(Lead photo: John Dagys) This year’s 24 Hours of LeMans is going to be interesting before a wheel turns in anger, and you can thank Ford and Renault for the news. Both manufacturers have been hard at work creating “surprises” for the big race. I use quotes because it doesn’t take Miss Cleo to know what these two are up to.
First up is Ford. It has been about fifty years since Henry Ford II’s rage turned into a blank-check racing program whose sole goal was to destroy Enzo Ferrari at his own game, and we’ve already seen the road-going iteration of the GT supercar, the one that stunned at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year. If a GT-LM doesn’t appear, we will be among those absolutely stunned. Expect it to be sporting the same EcoBoost V6 that Ganassi Racing has been racing with for a few years now…everything else is up in the air. Ford is expected to make the announcement on Friday.
Then there is Renault. This year marks the 60th anniversary of their sporty sub-brand, Alpine. Renault has been rumored to be bringing Alpine back to life and is expected to display the first new model, tentatively called the AS1, during the festivities. This isn’t nearly as solid of a guess as the Ford is, but we have seen the Renault Alpine concept car blasting around Goodwood, so we will remain cautiously optimistic until Renault’s official unveiling on Saturday.
Yeah well all bets are at least one of them is FOS ! . That one being Renault . Thats the non-existant Caterpine [ Renault Alpine Caterham collaboration that failed miserably ] being shown along with Fords non running yet to turn a wheel at all never mind in anger EcoSnooze motivated GT . Both of which to date are pure Vaporware wishful thinking . Neither of which will likely live up to any of the expectations being built up by both companies .
Oh … and did I mention Renault doesn’t have the money to develop this car ? Not to mention Ford’s delusion of cheap quality Carbon Fiber and thinking they can ask beyond Ferrari prices for a freaking …. Ford ???? And .. did I also mention nobody really gives a damn about either beyond the media desperate for something to report on ?
Yeah … this’ll work out real well for both . Ford about to get its head handed to it by Acura / McLaren /Ferrari / Porsche Cayman GT4 etc … and Renault on its way to hitting the wall with yet another pretentious attempt to revive their glory years in the guise of an Alpine that in fact have not existed for decades ..
… all in the midst of an epic ecological crisis …
Brilliant !
No wonder Subaru is kicking everybody’s @$& left and right .. 😉
It’s like you have tourettes or something. You honestly can’t help yourself, can you?
Hey, ColoradoKid!!! Did you notice you were on Bangshift…not Green Peace! Have you not noticed the “Ecosnooze” success in Ganassi DP cars? Computer must be hard to see through all the pot smoke up there, huh? Ecological crisis or not you should probably tune into what’s actually happening. There is this weird 5.2 flatplane crank v8 that is bigger than Ferrari’s? I think Ford is doing alright. I can’t speak to Renault, however, I prefer to be optimistic. Must be time for the ColoradoKid to hit the bong again because someone seems cranky.
I kinda remember a Ecoboost motor winning at the 24 hr Daytona race this year
Don’t feed the Colorado cool aid troll. ford is doing cool things now. Vettes are at Le Mans as we speak, hard crash today, all is good. Porsche on the poll at 3:21., Pedro Rodriguez was on poll in 71 in a 917 at 3:18. Balls of steel, safety in those cars is laughable. The Mulsanne has the kink now, but still, crappy bias ply tires, no radios, no cage worth a damn, etc