Spa 24 Hours

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Guarnoni out on the leading NOW
Simeon out on the SERT bike

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

3 hours to go, still raining, a Yamaha has just blown up in a big way, spreading oil and coolant down the track, safety car out for track cleaning.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Race suspended for track cleaning

[ChrisW]

Oil...

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

On the video Eurosport showed you could see the oil pouring out of the crank cases

[Noggin]

Do they just have the one bike and swap riders, or multiple bikes and swap transponders?

[ChrisW]

One bike & swap riders.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Restart in 15 minutes for a final 30 minutes of racing, I can't see there being any change in positions unless the SERT bike is low on fuel, in which case Honda France may get third, so I think the result will be

1st BMW
2nd Kawasaki
3rd Suzuki
4th Honda
5th Yamaha

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Make that 20 minutes of racing

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Bikes being refuelled and tyre warmers on.
The BMW crew are doing some work on the front end of the bike

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

It's still pissing down at Spa

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

That was a tense 10 minutes for Honda and SERT, Gino Rea taking third from Xavier Simeon in the wet, back markers held both riders up so a fair finish. A good win for BMW who stayed out of trouble, were fast and had a reliable bike, same goes for the Beringer Kawasaki in second. Both Honda and SERT had their problems over night and raced back for a close finish.

A good, enjoyable Spa 24 hours, plenty of drama, good racing.

Next round is the Suzuka 8 Hours on the 7th of August.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Kawasaki leading the manufacturers championship

[Noggin]

One bike & swap riders.

Blimey, that's some challenge

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

One bike & swap riders.

Blimey, that's some challenge

That's the point of it, you have to make a race engine capable of lasting 24 hours of race use, at Le Mans lap times were similar to MotoGP (according to the Eurosport conpetitors).

Le Mans 24 Hour car race next weekend.

[cheb]

One bike & swap riders.

Blimey, that's some challenge

And it used to be, possibly still is, no assistance to the rider when they are on the track, if they fall off or the bike breaks they have to push it back to the pits themselves.

Bike magazine ran a team at Le Mans back in the late 70's or early 80's. Howard Lees wrote some excellent pieces for the mag on creating the bike etc.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

It's not as harsh as it used to be, you can now use access roads inside the circuit to get to the pits and you don't get disqualified if a Marshall gives you a push.

[lostboy]

One bike & swap riders.

Blimey, that's some challenge

That's the point of it, you have to make a race engine capable of lasting 24 hours of race use, at Le Mans lap times were similar to MotoGP (according to the Eurosport conpetitors).

Le Mans 24 Hour car race next weekend.

Both you and the Eurosport commentators need to take a moment - the MotoGP boys are an average of 5 seconds a lap quicker around Le Mans.

The ability to produce an engine that can go that quickly and reliably for 24 hours is brilliant. But let's not get bogged down in the usual nonsense about how fast Superbikes are. It was also great to see Sylvain Guintoli on the winning bike.

[Noggin]

One bike & swap riders.

Blimey, that's some challenge

That's the point of it, you have to make a race engine capable of lasting 24 hours of race use, at Le Mans lap times were similar to MotoGP (according to the Eurosport conpetitors).

Le Mans 24 Hour car race next weekend.

I understand. Only asked cos the endurances I did, we had our own bikes and swapped transponders (and it was only 3 hours!). I went to the Le Mans 24hr in 2003, but TBF, didn't know much about it then and haven't kept up with it since.

Pretty awesome that they do have race bikes that can do 24 hours, especially with different riding styles - although maybe the differences in styles helps? (Or makes no difference!)

One bike & swap riders.

Blimey, that's some challenge

And it used to be, possibly still is, no assistance to the rider when they are on the track, if they fall off or the bike breaks they have to push it back to the pits themselves.

Bike magazine ran a team at Le Mans back in the late 70's or early 80's. Howard Lees wrote some excellent pieces for the mag on creating the bike etc.

Even more blimey! I couldn't pick up any of my bikes before or after the 390! I could push some but not part way around a circuit!! LOL

Much easier to run back with the transponder! LOL But damn, even more awesome a race!!

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Blimey, that's some challenge

That's the point of it, you have to make a race engine capable of lasting 24 hours of race use, at Le Mans lap times were similar to MotoGP (according to the Eurosport conpetitors).

Le Mans 24 Hour car race next weekend.

Both you and the Eurosport commentators need to take a moment - the MotoGP boys are an average of 5 seconds a lap quicker around Le Mans.

The ability to produce an engine that can go that quickly and reliably for 24 hours is brilliant. But let's not get bogged down in the usual nonsense about how fast Superbikes are. It was also great to see Sylvain Guintoli on the winning bike.

Feck me, wind yer neck in, I did say that I was repeating what the commentators said, I wasn't interested enough to check.