[WEC] 2018-2019 WEC Super Season

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Not looked at those lists for a while. Notable movers in the provisional 2018 list:

Jonny Adam - Gold to Platinum
Marco Bonanomi - Platinum to Gold
Enzo Guibbert - Silver to Gold
Euan Hankey - Silver to Gold
Matevos Isaakyan - Silver to Gold
Jonny Kane - Platinum to Gold
Tom Kristensen - Platinum to Gold (should be honorary Platinum for life!)
Thomas Laurent - Silver to Gold
Pippa Mann - Gold to Silver
Seb Morris - Silver to Gold
Andre Negrao - Silver to Gold
Johnny O'Connell - Gold to Silver
Alessandro Pier Guidi - Gold to Platinum
Spencer Pumpelly - Gold to Silver
Charlie Robertson - Silver to Gold
Leo Roussel - Silver to Gold
Alexander Sims - Gold to Platinum
Mark Skaife - Gold to Silver
Dries Vanthoor - Silver to Gold
Liam Williamson - Silver to Gold

Some of those young silver-to-gold movers will be casting around for work, surely.

Some 'secret silvers' moving on there........

[Akrapovic]

Laurent and Roussel going up to Gold is not a surprise but may throw some spanners in the works of G-Drive and Jota. Interesting that Canal has not, I was thinking he was getting really good. I wondered if Rusinov would get a downgrade, but he hasn't.

Don't know what's going on with G-Drive, but Thirriet not being at the last couple of events raised eyebrows, as he tends to be associated with TDS. So who knows who the next participant of the Russian Roundabout is. I have a feeling (and it's no more than that), that G-Drive will find another team to run the cars again.

Also, I did have a little chuckle. Scott Tucker has been downgraded from Silver to Bronze.

[Irie]

German website motorsport-total reports that Rebellion will enter two Orecas in LMP1
http://www.motorsport-total.com/wec/...-17112001.html

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Irie

German website motorsport-total reports that Rebellion will enter two Orecas in LMP1
http://www.motorsport-total.com/wec/...-17112001.html

Well, the google translation still makes it sound not entirely sure, but nevertheless, it's looking good! The only logical choice

It's also interesting that Oreca is finally coming out of the shadows for it, after Dragonspeed already tried to get chassis from them but couldn't commit to it. If they are only able to limited-supply a team, this is a team they want of course

[hondafan37]

Originally Posted by Irie

German website motorsport-total reports that Rebellion will enter two Orecas in LMP1
http://www.motorsport-total.com/wec/...-17112001.html

Originally Posted by Chiana

Well, the google translation still makes it sound not entirely sure, but nevertheless, it's looking good! The only logical choice

It's also interesting that Oreca is finally coming out of the shadows for it, after Dragonspeed already tried to get chassis from them but couldn't commit to it. If they are only able to limited-supply a team, this is a team they want of course

It also says that they still do not know what engine they will use. The Judd V10 must be an interesting options.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by Irie

German website motorsport-total reports that Rebellion will enter two Orecas in LMP1
http://www.motorsport-total.com/wec/...-17112001.html

*crosses fingers and toes that this is true*

[Aysedasi]

If I didn't have webbed feet I'd join you in that.......

[Akrapovic]

If Rebellion does move to LMP1 then it potentially frees up Canal and DHH to fill the silver seats that Roussel and Laurent are leaving.

[TF110]

Senna and Piquet could be good in lmp1. I think they would make a pretty good team. And there's another open guy that wants to run in privateer lmp1 if he can get a chance, his name is Andre Lotterer!

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by TF110

Senna and Piquet could be good in lmp1. I think they would make a pretty good team. And there's another open guy that wants to run in privateer lmp1 if he can get a chance, his name is Andre Lotterer!

Oh that'd be too good, don't get me wound up

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by TzeiTzei

I doubt the increased power will make much of a difference, when the Toyota punches out of a corner with a 1000hp. They'll be long gone halfway through the straight. The only solution I really see is that they limit the power of the hybrid boost massively.

I am not an engineer, but my understanding of it is that it isn't really the "1000hp" number that's the problem. You could make an internal combustion engine with that and it still wouldn't necessarily match the hybrid system.

The electrical system gives instant torque, with absolutely no delay, and it does it with a flat torque 'curve' and no gear changes (for the electrical side of things), which means no loss of forward velocity during gear changes. So even if you had a 1000hp system, it still has inherent disadvantages from the mechanical nature of it. And then you need to take into account the weight of the extra fuel that the 1000hp engine needs that the hybrid system doesn't need, and the fuel filling time, etc. The odds are stacked against the non-hybrids when you are just trying to equalise power. It gets pretty complicated.

[TF110]

That's why they get more fuel but a weight break, more fuel flow but a longer refueling time. Trade-offs which hopefully are balanced! But the lmp2's were really fast (on the straights) and they're 930(?)kg. The new lmp1's are 80-100kg less than that, with something around 100hp more. Even the ByKolles car which is by no means equal to Toyota's or Porsche's car was capable of doing a 3:21 in qualifying. It even passed the #9 Toyota in the first lap. Too bad it hit something and broke.

[Deleted]

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/w...p-regulations/

“It’s good to continually evolve, isn’t it?” Aston Martin Racing Managing Director John Gaw told Sportscar365. --

Jesus Christ

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Chiana

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/w...p-regulations/

“It’s good to continually evolve, isn’t it?” Aston Martin Racing Managing Director John Gaw told Sportscar365. --

Jesus Christ

None of the quotes in that article seemed like whole hearted endorsements!

[carbsmith]

I would think the biggest advantage the hybrids have in terms of power delivery is being 4WD. 1000hp isn't much good to the non-hybrid cars if they can't put it all down until 4th gear. Anyways if they have higher apex speed (and they should, all things being equal) slower acceleration isn't a big deal.

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by joeb

None of the quotes in that article seemed like whole hearted endorsements!

No consensus on this stupid rule change.

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by carbsmith

I would think the biggest advantage the hybrids have in terms of power delivery is being 4WD. 1000hp isn't much good to the non-hybrid cars if they can't put it all down until 4th gear. Anyways if they have higher apex speed (and they should, all things being equal) slower acceleration isn't a big deal.

Power from ICE and torque from electric motors can be nerfed if ACO would like to axe toyota 1000hp.
But toyota aero development and tires confidential compound can't be, only because of this I expect no less than 3 seconds off the pace for private lmp1.
What's the deal to push 700hp if you are not so quick in corners?

[Damian Baldi]

Rebellion keen on WEC LMP1 return for 2018/19

Hayden said he favoured using a normally-aspirated engine after the team's experiences with the AER turbo unit in 2015-16.

Options include the Gibson 4.5-litre V8 that DragonSpeed will use in its BRE BR1, the new Judd V10 announced in October and an engine developed by Neil Brown Engineering out of the four-litre DTM V8 powerplant.

https://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/...season-980667/

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by joeb

None of the quotes in that article seemed like whole hearted endorsements!

Political correctness!

[chernaudi]

I'd rather them go back to the old ALMS rules of separate refueling and two wheel guns. One wheel gun at a time didn't add anything and only slowed the stops. It also didn't cut down on the number or people on pit road during the stops.

Rule change also doesn't make sense as the ACO want to keep tire limits the same in each class.

[Deleted]

Well at least they didn't mess with that tire limit. It's one of the only - if not THE only - cost cut measure I agree on.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by Damian Baldi

https://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/...season-980667/

The tight timeline could be the decider here, this is a telling quote from Dragonspeed's owner Elton Julian with regard to the availability of a likely Oreca P1:

“Well our first choice was ORECA, we have the cars already and we have plenty of experience dealing with them so that was a clear first choice.
 It has to be said though that their decision making has been slow, they have never said ‘no’, or ‘yes’ for that matter but we were getting messages like “It’s not a red light, but it’s not a green light either”. That got to a point where it was going to be difficult for us to progress at the rate we needed to.

from http://www.dailysportscar.com/2017/1...9-fia-wec.html

so one has to wonder what the prospects for an Oreca P1 are at this moment. I'm sure we'll see such a car in the future, not sure just when - and time is running out right now it seems.

Maybe Rebellion starts the season with an 'upgraded' P2 before switching to Oreca's new P1 challenger after LM'18???

[Deleted]

They should purchase single Ginetta and put Judd on it, but also at the same time tell Oreca to stop screwing around and start constructing chassis for them. If they can do it, have dual campaign with Ginetta and Oreca next year to have all bases covered, if not then just run the Ginetta (and maybe leftover LMP2 Oreca)

[Damian Baldi]

Time frame is really tight, I think their target is Le Mans maybe losing the first races. I don't think an interim car could be made. From Oreca they said they could build a 09 model using the tub and some parts from the P2. It would be great if they use the Judd.

[Deleted]

Surely the last thing they want is another 2015 where they only do shakedown just barely before the 24 hours, and then it ends up being somewhat of a disaster. That time too was down to Oreca being slow in installing the AER to 04/R-One. It's just bizarre how slow they are with LMP1, I mean sure they have lots of other things going on in lower categories as well as running Toyota but c'mon. If people come asking product from you, offer it.

This year there's only Spa beforehand so not that much to miss out admittedly, however there's now that 36 hour collective test at Ricard by the ACO, that is something you REALLY want to complete for your new car. That is why I think they should have backup plan here (and no that's not LMP2, I refuse to think that as a plan but more as surrender)