[WEC] Toyota LMP1 Discussion

[chernaudi]

People were already complaining about no noise when Audi were running the R10 in the ALMS. The thing was only making about 85-90db. Even the old R8 was quite a bit louder than that.

I'd think that the ICE's future lies with synthetic or renewable fuels that are low emission. Audi are/were working on making semi-synthetic diesel fuel and gasoline out of a form of algae. And I think that others have been trying to work along similar lines.

These fuels are also supposed to overcome the problem with ethanol, which is it's low energy density.

EVs and fuel cells are probably the future, but the technology to make the viable for the public is a ways off, and until the public can have the benefits of a EV/fuel cell with the benefits of a car that runs off old dinosaur juice, they'll have limited appeal. Not to mention that there's questions of if infrastructure can currently support EVs.

[AoB Special Stage]

I don't understand people who can't enjoy a race if their ears aren't bleeding.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by AoB Special Stage

I don't understand people who can't enjoy a race if their ears aren't bleeding.

Well I guess there are people who enjoy silent movies, still.







L.P.

[GasperG]

EV racing will be anything but silent, it may not be loud but it's definitely not silent.

Another big Hydrogen down side is storage, hydrogen leaks out of the tanks over time.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by AoB Special Stage

I don't understand people who can't enjoy a race if their ears aren't bleeding.

I like variety, which is something EV racing cannot offer. I like V4 through to V12, NA, Turbo and even the LMP Diesels. Variety is part of what makes Le Mans so amazing track side and it'll be sad when it's gone.

[AoB Special Stage]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

I like variety, which is something EV racing cannot offer. I like V4 through to V12, NA, Turbo and even the LMP Diesels. Variety is part of what makes Le Mans so amazing track side and it'll be sad when it's gone.

I assure you that's not entirely the case.

[CyberMotor]

I think some of you are judging the electricity-generation as a function of the 'grid'. I think the future of electric vehicles is having charging stations spaced out that generate their own juice without the need of the grid.

The big shift that Henry Ford caused was having your own engine and fuel supply that was independent.

Independence of the grid is the future. I also think that the roofs of the transporters can hold enough power generating tools to supply a team and car(s) for an entire weekend.

Driving up and running a weekend without plugging in should be the goal.

That way, the coal-produced electricity becomes a non-issue.

[Rennen]

With Porsche having proven their point, it leaves TMG Toyota with a dilemma...race at Le Mans and try and win albeit against themselves. Leave the WEC and go Rallying instead...Or why not Lend, Lease or Sell off their old race cars (with help) to Privateer teams and keep the Hybrid class championship alive?

[chernaudi]

Privateers don't have the money or the technical resources to run one of these cars on their own, or even probably with help from the factory.

Really, the last time that privateers got their hands on factory spec cars was when Audi Sport and Panoz sold some R8s and LMP1 Roadsters to customer teams. I think that the era of customer teams, be it fully privateer or semi-factory, are pretty much over without a technological reset.

These cars make even the Audi R18 e-tron quattro and Toyota TS030 from 2013 look almost AK-47 simple. Which means that the old R8 is about as simple as a rock if you want to look at weaponry.

The new cars from Ginetta, Dallara and whoever else wants to throw their hat into the ring will be customer friendly, but they won't have hybrids.

Peugeot's efforts could probably create a customer friendly hybrid LMP1, but I know that people will also look down on their requests as "dumbing down" LMP1 tech.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Privateers don't have the money or the technical resources to run one of these cars on their own, or even probably with help from the factory.

Really, the last time that privateers got their hands on factory spec cars was when Audi Sport and Panoz sold some R8s and LMP1 Roadsters to customer teams. I think that the era of customer teams, be it fully privateer or semi-factory, are pretty much over without a technological reset.

These cars make even the Audi R18 e-tron quattro and Toyota TS030 from 2013 look almost AK-47 simple. Which means that the old R8 is about as simple as a rock if you want to look at weaponry.

The new cars from Ginetta, Dallara and whoever else wants to throw their hat into the ring will be customer friendly, but they won't have hybrids.

Peugeot's efforts could probably create a customer friendly hybrid LMP1, but I know that people will also look down on their requests as "dumbing down" LMP1 tech.

ORECA did win Sebring with a 908 remember.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Rennen

With Porsche having proven their point, it leaves TMG Toyota with a dilemma...race at Le Mans and try and win albeit against themselves. Leave the WEC and go Rallying instead...Or why not Lend, Lease or Sell off their old race cars (with help) to Privateer teams and keep the Hybrid class championship alive?

I have a feeling that with Murata now head of TMG and him being the proponent of the hybrid, that TMG may be heading towards offering a customer option for a hybrid system. If not then there is another story to unfold with his promotion.

[chernaudi]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

ORECA did win Sebring with a 908 remember.

I wouldn't call Oreca a privater team in the conventional sense. They were basically a fourth factory car in all but name in 2010 and early 2011. From LM onwards, I'd agree with your assessment, but they were pretty much another factory 908 until then.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Rennen

With Porsche having proven their point, it leaves TMG Toyota with a dilemma...race at Le Mans and try and win albeit against themselves. Leave the WEC and go Rallying instead...Or why not Lend, Lease or Sell off their old race cars (with help) to Privateer teams and keep the Hybrid class championship alive?

They already went rallying (WRC) this year. And TMG only does the engine, apparently.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by deggis

They already went rallying (WRC) this year. And TMG only does the engine, apparently.

True. And the wrc is not going to be allowing hybrids for the foreseeable future. Toyota wants to promote that and only the WEC or F1 allow hybrids right now. So imo they're staying put. They hopefully have some good competition in the future to help them with the reasons for staying aside from the hybrid aspect.

[Bcarr6]

Let's have a simple tweak-

Give one car to Toms

Gazoo VS Toms

Brand the toms car as a Lexus, advertise both brands while you're at it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AoB Special Stage]

I'm not sure how Toyo would feel about brand inter-competition. And SARD is the one that's itching to go to France.

[carbsmith]

SARD has basically always brought at least one of their own car, I think that's an important part of the project to them.

[hondafan37]

Pechito Lopez and Sébastien Buemi were testing the TS 050 in Magny-Cours On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
"Everything went very well, I did many laps and that helps me to continue learning," "Some things were tested for Mexico and there the objective will be to fight Porsche", said Pechito. On Tuesday he gave 180 laps and on Wednesday 250.


http://deskgram.org/p/1587681152729923821_180335270
http://www.campeones.com.ar/0/nota/index.vnc?id=53298

[TF110]

Cool, thanks for finding that. I saw someone mention on twitter there was a Toyota there at Magny Cours but he didn't say who was there testing.

[AoB Special Stage]

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/n...until-october/

*sigh*

[chernaudi]

New schedule where there's no true 2018 season (will be combined with 2019) might play into Toyota's hands if they want out before 2019. Only one race set up before LM next year means that no one in the WEC will be doing much racing anyways.

[Simmi]

So the Toyota will be performance balanced against the privateer cars next year. Given it's paid for by the R&D budget, will that be enough incentive to keep them around?

[J Jay]

A factory hybrid will still have an advantage on stint length, and the car should (will) be faster due to the extra resources. If anything, the calendar change with a fair reduction in travel expenses will be the deal-sealer for Toyota's continued participation.

Until they win Le Mans.

[carbsmith]

Toyota have to run the full WEC schedule to enter Le Mans in 2018 or 2019.
http://www.dailysportscar.com/2017/0...or-201819.html

Admittedly it wouldn't be hard to run Spa and Le Mans next year then leave anyways.

[chernaudi]

That could be why Toyota might be gone after this season, though I do think that the ACO aren't in any position to turn down any LM only entries at this stage.

And outside of paying a fine/fee to the ACO, what's there to actually stop Toyota from leaving if they win LM next year and decide to only do Fuji?