Le Mans 2023 and Motorsport World’s Greatest Race Review

 

I’d love to write about how I watched all 24 hours of the sports car race at Le Mans with detailed notes.  Sort of.  Being up for 24 hours doesn’t hugely appeal to me, especially with my current workload at work.  Regardless, once again, the Internet did not cooperate with me.  I’ve had other attempts at watching or listening to the race spoiled, like last year’s Internet outage that was specific to the racing weekend. 

 

This time, the problem was that there was no continuous coverage unless you had Discovery+.  (What an interesting choice of carriers.)  What there was was a continuous stream of pirate broadcasts rotating around various Youtue channels.  There’d be at least a couple on at a time.  After about 30 minutes, a channel would get shutdown, but another would pop up.  Also, the pirates were taking feeds from various international sources, not just the English language one.  Needless to say, this was not an optimal way of viewing a 24-hour event.  (Maybe I should have checked Rumble or Odysee, Bitchute, or Kick for livestreams, I think of belatedly.) 

 

There were other options.  Radio Le Mans was up for the whole event with the option of either a radio stream or a video stream of the broadcasters on Youtube (which was kind of pointless).  Those guys there really know their stuff.  Also, some of the teams, including Ferrari, had in-car views for the entire race.  This was probably the best way to watch the terrifying night racing, since you can’t really see the cars racing anyway.  The view going around the track with the engine sounds was hypnotic.        

 

Unfortunately, regardless of the coverage, it starts about an hour before I wake up in the morning.  This meant missing the start, as well as the finish.  I did get to see the start of the race as a separate video and I did see (sort of) the closing ceremonies, where a live band was playing national anthems.  I also went over to the mall and got lunch, listened to a Rangers/Rays game in the afternoon, and peeked in on other things on the Internet.  So, I was distracted a lot, in addition to having to restart the coverage constantly.

 

There was rain at the start of the race and was off and on until the next day.  There were a bunch of accidents, but they did not seem weather-related.  There were several local yellows and an extended safety car period late at night.  At least they didn’t stop the race. 

 

NASCAR sent an entry to the race, though it was only classified as experimental (like the dearly departed Delta Wing car).  It featured 7-time winner Jimmie Johnson and F1 champ Jenson Button as drivers.  The car did have real headlights, but did not have working doors, so the drivers still had to go through the window.  I did get an in-car view once with JJ driving.  They managed to finish the race with only one major part failure.  After the race, the Radio Le Mans commentators were impressed.  They even wanted them back as their own class.

 

The main story of the race was the fight for the overall win between Ferrari and Toyota in the Hypercar class.  This was the Prancing Ponies’ first factory car at the race in the 50 years and they came back with a very competitive entry.  Ferrari started on pole, but Toyota did take the lead.  Ferrari retook the lead later and would not relinquish it.  They won the 24-hour race by a single minute over Toyota.     

 

Also of note, Corvette won the GTE class.  The commentators said this would be their last factory car appearance.  A driver with the winning LMP2 team had had his foot run over by the Corvette early in the race while on pit lane.  The driver did his shifts anyway. 

 

The fans and the show were also a story.  I’ve nursed a desire to go see this race in person, as soon as I develop a desire to travel.  A towering Ferris wheel dominated the infield, along with other amusement park rides.  Later in the night, there was a big fireworks display along with a massive drone show (impressive).  There were shots of fans sleeping in the stands and in the infield at the dawn.  Somehow they were sleeping through the noise even wearing headphones.  The podium ceremony was greeted by an army of Ferrari flag-waving Tifosi.   

I was sort of prepared for this race (not really).  A couple of weeks ago over Memorial Day weekend, I picked up this magazine at Barnes & Noble.  It is Motorsports’ 100 Years of the World’s Greatest Race: Celebrating the Centenary of Le Mans.  It was $20 and thick and glossy at 162 pages.  I’m about halfway through it, but I’ll go ahead and recommend it.  You’re getting some awesome pictures and commentary, though it sort of assumes you’re already familiar with the race’s history, which I’m not.  Even most of the ads are classy and look good. 

The magazine has been around since the beginning of the race and reprints their original race report of the first Le Mans.  A couple of drivers died, but it was no big deal at the time.  Then there’s the reprinted report from 1955, where a car flew into the stands and killed over 80 people.  The race was not stopped.  The editorial agreed with the decision.  On some level, they were right: if they’d stopped the race, they’d never have held another Le Mans.         

 

Actually, most of the magazine is reprinted articles.  Many are fairly recent, within the last 20 years, but a few are much older.  There’s a short article on Paul Newman’s run in 1979, interviews with drivers, and articles on the track and various cars.  The final article is from this year detailing the various Hypercar manufacturers for this years’ Le Mans. 

 

Here’s one of the pretty ads.

 

A view of the 1964 race before the running start of the drivers.     

I dig Aston Martins.

A couple of classic Le Mans race cars.  One of these is actually a modern reproduction.  Apologies that I was using the questionable camera on my flip phone for these pictures.  
 

Overall, really cool, even if a bit impenetrable to me.  So this wasn’t really a successful Le Mans weekend for me, but I think I got plenty of sports car racing in and enjoyed it.    

How I Spent My Summer Vacation June 2019

I’ve been on vacation from writing at least for a month.  Maybe this is a sabbatical then.  I’ve still been watching and enjoying sports during this time, but hadn’t felt any desire to write about it until this weekend.  I’d like to say I’ve been relaxing, but that hasn’t really happened.  I finished reading some stuff that had piled up earlier this year inside of a week.  I’ve spent some time working on a fiction story that I started somewhere in the 90’s.  Needless to say, it’s still frustratingly not coming together.  I also got knocked out by a cold last weekend.  This weekend, after a busy night doing quarter end duties at work, I couldn’t get to sleep for the 100 degree heat.  I think I’ve lost two full nights of sleep over the last two weeks and still haven’t caught up.   

Before this weekend, I’ve seen and listened to some interesting events.  I discovered there are two professional lacrosse leagues.  (One of which plays in NHL hockey rinks and the other plays games in Cowboys Stadium.)    On June eighth, I heard the Rangers win a day/night double header over the A’s on the radio.  This was in addition to watching two baseball games on TV and listening to a Chihuahuas’ game.  This was my idea of a great weekend.  I heard some good Chihuahuas games during the month, but so many that they’ve all blurred together.  This is why I was writing up summaries on a daily basis.  They did have 29-4 and 19-9 wins in June over the Rainiers and the OKC Dodgers respectively.    

Years ago, I got to hear a bit of the radio coverage of the 24-hours of Le Mans race from France.  I’ve never actually seen the race.  When I got access to a home Internet connection earlier this year, I looked up when Le Mans was going to be on and anxiously waited two months for it.  When the day came (6-15-19), even better, I found the Eurosport video feed and got to watch. 

I missed the beginning (which was early in the morning) and the end (also really early), but I did get to see the night time stint, which was spectacular.  That 8-mile track isn’t really lit well or at all in places.  The big, bright headlights on the cars were essential given the racecar speeds they were going at.  Little wonder some drivers, generally a brave group of people, begged off of doing the night shift.  Overall, the cars were cool, the racing was fast and good, and I enjoyed the heck out of it.  I even learned that they have to actually change the brakes on the car during the race to give you an idea of how hard they’re driving those cars. 

However, there was 24-hour competition for the race.  Twitch streamer, Gibi, had hit two million subscribers on her ASMR Youtube channel and scheduled an all-day stream at the same time as the race.  I did see the beginning of her stream and the ending (where she was singing Closing Time).  This was fun, too.  Gibi’s such a sweetheart.  I think I watched about 18 hours of the race and the stream.  Running these two streams for hours on-end might have been the precipitating factor in losing my access to that open Wifi connection shortly thereafter.  Oh, well.  If I’ve gotten another Internet connection by June next year, I may try to stay up and watch whole Le Mans race.  (There will likely be some napping involving.)   

I suppose the biggest event that I’ve watched during this time has been the Women’s World Cup.  I’ve watched four of the five games in June during the day.  (One of the games was on cable for some reason and I couldn’t watch that one.  I don’t understand Fox’s scheduling there.)  I’ve had some deeply ambivalent feelings for the US team.  I’m not going to root against a US team in international competition, but this team is really making it hard to root for them.  This is coming from a guy with a huge crush on Alex Morgan.  (By quick count, I’ve mentioned her 21 times on the blog, err . . . 22 now.)  I’m not even sure if I like her anymore.  Alex’s carefully cultivated brand (a role model for little girls and a sex symbol for guys), much like Taylor Swift’s, has been soiled with her fans over what she’s said and been a part of.  I’m really disappointed in her. 

They are greedy, they have no patriotism, and they are bitterly politically partisan.  Anyone on the team not acting the same seems to be discriminated against by the team.  On field, they have displayed poor sportsmanship (13-0?) and have gotten by in later harder games largely thanks to the refs.  This US team is fully deserving of getting beaten, but I just can’t root for it.  It’s disgusting having your own patriotism used against you by people who hate America.  The team’s animus against President Trump (and half of America) has been met with scorn by him and others.  Graciously, he’s invited them to the White House, win or lose (more gracious than I would have been). 

I remember some individual players on some championship teams in other sports did decline to visit the White House while Obama was in office.  Generally, I don’t think they got any accolades for it and their teammates told them afterward that they should have gone.  The NBA and the NFL have both had issues with Trump, which I’m not bothering to get into here.  For a US national team to do this, and certain players getting away with it only because they’re stars, is despicable.  All this team can do now is win the tournament or they are laughingstock failures.  Even then, they’re not making any new fans with Americans.   

What finally got me to put pen to paper was this Saturday’s (6-29-19) Yankees/Red Sox game.  Normally, this isn’t news and I couldn’t care less.  Today, however, this game was being played in London.  Nice going, MLB.  The NFL sends scrub teams to London, you guys sent marquee teams.  Complete upstaging.  I was exhausted from work the night before and a lack of sleep, but I got up to watch this.

The field inside London Stadium looked small, and was, but actually wasn’t the smallest in the MLB.  Centerfield was only 385’ away, but was protected by a 16’ wall.  Foul ground, however, looked like about a half mile from the baselines to the stands.  The PA repeatedly told fans that they could keep the balls going into the stands if a ball made it that far.  Still, it was a good-looking temporary facility. 

60,000 people showed up for the game.  They said 70% of the tickets went to Londoners.  Of those, many were ex-pats.  There was team gear for the Yankees and Red Sox in the crowd.  I also saw a Rockies hat and some other teams represented.  I usually frown on third party gear at a game, but given the circumstances, it was totally appropriate here.  Of note in the crowd, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were out with some kids to throw out the first pitch.

A British a capella group, the Kingdom Choir, performed a pair of tremendous national Anthems (the US one and God Save the Queen, which sounds a lot like My Country Tis of Thee, just saying, there might be a copyright issue).  Use this group again next year when the Cubs and Cardinals are playing.  (I presume the Dodgers and Giants will be on tap the year after.)

Both teams wore their home white uniforms, but the Red Sox were the home team.  Neither team had player names on the back, so I hope everyone had a program.  In the first inning, the Yankees scored 6 runs and the Red Sox starter didn’t make it out of the inning.  In the bottom, the Red Sox scored 6 runs and the Yankee starter didn’t make it out of the inning.  Okay, that’s all of the play-by-play I’m doing for this game.  Let’s just say the pitchers didn’t react to the trip as well as the hitters.  (The Red Sox even took a luxury jet liner coming over.)  Beforehand, I was worried how they were going to explain the infield fly rule to the London crowd.  I chuckled at the time.  Strangely, that rule did come up in the first inning.  I was shocked. 

The second inning started an hour later.  Good thing the crowd may have been expecting something like a Cricket match; this was going to take a while.  Actually, I read an article and saw a video on the MLB website explaining that baseball actually originated in 1700’s England.  It was even mentioned in a Jane Austin novel.  (You know, the one where the heroine has a torrid, scandalous affair with Derek Jeter, North Yankee Abbey.)  What the heck happened?  Obviously, the English played a different style of game than we do.  Their version of baseball had the players kicking a ball into a net. 

Let’s focus on some other aspects of the game.  OMG!  There was a sign for Taco Bell UK displayed behind home plate.  Wow, it’s the worst of Mexican food, combined with terrible English cuisine.  Frightening.  MLB brought The Freeze in for the weekend.  In his skintight body suit, The Freeze can usually beat any fan in a sprint, even giving the fan a good head start.  Amazingly, the fan, from America actually, won the race.  He was a big, unassuming guy.  He took big strides and didn’t seem to be running hard.  The Mascot Race later featured Henry VIII, the Loch Ness Monster, Winston Churchill, and Freddie Mercury, who won.  I wonder what Londoners thought of the spectacle given that the mascot choices had all the earmarks of being picked by Americans. 

The main blemish on the coverage was that Joe Buck was broadcasting, but him and John Smoltz did a decent job.  They had dinner delivered to the booth and got something like a hot dog, but it was huge like Rangers’ “Boomstick.”  I didn’t find out if that was usual London Stadium fare, or something that was brought over special.  In the pregame, Alex Rodriguez was shown having a good time going around London.  This guy might have a better chance of getting into the Hall of Fame as a broadcaster if he works at it more. 

Three hours in, it was 15-6 Yankees and maybe the seventh inning.  Smoltz did make the comment earlier that he thought this could be a signature win for the Red Sox this season after their first inning comeback.  Needless to say, the game ran over the PGA Senior Championship coverage.  It wasn’t over yet though!  The Red Sox made a comeback in the eighth and got it to 17-13.  They even left the bases loaded in the inning.  In the bottom of the ninth, Aroldis Chapman had to come in to finish the game for a 17-13 Yankees win.        

A game montage was played to the tune of Yakety Sax, the Benny Hill Show theme, but there were no errors.  A great double play even ended the game.  The game went 4 hours, 42 minutes.  That was 3 minutes short of the longest 9-inning game ever (a Yankees/Red Sox game of course).  37 combined hits.  16 pitchers (8 for each team) were used.  DJ LeMahieu for the Yankees was the star of the game going 4 for 6 with 5 RBI’s.  Obviously, he’s just hitting well at Coors Field and isn’t actually doing anything special this year.  (Why couldn’t you have hit this well with Rockies, DJ!)  Was this an abnormal baseball game to introduce England to?  In terms of the teams playing, not by much, but certainly it was a heck of an epic game to expose a first-time fan to.

The Rangers’ broadcasting crew was amazed by the game too.  I started listening to them partway through the London game.  I was briefly wondering if the Rangers/Rays game would finish first, though it started a couple of hours later.  Brendan McKay for the Rays, making his first Major League pitching appearance, had a quick perfect game going into the sixth inning.  Eric Nadel informed us that Bumpus Jones has the only Major League no-hitter in his first appearance, though that was in the 1800’s.  The effort was broken up in the sixth and the Rays won 5-2.

Fox had a day/night double header today.  I was briefly concerned that the London game might overlap the evening game between the Dodgers and the Rockies.  I had gotten to watch their game last night at work on MLB.TV, which graciously decided not to locally blackout the game (though I can’t get the game locally).  It was an epic battle, complete with a lightning delay.  The Rox finally broke their 12-game losing streak to the Dodgers, 13-9.  

I’m still not doing play-by-play, but the Rockies won on Saturday 5-3, with Jon Gray beating Clayton Kershaw.  Given how high-scoring other two games in this series were, Fox might have been disappointed, but this lower-scoring game was definitely a more intense, sweeter win.  Joe Davis and AJ Pierzynski did a great job on the commentary.  Mike Hill and Dontrelle Willis were excellent in studio.  I may have been exhausted, but what a great day of baseball.  And with that, I’m going back on sabbatical for a while.