[WEC] Toyota LMP1 Discussion

[TF110]

From that youtube video, a shot of what we see of their engine

[bentley speed 8]

Originally Posted by Acid09

What's particularly encouraging is the fact that despite the drivetrain package is all new, Toyota seems to have zero reliability problems this year so far.

This is really assuring indeed for LM. I'm looking forward to see how they hold up in the race tomorrow.

[kvenom]

Two engine failures, quite the invoice TMG is writing to Toyota Japan.

[Acid09]

Well, this has been very encouraging in many ways and pretty devastating in others.

Having two engines fail in a 6hr race is not a good sign, especially because this kind of defect is always terminal. The other manufacturers had problems today as well, they all managed to get their cars back out there though, and that's the difference.

This year's Le Mans could become all about survival, repairing the car and getting back out on track, something that is utterly impossible when engines fail.

I think the positive news is that the package is competitive, they just have to make it last now. As they say, it's easier to make a quick car reliable than a reliable car quick.

Still, I somewhat feel that Toyota will only truly begin to shine in the second part of the season, the package just seems a bit too new still.

[Artur]

The aero of the car, responsibility of the Cologne crew, is not great either. Despite having quite more drag than the 919, they were still significantly slower on S2.

They made some good calls on strategy(choice of tyres) but they still are significantly slower than Porsche and were lucky with #1's puncture right when it was about to retake the lead.

PS: Now waiting for T110 to come here and start saying how great the car is....

[Acid09]

Originally Posted by Artur

They made some good calls on strategy(choice of tyres) but they still are significantly slower than Porsche and were lucky with #1's puncture right when it was about to retake the lead.

At that point Buemi was on two-stint old tires that were about to give up while Bernhard was on fresh, soft rubber.

During his early stint, Buemi closed the gap to the Porsche before the pit stop, there was no sign of them being "significantly slower than Porsche" other than during the last part of Buemi's stint when the tires were shot.

[Artur]

Originally Posted by Acid09

During his early stint, Buemi closed the gap to the Porsche before the pit stop, there was no sign of them being "significantly slower than Porsche" other than during the last part of Buemi's stint when the tires were shot.

About the bold part, gaps can change quite significantly from a few laps apart due to how the traffic plays out.

Yeah, there is no sign that Porsche was significantly faster other than the massive difference in each car's fastest laps. Even the gap from #1 to #2 was oddly big.

I guess now the hard/soft tire explanation will come into play, right?! Toyota might've been able to mix up with the #1 due to double stinting but the #1 very much looked like to have way better raw pace, AT SPA.

In LM, even the R18 can be the fastest car(eventhough I don't bet on that), as on Silverstone it was Toyota that was far off the pace of the VAGs

Well, Spa at least served to give everybody hope as far as LM chances are concerned, I guess....

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by Toyota's Twitter feed

We used electric power to complete final lap of #WEC6hSpa to earn classification and Championship points. @FIAWEC

I trust they did not do this on electric power alone, did they ? How is this even possible with the limitation in energy releasable by the ERS ?

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by MyNameIsNigel

I trust they did not do this on electric power alone, did they ? How is this even possible with the limitation in energy releasable by the ERS ?

By going really slowly. The lap took at least four minutes and I assume the batteries were charged in the garage to their limits (unfortunately no cameras picked up the #5 so the lap was officially timed in excess of one hour).

[Artur]

Well, there are the onboard feeds. So, if anyone wants to see how slow it was, it's just check on #5's onboard feed

[Adam43]

Did you see it while it happened? Incredible!

[Artur]

No, I didn't see it. I would have to download the file. Toyota's onboard file(whole race) is 2.31 GB

If anybody is interested in downloading it, then, send me a pm and I'll link you to it.

[Bubak]

Originally Posted by Bubak

Some nude views of TS050. (source https://twitter.com/Mobil1TheGrid/st...83496390737921 )

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cpng
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cpng
Links to pictures are edited! I just realized that I only person that can see it. So, now it could be OK!

Quite interesting speech by Davidson here http://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/d...e-else-734115/ Would not it be better to stay with this solution? Because, if new aero will be simple low-drag (which means something like Pug have in 2011, so big time lost in 3rd sector), I am sure that it can be a breaking point. :-/ It works now, tyre wear seems to be good, also speed...so, why to go more less drag? Why more compromise?

Spa, of course, was interesting race. Be unlucky there and have luck at Le Mans, it can be (just like in 2013). So, we will see.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by J Jay

By going really slowly. The lap took at least four minutes and I assume the batteries were charged in the garage to their limits (unfortunately no cameras picked up the #5 so the lap was officially timed in excess of one hour).

I took the timing sheets and subtracted the last pitstop time from the last lap time, and considering drive-through times for penalties, my calculations say that the #5's last lap from pit box to finish line was around 6 minutes and 15 seconds.

[MyNameIsNigel]

Looks like the #5 was penalized by the race stewards after the race. It apparently got a four-lap penalty according to Stewards Decision No. 55. This decision can be appealed.

I assume that the race stewards might have judged that it was not safe to release the #5 car for that VERY slow last lap. I haven't seen the decision though, so this is pure speculation.

Does the #5 car score any point as a result ?

[ederss7]

Originally Posted by MyNameIsNigel

Looks like the #5 was penalized by the race stewards after the race. It apparently got a four-lap penalty according to Stewards Decision No. 55. This decision can be appealed.

I assume that the race stewards might have judged that it was not safe to release the #5 car for that VERY slow last lap. I haven't seen the decision though, so this is pure speculation.

Does the #5 car score any point as a result ?

They've updated the live timing. Which means the #5 completed only 110 laps. Since they needed 112 laps to be within 70% of the winning car's laps, no points for them. http://live.fiawec.com/

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by ederss7

They've updated the live timing. Which means the #5 completed only 110 laps. Since they needed 112 laps to be within 70% of the winning car's laps, no points for them. http://live.fiawec.com/

I have been told that Toyota were potentially considering an appeal. I've got no confirmation though that they did appeal this decision.

[ederss7]

I don't understand this penalty. Was the track still busy or they did the lap on an empty track? It doesn't make sense if it was the later.

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by ederss7

I don't understand this penalty. Was the track still busy or they did the lap on an empty track? It doesn't make sense if it was the later.

According to the pit stop data, the #5 car left the pits at 20:31:42.016, after the 6-hour race mark it seems, but I would expect before the #8 car crossed the start-finish line.

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by ederss7

They've updated the live timing. Which means the #5 completed only 110 laps. Since they needed 112 laps to be within 70% of the winning car's laps, no points for them. http://live.fiawec.com/

According to the standings in the manufacturers championship, Toyota apparently still get the 10 points awarded for 5th place. I trust that the post-race penalty does not affect the fact that they actually completed 114 laps. So, this penalty costs Toyota only two points it seems.

[GT6]

It must have left very late as i was standing opposite the pits and was waiting for it to leave, but it was still there as the audi came into view, did not notice it leaving and left soon after the audi crossed the line

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by GT6

It must have left very late as i was standing opposite the pits and was waiting for it to leave, but it was still there as the audi came into view, did not notice it leaving and left soon after the audi crossed the line

So the race was basically over when the #5 car left the pits ?

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by MyNameIsNigel

So the race was basically over when the #5 car left the pits ?

Almost, but not quite. The #5's release was timed so it would be out of its pit box just before the 8 crossed the line, so it would not interfere with any cars still on their last laps. If you're going to release a slow car, you may as well do it when everyone else is slowing down as well.

[GasperG]

Ok, so they did 7 km at around 80 kph, how much energy would be needed? I think that 2.2 kWh (8 MJ) should be more than enough, maybe they even pumped up the tires for lower rolling resistance

[MyNameIsNigel]

I am told that the four-lap penalty actually relates to the fact that Kazuki did not drive for the minimum of 40min mandated by the rules. A bit more than 9min driving time was missing. Toyota have apparently appealed this decision.