[WEC] 2018-2019 WEC Super Season

[Mike E]

Making a kerb as wide as a car is just asking for trouble.

https://twitter.com/MacLeanComms/sta...0%7Ctwterm%5E3

[RedSquirrel]

Um...Joerg Bergmeister was the only driver according to Alkamel to turn laps in the Project1 car in the first session, and I haven't seen Perfetti or Lindsey next to the car since. So that's 227 laps by the big man (1315 km). Fair play.

Boom! 1:37.605 by Lotterer. Getting there, slowly but surely.

[Damian Baldi]

And now Rebellion 1.37.6 !

[Purist]

Well, having seen some video clips, it looks like they are actually still using Layout 1A-V2 for the test. However, this reduction in lap times seems abnormal, especially for LMP1 and GTE, and I don't think the track repave is sufficient as an explanation. For example, at the high end, the repave at Watkins Glen I think might have been worth two seconds, but compared to Paul Ricard, that track has a higher proportion of the lap made up by long-duration corners, and especially high-speed ones.

It really would be nice to see a good onboard lap video from the test.

[LMPFan]

Originally Posted by Damian Baldi

And now Rebellion 1.37.6 !

1:37.316 now

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by Damian Baldi

And now Rebellion 1.37.6 !

Impressive for a car which (as far as we know) only turned a wheel for the first time this morning. I'm guessing there's a fair bit more to come from the privateer P1's...

[TF110]

That Oreca is very familiar to Rebellion and with nearly 100kg less weight, it was only a matter of time they got down to business with it. The Kolles has done a 1:38 flat as well. Not bad for them with their new package.

[RedSquirrel]

Originally Posted by Purist

Well, having seen some video clips, it looks like they are actually still using Layout 1A-V2 for the test. However, this reduction in lap times seems abnormal, especially for LMP1 and GTE, and I don't think the track repave is sufficient as an explanation. For example, at the high end, the repave at Watkins Glen I think might have been worth two seconds, but compared to Paul Ricard, that track has a higher proportion of the lap made up by long-duration corners, and especially high-speed ones.

It really would be nice to see a good onboard lap video from the test.

If we look at best qualifying laps from Spa, Toyota managed 1:57.579 in 2016 compared to 1:53.658 in 2017. They improved by 3.921 seconds in one year. Now if we go back to the last time the Prologue was at Paul Ricard, Toyota's best was 1:38.273, 5.611 seconds slower than today. A bit of that improvement is due to the resurfacing but I'd say it's mostly car and tyres.

Agreed about some onboard video. I'd also like to hear the new Gibson V8.

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by RedSquirrel

Agreed about some onboard video. I'd also like to hear the new Gibson V8.

Hopefully someone films and posts some video tomorrow.

[Damian Baldi]

A pre season video from WEC

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/982252275392430082


And a very nice picture of the #5

[chernaudi]

People are already complaining about Toyota having a near 5 second gap so far in the test.

[Bentley03]

Lotterer lapping consistently in the 1:37's now.

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

Lotterer lapping consistently in the 1:37's now.

1:37.044 last time around.

[TF110]

380+ laps for the #7 Toyota and almost as much by the #95 Aston Martin. One of the BMW's is also over 320 laps. They just keep on going!

[chernaudi]

I don't know how much to read into the near 5 second gap, because of:

-The LMP1 privateer cars being new cars.

-How much of the speed difference is hybrid vs non hybrid or factory team vs privateer teams.

-If Michelin is still making tires just for the Toyota and the privateers are on a generic spec of tire made by Michelin for LMP1s

-And so far it's the high downforce Toyota that's fastest. I know that one Toyota and the SMP Dallaras are in LM spec, but what about Rebellion and Ginetta?

[TF110]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

I don't know how much to read into the near 5 second gap, because of:

-The LMP1 privateer cars being new cars.

-How much of the speed difference is hybrid vs non hybrid or factory team vs privateer teams.

-If Michelin is still making tires just for the Toyota and the privateers are on a generic spec of tire made by Michelin for LMP1s

-And so far it's the high downforce Toyota that's fastest. I know that one Toyota and the SMP Dallaras are in LM spec, but what about Rebellion and Ginetta?

I think the Rebellion is high-downforce. The Kolles and Ginetta's are low-downfoce and the only BR Engineering Dallara running high-downforce is the DragonSpeed.

[chernaudi]

And for further reference, at Sebring in 2001, the pole sitting Audi R8 was nearly 5 seconds faster in qualifying than the fastest non-Audi. And Sebring and Paul Ricard are about the same length, too.

[Irie]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

I don't know how much to read into the near 5 second gap, because of:<br />
<br />
-The LMP1 privateer cars being new cars.<br />
<br />
-How much of the speed difference is hybrid vs non hybrid or factory team vs privateer teams.<br />
<br />
-If Michelin is still making tires just for the Toyota and the privateers are on a generic spec of tire made by Michelin for LMP1s<br />
<br />
-And so far it's the high downforce Toyota that's fastest. I know that one Toyota and the SMP Dallaras are in LM spec, but what about Rebellion and Ginetta?

<br />
For the tires in the interview with Wurz on Daily Sportscar he says they use tires which are designed for the hybrid 4 wheel drive. So they would have to be different to the tires the privateers are using?

[chernaudi]

I suspect that Michelin probably makes a generic spec for LMP1 privateers unless they're sinking the coin like TMG to have tires built to their cars' specs.

I also think that the Toyota pace is probably partly also down to the track being resurfaced vs what was done in 2015.

[Damian Baldi]

Sarrazin down to 1.37.5 with the SMP. Why the Ginetta is at the pits for so long?

[Damian Baldi]

Translated from french

Differences between hybrid and non-hybrid LMP1 tires ...

Michelin designs tires for all cars, adapting to all the technologies that serve today's mobility. In motorsport the approach is the same, with an adaptation of structures and eras according to the distribution of masses, aerodynamic load, power, torque, transmission or type of motorization used by the partner. In the LM P1 Hybrid class, racing cars are all-wheel-drive, while they are powered solely in the LM P1 non-hybrid category.

As a result, the work of Michelin Motorsport engineers focused on front-end tires, which do not have the same constraints. They therefore required specific development routes and thus designed tires with a dedicated internal structure and suitable tires to meet these particular constraints. The LM P1 Hybrid category will use tires that are very similar to the previous season, as the results of the races and tests conducted in the offseason were entirely satisfactory.

[chernaudi]

Answers that the LMP1 privateers have tires that are supposed to be suited to their cars. That's assuming that they each team doesn't pay for their own spec of tires.

[chernaudi]

On a not so related tangent, does anyone know if TMG have tested at Paul Ricard post-resurfacing prior to the WEC Prologue? That could explain part of their pace.

[TF110]

Vitaly Petrov is improving in his SMP. 1:37.4 last time around.

[RedSquirrel]

These improvements are encouraging. The ByKolles car would be in the 37s too if they had James Rossiter or Marco Bonanomi here. Bonanomi was due to test the car. Maybe he'll be there tomorrow.