I feel credit should be given where it is due, rather than withheld. Regardless of the other issues, they have done a fantastic job on the calendar, and I don't think saying 'Well you only used Grade 1s before' is really an appropriate response to fixing one of the biggest bits of feedback the fans gave. Remember they did a survey and asked about the calendar - and the feedback from the Silverstone drop was numerous. It's pretty clear that the new calendar is formed from the feedback they got. They've even tried to avoid clashes with F1 events - that's pretty decent.
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I'm not sure how the current regs expressly wiped out the other 3 besides Oreca. If it's the same for everyone, and Oreca did a better job from the outset, how is that their fault? Isn't this what everyone on here says will happen with a true, merit-based class? That the one who does the best will become the default option? I'm not saying it's ideal, but I'm not sure what you'd do about it. Also, if the Oreca is specifically better in top-end speed, it only makes all the more sense why it would be favored in the WEC, and especially at Le Mans. The current and next WEC calendars are weighted 75% in terms of circuits with enough straights of sufficient length that you probably want that top-end (Austin, Sebring, and Kyalami being the principle exceptions). The ELMS is weighted more like 67% in that way (Catalunya and Algarve being least in that vein). The AsLMS is 50%, I'd say (The Bend and Sepang being less top-end dependent). IMSA may have a proportion as low as 30% in this regard (Daytona, Road America, and Watkins Glen being the main ones where you want good flat-out speed)
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The current regulations meant that if you didn't nail it, then you're wiped out. ORECA without a doubt did the best job, however in a proper competitive environment, it's then on the others to go away and produce a better product. The current regulations specifically prohibit that. In fact, even the joker upgrade does not allow this - they are only allowed to change the parts with the ACO approval, and they may not produce a car better than the ORECA, or they will be pegged back. And ORECA were not allowed to better their product.
In the previous set of regulations, Ligier and Dallara (and maybe Riley, who knows) would have continued development until the package was good enough. Under the new set, they were not allowed. The old set also allowed others to enter to compete (BR Engineering for example), but now nobody is even allowed to build a challenger.
I 100% agree that ORECA did a better job. However nobody was allowed to respond properly, and that's not how things are supposed to work. The regulations are responsible for that, and responsible for the reduction in sales of the other cars due to it. And remember that the goal of these regulations was to reduce the price of the cars - that has failed as well. The previous regulations had self-enforcing prices, as manufacturers couldn't sell the cars at huge amounts because there were other cars to buy that were good. Now, the only car worth buying is the ORECA, and they've raised the price significantly - to the maximum allowed by the price cap. So we've got less variety, less development, and more expensive cars as a direct result of the regulations. We've somehow got a spec series that's more expensive than an open series - which is backwards.
The Dallara had the top speed advantage btw. Pretty significantly too. It was so low drag that teams were putting on the high drag kit at Le Mans.
Are Ligier less of a manufacturer than Alpine? Do Ligier make any road going production vehicles? I think they used to, but now they don't list any on their site? If they don't then yes they are less of a manufacturer, as they'd basically be doing the same thing ORECA do - racing cars.
And whilst manufacturers do pay the bills and are important, we had a major issue with WEC where they forced anyone in LMP1 to run hybrids, and the little teams couldn't do it, so the little teams left or moved class or whatever. And then when factories leave (spoiler alert: factories always leave - regardless of series), they were left with nothing. You absolutely have to protect the smaller teams as well, because you will require them when one or two factories leave. And for the new Hypercar staff, we're saying that small teams need to have manufacturer tie-ins. So we're committing to the same mistake, but earlier in the regulations? That doesn't seem good...
Calendar - Brilliant.
LMP2 - Mess, and getting slower.
Manufacturers - committed to making the same mistakes as before.