Embracing Le Mans in Different Ways Possible

Due to how TL;DR the last 24 Hours of Le Mans article was (combined), this part, which was originally to be featured in the last post, was spared. This though isn't without a reason: there isn't just one experiment on replicating a Le Mans race, not even two, three or four, but LOTS OF THEM! Yup, the spirit of Le Mans lives on in these events that we just can't even move on from the French classic, even in top down games. Yes, waiting for another 365 days and moving on is hard, even harder than moving on from a hard relationship and waiting for another season of Orange is The New Black to binge on, if you have Netflix that is.

But the bright side is that 24 Hours of Le Mans is a race everyone wants to be engaged in, and a wide variety of media have facilitated such things, mainly video games since the days arcades were born. From the classic WEC Le Mans arcade game in the 1970s, to Sega's innovative gameplay of Le Mans 24 arcade game, and then swarming home consoles with titles such as Test Drive Le Mans (TWO versions) in the late 90s, Gran Turismo 4 within its infamous full-length Endurance Events hall race WITHOUT A MID-RACE SAVE in 2000s (but does have a day/night cycle in its sequels) and later Race Driver GRID where you are offered a chance to drive the event (which turns out to be 24 minutes long) at the end of every season. XBox-exclusive game Forza Motorsport apparently doesn't miss this chance in its recent installments also, and yes, I'm yet counting simulators like GTR2, rFactor and Project CARS (its "sim" status seems a little bit questionable somehow...) with user-made Circuit de la Sarthes and supporting endurance series mods. Outside of gaming scope, if you have quite a creative brain, you can have some artworks, GIFs or memes in the middle of the race, a series of "live artworks" of the race, or you can even have a stop motion Le Mans-style race.

As far as the video games scope is concerned, the 3D games (bar WEC Le Mans duh -_-) have all the joy and somehow not the top down games you all know, which translates to the 3Ds saying "you can't sit with us" to the top-downs, but is it so?

THE OTHER QUARTER OF BATTLE - 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans recap (part 2)

As the dawn came, one rule to come in mind is that even the worst runner of the race would never give up until the race finished. In this case, the #23 Nissan, as pictured, driven by Oliver Pla, Jann Mardenborough and Max Chilton was this. (Image: Club Nissan Elite)

Previously, the sixteen hours of 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans were filled by GTEs engulfed in flames, LMP2s spinning around, and certain LMP1s having too much problem. But at the same time, the battles within these different classes were all burning hard; you have a three-way bout between works efforts of Corvette, Aston Martin and Ferrari in the GTE-Pro category, then there were GTE-Am cars bopping their buns rear bumpers off for survival, LMP2 cars trying to stop KCMG's dominant run, and, of course, the cat-and-mouse duel between Audi and Porsche for the Le Mans wins this year, which will determine either Audi will continue its dominance or that Porsche broke its streak in its own home, avenging their last year's loss.

It has been one sleep and one breakfast for the past sixteen hours racing, now here goes the recap for the other eight which took place in a time where the moment was right: lunch.

THE FINEST SPORTSCAR SUPREMACY - 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans recap (part 1)

(Image: Auto Express)

The Sportscar battle of supremacy has come again! 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans has delivered some of the notable actions, which included crazy overtakes, some get togethers, and other kinds of miracles. This year marks the French classic's 83rd edition, and is the first time we see the absence of an innovative machine in the Garage 56 and Tom Kristensen. Also for this year, the crop of talents include the three NISMO GT-R LMs, SMP BR01s, Gibson 015Ss, Oreca 05s, and a Riley Viper as some of the new names, and for the drivers, we have quite a crop of F1 drivers, active and former, including Nico Hulkenberg, who drove the #19 Porsche 919 Hybrid alongside Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy. There were so many headliners for this year's race, which includes Audi's bid to strengthen its Le Mans dominance amidst Porsche's threatening FIA WEC performance, Toyota's awakening, and the eventual victor of both GTE categories, Pro and Am.

This post is my most special post for the past three years in writing this stuff. The first year was kind of trainwreck even though it was posted right after the race ended, and the second was really long overdue due to final test affairs despite the article being a proper recap. This year, unfortunately, was also long overdue due to finals, but fret not though, it's not a total trainwreck time-wise like the second though. Also, this doesn't hide the fact that this year is the first year I live and breathe Le Mans without watching it via cable as I lost my subscription to all sports channels, though in exchange I have Radio Le Mans, some live video streams, FIA WEC Official Live Timing, Motorsport.com's live text feed and of course Twitter so nothing is lost even though I have to face the fact that my internet doesn't stream live videos very well with lags a plenty. This is also the first time I spent ALMOST my whole life listening to RLM, either using my main internet or my smartphone internet, sans the net café visit where I spent the last 30 minutes of the race. And then I realized that my cable no longer has Eurosport so cue the Carrie Mathison cry face, NOT!

Due to how TL;DR this recap is, I split this into two parts: this part will cover the race start to the sixteenth hour, while the rest will be covered in part two, along with some "extra spice" at the end of the part 2 post.

A Dear Letter for Jules

Dear, Jules.

I don't know who you were, and I don't even follow what you were up to. Yet somehow I feel empty now that you were up there in heaven. The day you started fighting for your survival, I started to grow my respect on you, and I kept hoping that you would be back there, soldiering on.

You had a fight last year, a big fight for your survival. You struggled your hardest to quickly get back to your cockpit of a black and red open wheeler everyone loves to call it "Marussia", formerly "Virgin Racing" years back.

It was that time when you had an accident last year. You have tried your best to avoid it, but it was all too late. Many people who watched you at that time cannot resist their sadness; they were speechless, just like when Allan Simonsen crashed in Tertre Rouge before you. I didn't get to watch the footage but reading how everything happened, it carried me and I finally became one of them.

(Image: James Moy Photography / PA)

Some people I witnessed were playing the blame game after that accident, but very many, including myself, were by your side. Your fight began as your family, your friends, and your fans were cheering their hardest so you could have your courage. I understand that it was a long fight to survival, not something that you could do in a fast pace.

Sadly, Fate had another plan, and in the end some battles cannot be won. You left us way too soon, and your career was far from over. At one point, you had a dream of following your great father's path and even driving for the Ferrari team. Yes, the Rosso Corsa team every racer wants to be in.

(Image: FIA World Endurance Championship)

It was the darkest day for not just the Formula 1 fandom, but the whole Motorsport fandom. Max Chilton, your teammate, dedicated his Indy Lights victory to you, even other drivers from other disciplines were remembering you. In the end, everyone will miss you, even though you weren't one of the top guys. This shows that motorsport is a one big family, regardless of whatever the car everyone is racing.

For myself personally, this is the another loss of several figures of the world for the past four weeks from this post. Everyone already lost Satoru Iwata, the former Nintendo CEO responsible for our childhood who passed away due to cancer, and now we had to lose yet another figure. I know that both you and Satoru weren't directly related, but bear in mind that these two people were the notable figures in their own way.

(Image: F1 Fanatic)

Thank you, Jules. May you rest in peace...

Sincerely,

~[R]

DEDICATED TO JULES BIANCHI
1989 - 2015