71 replies to this topic

[Richard T]

Any Autosport members going to the 24h race? I recieved my tickets last week! Will be arriving on wednesday morning and stay at the Village on the Curves campsite

[Victor_RO]

Any Autosport members going to the 24h race? I recieved my tickets last week! Will be arriving on wednesday morning and stay at the Village on the Curves campsite

Yes I am, arriving on Thursday, camping at Tertre Rouge.

[Cavani]

I love lemans 24h for the prestige and the buzz of it , but all i see is lmp1,lmp2 cars lapping gt cars , and gt cars lapping each other other than the 1 minute fight for the LMP1 lead in 2012 who didn't last long when the toyotar crashed

[ApexMouse]

Its endurance racing. It's not meant to be a 24 hour battle for the lead. If one team shows up with a much faster their car they're going to blast into the distance.

[BoschKurve]

Its endurance racing. It's not meant to be a 24 hour battle for the lead. If one team shows up with a much faster their car they're going to blast into the distance.

Which is how it should be if a car is built better than the others.

[HaydenFan]

Its endurance racing. It's not meant to be a 24 hour battle for the lead. If one team shows up with a much faster their car they're going to blast into the distance.

Wish people told the Grand-Am people that at Daytona. How 3 cars where on the lead lap at the finish is mind boggling. Even at Le Mans where the top prototypes are pretty equal, you still see the winning car take by a lap or two.

[Red17]

After Alpine it's Caterham slowly getting in.

Could this year be the end of the 2 team era in LMP1?

[Victor_RO]

After Alpine it's Caterham slowly getting in.

Could this year be the end of the 2 team era in LMP1?

We'll have Audi, Toyota and Porsche in LMP1 next year without a doubt, let's see what else... Lotus want to make the T128 LMP2 into a LMP1 car next year, Perrin have a LMP1 design for 2014, Rebellion Racing have an announcement in the pipeline, Wirth/HPD also have a car on the drawing board for 2014...

[SonnyViceR]

Wish people told the Grand-Am people that at Daytona. How 3 cars where on the lead lap at the finish is mind boggling. Even at Le Mans where the top prototypes are pretty equal, you still see the winning car take by a lap or two.

It's different at Daytona because
A) There are ****loads of more cautions
B) Artificial "we'll get your lap back" rules and wave-bys
C) The lap is shorter
D) DPs are heavily performance balanced
E) DPs are almost spec, which obviously fits the NASCAR mentality

That being said, it's a shame that the ACO has decided to use BoP so blatantly to help Toyota this year. And AMR in GTE is a joke, just as BMW used to be.

Edited by SonnyViceR, 04 June 2013 - 12:12.

[Cavani]

instead of 4 audis vs two toyotas it will be 8 audis vs. 2 toyotas in 2014

[Linther]

Wish people told the Grand-Am people that at Daytona. How 3 cars where on the lead lap at the finish is mind boggling. Even at Le Mans where the top prototypes are pretty equal, you still see the winning car take by a lap or two.

It's true, usually you have to find the closer racing somewhere down the ranks come Sunday noon, but you can. However, the mesmerizing thing is the rhythm of the race as it is slowly unfolding. The pit stops seesaw, some cars are quicker, some are more fuel efficent. Then the Driver Comes in with a puncture and the ranking is shaken up again. It's just great to watch, a bit like a Tennis match where you can see one Player slowly getting an advatage and then watch as the game is turned around again.

And sometimes you get a race like 2011 which blows you away over the whole 24 hours. Or 2008 when a slower car is winning against the odds. Or...

[ApexMouse]

instead of 4 audis vs two toyotas it will be 8 audis vs. 2 toyotas in 2014

Porsche are petrol not diesel, so it will be whatever absurdly poor attempt at balancing has been introduced deciding the races for another few years.

[SonnyViceR]

Porsche are petrol not diesel, so it will be whatever absurdly poor attempt at balancing has been introduced deciding the races for another few years.

That's why the ACO should ban diesel immediately. Variety means zero if BoP is applied...

[Victor_RO]

That's why the ACO should ban diesel immediately. Variety means zero if BoP is applied...

Next year balancing will be done on energy content of fuel and fuel capacity+flow according to energy content, not with weight and restrictors. So instead of endlessly tweaking stuff to give someone an advantage, the cars will get an equal amount of energy per stint, that will be far easier to manage and do PROPERLY than the clustercluck that they've got now.

[HaydenFan]

Next year balancing will be done on energy content of fuel and fuel capacity+flow according to energy content, not with weight and restrictors. So instead of endlessly tweaking stuff to give someone an advantage, the cars will get an equal amount of energy per stint, that will be far easier to manage and do PROPERLY than the clustercluck that they've got now.

So they are taking away the biggest benefit of the diesel then, which is fuel mileage?

[Victor_RO]

So they are taking away the biggest benefit of the diesel then, which is fuel mileage?

Sort of, but it's still not the biggest benefit of the diesel. The biggest benefit of the diesel has always, in the Audi/Peugeot era, been a factory team developing and running the car, and that won't change.

[SonnyViceR]

Next year balancing will be done on energy content of fuel and fuel capacity+flow according to energy content, not with weight and restrictors. So instead of endlessly tweaking stuff to give someone an advantage, the cars will get an equal amount of energy per stint, that will be far easier to manage and do PROPERLY than the clustercluck that they've got now.

Yes but it still means balancing different technologies...

Btw in my book this Audi vs Toyota BoP sandbagging war of this year is far worse than Audi vs Pescarolo in 2005, that one you could've sort of justified...

[Victor_RO]

Yes but it still means balancing different technologies...

Different technologies are what sportscar racing is all about. They shouldn't ban diesel, I would even go so far to say they should extend the energy formula to anything that can be fitted in an endurance racing car. And balancing on energy quantities is far better than balancing the way they're doing it now.

[SonnyViceR]

Different technologies are what sportscar racing is all about. They shouldn't ban diesel, I would even go so far to say they should extend the energy formula to anything that can be fitted in an endurance racing car. And balancing on energy quantities is far better than balancing the way they're doing it now.

There would be zero BoP in LMP1 (factory) if the diesels were absent, because that's the only place ACO/FIA aren't afraid to touch... so yes as much as I'd like to agree and have more different technologies in ideal world, I'm always rooting for options that mean less BoP. Because variety/technology + BoP makes about as much sense as NASCAR styled spec racing - same aim, different methods

Edited by SonnyViceR, 04 June 2013 - 19:17.

[Red17]

Stupid question: Audi has the experience of over a decade in Lemans, Toyota has 2 (yes they were there before but it was other times).

Without some balancing would we have had Toyota putting a fight last year when a lot of people predicted a Audi walk in the park?

(for the record, I too support the diesel ban, in my eyes it just dug the trench deeper, no need to make the little people feel smaller, even if these little people are the ones doing it for love and many times staying on during difficult times)

[chrisblades85]

I'm either being blind or stupid, probably the latter, but is the race not being covered in he UK? I can't see it on the listings?

[Vepe1995]

I'm either being blind or stupid, probably the latter, but is the race not being covered in he UK? I can't see it on the listings?

I think Eurosport shows it there, at least here in Finland they do.