Quote:
Originally Posted by tbz
Hopefully, Hirate gets a seat in an potential 3rd Toyota for Le Mans.
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It might be too late for him for next year, with Hirakawa all but confirmed for the third car. Hopefully he & Kovalainen keep their form going into next season so they are considered for 2018 at least.
Speaking of a Toyota driver, what better way to round off the 2016 thread than to give a summary of the RC-F GT500, courtesy of RCE's December issue (aka
The One Where Sam Went To Japan):
- The engineers found the DTM regulations restrictive. For the RC-F, approximately 70% of the car was fixed prior to Okayama 2014 and has been frozen since.
- The cooling package is considered to be a relative (to the GT-R) shortcoming of the RC-F, particularly the sub-optimal use of the fixed opening and heat exchanger areas.
- There's a (late) confirmation that TRD saved their third and final specification of their GT500 NRE for the Motegi double-header, but it was the fifth NRE produced this year as the Super Formula NRE has also had two specifications.
- TRD were initially surprised at the progress made by Nismo with their NRE, but they feel that their combined experience (GT500 & SF) allowed them to catch up over the 2015-2016 seasons.
- A lot of work has gone into the suspension geometry, particularly the mounting points, as it one of the areas that is relatively free to work on. To get the best out of the constantly developing tyres, each team will typically revise its geometry two or three times per season.
- There's a (late) confirmation that the paddock was concerned about the weight and stiffness of the German-designed tubs. There is also a confirmation that the propshaft issue that plagued the GT-Rs in particular was due to excessive vibration, demanding a revised propshaft used by all teams from 2015 ... except for Honda ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)