60th Anniversary 12 Hours of Sebring

The new R18 Hybrid, which is understood to use a flywheel energy-storage system rather than batteries, will make its debut in the Spa round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in May.

Audi will run two cars in the full WEC and three in the season-opening Sebring 12 Hours next month and at Spa.

The Toyota also debuts at Spa.

Carol

 

68 car entry, largest in 17 years! TBA in ten days to two weeks, as confirmed by the track.

 

I'm going to try and make the test session next week and hopefully I'll have some pictures to share.

 

Test session? You mean the SCCA regional/V8Stockcar/Swedish Camaro Cup weekend? If so what car will you have?

 

Huh....what?

 

there's an open test for 12 hours competitors next week.

http://www.americanlemans.com/files/events/2012/0/2012_WINTER_TEST_SCHEDULE.pdf

at any rate, now that Petit isn't a WEC race, Sebring will be the one chance to see a lot of the cars/teams/drivers.

Sebring and the Rolex 24 are two of my favorite races of the year; the only time I would ever consider actually living in Florida is late Jan-mid March

 

Tried to get to Sebring but couldn't get a place to stay and I've been on a waiting list since last spring. It sounds like this is the place to be if you can get there.

Next year thinking about Barber for Grand Am.

 

I'm staying in Orlando and making the drive to/from - not great but I will be there none the less !

 

I'll be there for sure.

I am hoping to become a regular sponsor, but not ready to make any announcement yet.

I may have an RV there. If so I'll gladly play host a while.

 

I wish I could make it this year, last year was a great event.

 

That's a fact! <grin>

 

Still on the fence. Got my collection of coke bottles to consider....

 

Did Peugeot pull out of just Sebring or the entire season?

 

Entire season...

 

Well that sucks!!! I was hoping to see them battle with Audi and Toyota all season.

 

I do not expect to see Oreca, or anyone else, running a Peugeot this year as there will be no technical support in the paddock with the demise of the factory effort. The days of having a go in an ex-works year old car as an independent are gone.

 

Why? Why not buy the roller and repower it?
I realize that pugeot may not sell their stock, but what's so different about that car to prevent it being run privately?

 

There are many issues to consider, such as engine mapping software, diff mapping, shock programs, aero set-up, special fuel blends, special tools and equipment...the list goes on. The factory LMP cars are as complex and intricate as an F1 car in many ways, and probably more so in some as well.
Peugeot, or any manufacturer, should be reluctant to lose oversight of the technology employed in these cars, and a well funded privateer effort would seem to have a much better chance of finishing races using a Lola or similar customer based program.
Endurance racing today is a far different game than it was in the '50s or '60s when, if you scattered your Ferrari motor, you could find some local mechanic to stuff a small block V8 into your Monza or TdF.
It is unlikely that any team with sufficient resources to properly run an ex-works Peugeot effort would choose that option over building their own bespoke creation.

 

I was able to make yesterday's test. Unfortunately for me it was cloudy all day which doesn't help for pictures. I've only been to Sebring twice. Once in 1982 for the 30th and then 2001. Back then I would show up with three rolls of film and would have to make them last. Now with digital I can shoot away.

With this being the largest field ever for the 12 hours, I was hoping to see a lot of different cars but it didn't happen. Different cars makes for different pictures and yesterday got repetitive pretty quick. The night before I was playing Forza 4 and they have one game mode where you drive the Audi R18 around the Sebring track while other class cars are going too. It was really fun to fly around the track passing FORD GTs, Panoz, Aston Martins and Jaguars.

I'm really trying to psych myself up to return for the 12 Hours but its going to be hard if the field is going to be pretty much what I saw yesterday. Perhaps someone can fill me in as to what I can expect to see on race day and why yesterday was lacking.

I still got some pretty good pics and I'm going through them right now. I'll post some as soon as I get a few picked out. I also took some video and one of my favorite shots was taken from the exit of turn 17 looking straight down the front stretch. The cars would exit the turn and then go through all the gears down the straight. I was behind the cars and because of the location the sound was super amplified. I got one shot where each manufacturer came one after the other and you can hear the unique sound from each perfectly. That's going to take longer to get to as I'm out of hard drive space and will have to get another external hard drive which will be #17