39 replies to this topic

[SRW_Rob]

What's your thoughts about this years WEC Championship, after a very exciting race for Round 1 at Silverstone we saw Simraceway Pro Driver Allan McNish take the victory with a epic recovery drive.

[j_smith]

it's really an exciting year, Toyota has really stepped up their game and has proved to be very competitive.

 

I'm looking forward to Le Mans.. Rob make sure you post pictures on the forum =D

[Dimitris Giannopoulos]

Audi has started the season very well so far, with Mcnish starring at round 1 in Silverstone and the 3 hybrid Audis making a podium sweep at round 2 in Spa. Now, it's the big one: the 24 hours of Le Mans. All the eyes are going to be focused on this big race. Confirming its historical importance the WEC organisation has decided to double the points that every finishing place usually offers in the races. Therefore, the winner will receive 25 x 2 = 50 points and so on. It will be a crucial race for the championship, with Toyota being highly motivated to win after last year's disappointment.

 

Le Mans is certainly multi car racing at its best, with 56 cars of 4 different classes in the field. So, apart from the titanic Audi vs Toyota battle for LMP1, it will be nice to watch the battles in the classes LMP2, GTE Pro and GTE Am. The GT classes are certainly to be watched, as the lead packs in those 2 classes are so close, from the beginning to the end. Cars are very closely matched and it will be so interesting, due to noone really being able to pull off a big lead (at least there are no big speed differences).

 

Well, good luck to every participant for the Le Mans race and the rest of the championship season. I'll not forget to keep an eye out for the privateer Lotus Rebellion Toyota entries, as they are very consistent and I like their way of thinking. Let's enjoy an amazing 24 hour historical race!

[tomekf248]

Yesterday a new BoP has been published. It's just awful! Everything has been made to give Aston Martin a win they don't deserve. It's now three years since Ferrari 458 made it's debut and instead of developing cars in order to beat them, they just simply want to slow them down with BoP. 1,4 mm less restrictor diameter is a HUGE difference. What's even more annoying is that 458 is THE ONLY car which is fully built within the rules. All the other cars have waivers which we don't know about.
 
Here's a BoP table which I created yesterday for my website:

Parameters in order: weight, air restrictor diameter, height of the rear wing’s ‘Gurney’ flap, fuel tank capacity and the difference in height between the roofline and the top of the rear wing

[SRW_Rob]

Yesterday a new BoP has been published. It's just awful! Everything has been made to give Aston Martin a win they don't deserve. It's now three years since Ferrari 458 made it's debut and instead of developing cars in order to beat them, they just simply want to slow them down with BoP. 1,4 mm less restrictor diameter is a HUGE difference. What's even more annoying is that 458 is THE ONLY car which is fully built within the rules. All the other cars have waivers which we don't know about.
 
Here's a BoP table which I created yesterday for my website:

Parameters in order: weight, air restrictor diameter, height of the rear wing’s ‘Gurney’ flap, fuel tank capacity and the difference in height between the roofline and the top of the rear wing

 

Do you have the BHP figures for each also as that would weigh in on how much restrictor they have to deal with. Personally not a fan of the 458 at all, not entirely sure why either just doesn't sit right with me.

[tomekf248]

Because of so many BoP changes it's impossible to tell how many HP the cars have as they are constantly tuned for the best power/fuel usage ratio for each race. For example Corvette says that changing restrictor from 30,6 mm to 28,6 mm decreased power from 590 to 470 HP.

[SRW_Simon]

Simraceway Pro Driver Allan McNish checking out his sweet ride Was great to see him win his home race.

 

[SRW_Simon]

And of course,  A Picture of him taking the Chequered Flag.

 

[Rolo Tomassi]

That's a very nice couple of photos CSR. The chase at the end of the race was fantastic.

 

For the win I'll be backing the #2 Audi. I have nothing against the other crews, or Toyota for that matter, but I've been a fan of Tom K and Alan for a long time!

[Rolo Tomassi]

Yesterday a new BoP has been published. It's just awful! Everything has been made to give Aston Martin a win they don't deserve. It's now three years since Ferrari 458 made it's debut and instead of developing cars in order to beat them, they just simply want to slow them down with BoP. 1,4 mm less restrictor diameter is a HUGE difference. What's even more annoying is that 458 is THE ONLY car which is fully built within the rules. All the other cars have waivers which we don't know about.
 
Here's a BoP table which I created yesterday for my website:

Parameters in order: weight, air restrictor diameter, height of the rear wing’s ‘Gurney’ flap, fuel tank capacity and the difference in height between the roofline and the top of the rear wing

Regarding the BoP Aston Martin have been given an extra 10kg of ballast to carry around. That's hardly going to help them! And anyway why don't they deserve to win the 24hrs?

http://www.fiawec.co...lmgte_1140.html

 

For the win I'll be backing the #2 Audi. I have nothing against the other crews, or Toyota for that matter, but I've been a fan of Tom K and Alan for a long time!

[tomekf248]

Maybe I've used strong words in my post but for me it's not acceptable that one or more manufacturers lobbied sanctioning body to take away from the other manufacturer advantage they get within the rules. It's not F1 where everything is allowed until it's not mentioned in the rulebook. In ACO sanctioned racing you are only allowed to do what is in the rules.

 

Yes, I am Ferrari fan since many years but I really can't find a reason how promoting Aston Martin because they decided to run more cars over a Ferrari who have spent a lot of money on developing the 458 and in particular direct injection is supposed to help developing the technology or encouraging other manufacturers to join (we've already heard that LFA GTE was abandoned, MP4-12C was abandoned and R8 GTE was abandoned) and that's why I said that they don't deserve to win because they are a reason why BoP is so visible in ACO racing which was never the case and they are running a lot of waivers which other cars don't have.

 

I really recomment listening to Radio Le Mans. They are often mentioning how is the current system works and what is wrong with it in a way I will never be able to expain.

 

I really should stop talking about that bacause it may turn against me.

[Rolo Tomassi]

Maybe I've used strong words in my post but for me it's not acceptable that one or more manufacturers lobbied sanctioning body to take away from the other manufacturer advantage they get within the rules. It's not F1 where everything is allowed until it's not mentioned in the rulebook. In ACO sanctioned racing you are only allowed to do what is in the rules.

 

Yes, I am Ferrari fan since many years but I really can't find a reason how promoting Aston Martin because they decided to run more cars over a Ferrari who have spent a lot of money on developing the 458 and in particular direct injection is supposed to help developing the technology or encouraging other manufacturers to join (we've already heard that LFA GTE was abandoned, MP4-12C was abandoned and R8 GTE was abandoned) and that's why I said that they don't deserve to win because they are a reason why BoP is so visible in ACO racing which was never the case and they are running a lot of waivers which other cars don't have.

 

I really recomment listening to Radio Le Mans. They are often mentioning how is the current system works and what is wrong with it in a way I will never be able to expain.

 

I really should stop talking about that bacause it may turn against me.

The BoP should be visible. If a rule can't be defended it shouldn't exist.

Aston Martin have also spent a lot of time and money developing the Vantage as a racing model since 2008. I'm not aware of the abandoned race programmes you mentioned, but I don't see how Aston Martin (a small organisation next to Nissan and Audi) can be blamed for them.

According to the entry list there are three Astons in GTE (Pro) and three Ferrari's. In the Am class there are more Ferrari's (5 of 13) than any other model, so your comment about Aston Martin running more cars is an error. http://www.24h-leman...2_2_1980-2.html

The BoP rules may not be fair, but they exist and you can be sure that everyone, including Ferrari, will use them as some point if they feel they need to. I do wonder who spoke up (lobbied) against Aston Martin to get then the 10kg of added Ballast?

Looking back at your earlier post I'd be very interested to know what the unknown waivers are that at GTE cars (except the Ferrai 458) have :-)

Lastly, I don't understand your point about the F1 and ACO rules. The ACO rules are much more open and allow for much more variation than those applied to F1, which is why the BoP exists.

As you can probably tell my opinions are a little different to yours, but that doesn't mean I don't respect your right to hold that opinion and I hope anyone else replying does so in a civil manner.

[tomekf248]

Basically everything started in 2010 when ACO decided to drop GT1 category from Le Mans. It was very good decision because those cars were really expensive and GT2s were as fast as them. So from 2011 we have LMGTE which is just renamed GT2 class with paddle-shifters instead of sequential. At that time Aston Martin which had pretty good GT1 car was running in prototypes trying to win overall. That didn't happen with Lola which was a good chassis but not as aerodynamic efficient as the big rivals so they decided to build they own prototype - AMR-One which was a complete disaster. After loosing a lot of money they decided to go back to GT and start in GTE class.

 

And here is the story of GTE. Until 2012 BoP was not existing and any changes in cars performance were made by ACO during the off-season. In 2011 - the first year of GTE Ferrari was outpaced at Le Mans by Corvette which won that year and Ferrari had decided to do something with it and put much effort to develop their engine and chassis and did decent amount of testing to make sure the 458 will be faster and more fuel efficient than Corvette.

 

2012 was first year of the World Endurance Championship with Ferrari and Aston runing their works teams (of course naming AF Corse a factory team is arguable). At some point (particulary after Le Mans) it become clear that Ferrari started to dominate and won every single race. Porsche was rubbish that year and Corvette was starting only in GTE Am where they were winning so they were not interested in changes. But there was Aston Martin which just didn't wanted to loose again and lobbied ACO to give Ferrari smaller fuel tank and restrictor. That resulted in first win for Aston at Interlagos. FIA was not happy because of that (maybe even more because of all the performance fun in the ALMS) and from this year we have proper BoP rules which clearly says what can be changed and when but changes from previous year were not reverted and this year we have clear "Thank You ACO" from Aston by running 4 full-season entered cars and fifth at Le Mans.

 

According to waivers this is a mystery. They are in racing for a long time bacause in production-based racing there is a need to give level playing field for different types of cars. Ferrari 458 was also built using waivers but latest rule changes made this car fully within the regulations. We know that only because Ferrari said that. There is no list of them and even other manufacturers doesn't know what waivers were given to their competitors. I don't think waivers are wrong I just say that they should be transparent.

But there is one car which is just ridiculous - BMW Z4 GTE. It's a GT3 car converted into GTE spec with no real success (I'm not talking about their results as they of course won at Long Beach). There are so many modifications that even wheelbase is different than in road version of Z4. That car is using enormous amount of waivers to the point that it can't be homologated by the FIA and can't race at Le Mans (which is OK for BMW because they are only interested in ALMS).

 

ACO's GTE rules are more open but this is still production-based category and should stay that. If they will be giving waivers to every car then we will end up with another GT3 where everything is allowed.

Edited by tomekf248, 04 June 2013 - 06:42 PM.

[Allan Equality Wu]

Hey everyone - sorry I'm late to the party =3 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_wbc

Le Mans 24 the 90th anniversary wrapped

A tough go of things in more ways than one - Aston Martin's inspiration and perseverance will be driving the rest of this season forward- without doubt

Just a reminder to check out the 2013 Le Mans Watch in the Real Racing thread,

 

If you are watching TV / Youtube recaps, this community thread http://community.sim...-le-mans-watch/ might give you additional insight

 

LoneWolf was the guy that did the East Coast late night recaps and did a fine job

Add this to the list of references as the good people at Jalopnik also composed one 

http://oppositelock....-blog-540092501

Now we're done we provided a link from OUR thread to this very one !


Bottom line- I'd keep an eye out now on P2 and GT Pro + AM-

 

we saw a big development when Pecom racing the points leader , Team [49] only finished 5th in P2 class several laps down on OAK leaders , and Both Lotus drifting away still

 

The Team Manthey Porsches were trailing big in WEC 2013, now with both cars having lapped the field once to win 24, They gain big time

GTAm's First Team before the 24, 8 Star [81] loses points big time

 

... by finishing below 7 WEC squads in class as Team Matmut 's [76] bottom dwelling team, winds up taking class win

Lest we forget, At the Le Mans 24, literally, POINTS COUNT, DOUBLE.

Keep it up and will be following the blog

[SpatialDragon]

Very sorry about the loss of Allen Simonsen yesterday, sadly it takes these events to force the safety changes needed in real life.

I also want to say congrats to Allen McNish on his 3rd Overall win at LeMans. I "met" him here in the game and been a big fan ever since. He was really cool, he asked how I got my name and he really wanted to help me become a better racer. Pretty rare in someone world famous.

[Allan Equality Wu]

It was a very somber week indeed - since the sport lost such a talented young star indeed
The talk should continue- of what exactly befell him and what should be done 

Time heals it all - I hope that will be the case for the family's sake and the team's sake - Utterly dreadful 2 weeks

Now, As for our beloved Allan McNish I came across something that should light his fire and Team Joest s fire - 

 

http://jalopnik.com/...dium=socialflow

 

Sebastian Vettel's current teammate HAS HAD ENOUGH and has this new gig

 

 

From SPEEDTv.com 
'The 36-year-old Australian, who has contested the last 12 years in Formula One, will join Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and the recently announced Neel Jani as works pilots for the all-new prototype contender, which recently broke cover earlier this month.'

 

If Audi can win the next 24, it will be just as epic, if not even more

But as for Mark Webber- indeed will he come to practice in America for the United Sportscar Series at Daytona Rolex 24

[Rolo Tomassi]

Congratulations to Tom K, Allan M, and Loic D on achieving the well deserved status of World Champions.

Good luck to all Aston Martin drivers in the final round as they look to achieve the same in their classes.

[reynaldo123]

An epic race in Shanghai  

Audi takes 1st place in last 30 minutes  

[mxsr]

 

The last 40 minutes from 6 hours Shanghai

[Risto Kappet]

McNish retired aswell! Maybe he and Dario will start doing big work in SRW