[gwyllion]

Henri Pescarolo's comments on the 2012 rules: http://www.86400.fr/articles/194-hen...vec-curiositeq

As always he makes some interesting points:

• The first proposal of the ACO was a 10% performance reduction for the diesels, but it turned to be only 7%. However, the 5 liter tank reduction of diesels was introduced as an additional restriction.
• An increase in performance for NA petrol engines by going from 3.4 to 4.0 liter was also on the table. Judd and HPD agreed with this change, and Toyota was a maybe. We know from this interview that Toyota and Rebellion did not support this proposal. Judd had two option for a 4.0 liter engine: increase in displacement of the V8 or return to GV4 V10.
• It is a big mystery how much the performance of the diesel engines will be reduced by the 7% reduction in restrictor area and turbo boost, in part because there are no restrictions on the injector pressure. In the past Audi and Peugeot have demonstrated that they can overcome the rule changes with more engine development.
• The fuel flow restrictor will be the same for diesel and petrol. In combination with the smaller fuel tank, this has the very funny effect that fuel stops will be shorter for diesel cars. So in fact, this gives an advantage to diesel cars! Remember how the ACO completely misjudged the effect of the fuel flow restrictor this year: diesel stops were supposed to take 22 sec longer, but in practice the difference was only 3 sec.
• The performance equivalance of petrol and diesel engines is already very difficult to get right. The arrival of hybrid systems will make the balance of performance almost impossible to manage.
• When Pescarolo realized that diesel engines had such a big advantage, they were ready, together with Judd and Ricardo, to develop a diesel engine themselves. However, the development was never started because they were assured that the performance balance would be addressed in the short term.
• If a hybrid system turns out to be an advantage, private teams also need to go this route. Solutions exist, such as the flybrid solution that Hope Racing is using, but they need to be developed further. It seem that Henri prefers a mechanical flywheel solution because for a small team it is less complex than an electric system with batteries.
• Based on acceleration data, Henri estimates that the diesel engines produced between 600 and 620 hp this year.
• The rule of thumb is that a reduction of 20-25 hp results in 1 sec a lap in Le Mans. So (in theory) the 7% reduction for diesel engines is good for an increase in lap time of 2 secs.
• He states that direct fuel injection can not be used to increase the power of petrol engines, but that it will only result in better fuel consumption.
• He also points out that in 2012 the rule still exists that the ACO can re-evaluate the performance balance after the first 3 races.