As I'd like to believe that the forthcoming ACo/FIA
Rule Changes to the new Hypercar LMH/IMSA LMDH Prototypes Formulae will improve
Thee Show Soon! Albeit next year will be another somewhat Lame Duck season a la
Formula 1…
Author’s Note
Another of Ye countless Yarns that got trapped
in Ye proverbial No Fenders Worm Hole Vortex’, when encountering the
Gravitational Pull of Blooger’s El Fantastico’ 2020 Blogsite redesign, SPEW!
Along with your Hapless Scribe Tomaso trying to migrate from his Trusty ‘Ol
Windows 7 Confuzer to the Daunting World of winDOUGHS 10 during the COVID 19 Pandemic, Sigh!
Hence this was intended to be Part Two of my
Mythical Triple Crown 3 part tome, which Smarmy ‘Ol Fredrico Suave’, aka Fernando
Alonso’s No longer Chasing currently, and I still need a Gory Break Away from
this Darn-founded Confuzer’ that I’ve been Staring at way too Mucho lately!
And just like last year, albeit for somewhat
different reasons, once again this year’s traditional 24 Heurs du Mans has been
moved again, this time to August 21-22…
Tomaso
Any Sports Car Aficionado will know that this year's traditional Summer's June running of le 24 Heurs du Mans was postponed until Fall due to the nebulous COVID 19 Pandemic, with the 88th edition of Sports Cars Mack Daddio' event being held Sept 19-20th without Fans.
Whilst on a historic note, this year marks the
Golden Anniversary of Porsche's Debutante Overall Victory at Circuit de la Sarthe
with its iconic Porsche 917, which I'd hoped to have scribbled something
significant, a la last year's Ford vs. Porsche No Fender tome.
http://www.nofenders.net/2019/12/retro-when-ford-bested-another.html
But as Y'all know life's gotten very E-E-E-lectronically'
Challenging for Mwah here upon thoust Isle 'O Nofendersville, Aye! Especially
since I haven't been able to post Blog Stories with my usual Zeal since the beginning
of August, Thanks Blooger!
Which in some small part I suppose is why I'd
totally forgotten that I'd actually scribbled about Ye legendous Porsche 917's
maiden Overall victory this summer here on Gory No Fenders, which seems an
eternity ago Mates!
While we should also recall that 1970 was the
year some Bloke named Steve McQueen and his Solar Productions movie company not
only showed up at le Circuit de la Sarthe for
filming of the epic movie Le Mans, but also ran it's Porsche 908 Spyder
in the race as a Bloody Camera Car which was one of the few Porsche's to finish
the race!
http://www.nofenders.net/2020/06/le-mans-porsche-sweeps-to-victory-half.html
And although I'm a Fan of the iconic Le Mans 24
Hours race, I cannot say I'm a true Historian of it, so these thoughts are just
Off ye Cuff. Since I cannot easily conjure up when a lone Automobile Manufacturer
had such a Dominance over its relative LMP1 Competizione, albeit Toyota's is quite
scintillating, Eh?
As I'd say that the likes of the Almighty
Jaguar D-Types faced stiff competition from the likes of Mercedes and la
Scuderia, nee Ferrari. Whilst those All Conquering Scarlet Chassis faced fierce
Competizione from FoMoco', nee the ford Motor Company.
Not to mention those upstart German's from
Porsche Battling against the Mighty Ford GT-40 and Ferrari 512's.
And although Porsche ruled Le Mans with an Iron
Grip during the 1980's-1990's with its ubiquitous 962's, at least they were offered
in great quantity to Customers.
Whilst I'd hazard that the last Factory effort
with such a Stranglehold a la Toyota was Audi, but once again they had fierce
opposition in the likes of Peugeot and later when Porsche returned with it's amazing
919 Hybrid.
As it's gotta Smart at least a Wee Bitamyte
that Toyota wasn't ever victorious at le Circuit de la Sarthe until the Werks
efforts of Audi and Porsche had Quit Sports Car racing, El correctomundo?
As I suppose this lack of true competition for Overall
victory against Toyota is what compounded my utter lack of enthusiasm for this
year's 24hrs outing, albeit it Aint' Toyota's fault that the other Auto Manufacturers
left. And I'm Glad that we had this race commencing, even if without its traditional
Quarter 'O Million fans en masse…
Yet even if Thars more "Privateers"
vs. the lone Werks' LMP1 effort,
i.e.; two Rebellions and one By Kolles all
sporting normally aspirated Gibson V-8 lumps vs. Toy-Yoters' Uber Dominant
TS050 Hybrid, Ho-Hum, surely it'll be another Intra-squad Scrum between the two
Toy-Yoters' to claim a third consecutive win, Yawn! Righto?
As need I say anymore then simply mentioning the "riveting" Ho-Ho-Ho latest World
Endurance Championship (WEC) Smack-down at Ye Mighty Spa-Francorchamps Wayback
on August 15th when guess who won? In what became the final "Tune Up"
for this year's Le mans race. Where K-Squared’, aka Kamui Kobayashi, Mike “Ice
Kice, Baby!” Conway and Jose Maria Lopez led another 1-2 toyota sweep at the
Six Hours of Spa, Yawn!
Yet Arse-sumedly
I'll Drop-in occasionally since I'll be pulling for Kobayashi, who I've always liked since
his Toyota Formula 1 Days to finally be victorious at Le mans!
Along with former IndyCar HotShue’ Mike Conway
and Jose Maria Lopez sharing the cockpit. As the latter would become only the
second ever argentine to win besides José Froilán González, who won the 1954 event for Scuderia
Ferrari.
This year's event, albeit with many revisions made
to its final 59 Cars entry list, consisted of 29 Prototypes, with the majority,
i.e.; 24 in the LMP2 category. And 30 Tintop Saloons' seeing a similar divide,
i.e.; 8 GTE Pro entries vs. 22 GTE Am entrants, with two in particular grabbing
thoust Attenzione due to Thar IndyCar roots.
Whilst Thars' several Prototype entries overall
that interest Mwah, my main focus is upon the No. 21 DragonSpeed entry that
drafted some former Two-times Indianapolis 500 winner on short notice.
Perhaps you've heard of him? As his initials
are JPM, who's also known here on No Fenders as Monty or Mac. And another
character known as 'Ol SuperTex', nee A.J. Foyt refers to him as that Montoyer
Feller, Hya! Formally known as Juan Pablo Montoya.
As Montoya will Co-Drive with one of his former
Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) team-mates from their winning Grand Am Sports Cars
days, when Juan joins Memo Rojas in the Oreca/Gibson cockpit. Along with the
totally unknown to Mwah Timothé
Buret, reportedly making his Debutante start at Le
Mans.
Hmm? Once again I'm curious over whether Montoya
& Co. won their respective Class, albeit not outright victory. Would that
mean JPM would Beat Fredrico Suave', aka Fred Alonso to his Quest for Thee Mythical
Triple Crown, Eh? Since Montoya's also won two thirds of Fernando's much Ballyhooed
Triple Crown conquest, i.e.; Monaco Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500. As may be
that's part of Monty's inspiration, Eh?
Meanwhile, the second entry I'm intrigued by is
the No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE Evo in the Big Boyz' saloons
category, i.e.; GTE Pro.
As it really Sucks that I can No longer S-e-E
what this Awesome Ferrari looks like, since this year's field is filled with 16
of Maranello's latest Tintop racing cars concoction, Aye Karumba!
With four of the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo's entered
in the LMGTE Pro Class and an astounding 12 Prancing Horses in the LMGTE Am
Class.
What draws me to the No. 82 entry is the fact
that it's being driven by le Hamburgular' or the former Sealmeister B', aka
Sebastien Bourdais, who's previously contested his Home race behind the
keyboard of the now retired Ford GT, which he won class Honours aboard one during
the Ford GT's return upon the 50th Anniversary of FOMoCo's inaugural Overall Le
Mans win in 1966.
So it's somewhat interesting that Bourdais has
now joined Ford's Arch nemesis Ferrari, albeit aboard a privateer entry
alongside another Ford GT refugee Olivier Pla.
Whilst the final member of the all French driving trio is Jules gounon, who I've noted before is the son of ex-Formula 1 Pilote Jean-Marc Gounon, and I'm rooting for this car more for Olivier and Jules sakes than Bourdais, who I've never truly been a Fan of, but respect his Open Wheel Racing talent…
