Roar before the Rolex 24

[Lagunaseca_4life]

Yea I noticed the dps going in hot, and the gtlm aston looked like it was diving in too, the RLL bmws going in together is awesome and then the good size pack of cars was also really cool.where you there last night during the night session, any pics or videos? Thanks for sharing.

I agree with the delta wing, seeing it last year at laguna during practice and qualifying made me a believer of the idea and design(not that exact car though, but the design yes.) when I saw it get all twitchy and loose at speed hitting the curbs or catching the gravel it would immediately get straight and take off like it never happened in corners where other cars would lose times or spin if it happened to them.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

The top GTD cars in the Roar down into the 1 min 47's. Regularly in the 1 min 48's. Wow I'm impressed. This class is no joke. They are moving. The fastest 'slowest' class I've ever seen. For the race qualifying, I bet GTLM pole will be in the 44's. GTD could get into the 46's?

Just as a reference, qualifying times from last year´s 24H:
DP #01 Ganassi Riley-BMW 1:40:553
GT #32 Konrad/Orbit Porsche 1:47:631

(from grand-am.com)

[CyberMotor]

Originally Posted by Lanky Turtle

I don't think we'll really know what everyone has until qualifying, or maybe not until the green flag drops.

...or maybe not until the checkered flag

[Accident]

During the 2010 season, I believe it was said in an interview for an article or maybe during the Petit Le Mans broadcast that the Jeanette LMPC ran the whole season up until Petit on the same motor, but admitted it was feeling a bit tired at that point.

I expect that most of the LMPC DNFs to come at the hands of a gentleman driver rather than a mechanical failure.

[Danathar]

Anybody have predictions as to the BoP adjustments post the roar? I'd guess they might slow down the DP's a little. I'm not sure they can do much to speed the P2's up any more at the moment.

[Fogelhund]

Interesting to note that Muscle Milk was using the ACO spec restrictor for ROAR, instead of the 5% larger one allowed in the BoP announced Thursday. They just didn't have time to adjust, but that should close the gap in performance some.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Interesting to note that Muscle Milk was using the ACO spec restrictor for ROAR, instead of the 5% larger one allowed in the BoP announced Thursday. They just didn't have time to adjust, but that should close the gap in performance some.

I saw that and wondered if the rest of the P2 cars will making the adjustment or if the ESM cars were already running the larger restrictor.

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Interesting to note that Muscle Milk was using the ACO spec restrictor for ROAR, instead of the 5% larger one allowed in the BoP announced Thursday. They just didn't have time to adjust, but that should close the gap in performance some.

Good to hear, how much HP will that increase be roughly, 25-50bhp? The LMP2 cars are only really lacking top end speed and as you suggest the increase in the restrictor size will only help close the gap to the DP's which can only be a good thing.

[Ginaro Zukovsky]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Interesting to note that Muscle Milk was using the ACO spec restrictor for ROAR, instead of the 5% larger one allowed in the BoP announced Thursday. They just didn't have time to adjust, but that should close the gap in performance some.

It's strange because the restrictor in the 2012/3 BoP is 40mm and the 2014 BoP is 40.1mm, though the HPD is 30mm vs 30.8mm for this year. I don't know the WEC P2 BoP as it doesn't seem to be published anywhere, but I'm presuming IMSA copied it from the ACO when Conquest used their Nissan in 2012 and the ACO probably haven't changed it since.

[fieldodreams79]

Very interesting regarding Muscle Milk, but now we have to wait a bit to find out how much the larger restrictor helps.

[jasonjessica09]

I don't think the Level 5 LMPC cars ran at all? Is it a case where they have the car but no paying drivers. And that the cars are just there on stand by for the first arrive and drive customer?

[Zurbert82]

Dunno if this has been posted, but the combined times from all sessions are here:

http://imsatiming.com/Results/2014/T...ions%201-8.pdf

I was also looking at the trap speeds (CSV files here http://imsatiming.com/Results/2014/T...0in%20Daytona/) and saw some of the GTD cars were outpacing Muscle Milk, most likely due to the ACO restrictor on the Oreca Nissan. Some GTD's were around 183-184, and Muscle Milk was around 180. ESM and the DW were around 187-188. DP's were around 193-194.

[Maelochs]

Here is what I get as top speeds for the final session (Missing the four slowest and apologize for any errors)



Interesting here is that All the GTLMs are slower than almost all the GTDs; the PCs might as well not bother, they are the worst on the track; and the gap between DP and P2 is a ridiculous 6.5 mph. (Note #1 ESM (fastest P2) was 1.4 seconds slower than #90 SDR (fastest DP) in the final session, so the P2s are Not making it up in the infield.)

On the other hand, GTLM and PC were faster than all the GTDs on lap time.

[The Badger]

Do you folks think they have managed to even up the times between DP and P2 ?

Someone is going to be screaming soon I think ..... but I sincerely hope not because it would be a disaster , felt for years .

[CyberMotor]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Interesting here is that All the GTLMs are slower than almost all the GTDs; the PCs might as well not bother, they are the worst on the track; and the gap between DP and P2 is a ridiculous 6.5 mph. (Note #1 ESM (fastest P2) was 1.4 seconds slower than #90 SDR (fastest DP) in the final session, so the P2s are Not making it up in the infield.)

It appears that the script is working out as planned.

[joeb]

Not concerned about top speeds and 1.5 second lap time differences right now. How many years did Audi win Le Mans without having the top speed of Peugeot?

No matter what the test, practice, or qualifying times say, they still have to run the race. For that there is no script.

[jasonjessica09]

I think the Daytona 24 race is going to have a very high attrition rate in the Prototype category. Perhaps even at the levels in at the races back in the years 2000 and 2001.

[CyberMotor]

Originally Posted by joeb

No matter what the test, practice, or qualifying times say, they still have to run the race. For that there is no script.

Let's hope so.

The visual appeal is good and the variety of cars and sounds is good. The DP Gen 3 has brought the car's look and appeal up tremendously. Plus, when mixed in with a variety, you don't get over-saturated with one look.

All I have been harping about is a 'level playing field' in this BOP process.

There was a discussion recently about whether fans cared about what was 'under the skin'. In stock car racing in the US, it got to where that didn't matter because the show was so good.

These days, and especially, a lot of the endurance prototype sports car fans, really do care about what is under the skin, what is on top of the skin, how was the skin made, who designed the skin, and did you notice that change in the skin that is different from the last race?

There are two philosophies colliding and merging and I speak out because I want to make sure that there are a lot of us that do care about what is under the skin and when rules are being made, balancing going on, etc., we like seeing technical rules implemented when the BOP is being done.

Besides, a lot of us from the ALMS side have favorite teams, cars and drivers that were very good and we don't want to see them get hit with rules that make them look bad.

The final BOPing and the race are going to be very interesting. There is great potential here and I hope the politics and egos stay out of it while the tech guys do their job.

[Maelochs]

From what we have seen so far, I’d have to say TUSCC has been doing an exemplary job.

TUSCC demanded DP owners pay huge bucks for mods if they wanted to keep their DPs—no favoritism shown by NASCAR for NASCAR’s pet class, there.

Then TUSCC added a ton of weight to P2s to try to negate some of their huge nimbleness advantage. No favoritism shown to ALMS cars.

Then TUSCC dropped the P2 weight when it was seen that the cars couldn’t compete at Daytona with all that extra mass, while DPs were allowed to drop the rear diffusers at Daytona—no favoritism, just an honest attempt to get the cars on par, as I see it.

Now if TUSCC simply cuts half the added power DPs were given to offset the increased drag of the diffuser they won’t be using at Daytona, the two types of P-cars should be about balanced.

I really hope TUSCC gets it right, but even being the constantly depressed cynic that I am I have to say, I am hopeful based on what I have seen so far.

[JoestForEver]

It seems that either the BoP is against Speedsource P2s or their R&D is far behind average. The diesel Mazda P2s which I really have a great expectation on end up among 1:48 in the GTD groups, not a good sign.

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by JoestForEver

It seems that either the BoP is against Speedsource P2s or their R&D is far behind average. The diesel Mazda P2s which I really have a great expectation on end up among 1:48 in the GTD groups, not a good sign.

What made you think they were going to be fast? Isn't it the same engine package (only less restricted) as was in GX? And even in the less restricted configuration it seemed to have issues all the time in 2013.

-mike

[Maelochs]

Mazda had a lot of drivetrain issues, apparently blowing driveshafts and transmission impeller shafts--there is an interview with Sylvain Tremblay out there somewhere where he talks about it.

Apparently the motor uis getting a restrictor increase, so if it works it should be able to keep the car on par with its competition, but Mazda isn't in any hurry.

One of the drivers mentioned that Mazda plans to eventually go to Le Mans with a class-winning entry, but they don't plan to even try until they have perfected the package (very paraphrased and interpreted.)

As I understand it, Mazda's whole GX program and the current P-car is a long-term program which might not pay off until 2015 or even 2016 (the last year of eligibility.)

Mazda isn't worried about trying to beat the established TUSC teams this season; they want to develop the powertrain and fine-tune the chassis, and I guess can afford to take a season for testing.

[Canada ALMS fan]

^And this is the motor Dempsey bought a Lola P2 for to go to Le Mans in 2013….

[PointDSM]

He leased the Lola P2 from Level 5, unless something changed.

[Canada ALMS fan]

Black Swan leased the Lola and I thought Dempsey had as well but the documentary series said it was from Lola and it wasn't delivered until just after Long Beach?