Sebring Class Pole Times

[JAG]

Just read on the BBC that the Audi UK car was over 1 and a half seconds quicker than the 2003 pole in testing (wasn't that the Bentley as well )

The new C5-R is reported to have gone as much as 3 seconds quicker than the 2003 GTS pole as well.

It seems competition is starting to hot up and the times are coming down, despite reg changes and the like.

[ASUKTV]

The "customer" Infineon Team Joest Audi R8 of Biela/Werner/Peter was on the Sebring pole last year

[Patrick B]

The Bently's had the fastest qualifying time last year. They got put to the back because of a diffusser height violation.

[jhansen]

Very astute guys. I missed that till now. Question to ASUKTV...any particular reason you are highlighting customer in quotes in that statement? Good luck this weekend by the way! Just wish the weekend would come a bit faster.

[Fogelhund]

Regarding the restrictors. The 04' rules allowed for them to be increased back to 02' size. But... then the ALMS isn't enforcing 04' rules. Which restrictors are being used, 03' or 02' size?

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally posted by JAG
Just read on the BBC that the Audi UK car was over 1 and a half seconds quicker than the 2003 pole in testing (wasn't that the Bentley as well )

The new C5-R is reported to have gone as much as 3 seconds quicker than the 2003 GTS pole as well.

It seems competition is starting to hot up and the times are coming down, despite reg changes and the like.

Regarding the Vettes, I think the main reason they are going 3 seconds a lap faster is because they are back using the 2002 restrictors. Remember GTS class machinery have had no regulation changes from last year to this, other than the fuel tank size being increased from 90 litres to 100 litres, oh and the rear wing being 200cm (which dosent affect most of the narrower cars anyway).

[JAG]

The Audi in 2003 was only a few tenths slower than the Bentley though, so the point still stands.

Regarding the vette. I would put this increased speed more down to the re-design of the car, which has been pretty extensive. Sebring is not a power circuit.

The Audi will be using the smaller 2003 restrictors as it is not a 2004 spec car.

[gsmith2424]

Also the new Michelin's for the Vette's help too.

[JAG]

Will be interesting to see how the C5-R stacks up against the latest GTS cars. It sure does look sleeker and leaner in my opinion.

[JAG]

Originally posted by ASUKTV
The "customer" Infineon Team Joest Audi R8 of Biela/Werner/Peter was on the Sebring pole last year

Some would say the same about the 'customer' Audi UK car

[noise boy 2]

Originally posted by Fogelhund
Regarding the restrictors. The 04' rules allowed for them to be increased back to 02' size. But... then the ALMS isn't enforcing 04' rules. Which restrictors are being used, 03' or 02' size?

This is only for new 04 cars. previous generation cars are at the 2003 restrictor sizes in addition to the smaller rear wing, and lowered fuel capacity. If I recall this correctly, Robert

[Fogelhund]

http://www.imsaracing.net/imsaNS.cfm...135715ALMS.htm

The ACO, which organizes the 24 Hours of Le Mans and makes the technical rules that IMSA administers in the ALMS, responded favorably to a request by IMSA to delay the implementation of rules that would affect rear wing configurations as well as fuel capacities in Prototype cars. At IMSA’s discretion, LMP 900 and LMP 675 entries in ALMS events for the 2004 season may run legally under 2003 ACO Technical Specifications without any changes.

If they choose to, LMP 900 and LMP 675 competitors may also run under the 2004 ACO regulations.

No mention of restrictors though., but I would assume that they will be using 03' restrictors if they choose to use the rest of 03'rules.

[Fab]

Originally posted by gsmith2424
Also the new Michelin's for the Vette's help too.

Agree. The pilots mention more than one entire second per lap due to the new tyres...

I'm still very impressed by the lap times... Ouch ! What a week-end we'll have !

Originally posted by Fogelhund
No mention of restrictors though., but I would assume that they will be using 03' restrictors if they choose to use the rest of 03'rules.

I think so... they worked allright this winter, didn't they ?

[JAG]

Saleen this is how the rear wing size is determined. They arn't all 200cm.

Here's the rule's on GTS wings-

e.1 - The wing (including end plates) shall be framed in a volume the maximum dimensions of which are
: 52 cm (longitudinally and horizontally) x 15 cm (height) x width as defined in the ACO homologation form. The width of the wing is equivalent to the width of the windscreen measured in its half height + 300 mm. However, it must not exceed 1900 mm, nor the width of the road car across the
rear wheel axle.

http://www.lemans.org/univers_sport...gts_2004_gb.pdf


Last season the wing was the length of the rear of the car.

The new wing reg is to diswaid manufactuers building production GTS cars with narrow cockpits, like a prototype Bentley. A narrow cockpit would give a GTS car a big aero advantage over a regular, wide cockpit, GTS car, and move the GTS cars look further away from there production origins.

[SALEEN S7R]

But this woudnt affect cars like the Saleen S7R - which happens to be 1990mm in width, the same dimensions as the maximum width of the rear wings.

[JAG]

1900mm rear wing max. Just a touch smaller, but the downforce has been regained in windtunnel testing.

Check ou the time Davies set here.

http://www.americanlemans.com/storyA...31704_audi.asp

Smashes the lap record of the 2002 Audi which had a 10% bigger retrictor.

[SALEEN S7R]

Jag dont understand ur first line, the Saleen is 1900mm in width. The same as the maximum dimensions of the rear wing, therefore no problem for the Saleens.

[JAG]

You put 1990mm

Whatever it is, the Saleen has been affected by the new regs as Mowlem talks about the car going into the windtunnel to gain the downforce back that they lost with the new, smaller wing, in last weeks Autosport.

[SALEEN S7R]

Well I made a mistake, the actual dimensions of the car are 1900mm in width, unless Im mistaken. Check out www.saleen.com for more details. BTW I dont remember seeing Mowlem saying that in last weeks AUTOSPORT magazine, there was a article with one of the Corvette people though where this was mentioned, but then the Vette is a much wider car than the Saleen.

[JAG]

Theres an interview with Mowlem in last Thursdays edition.

The width of the car is irrelevant, as the wing width is based on the width of the windscreen at half hight, plus 300mm.

The 1900mm rule only comes into force if the car is very wide, with a very wide windscreen, with a rear wing that would be more than 1900mm, if there was no limit.

[jhansen]

Something is effecting the Saleen. Terry Borcheller doesn't even think they have the pace to match the top cars in class.

[SALEEN S7R]

Well Id be very suprised if that was the case, a few weeks back in testing the ACEMCO Saleen S7R was doing laps in the high 1:57's, so I really dont see why the car would be uncompetive now...

[jhansen]

Quote from Terry Borcheller: "Hopefully, after Sebring, we'll be able to work on speed. I don't know that we can keep pace with the Corvettes yet, but I think that we can at least run consistently."

Here's the link to the article.

http://www.crash.net/uk/en/news_view...id=9&nid=87316

[SALEEN S7R]

Well we will have to wait and see wont we, but the Saleen was running in the high 1:57's, so if they can keep that kind of pace during the race they should be there, or there abouts. There was a interview I saw on Sky Sports "World Motorsports" with the ACEMCO team and all the drivers, and they all seem confident that they can be competitve right from the start.

[jhansen]

I did not see them on the testing time sheet from the morning session, so we will have to wait for later today and for quals. In terms of the race, well that's a completely different story. The way I read the article, it seems they lack outright pace and are going to shoot for reliability and hope for some trouble up front.