2023 World Endurance Championship

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Le Mans starts in 30 minutes, Yoshi Suzuki on pole
I can't believe I'm actually excited about watching this, I love endurance racing, feck knows why, I'm blaming Bike magazine from the mid 80s for getting me interested in it.

[ChrisW]

EWC feels like a proper event. The bikes look cool, too.

I'll be dipping in to watch bits over the weekend.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

FFS Greg Black on the Suzuki crashes on the 1st lap

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Josh Hook knocked Greg Black into the dirt on the first lap, obviously not intentional, Suzuki in the pits after it went end over end, looks like Josh is having trouble concentrating as he's run wide a few times

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

A Yamaha has blown up, dumping oil on the track, No Limits bike has gone down, Suzuki is out of the pit

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

3 bikes have gone down following the safety car, could be something on the track, could be cold tyres

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Another R1 just blew up chucking oil on track, I don't think R1s are more likely to go bang than anything else, there's just a lot more of them racing.

Suzuki are up to mid 40s from 54th, Honda leading, BMW 2nd, YART 3rd

19 hours to go

[cheb]

Le Mans starts in 30 minutes, Yoshi Suzuki on pole
I can't believe I'm actually excited about watching this, I love endurance racing, feck knows why, I'm blaming Bike magazine from the mid 80s for getting me interested in it.

Howard Lees IIRC, and they did quite well. I remember them as some of the most interesting articles in a bike magazine.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Yep Howard Lees and Team Bike, when I started reading it in 1983 a Honda CB1100R based bike, then Honda V4s and then a Harris with an FZ750 engine, the rolling chassis for that came up for sale a few years ago and I seriously considered buying it.

[Bigyin]

I watched the first hour before going out and it was carnage....... one bike didnt even make the end of the start finish straight and then the SERT Suzuki pole sitter goes down before turn one after contact

The nxt few laps were quite calm then the overtaking and lunges started ...how more didnt go down i dont know but looked like cold tyres for those behind the safety car

I'll watch some more later as i like Endurance. Went to the Bol D'Or back in the day at Paul Ricard when it monsooned overnight and the race was stopped for the one and only time

[cheb]

Yep Howard Lees and Team Bike, when I started reading it in 1983 a Honda CB1100R based bike, then Honda V4s and then a Harris with an FZ750 engine, the rolling chassis for that came up for sale a few years ago and I seriously considered buying it.

Didn't he do some ridiculous push back to the pits, pretty much the entire track. No assistance allowed and you can't go the wrong way round the track.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Probably, certainly the race reports were full of drama.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

YART are having brake issues

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

2nd place BMW had an off - lost 7 minutes in the pits
An R1 caught fire so safety car out again.

For a bit of context, SERT are up to 30th but still 20 laps behind the leaders, the Suzuki isn't going faster than other bikes, the other bikes are having problems

[Bigyin]

2nd place BMW had an off - lost 7 minutes in the pits
An R1 caught fire so safety car out again.

For a bit of context, SERT are up to 30th but still 20 laps behind the leaders, the Suzuki isn't going faster than other bikes, the other bikes are having problems

I thought SERT were nailed on for a win or podium at least ....... i was gobsmacked when Black went down and looked dead on his feet after the push back to the pit with the wreckage

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I also thought SERT were a cert for the win. I think if Greg hadn't been crashed the Honda would still be leading, it's going 2-3 laps longer between fuel stops and it's as fast as anything else out there, I think SERT would be racing with YART for second, but there's still 16 hours to go, SERT could get on the podium, it comes down to what problems other teams have, realistically I think a top 10 for SERT is likely. Honda will probably win, I think the rest of the podium is impossible to even guess at this stage.

[Bustaspoke]

I love endurance racing, feck knows why, I'm blaming Bike magazine from the mid 80s for getting me interested in it.

Same here,happy days,they were some of the best articles in Bike magazine all those years ago.
I went to Le Mans for the 24hrs back in 1986,cheering on Lees & co.It was proper chilly,apparently all the teams had been in Le Mans centre buying up thermals.As it was France & bound to be sunny I hadn't brought my wet weather gear
The french were asking me 'Who is this Kenny Irons' he stood out as a fast rider.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

It's going to get down to 3 tonight, so it's going to be cold.

I was 19 in 1986, my luggage would have consisted of £100 and what I was wearing if I'd have gone back then, I didn't even own any water proofs, I went everywhere in jeans and leather jacket, no matter what the weather

[Bustaspoke]

It's going to get down to 3 tonight, so it's going to be cold.

I was 19 in 1986, my luggage would have consisted of £100 and what I was wearing if I'd have gone back then, I didn't even own any water proofs, I went everywhere in jeans and leather jacket, no matter what the weather

Same here & it poured down all the way back from Portsmouth to Lancashire,the dye had washed out of my jeans,so my legs were blue & my hands black from the dye on my gloves.One of the worst bike journeys ever..
I've never been back to Le Mans

[Bigyin]

Same here & it poured down all the way back from Portsmouth to Lancashire,the dye had washed out of my jeans,so my legs were blue & my hands black from the dye on my gloves.One of the worst bike journeys ever..
I've never been back to Le Mans

Look on the bright side , you only got piss wet through and cold from Le Mans …… I did it from Paul Ricard and funnily enough have never been back there either … doh