BMW rumour for Le Mans 2017

[Acid09]

Originally Posted by Alex Langheck

So whilst their German rivals take part in various FiA World Championships, they seem happy to stay in the 'home' DTM series.
Either they're watching their money, or have no ambition.....

It's a mixture of both. BMW is in fantastic shape in terms of sales, they simply don't "need" to do more racing to hype up their brand.

I guess there's not many people who are truly passionate about motorsports on the board, they look at it purely from a ROI standpoint. GT3 actually makes money, DTM still has excellent reach in Germany, that's all easily justifiable.

LMP1 isn't as much, especially if you take out the pride in engineering aspect and the will of simply wanting to compete.

[TF110]

I think they want to stand out and be recognized as doing something 'BMW-ish'. Thats what I get from some of the things said like the new rules are still hybrid. BMW want EV it seems. Maybe hydrogen fc? If they can convince the ACO to open up to that maybe we see a full electric or fcv lmp1 in the next half decade?

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Acid09

GT3 actually makes money

The Z4 hasn't really been a strong seller... not sure if they actually made back what they spent on the development plus the semi-factory stuff with Schubert and MVDS. And then there's also the GTLM program in TUSC.

It is of course a damn sight cheaper than a LMP1 project would be...

[wolfhound]

wrong thread for post

[deggis]

I think the "not full EV so not interested" is just hot air and an excuse that happens to at the same time fit their marketing strategy. There is a racing series for full EVs too (Formula E) but BMW isn't in it either (except as the official safety car).

[Deleted]

Yeah but apart from the obvious Formula E doesn't really have any relevancy to anything, and most certainly not to road car modeling. Also with FE's car swapping and many other things still in infancy it's not that attractive yet

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Yeah but apart from the obvious

What obvious?

Formula E doesn't really have any relevancy to anything, and most certainly not to road car modeling.

So it's about lack of roof and wheel covers? Not sure if serious.

Also with FE's car swapping and many other things still in infancy it's not that attractive yet

For next season the regulations become open (gradually), which means they have now Audi under Abt, Citroen, Renault and McLaren as powertrain constructors/providers. I didn't rate it as a championship highly and mostly just a "fun series" to me but the inaugural season was a success and it could get big pretty quickly.

[TF110]

There was a comment about "look alike" cars with the z4 and m4, does that allude to them wanting brand identity? Maybe something like what TUSC is allowing with the new DP's?

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by deggis

What obvious?

Electric technology?

So it's about lack of roof and wheel covers? Not sure if serious.

BMW quite categorically wants to race in series with road car relevance with some sort of road car identity, and while FE may have the electric technology part in it, they are quite far stretched from production cars. Okay LMP1 isn't exactly GT or touring car sort of direct lookalike either, but if they were able to have proper EV sort of thing up there it would have infinitely more production car relevance. Not only with the outlook and possible styling cues, but also the other road car tech transfer aspects that can be utilized in such open regs environment, then the endurance aspect and longevity of parts, racing in different weather conditions, racing in different daytime conditions and especially in night with headlights, fuel management, tire durability display, etc

For next season the regulations become open (gradually), which means they have now Audi under Abt, Citroen, Renault and McLaren as powertrain constructors/providers. I didn't rate it as a championship highly and mostly just a "fun series" to me but the inaugural season was a success and it could get big pretty quickly.

It's getting (bit) less spec and that's quite alright. But that's not my main issue, it's that for now these slow, very low performance vehicles aren't able to do more than couple of laps prior having to change to another in short sprint race. This isn't good PR for electric technology, or not wasting resources. And even if you accept that they do the car swap because the battery swap would be take too much time in entertainment enviroment and be possibly dangerous and whatever, it just tells that the technology isn't quite there yet.

[Deleted]

Ooooh Deggis, look what did I say in the previous posts, and now what BMW issues heeeere

http://www.racer.com/international-r...-from-fe-entry

[deggis]

You win the argument

On other hand, that makes the reluctance to LMP1 sound more as an excuse.

[deggis]

Pretty much the same "not full EV so not interested" blah blah than earlier:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120160

[Deleted]

I guess the good thing about "NO" is that it doesn't leave you as annoyed as if it had been typical "LMP1 is an interesting category for sure, and while we are cannot confirm or deny anything concrete at this moment other than that we haven't had any talks with the FIA or ACO nor is the intention to do so in the immediate future especially while we are concentrated on our other projects, we are looking at this direction with some interest and continue to monitor the ongoing developments closely as we are always seeking new exciting challenges in motorsports that could benefit our future road car lineup and answer to our customer demand"

[kurski]

Catching Up With Jens Marquardt, Pulling No Punches With LMP1, GT Convergence & Formula E. http://www.dailysportscar.com/2015/0...formula-e.html

[Pandamasque]

Why not let them run a full EV with a fair MJ allocation? As long as you don't perform battery swaps during pitstops, knock yourselves out, BMW.

[hondafan37]

Originally Posted by kurski

Catching Up With Jens Marquardt, Pulling No Punches With LMP1, GT Convergence & Formula E. http://www.dailysportscar.com/2015/0...formula-e.html

Garage 56 in IMSA too? I like it

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Pandamasque

Why not let them run a full EV with a fair MJ allocation? As long as you don't perform battery swaps during pitstops, knock yourselves out, BMW.

Why not battery swaps? If they can get the charge done on a previously used battery it would be cool. Give them something like 4 battery packs. They can use a fresh one after doing 13 laps and recharge the one that was used and put it back in after the 4th stint. Regenerative braking and other techniques wont be enough to keep it 100% during race conditions so they have to swap out sometime.

[Adam43]

If regenerative braking was enough they'd have invented perpetual motion!

I like the four battery pack idea though.

[lms]

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/bmw-m6-gtlm-in-build/

bmw will likely run their taxi in tusc. hopefully no le mans.

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by TF110

Why not battery swaps? If they can get the charge done on a previously used battery it would be cool.

Absolutely. As soon as quick battery swaps are available at any petrol/charging station, I'll be onboard. Otherwise it's like allowing ICE cars to use unobtanium race fuels. They're made to run on something close to pump gas for a reason. Fuel tank quick-swaps are disallowed too, by the way (yes, even that kind of thing happened).

[wdave0]

Originally Posted by hondafan37

Garage 56 in IMSA too? I like it

They already have it - see the D'wing and Mazda diesels.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Pandamasque

Absolutely. As soon as quick battery swaps are available at any petrol/charging station, I'll be onboard. Otherwise it's like allowing ICE cars to use unobtanium race fuels. They're made to run on something close to pump gas for a reason. Fuel tank quick-swaps are disallowed too, by the way (yes, even that kind of thing happened).

EV's plug in. But its unrealistic to think bmw would sit in the pits for 30, 60 minutes to 'plug in' for a recharge. Thats why battery swaps is reasonable imo. Theyre still showcasing all electric, but they have to do their race within reason. Thats why Formula E swap cars. We'll hopefully find out if they do something like this.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Pandamasque

Why not let them run a full EV with a fair MJ allocation? As long as you don't perform battery swaps during pitstops, knock yourselves out, BMW.

Despite their chest-beating, perhaps EV tech just isn't ready. At least I don't believe FE does the car swaps just for entertainment reasons.

[Pandamasque]

Exactly my point. If the technology won't allow you to take you car and drive it for 24 hours, it has no place in endurance sports car racing. The whole point of Le Mans is how far one can get in 24h in a sports car. Not cars, and not a car with components replaced in a way that's not doable in the real world.

Otherwise it's going to be wacky races for sake of wacky races.

[TF110]

BMW say theyd enter Formula E if there was no car swaps. So they must feel their battery or EV tech is ready.