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And I also go back and say that even if the now ancient Audi R8 was being driven on modern tires and with a factory driver and some aero development, it could be easily as fast as the LMP1H cars were at LM this year.
The Audi R10 almost got there, so did the R15 and the air restrictor equipped R18 variants. The first gen 908s got there and so could ultimately the 908HY4.
We do have to remember that a lot of the rules in the current prototype classes were to slow down the rate that cars were getting faster as much as anything.
Of course, the ACO painted themselves in a box IMO by catering to manufacturers and going for the huge hybrid systems too quickly. It seems IMO they didn't appreciate that they'd do whatever it took or how much it'd cost to exploit the regs withing their original 3 season time frame.
ROI has always been marginal in prototypes vs GT racing. The Audi Sport and Porsche GT3 programs actually make them a fair bit of money. The Audi R8 LMP900 customer car program probably didn't make Audi Sport a ton of money, and we know that the Porsche RS Spyder program didn't for Porsche, either.
It is what it is now. All we can hope for is that there's a huge privateer field at LM and that the 2020 rules can make amends to some degree. Complication there is does the ACO bend over for Peugeot, or stay the course?
I don't think that backing down on the tech stuff will be a big turn off, especially if the field is healthier as a result.
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