LM 24 2019 Congtatultions

[Fatboy 18]

Outstanding performance by Ben Keating and the team to win their class today

Superb performance.
Well done Ben

[Arizona Vipers]

Wow very cool! What a story on that guy, for those who don't know check this out- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/s...g-le-mans.html

[Fatboy 18]

Myself Ben Keating and my son Friday night after the Drivers Parade in Le mans town centre the Pizza restaurant 2015 fun times

[Back In Black]

That's great to see. What a thrill that must be.

I thought he threw it away near the end with the stop n go penalty for spinning his tires in the pit lane. It looked like he did it again leaving the penalty box but they let it slide.

[str5010]

So happy for Ben and company, well deserved!

That penalty was interesting in that numerous other teams did the same and went unpenalized. Just look at the marks leaving the pit boxes. The factory RSRs stood out as being multiple offenders but I don't recall them being penalized.

[JonB ~ PartsRack]

Ben Keating YAHOO!

I remember when he was a Rookie at Viper Days!



Fatboy, nice T-Shirt.........your son sure looks a lot like L.P. Montour, of VRL fame. 'Louis Phillipe' and his Dad Marc raced that series with Ben.....

[Fatboy 18]

Well you ain't gonna believe this crap.........................
http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/144195

[JonB ~ PartsRack]

HOLY CRAP !! One Tenth of a litre off, x 23 fuel stops. Can you imagine the nit-pickin' bastards that calculated the cold fuel temps vs hot fuel temps, and then tweaked the barometric pressure at the finish vs the pressure at the start? Then adjusted by the flow rate restrictors? Sounds like the penalty phases = double-jeopardy. And stupidity.

There is a reason they call that "SCREWTINEERING"

DOnt cross Ben's path for a while.....

[str5010]

Just devastated for them. Here's an article which includes the official paperwork.
http://www.dailysportscar.com/2019/0...rig-issue.html

Thankfully Ben is an absolute class act.
https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...qualification/

[ViperNC]

Unbelievable. I know rules are rules and everyone has to adhere to them, but that sucks. BoP hit the GT's really hard this year in my opinion which is why the GTE PRO cars were so off the pace. Now this.... Yay we win! No you don't.

[Back In Black]

OMG...it smelled very fishy to me when Ben got that penalty for spinning his tires in the pit lane that nearly erased the lead he had over Bergmeister. I get that rules are rules...yada yada. But I'm sure they were leaving no stone unturned in an effort to disqualify them.

[serpent]

Seems like a corrupt sport just like Boxing. Although boxing is way more blatant. This has porsche paying officials off all over it. Especially if the other cars also peeled off when leaving the pits.
How does porsche get away with having the car mid engine, when the production 911 is rear engine?

[ViperNC]

I've seen the RSR up close at CORE Autosport when they were building the car for the 2019 IMSA season. It's technically a mid engine positioned just in front of the rear axle.

[Fatboy 18]

I don't know if you can view this but this is a BBC Documentary from Le mans in 1982
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...urs-at-le-mans

This shows you the French way of scrutineering And don't forget some cash!

Also think of the investment Porsche has made at Le mans, with their Hospitality centre at the Ford Chichanes...etc etc

[Russ Oasis]

I agree with Black In Black (above). This was a bit too much scrutinizing. The 100 milliliters = 2.5 ounces of fuel. Even times 23, it's barely a quart for the entire 24 hours.

[13COBRA]

It's bullshit.

The 55 second penalty was one thing, but a complete disqualification is ludicrous.

[TrackAire]

Good luck beating the Euro's in their own back yard and expecting a fair fight.......You'd think France would remember who saved their ass about 75 years ago.

[str5010]

If you don't have time to listen to the interview, here are Ben's thoughts on the race.
https://racer.com/2019/06/19/insight...-an-injustice/

[ViperNC]

Keating is a stand up guy for sure. Talk about looking at things objectively even though the emotions are supercharged after a 24 hour race win. I can't say I would have handled things that well.

[St Pete Viper ACR E]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGPbzqvHhJc

Interesting video on his viper from 2015.

[Arizona Vipers]

I'm surprised traction control is allowed but not ABS.
Funny how all the macho guys on here choose to run "full off" when traction control makes even Ben Keating level drivers faster
Does anyone know what that car weighs?

[str5010]

As noted in the video that isn't the GTS-R that Ben ran at Le Mans in 2015, but is the GT3-R he competed with in IMSA's GTD class. The dry weight was listed at 2,855 lbs when new. Rules have changed in the GTD class over the years and ABS is now being run.

[Arizona Vipers]

As noted in the video that isn't the GTS-R that Ben ran at Le Mans in 2015, but is the GT3-R he competed with in IMSA's GTD class. The dry weight was listed at 2,855 lbs when new. Rules have changed in the GTD class over the years and ABS is now being run.

Good info! What was the minimum weight for the GTD class?

[str5010]

Good info! What was the minimum weight for the GTD class?

I think back then the minimum weight for the class was 1215 kg but each car's minimum weight was shifted based on balance of performance tweaks throughout the year. So that's just under 2,680 lbs.