Endurance Racing Discussion Thread - WEC, ELMS etcSports Cars 

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Yay!

I hope for SCG’s sake they come out swinging because I’m not sure they will have a real chance being competitive as these other programs hit the track.
 
This Hypercar vs. LMDh thing should be pretty interesting. Which philosophy in the end is going to prove to be better? Can't wait for it.
 
After the IndyCar stuff stalled I guess it was full steam ahead.

So we're looking at Toyota vs Porsche vs Audi vs Alpine vs Glickenhaus vs Peugeot vs Ferrari.

Oh Aston Martin you may have an F1 team but I think you missed out there.

This is why I despise Lance Stroll and his father.
 
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This is why I despise Lance Stroll and his father.

Except the issue with the Valkyrie (The very car the Hypercar regs was made for) was an issue before Lawrence Stroll stepped in. I know its hip to just flat hate people with crap tons of money but lets stop pretending Stroll ruined Aston Martin when it was Aston Martin that ruined Aston Martin.
 
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Except the issue with the Valkyrie (The very car the Hypercar regs was made for) was an issue before Lawrence Stroll stepped in.

Why did he had to pull the plug??

Aston Martin may have had problems but they did not pull the plug they were willing to participate until the problems got ironed out.
 
Why did he had to pull the plug??

Where has it in anyway been proven that HE pulled the plug? There's nothing that proves this and the only people I see claiming this are the same people that just hate Lawrence Stroll because he got his son an F1 seat (nevermind he's far from the worst human being with an F1 seat right now..)
 
Where has it in anyway been proven that HE pulled the plug? There's nothing that proves this and the only people I see claiming this are the same people that just hate Lawrence Stroll because he got his son an F1 seat (nevermind he's far from the worst human being with an F1 seat right now..)

He bought aston martin. New owner new priorities.

It should be obvious.
 
Except the issue with the Valkyrie (The very car the Hypercar regs was made for) was an issue before Lawrence Stroll stepped in. I know its hip to just flat hate people with crap tons of money but lets stop pretending Stroll ruined Aston Martin when it was Aston Martin that ruined Aston Martin.
To add to this, the FIA/ACO's statements on the Valkyrie project's postponement suggested that Aston Martin's apparent financial problems at the time might have also played a part in their decision.

With that in mind, I do not wish to assume that its postponement was down to any single reason. However, I am not yet convinced that rebranding Racing Point would have been less expensive or more worthwhile for Aston's brand image, especially when you frame the Valkyrie LMH as a logical progression from the highly-successful DBR9/Vantage GT campaigns of past decades.
 
He bought aston martin. New owner new priorities.

It should be obvious.

And that proves it how exactly? Are we just gonna ignore the part where Aston went into Administration before Lawrence came in? Are we gonna ignore that even with the $657 Million cash injection, it still wasn't enough to help them? With or Without him, there wasn't gonna be a Hypercar entry for Aston no matter how much people wanted it. Hell last I checked, there doesn't even look like there is even gonna be the Valkyrie Road car itself let alone a racing version (or the Track only car).

To add to this, the FIA/ACO's statements on the Valkyrie project's postponement suggested that Aston Martin's apparent financial problems at the time might have also played a part in their decision.

With that in mind, I do not wish to assume that its postponement was down to any single reason. However, I am not yet convinced that rebranding Racing Point would have been less expensive or more worthwhile for Aston's brand image, especially when you frame the Valkyrie LMH as a logical progression from the highly-successful DBR9/Vantage GT campaigns of past decades.

While I get and understand what you say, I'm honestly not sure a branding exercise even in Formula 1 would be anywhere near the amount that it would take for the R&D costs that would go into the development of the Valkyrie AND the Valkyrie PRO AND a Hypercar entry while still also running a factory team in the WEC. Its also worth noting that Racing Point was already in good financial shape a good year and a half before Lawrence went over and saved Aston so its not as if apart from sponsors there was much more to be thrown in to them (Especially with the new cost cap put into place this year and REALLY set to make a massive impact in 2022).

My main argument at the heart of all of this is the blind "I hate Lawrence Stroll" narrative that people throw into this while ignoring many other external factors.
 
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This is why I despise Lance Stroll and his father.
Without Lance and Lawrence Stroll, two F1 teams wouldn't exist. Lance is good enough to be in F1 and Lawrence actually knows how to use his money. They are a positive force for F1, and the Valkyrie project was destined for disaster well before Stroll came in and had the balls to be the one to pull the plug.
 
While I get and understand what you say, I'm honestly not sure a branding exercise even in Formula 1 would be anywhere near the amount that it would take for the R&D costs that would into the development of the Valkyrie AND the Valkyrie PRO AND a Hypercar entry while still also running a factory team in the WEC. Its also worth nothing that Racing Point was already in good financial shape a good year and a half before Lawrence went over and saved Aston so its not as if apart from sponsors there was much more to be thrown in to them (Especially with the new cost cap put into place this year and REALLY set to make a massive impact in 2022).
There are a couple of good points you've raised regarding Racing Point's financial state and the costs of a rebranding compared to the combined costs of the Valkyrie project as a whole (including road, track and racing versions). I suppose in that case this might work out much better for Aston than if the reverse happened and they, in their recent state, bought Racing Point outright.
 
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And that proves it how exactly? Are we just gonna ignore the part where Aston went into Administration before Lawrence came in? Are we gonna ignore that even with the $657 Million cash injection, it still wasn't enough to help them? With or Without him, there wasn't gonna be a Hypercar entry for Aston no matter how much people wanted it. Hell last I checked, there doesn't even look like there is even gonna be the Valkyrie Road car itself let alone a racing version (or the Track only car).



While I get and understand what you say, I'm honestly not sure a branding exercise even in Formula 1 would be anywhere near the amount that it would take for the R&D costs that would into the development of the Valkyrie AND the Valkyrie PRO AND a Hypercar entry while still also running a factory team in the WEC. Its also worth nothing that Racing Point was already in good financial shape a good year and a half before Lawrence went over and saved Aston so its not as if apart from sponsors there was much more to be thrown in to them (Especially with the new cost cap put into place this year and REALLY set to make a massive impact in 2022).

My main argument at the heart of all of this is the blind "I hate Lawrence Stroll" narrative that people throw into this while ignoring many other external factors.

Really??

Damn I never thought the Valkyrie project was this bad!!!

Its like the F35 of hypercars.
 
So, on the LMDH side of things, who else are we expecting? Something from GM, possibly Acura/Honda...and maybe Mazda will stick around? If this occurs and they make room for it at Le Mans, could we actually see..something in the realm of 10+ manufacturers in the next 4-5 years?
 
As much as I'd like them too, Mazda won't be returning for LMDh after they end their DPi program this year. I do hope they make a return to top level prototype's at some point down the line, sooner rather than later.

Nevertheless, with Acura/Honda confirming "intention to go forward" with LMDh and GM evaluating both LMDh and GT3 programs, the interest in both LMDh and Hypercar regulations is already paying off it seems,
 
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