72 replies to this topic

[BRG]

if they'd offer these black-white-development-mule-liveries for ordinary road cars, i might actually buy one of these - just to fool everyone

I was following one of those new McLaren P1s prototypes outside the Woking factory that was in the dazzle camouflage. It looked rather good.

[redreni]

If you change the rules to make the cars narrower and/or taller it's automatically bad. You're forcing the competitors to build them to look less like racing cars and more like Chelsea Tractors.

Compare this beautiful 2001 Williams to this hideous 2010 Williams, for example:





I know there have been some silly accidents caused by prototype drivers having their view obscured by their own front wheelarches. There are also plenty of crews who seem to get their P1 cars safely to the end of the 24 hour race at Le Mans year-in, year-out despite the poor visibility. Prototype sportscars are meant to be exotic. They are not necessarily meant to be easy to drive, or to see out of.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Uhm. The 2001 and 2010 Williams are more alike than you think.

[Boing Ball]

Uhm. The 2001 and 2010 Williams are more alike than you think.

Indeed. The 2001 Williams was already like 1998-narrow and it did have those awful, narrow 1993 rear tyres...;)

[Gilles4Ever]

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=T-Oya-HVoLY

2014 Porsche LMP1 in action on track ! [Spy Video]

[Victor_RO]

Blow-off valve chatter on downshift. 

[onewingedangel]

V4?

[Victor_RO]

V4?

 

All people have managed to find out about the engine is that it's a small-capacity turbocharged 4-cylinder with energy recovery both under braking and from exhaust heat. Whether it's an inline-4 or a V4 remains to be seen, and it will probably only be official when Porsche release more details about the car.

[V3TT3L]

New Porsche Microsite for the LMP1 contender

 

http://www.porsche.c...usa.aspx#LeMans

 

[LoudHoward]

*Webber fan wanders into thread*

 

I have no idea what anyone is talking about xD

 

 

 

 

Looks like I have a lot to learn and catch up on Anyone got any beginner guides to the series? Audis and Pugs bad right?!

[Brother Fox]

Haha, climb aboard this ole bandwagon

 

Im quite chuffed that ive been loosely following it for a few years now and can now watch Webber driving a brand of car I love (I know, no relation to road cars etc etc)

Dont sweat the pugs, they've gone a few years back - which was a shame becuase it was fun to have a car with FAP in its name.

[Wretched]

Joins the bandwagon...

Been following WEC here and there during 2013 but 2014 is what I am looking forward to, welcome back Porsche and Mark Webber

[LoudHoward]

Dont sweat the pugs, they've gone a few years back - which was a shame becuase it was fun to have a car with FAP in its name.

 

Haha right, Today I Learned.

[Peat]

*Webber fan wanders into thread*

 

I have no idea what anyone is talking about xD

 

 

Basically, Sportscars is just like F1.

 

Except the people who follow it are more interested in actual racing & engineering over 'he said/she said' rollox.

[GhostR]

Haha right, Today I Learned.

 

It's ok, the Toy-motor bad guys replaced the Pugs.

[Option1]

*Webber fan wanders into thread*

 

I have no idea what anyone is talking about xD

 

 

 

 

Looks like I have a lot to learn and catch up on Anyone got any beginner guides to the series? Audis and Pugs bad right?!

No, no.  You've got it wrong.  Audi, good.  Toyota, Porsche, bad.  

 

Anyway, I think Peat got it exactly right when he/she/it said, "Except the people who follow it are more interested in actual racing & engineering over 'he said/she said' rollox"

Neil

[SonnyViceR]

*Webber fan wanders into thread*

 

I have no idea what anyone is talking about xD

 

 

Welcome to watch some proper motor racing

[W154]

Now if only Ferrari and Ford would come back in 2015.........

[OSX]

Porsche Is Racing Back to Le Mans With a 919 Hybrid

16 December 2013

 

 

After a 16-year hiatus, Porsche is returning to the greatest endurance race in the world, and the machine that’s bringing them back to Le Mans is a four-cylinder hybrid that could set the bar in 2014.

The 919 Hybrid — which is exactly one unit greater than the 918 plug-in hybrid supercar, and two less than the Le Mans-dominating 917 — was unveiled at the Night of Champions in Weissach over the weekend, but we still haven’t seen Porsche’s prototype sans-camo.

What we do know is that the 919 is running a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine — half of what other cars in the series use, including the lesser, sports car-based GT series — and a new hybrid drivetrain to boost power and efficiency. That’s in keeping with new regulations set by the governing body of Le Mans to increase fuel economy, reduce emissions, and retain energy that would be lost through braking and thermal events. And other teams racing in the top-spec LMP1 (Le Mans Prototype 1) class are sure to follow suit.

Porsche has three hybrids in its production car lineup, and this is the latest gas-electric endeavor for the automaker.

“With hybrid sports cars like the Cayenne as a SUV, the Grand Touring Panamera, and the 918 Spyder three-litre super sportscar, we are on the right track,” says Wolfgang Hatz, R&D board member for Porsche. “But to continue leading the way in the future and to merge sportiness with sustainability, we need to keep learning. Maximum efficiency in energy consumption is the directive of the new WEC regulations for the works-entered class 1 prototypes — and that is also the direction for the automobile future.”

When Porsche does something, it does it well and it does it to win (hell, it managed to make both a sedan and and SUV drive like nothing else in their respective classes), so we’re expecting big things from the 919. And Porsche has the hotshoes to make it happen, with former F1 drivers Mark Webber and Romain Dumas on board, along with Porsche veterans Timo Bernhard and Neel Jani.

 

http://www.wired.com...brid-unveiling/

 

[Option1]

Porsche Is Racing Back to Le Mans With a 919 Hybrid

16 December 2013

 

 

...

The 919 Hybrid — which is exactly one unit greater than the 918 plug-in hybrid supercar, and two less than the Le Mans-dominating 917 — ....

 

http://www.wired.com...brid-unveiling/

 

Math, not Wired's strong point?

 

Neil

[Ross Stonefeld]

If it's an unveiling why are we still painting it like a WW2 battleship.

[DanardiF1]

If it's an unveiling why are we still painting it like a WW2 battleship.

 

Because unveiling's aren't that simple anymore... there's this and then a 'livery launch' to come later...

[SonnyViceR]

Well at least there's the relief that the new livery, whatever it is, cannot possibly be any more bland than the one on the Manthey works Porsches this season.