Endurance Racing Discussion Thread - WEC, ELMS etcSports Cars

[flip55]

According to Brazilian journalist Rodrigo Mattar, Brazil may be back in WEC. The race is set to be in December 2019. Announcement will be made in March 22.

Aaaaaaand here it is! No date given, but December would be a safe bet, I'd say.

 

[Dotini]

Montoya is set for LeMans, and a chance at the legendary Triple Crown.

IndyCar and Formula 1 star Juan Pablo Montoya will make his Le Mans 24 Hours debut this June, the Colombian now confirmed as a United Autosports LMP2 driver for the French endurance classic.

At Le Mans, Montoya will race alongside American racer Will Owen and his 2017 ELMS teammate Hugo de Sadeleer in the team's No. 32 Ligier JS P217.

"I'm very excited about the opportunity to experience Le Mans and I'm looking forward to joining United Autosports after they had such a strong finish at Le Mans last year," Montoya said. "I've always watched the race so I'm very happy to finally be part of it. Hopefully we can have a shot at a win."

As was previously reported by RACER, the 42-year-old Acura Team Penske driver has been eyeing the motorsport 'Triple Crown' for years now, and with Indy 500 and Monaco Grand Prix wins already under his belt, to obtain it, Le Mans is the only race left for him to win.

While he is unlikely to win the race overall in United Autosports' Liger, with the current breed of LMP2 chassis, it could be possible, as last year Jackie Chan DC Racing managed to finish second overall with an LMP2 class ORECA, due to the LMP1 class becoming a race of attrition.

Either way, through this run with the Anglo-American team, Montoya will gain valuable experience for a future entry in the top class.
http://www.racer.com/wec-le-mans/item/148366-montoya-confirmed-for-le-mans-with-united-autosports

 

[UnkaD]

Pretty cool. I wonder if he was motivated by Fernando Alonso's recent exploits. Penske should kick the Acura program up to the next level in the future. That would be sweet.

 

[WillOxleyGB]

Great news! Hopefully the ACO and IMSA will merge the rule books to allow teams such as Penske to enter.

 

[BrainsBush]

Jumbo WEC team on its way! Dutchies here we come.

 

[Doc Austin]

Hopefully the ACO and IMSA will merge the rule books to allow teams such as Penske to enter.

Won't happen. Makes too much sense.

 

[Dotini]

The Halo comes to the enclosed coupe.

WEC mandates Halo from 2019
Sunday, 01 April 2018
By Marshall Pruett

april fool.

 

[CodeRedR51]

TVR Teases New (And Very Blurry) Le Mans Challenger, Will Debut On April 5

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2018/04/04/tvr-teases-lmp-programme.html

 

[Jezza819]

2019 WEC Sebring race moved to Friday and reduced to 1000 miles.

https://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/sebring-1000-mile-race-friday-1021606/

 

[DesertPenguin]

Everyone knew that midnight race made no sense. Good to see some sense coming out of this WEC "Super" Season

 

[Jezza819]

Everyone knew that midnight race made no sense. Good to see some sense coming out of this WEC "Super" Season

Yeah I didn't see how they could pull that off either. I'm guessing the second pitlane will be on the left side of the Ullman straight?

 

[DesertPenguin]

If you listen to the Marshall Pruett podcast, him and Graham Goodwin said they should have both races run at the same time but going in opposite directions. It would be really exciting and get everyone to watch.

 

[CodeRedR51]

 

[UnkaD]

I like how the flat surface of the wheels is incorporated into the livery design. As always, Rebellion have a beautiful prototype, and it's good to see the TVR name present again regardless of what contribution they have to this program.

 

[WillOxleyGB]

Great looking livery but is it just me or has the car got a lack of a front defuser?

 

[sumbrownkid]

Welp, looks like Toyota is destroying the competition on pure timing. But I'm sure they are all in on reliability in this test.

 

[SHGTP]

Welp, looks like Toyota is destroying the competition on pure timing. But I'm sure they are all in on reliability in this test.

Toyota's quickest times where set without running to the EoT regulations. When they did run to said regulations, the quickest Toyota was 5th fastest, SMP where quickest, edging out Rebellion. Now I'm sure Toyota has a couple more seconds in it, but I'm also sure the privateers have a second or two, given how new they are.

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2018/04/07/toyota-finishes-prologue-fastest.html

 

[Roo]

Free from rules and regulations, Porsche intend to turn the 919 up to 11 and see how fast it can go.

 

[DesertPenguin]

But what's the point of a lap time beating others if it's not in comparable trim?

 

[SHGTP]

But what's the point of a lap time beating others if it's not in comparable trim?

In Toyota's case they where testing a new cooling system. Because air temps where cold, they asked the organisers to run the car unrestricted, to push it to it's limits.

In Porsches case, it's a PR exercise like they did years ago with the 917/30. They may have a go at the overall Nordschleife record. They could run at 80% pace with a regular 919 and beat that record.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

But what's the point of a lap time beating others if it's not in comparable trim?

The same reason others constantly compare series that are galaxies apart to one another when they run the same tracks during a season. It would show what a Le Mans car could do with more open regs, which down the road may garner interest to the point governing bodies would use it as a case study.

 

[C-ZETA]

Well I thought at first that, unless Toyota got BoPped on the head, there was no way they'll lose Le Mans this year. But when they did get BoPped on the head they were getting beaten. Still, at this point, who knows.

In other news, the fastest race car in the world is now, sure enough, a jacked up prototype. Well done them.

 

[twitcher]

What a lap by Jani. Some 12 seconds faster than the LMP1 pole lap from last year.

....kind of makes the F1 2017 rule changes aimed at gaining 5 seconds per lap a bit of a joke

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

What a lap by Jani. Some 12 seconds faster than the LMP1 pole lap from last year.

....kind of makes the F1 2017 rule changes aimed at gaining 5 seconds per lap a bit of a joke

In what sense? The FIA wanted to gain time with in all reality, slight changes. If they actually cared about allowing current F1 cars to run faster times it would be quite easy. I feel Porsche is doing the same thing here with their car as well to likewise demonstrate just how restricted WEC is.

 

[twitcher]

In what sense? The FIA wanted to gain time with in all reality, slight changes. If they actually cared about allowing current F1 cars to run faster times it would be quite easy. I feel Porsche is doing the same thing here with their car as well to likewise demonstrate just how restricted WEC is.

Just in the sense of how much the 2017 updates were hyped up, and then conpletely failed to deliver the promised 5 seconds. I agree, that if the FIA wanted to make the cars faster, they could do it pretty easily....which makes the failure to do so in 2017 a joke.

 

[chrisjohnson93]

Reckon it'll do a sub 3 minute lap around Le Mans if they decide do try and do a lap there.

 

[twitcher]

Reckon it'll do a sub 3 minute lap around Le Mans if they decide do try and do a lap there.

Do you think they’d be allowed?

On one hand, it should be no problem....but the elephant in the room it would raise regarding all the restrictions on the vehicles, and how these “fastest cars in the world” really aren’t nearly as fast as they could be.

I just feel like WEC organizers would have too much pull at Le Mans, and would put up a bunch of road blocks, as it would become one of the main stories of the weekend. “Retired WEC car smashes Le Mans record and beats LMP1 pole by 30 seconds” (random guess) would not exactly be a great headline to have floating around during Le Mans weekend.

I mean, it would be great for you and me, but not so great for the egos who run the show.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Just in the sense of how much the 2017 updates were hyped up, and then conpletely failed to deliver the promised 5 seconds. I agree, that if the FIA wanted to make the cars faster, they could do it pretty easily....which makes the failure to do so in 2017 a joke.

It was hyped because for once the FIA seemed to be about gains, rather than be restrictive. I don't see how it failed. Some tracks it did it, others it didn't. We're talking about a group wanting to make gains, but then still be restrictive by limiting engines and so on. Can't have both and that was proven more times than not. Also the other reason for hype was a return to more old school interesting looking cars rather than rear box wing, silly safety reg designs and so on. The idea cars would be more sexy was as equal part of the hype as the quicker lap times.

I don't see how it makes 2017 more of a joke, with slight aero revisions and bigger tires, they dropped times and at various plays achieved their goal and in reality the 2017 regs are still on going, and times are still dropping in 2018. So if your argument is to pick straws and simply point to 2017 alone while the regs are still doing what they were wanted to do, then I'm wondering how badly you want to see F1 fall flat.

 

[twitcher]

It was hyped because for once the FIA seemed to be about gains, rather than be restrictive. I don't see how it failed. Some tracks it did it, others it didn't. We're talking about a group wanting to make gains, but then still be restrictive by limiting engines and so on. Can't have both and that was proven more times than not. Also the other reason for hype was a return to more old school interesting looking cars rather than rear box wing, silly safety reg designs and so on. The idea cars would be more sexy was as equal part of the hype as the quicker lap times.

I don't see how it makes 2017 more of a joke, with slight aero revisions and bigger tires, they dropped times and at various plays achieved their goal and in reality the 2017 regs are still on going, and times are still dropping in 2018. So if your argument is to pick straws and simply point to 2017 alone while the regs are still doing what they were wanted to do, then I'm wondering how badly you want to see F1 fall flat.

I wouldn’t bat an eye. In fact, I might smile a little bit

I dunno, each to their own I guess. You can continue to be impressed with F1. To me, this is just another sign of how F1 really ain’t all that great.

 

[GTPorsche]

F1 isn't great because a former factory LMP1 team took the restrictions off their championship winning racer, massaged the aero and added some moving aero bits?

If anything that shows how tame WEC regulations are and has no relevance to what F1 is capable of. When Mercedes uncorks their car and starts setting records with it, then we can bring up how lame F1 is. Until then, there's no point in doing so.