Endurance Racing Discussion Thread - WEC, ELMS etcSports Cars

[Jezza819]

BMW to end their WEC program after this yesr's 24 Hours Of Le Mans. But will continue in IMSA.

https://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/bmw-world-endurance-championship-exit/4393462/

So now that's both Ford and BMW gone from WEC next year.

 

[sumbrownkid]

Ford may have privateers run the cars?

 

[TheHun99]

Ford may have privateers run the cars?

Their stated goal is having 3-4 cars running by privateer teams with Ford providing some support.

 

[Fabr_123]

2020 Porsche RSR prototype with side exhaust. Apparently it's turbo.

 

[sumbrownkid]

People thought the same for the 2019 car and yet it remained NA.

Can’t fool me this time Porsche.

*Laughs nervously*.

Where has it said it’s turbo though?

 

[sumbrownkid]

Deleted.

 

[Fabr_123]

People thought the same for the 2019 car and yet it remained NA.

Can’t fool me this time Porsche.

*Laughs nervously*.

Where has it said it’s turbo though?

Someone on Twitter. Not sure if it is true or not.

edit: Found a clip!

 

[sumbrownkid]

Someone on Twitter. Not sure if it is true or not.

Hmm.

The only argument I can see for turbocharging is that the air vents on side are wider, and the change to side exhausts are perhaps helping with the turbo piping. Of course the sound too, but Porsche did the same with the audio before making people think it was turbocharged.

 

[Fabr_123]

Hmm.

The only argument I can see for turbocharging is that the air vents on side are wider, and the change to side exhausts are perhaps helping with the turbo piping. Of course the sound too, but Porsche did the same with the audio before making people think it was turbocharged.

Yeah, sounds like NA after watching the clip above.

 

[sumbrownkid]

Hmm, it definitely sounds more muted, but at same time I don't hear the turbochargers like you do on the others.

Damn it Porsche, stop trolling.

 

[TheHun99]

Hmm, it definitely sounds more muted, but at same time I don't hear the turbochargers like you do on the others.

Damn it Porsche, stop trolling.

Didn’t have the chance to see the video yet but I distinctly remember seeing and hearing the ‘98 911 GT1s thundering down the main straight on the Hungaroring. From about half of the straight you could only hear the turbos, no engine noise. The GT2 911s were significantly louder than the GT1 - and it all ended when the Panoz was anywhere not super far away, you couldn’t hear anything else

 

[sumbrownkid]

Much better footage.

 

[Jezza819]

Much better footage.

That's interesting.

BTW, that's a fantastic Youtube channel to subscribe to if you love to watch old race cars (and new ones obviously).

 

[sumbrownkid]

Interesting point I came across on Reddit. Although it’s the internet and hard verified facts can be lost easily, but r/WEC has been rather on point when it comes to info.

Basically the current RSR engine note caused issues with drivers hearing after prolonged periods in the car and had problems hearing radio communications. If this is true, then I won’t fault Porsche at all if they decided that drivers being 100% during a race is much more important than satisfying our auditory fetishes.

It reminds me when Corvette ran the C6Rs with air conditioning even though the rules didn’t mandate it and it made the car heavier. But it made the difference in the 2005 race when the heat was very high but the drivers weren’t as stressed compared to the Aston crew who were literally doused with buckets of ice and water at every pit stop.

As for the Fords, I personally thought they were beautiful cars, and although they won 2016 on a rather unsporting like manner, they also had a Ferrari 488 right on their tail. I can see why people didn’t like its sound, but to me it sounded rather intimidating in a different way, like it sounded it wasn’t trying hard to make power at all. And they were actually loud considering it’s a V6 turbo.

 

[TheHun99]

Just read that the provisional entry list for this year’s 24h Nürburgring has been posted. I checked it for the sole Hungarian driver (Csaba Walter, one of the pro racing drivers who present a YouTube show where they drive 2 cars on a small circuit called Kakucsring) and went further to see other cars in SP8 where he competes.

At one point I stumbled upon the Walkenhorst BMWs and lo and behold, Lucas Ordonez will co-drive the #101 M6 GT3. It's not exactly being Bentley Boy but I haven't found any Bentleys in the entry list + the M6 is just as big and sports and FR layout I guess he'll be back in the Continental GT in Spa.

 

[ProjectWHaT]

2021 WEC Hypercar regulations have been announced

https://www.lemans.org/en/news/hypercars-endurance-racings-top-category/52205

it must either be:

• a prototype in the style of a hypercar
• a racing machine based on a road-going hypercar (a minimum of 20 road models must be produced over a two-year period)

Requirements:

• Weight : 1100 kg
• Powertrain average total output: 550 kW (750 hp)
• Performance level: 3:30, average lap time at Le Mans in race conditions
• Single tyre supplier
• Free design of body and underbody
• Imposed aerodynamic safety criteria

Hybrid system is not mandatory. For those who do use a hybrid drivetrain:

• Maximum hybrid system output is 200 kW (270 hp)
• This system drives the front wheels on the prototype, whereas the position is identical to the street-legal model for road-going hypercars
• An energy restitution threshold for the front wheels has been defined, to contain the advantages of a front-wheel hybrid system (4 wheel drive) and ensure that 2-wheel drive cars can compete.
  • 120 kph with slicks
  • Between 140 and 160 kph (a fix value will be defined) with wet-weather tyres

Regulations for the ICE:

• For prototypes: bespoke racing design or modified hypercar engine
• For road-going hypercars: based on the original car or an engine made by the same manufacturer
• Regulated power curve
• Single fuel

Their goal for all of this is "To create a top class with a level playing field and limited impact of the budget on the performance to encourage teams to run two cars in a full FIA WEC season over a five-year campaign" and "Performance will be less reliant on the amount invested. High budget expenditure will not imply performance advantage." Since this will consist of two kinds of cars, they will use a balance of performance similar to the one used in the GTE class.



Aston Martin has confirmed that their Valkyrie hypercar will enter.







Toyota has confirmed their entry.





An interesting point someone has made is that the targeted 3:30 lap time is on par or if not slower than current LMP2 class times. Which would mean the lower tier classes would need to be slowed down which in turn would effect other race series that use the same cars (i.e. IMSA)

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

Okay, I am probably the least knowledgable person here about this subject, but this new Hypercar class sounds a lot like what GT1 was like in the 1990s and early 2000s.

 

[LongbowX]

I admit that it does sound very GT1...although with more restrictions.

Also, with these rules, couldn't you just punch up a DPi's engine to 750, add weight to 1100kg and enter? Because it certainly seems like you could. I imagine there are details in the rules preventing that, but the rules haven't even finished being completely written yet...

I suppose it goes against the "in the style of a hypercar" regulation for the prototypes, as it likely wouldn't be.

 

[Quakebass]

2021 WEC Hypercar regulations have been announced

https://www.lemans.org/en/news/hypercars-endurance-racings-top-category/52205

it must either be:

• a prototype in the style of a hypercar
• a racing machine based on a road-going hypercar (a minimum of 20 road models must be produced over a two-year period)

Requirements:

• Weight : 1100 kg
• Powertrain average total output: 550 kW (750 hp)
• Performance level: 3:30, average lap time at Le Mans in race conditions
• Single tyre supplier
• Free design of body and underbody
• Imposed aerodynamic safety criteria

Hybrid system is not mandatory. For those who do use a hybrid drivetrain:

• Maximum hybrid system output is 200 kW (270 hp)
• This system drives the front wheels on the prototype, whereas the position is identical to the street-legal model for road-going hypercars
• An energy restitution threshold for the front wheels has been defined, to contain the advantages of a front-wheel hybrid system (4 wheel drive) and ensure that 2-wheel drive cars can compete.
  • 120 kph with slicks
  • Between 140 and 160 kph (a fix value will be defined) with wet-weather tyres

Regulations for the ICE:

• For prototypes: bespoke racing design or modified hypercar engine
• For road-going hypercars: based on the original car or an engine made by the same manufacturer
• Regulated power curve
• Single fuel

Their goal for all of this is "To create a top class with a level playing field and limited impact of the budget on the performance to encourage teams to run two cars in a full FIA WEC season over a five-year campaign" and "Performance will be less reliant on the amount invested. High budget expenditure will not imply performance advantage." Since this will consist of two kinds of cars, they will use a balance of performance similar to the one used in the GTE class.



Aston Martin has confirmed that their Valkyrie hypercar will enter.







Toyota has confirmed their entry.





An interesting point someone has made is that the targeted 3:30 lap time is on par or if not slower than current LMP2 class times. Which would mean the lower tier classes would need to be slowed down which in turn would effect other race series that use the same cars (i.e. IMSA)

Is that 2020 or 2021? Site says 2020 but the posts by the manufacturers seem to be talking about 2021.

 

[ProjectWHaT]

Is that 2020 or 2021? Site says 2020 but the posts by the manufacturers seem to be talking about 2021.

It'll come after the next season. The next season is 2019-2020. The season after that, when these regulations will start is 2020-2021. So I guess it's sort of like car model years and how they're a year early? Also, I think Le Mans is in the second half the calendar so they use that as the season year.

 

[Carbon_6]

Looks like there's gonna be a third entry in the hypercar prototype mix.

 

[TheElbows]

Glickenhaus was actually ballsy as they were the very first "manufacturer" to state categorically (late last year?) that they would partake in Hypercar...even without the rules written. I hope this doesn't stress them out, and that they've planned accordingly.

 

[01GTP]

This is as close to an 003s I got last year at Lime Rock during the World Challenge weekend.
I an very interested in hypercar class racing.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Spirit of race award goes to the driver and crew of the #49 car at Le Mans.

 

[jake2013guy]

Spirit of race award goes to the driver and crew of the #49 car at Le Mans.

I've called it the Zombie car.

 

[Northstar]

Ben Keating is going to the WEC, but unfortunately in a Porsche and not a Ford GT.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/keating-confirms-wec-program-with-project-1/

 

[SlimCharles]

This is worse than loosing Audi and Porsche.

 

[Jezza819]

6hrs of Fuji is starting right now.

 

[Tired Tyres]

#8 penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

 

[sumbrownkid]

Definitely sounds like Mclaren is testing something new. The engine note is different and the car looks much faster than anything GTE/GT3.

Comments suggest it could be Mclaren testing a potential Hypercar engine for the new regs.