Le Mans Classic 2016 8, 9 + 10 July

[jonbills]

There do seem to be quite a lot of people here dressed up smart. Makes it a bit classier.
I'm doing my bit in a vintage 80s Silk Cut Jaguar shirt.

 

[SeanDezart]

And didn't come on the stand to see us ?

 

[jonbills]

I confess I failed, sorry. I walked all around the whole damn place and couldn't find you.

 

[SeanDezart]

Bit of a sad excuse when the map was up here and my tel no too.

Never mind, always 2018 !

 

[johnymd]

Just got home. Had a greats me and a big thank you to Sean and the Zclub of France for organising it. I only watched one race just before we left this afternoon. Superb racing with a pair of gt40's out front battling it out. The rest of the time was spent chatting to people and checking out some great cars. Sorry I didn't get a chance to talk with many off the club biput I'll try harder next time. It's now time for some sleep as we were out untill 4am this morning, enjoying the atmosphere, chatting and drinking far too much beer. Roll on the next one.

 

[SeanDezart]

The GT40 that took the lead exploed his rear tyre and lost half the bodywork.

Met and spoke with Rob Crofton - the last he heard he was 26th overall out of 70 !

Waiting for the definitive results.

Some lessons learnt but the guy was on a high racing around this circuit especially at night !

 

[SeanDezart]

I guess other photos will follow....

I was thrilled to discover that the racing car had a Zstory exhaust manifold and system fitted.

 

[Nmd14]

Massive thanks to Sean for organising and coordinating a fantastic long weekend. Apologies for the sudden departure without saying goodbye - had to go and collect the various bits of our friend's motorbike to bring back.

It was great to meet some of you and to see that Z's will never die!

Nick D.

 

[Fairlineguy]

Just got back from a fantastic weekend .Such a great event fantastic weather
Big thanks to Sean and the French club for laying everything on and making our little Honda s800 that accompanied the 240 on the trip welcome on the stand as well.
Roll on 2018

 

[SeanDezart]

....making our little Honda s800 that accompanied the 240 on the trip welcome on the stand as well. Roll on 2018

I only saw a silver Fairlady Roadster - YOU must have too much beer to think otherwise.....

 

[Crofty]

The GT40 that took the lead exploed his rear tyre and lost half the bodywork.

Met and spoke with Rob Crofton - the last he heard he was 26th overall out of 70 !

Waiting for the definitive results.

Some lessons learnt but the guy was on a high racing around this circuit especially at night !

Hi guys. My combined final classification was P.18 out of 75 odd cars competing. Best lap time was a 5.27 odd from memory. Not bad with the wrong diff as I was on the limiter coming onto the Mulsanne straight. As you know, this is a FIA spec car and the organisers only accept cars with HTPs and are pretty thorough on their checking. I was astounded how well the car handled through the Porsche curves, granted I had no speed down the straight but being able to pass some of the Porsche 911 RSR / RS's under braking (even with drums on the rear) and on corners the car could really carry some speed and was quite nimble. With others making mistakes on pit Windows and other penalties I had clean races and gradually worked my way up on the time sheet. I warped the front discs after race 1 so had them changed before the 7am race and that made a huge difference. The car had massive attention in the paddock which was nice to see and so many comments from spectators saying how nice it was to see a 240z racing. Some big accidents in Plateau 6 with one car upside down on the Mulsanne (apparently driver is ok in Le Mans hospital) and another couple catching fire so glad to bring the car home safe and sound. Next race meeting Silverstone Classic.

 

[johnymd]

It was good to talk with you Rob and look forward to seeing you progress. Good luck for silverstone.

 

[vipergts]

Any pictures of the Z gathering then?

 

[Rob Gaskin]

Hi guys. My combined final classification was P.18 out of 75 odd cars competing. Best lap time was a 5.27 odd from memory. Not bad with the wrong diff as I was on the limiter coming onto the Mulsanne straight. As you know, this is a FIA spec car and the organisers only accept cars with HTPs and are pretty thorough on their checking. I was astounded how well the car handled through the Porsche curves, granted I had no speed down the straight but being able to pass some of the Porsche 911 RSR / RS's under braking (even with drums on the rear) and on corners the car could really carry some speed and was quite nimble. With others making mistakes on pit Windows and other penalties I had clean races and gradually worked my way up on the time sheet. I warped the front discs after race 1 so had them changed before the 7am race and that made a huge difference. The car had massive attention in the paddock which was nice to see and so many comments from spectators saying how nice it was to see a 240z racing. Some big accidents in Plateau 6 with one car upside down on the Mulsanne (apparently driver is ok in Le Mans hospital) and another couple catching fire so glad to bring the car home safe and sound. Next race meeting Silverstone Classic.

Congratulations Rob, very well done! I have huge respect for anyone entering an event of that status and doing consistently well. I was following you from the results link off the 'Classic' website (which has full results). I also noticed your maximum speed (taken just before the first chicane) was about 122mph. I assumed correctly that your gearing was wrong (I know we had discussions about this). That makes your lap times even more praiseworthy.

 

[Albrecht]

As you know, this is a FIA spec car and the organisers only accept cars with HTPs and are pretty thorough on their checking.

So you have Sumitomo MK63-20S 4-pot steel calipers and 276mm diameter vented disks on the front, yes?

...but being able to pass some of the Porsche 911 RSR / RS's under braking (even with drums on the rear)....

Sorry but there's no way an FIA-compliant 240Z should be able to outbrake a 911 RS, let alone an RSR. This seems to be more a matter of driver skill than equipment.

 

[Crofty]

So you have Sumitomo MK63-20S 4-pot steel calipers and 276mm diameter vented disks on the front, yes?



Sorry but there's no way an FIA-compliant 240Z should be able to outbrake a 911 RS, let alone an RSR. This seems to be more a matter of driver skill than equipment.

I know! My car should not come close - don't the RSRs have drilled and vented discs all round?

 

[Crofty]

Congratulations Rob, very well done! I have huge respect for anyone entering an event of that status and doing consistently well. I was following you from the results link off the 'Classic' website (which has full results). I also noticed your maximum speed (taken just before the first chicane) was about 122mph. I assumed correctly that your gearing was wrong (I know we had discussions about this). That makes your lap times even more praiseworthy.

Yes, gearing was wrong but ran out of time and $$ to sort it before the event!

 

[MikeB]

Well done Rob, the car looked good through Porsche Curves. Only have a static paddock shot

Unless you have a Media Pass, you get stuck behind the debris fencing in most places so track shots usually feature lots of galvanised steel

Lots of Zs everywhere, we even had the 260 2+2 Cabriolet in our camp site !!

I was past your pitch early on Friday morning, Sean, and had a quick peak at the cars.

A heck of an event, every car you ever wanted to see is there, if you haven't gone, book for 2018, it's a must see


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[MikeB]

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[SeanDezart]

I was past your pitch early on Friday morning, Sean, and had a quick peak at the cars.

Why didn't you ring me ? I was about.

We had 37x cars Saturday.