Title: McLaren back
Post by: lofty on October 06, 2023, 06:32:19 pm
McLaren will be back to Le Mans with the 720gt3 apparently next year.To be run by United Autosports.
Title: Re: McLaren back
Post by: Werner on October 07, 2023, 04:43:57 pm
Good news, hope they get a place on the grid.
Title: Re: McLaren back
Post by: Rhino on October 08, 2023, 08:47:39 pm
They nearly started a program in 2014. Martin Whitmarsh was really keen on it. The very day it was to be discussed Martin was fired. My friend turned up for the meeting only to be told the new's.
Title: Re: McLaren back
Post by: JDS on October 09, 2023, 08:52:28 am
McLaren will be back to Le Mans with the 720gt3 apparently next year.To be run by United Autosports.
Makes sense as Zac owns 50% of UA. But, they still have to get a spot on the grid as ACO have said GT3 priority to manufacturers who have a hypercar entry. Will be interesting to see how long it takes the ACO to backtrack on that one ;)
Title: Re: McLaren back
Post by: Werner on October 09, 2023, 09:37:58 am
Well, places on the grid for a full WEC season will be hard to get, only 36 seem to be available. But for Le Mans I see no problem, they currently have 62 garages.
Title: Re: McLaren back
Post by: Rhino on October 09, 2023, 09:54:34 pm
What happened to them increasing garages to possibly as many as 82? They announced it in 2019. Thought they might have given an update.
Title: Re: McLaren back
Post by: Werner on October 10, 2023, 09:02:21 am
What happened to them increasing garages to possibly as many as 82? They announced it in 2019. Thought they might have given an update.
I think the number of race cars allowed is not only tied to the number of garages. I have read somewhere (don't remember the source, was many years ago) that the max number of cars allowed on each racetrack is set by FIA-rules and depends on the size of the track and the speed of the cars (slower GTs allow a bigger grid than F1 cars). I also remember that in the group C days this limit was about 70 cars for the 24h track, which was never reached. But may be someone knows more? Currently Le Mans has a grade 2 FIA license.
Title: Re: McLaren back
Post by: Barry on October 10, 2023, 04:58:54 pm
The new pit complex was due to be built for the 2023 race. That isn't going to happen obviously.
Can't find anything online about it but I think I heard it was delayed until 2024 or 5.
Can't find anything online about it but I think I heard it was delayed until 2024 or 5.
Title: Re: McLaren back
Post by: lofty on October 12, 2023, 05:41:03 pm
I was amazed to see teams sharing garages At Nurburgring 24. It seemed to work but a sudden change to wet tyres was a bit manic.Interesting to hear you need a hypercar to enter a gt3. Isn’t that what Astommartin are doing in a couple of years.good riddance to the Gibson engines so boring compared to the mixed engine notes.will the aco kill off totally lmp2? Does anyone know.as for price increase it’s not too bad compared with some other stuff but expensive for France. A lot of circuits give free camping.
