.

And most importantly, please don't rob us of two precious grid slots at this years race.

Its the only way to save a little dignity.

Ruddy shame, was looking forward to seeing them next friday, if they are going to pull out in June lets hope they do so in time for the Kronos car to get in. Aston Martin needs to be there but lets hope they get things sorted

Only one place for it, imho - back on the drawing board.

The Spa no show could make the ACO DISq the car and put it out of its misery.

It has already missed Sebring and pretty sure it cannot miss another round without the ACO withdrawing the invite to race.

The car has been withdrawn (http://www.amr-teams.co.uk/2011/04/aston-martin-racing-to-sit-out-spa-to.html) from Spa.
That doesn't cancel their entry for the 24 Hours in June. LM 24 Hours entries are entirely independent of LMS entries.

But priority was given to teams who were contesting the ILMC. Kronos did not have the budget to do the series so only made it to the reserve list. Aston would be a big draw yes, but should/ would they have got the nod for two cars knowning now what we know?

Prodrive must know how bad things are and should withdraw. However, much has been said about the four remaining customer cars that have been snapped up by investors. Its now just a cash cow project. They are no better than JLOC who wasted a grid slot with that abortion of a Lamborghini for two years in a row!

There is a bit of chatter on other forums that the 007 car is entered into the ICLM cup which is different to the LMS. Is it the case that this series requires that you cannot skip more than one race?

I guess once an entry has been granted then the ACO wont rescind it, however if the one Aston did withdraw it would allow in another.

Still maybe Prodrive may turn it around, they still have month and a bit to go and if they know what the issues are then nothing is impossible.

Sounds like time to dust off proven cars from earlier seasons.  This sounds like an embarassment in the making.  Either that or ditch the engine and put something else in......

MG Mark

Can't see the aco dsq them or aston pulling out, they have a big old hospitality unit which they have paid for and need to fill.
Let's hope they at least have an engine which has full power and lasts for a few hours!
Did they run the hybrid system at the test day?

Sad news hearing they pull out from the Spa race, but the best decision they could make.  Makes it easy for me too, no Astons means no reason to take a day off for the practice sessions next week.

I really hope Prodrive can do some magic by the 24h, but I guess they'd better pull out of the big one too (or put in another engine, which has proven some reliability), otherwise it could be a real embarrasment. 

Seem to remember that Audi brought along a dog of a coupe a few years ago which could barely manage a lap. Then a few years later they painted it green, called it a Bentley and it won. Well, that's almost what happened - and it does show that the first version of a new concept can be rubbish, but it can be turned into something good.