[WEC] 2018-2019 WEC Super Season

[TF110]

The SMP was less than a second off the leading Toyota in average times. That's not too bad over a 113 second lap.

[chernaudi]

And yet--as expected--Rebellion and SMP weren't much of a match for Toyota come crunch time. No one's fault since Toyota are doing what they're supposed to be doing and Rebellion and SMP are doing their best against factory backed opposition/the last real OEM in the WEC. Just stating facts.

However, with the #8 Toyota's win today, TMG did lock up the teams' championship in the WEC (I don't think it's considered a true manufacturers' championship this season), and the #8 pairing has a 31 point lead going into LM, meaning that they have a huge buffer over the #7 driving team.

That means that the #8 team don't have a clinch on the championship, but barring an absolute disaster for them, it'll be extremely hard for the #7 to catch and overtake them.

[S griffin]

Toyota have the best preperation, so they deserve it, although it must be hard for the others knowing they are fighting a losing battle from the start. At least the driver’s title is still open. We’ll see which way it goes, anything can happen still, but barring mechanical failure, I’d be very surprised if the #8 doesn’t wrap it up. Ah well.

[TF110]

It's sad but the #7 was legit faster today and but for the sensor problem should have won. I'm rooting for them at Le Mans if it's got to be a Toyota win I prefer them. Alonso can have his WDC in lmp1, but the #7 should win Le Mans this year.

[S griffin]

Well that’s the only thing that can hold back Toyota is mechanical problems. I think it will be close at Le Mans between the two cars. And yes Fred deserves the title, but the others have done a mega job too

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by TF110

It's sad but the #7 was legit faster today and but for the sensor problem should have won. I'm rooting for them at Le Mans if it's got to be a Toyota win I prefer them. Alonso can have his WDC in lmp1, but the #7 should win Le Mans this year.

I think the #8 only needs a 7th place finish at LM to take the drivers' title.

[chernaudi]

One thing I have to admit about LMP1 privateer is that though Rebellion is still my favorite team among them, I'm impressed at how SMP/BR Engineering have turned the corner. Spa and LM last year were just little short of total disasters for them, but since Shanghai last year they've gotten better and better with each passing race and now Rebellion better look out because SMP at Sebring and Spa have matched them and are giving them a run for their money.

I'm still not a fan of how the LM version of the BR1 looks, but that goes for just about any LMP car, especially LMP1s nowadays. The sprint Toyota and Rebellion are lookers IMO, and the sprint BR1 is growing on me.

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

One thing I have to admit about LMP1 privateer is that though Rebellion is still my favorite team among them, I'm impressed at how SMP/BR Engineering have turned the corner. Spa and LM last year were just little short of total disasters for them, but since Shanghai last year they've gotten better and better with each passing race and now Rebellion better look out because SMP at Sebring and Spa have matched them and are giving them a run for their money.

I'm still not a fan of how the LM version of the BR1 looks, but that goes for just about any LMP car, especially LMP1s nowadays. The sprint Toyota and Rebellion are lookers IMO, and the sprint BR1 is growing on me.

well last year SMP at spa debuted with a low drag / zero downforce configuration... and had to throw in the trash can a brand new chassis.


Don't know if ACO homologated a better fuel for private lmp1's due the no limits MJ/lap as fuel energy allocation, but is clear that new eot got rebellion and smp close to toyota's.



BTW has smp BR1 a 6 or 7 speeds gearbox?

[ApexTurtle]

I think it may be a 5 speed actually...

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by ApexTurtle

I think it may be a 5 speed actually...

source?


I recall that when rebellion and kolles were using the AER V6 had both 7 speeds gearbox

[ApexTurtle]

An onboard from Spa showed only 5 gears, but perhaps the 6th is Le Mans only? I can't find any onboard videos so it's very likely I'm remembering wrong and someone will correct me

[chernaudi]

Current Rebellion Oreca uses a 6 speed gearbox based on the XTrac unit used in the Oreca 07.

BR Engineering's site says that the gearbox is a XTrac 6 speed, possibly similar to what Rebellion are currently using.

For reference, the Toyota TS050 gearbox is also a 6 speed developed jointly by TMG and XTrac.

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by ApexTurtle

An onboard from Spa showed only 5 gears, but perhaps the 6th is Le Mans only? I can't find any onboard videos so it's very likely I'm remembering wrong and someone will correct me

you know... you found a good spot...


is really hard to find any good telemetry-onboard of smp cars... and then I found this suspicious video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JfqFbnQKrg


In this promotional 2018 wec prologue video, the smp dashboard is for some reason censored



then I've found this interest other onboard (no telemetry)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsFb3B8ZqNM




at the end of the video, he didn't pass the oreca just because he lifted off before the end of the straight. Well at that point he should have been at about 270km/h at least.
If we speculate that button was in 1st speed out of last corner at 1:22, he reached that speed with a really long 4th speed (if ears dont' deceive me).


The 5 speeds speculation is not so unlikely afterall....

[Damian Baldi]

Vandoorne have say the car have had a gearbox problem, they lost 5th and 6th by the end of the race.

Vandoorne's car finished Spa race with four gears

[Adam43]

Crikey. I remember the early Audi diesels were 5 speed, but they were torquetastic.

[Damian Baldi]

I been doing a review of the 2018 races in youtube and with the results page, because I forgot most of the action. At the Prologue all the private teams were in a single second, that was without the EoT? Or all the cars were slow or sandbaging?

The season started with very immature cars from all private teams. If you review the first hour of the races, there are great battles between SMP and Rebellion in all tracks. Sometimes the car of DragonSpeed is part too, and even ByKolles in some crazy races as Fuji. But in general all cars had problems. Rebellion with electronic problems, team errors or driver's mistakes, SMP and DragonSpeed with gearbox problems, and wheel nut problems, and ByKolles being ByKolles with few moments of some speed.

After Le Mans, the cars become better and better and the Rebellion - SMP fight is noticiable. I think DragonSpeed focused more on the P2 and Indycar and lost their attention to the P1 (at least in 2019).

Without the fuel flow limit per lap since Spa, I think Le Mans will be great for the private teams, at least in theory they could fight each other with less mechacial/electronic problems.

EDIT: I forgot to comment about the new front tyres for the non-hybrid cars. It's another plus for their current performance.

[Lutzvic]

doubt!
https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/ne...82971/?nrt=102

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by Damian Baldi

I been doing a review of the 2018 races in youtube and with the results page, because I forgot most of the action. At the Prologue all the private teams were in a single second, that was without the EoT? Or all the cars were slow or sandbaging?

The season started with very immature cars from all private teams. If you review the first hour of the races, there are great battles between SMP and Rebellion in all tracks. Sometimes the car of DragonSpeed is part too, and even ByKolles in some crazy races as Fuji. But in general all cars had problems. Rebellion with electronic problems, team errors or driver's mistakes, SMP and DragonSpeed with gearbox problems, and wheel nut problems, and ByKolles being ByKolles with few moments of some speed.

After Le Mans, the cars become better and better and the Rebellion - SMP fight is noticiable. I think DragonSpeed focused more on the P2 and Indycar and lost their attention to the P1 (at least in 2019).

Without the fuel flow limit per lap since Spa, I think Le Mans will be great for the private teams, at least in theory they could fight each other with less mechacial/electronic problems.

EDIT: I forgot to comment about the new front tyres for the non-hybrid cars. It's another plus for their current performance.

Actually, according to eot spa sheet,
https://www.fia.com/events/world-end...ance-committee
(fourth file from the bottom)



private lmp1 are still sticking to 115kg/h max petrol flow, the unlimited value is the max petrol energy per lap, that leads me to think that:
1. private lmp1's received a spec better petrol (so far petrol was the same for everyone and supplied by shell)
2. like f1, private lmp1's are free to choice a different supplier and to use the kind of petrol they wish


BTW, if am I not wrong, new private spec michelin have not been used at spa because unanimity wasn't reached among teams

[Irie]

Originally Posted by canaglia

Actually, according to eot spa sheet,
https://www.fia.com/events/world-end...ance-committee
(fourth file from the bottom)



private lmp1 are still sticking to 115kg/h max petrol flow, the unlimited value is the max petrol energy per lap, that leads me to think that:
1. private lmp1's received a spec better petrol (so far petrol was the same for everyone and supplied by shell)
2. like f1, private lmp1's are free to choice a different supplier and to use the kind of petrol they wish


BTW, if am I not wrong, new private spec michelin have not been used at spa because unanimity wasn't reached among teams

I dont't understand why they need unanimity in the first place? LMP1 is a free tire class, the teams who want the new tires can buy them from Michelin and run them and Dragonspeed can continue running the current spec.

I had a look at the regulatios and found

Originally Posted by Sporting Regulations 7.7.2 a)

For LMP1 non H and LMP2 categories, the different tyre
manufacturers may declare to the FIA/ACO, for the full
season, a maximum of 3 tyre specifications for all the models
of cars entered in the category. 2 specifications must be
declared at least 48 hours before the Prologue.
[...]
At the latest 48 hours before the opening of scrutineering, they
must designate 2 tyre specifications entered per race (3
specifications for the 24 hours of Le Mans) from among the 3
specifications designated for the season. Only these 2 tyre
specifications (3 specifications for the 24 hours of Le Mans)
may be used by a competitor on an Event.

[Deleted]

I think the Interlagos WEC may be dead again after next year
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/14...20-rio-gp-move

[TzeiTzei]

Originally Posted by Lutzvic

doubt!
https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/ne...82971/?nrt=102

Yeah... I don't believe we are going to see any kind of racing between the privateers and Toyota unless they seriously limit the power output of the hybrid system. They can talk all they want, but so far the on track show has been poor. They should let the hybrid provide fuel economy advatage, but take away the performance advantage.

[chernaudi]

That's how it should've been all along. Hybrid should've been used as a range enhancer, not a performance enhancer. Same with diesel or ethanol.

Fact though does remain that without a lot of BOP, factory teams will still dominate, just because they have the resources to build a better mouse trap.

[Deleted]

Boring Toyota domination is still infinitely preferable to fake bop wrestling like DPi or GTE. Anyway we already have a huge improvement over the farce that was LM 2018, and that is the removal of the stupid mandatory max stint length & associated penalties (unless Toyota wants it back but they haven't said so). That alone makes everything more relaxed

[Deleted]

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2019/0...0-fia-wec.html
That number is understood to have been ‘capped’ with at least two potential entrants advised that an entry request would not be successful

Not overly surprising as long as GTE-AM continues to receive handful of filler entry spots for reasons of unknown

[Nick Woodbury]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Boring Toyota domination is still infinitely preferable to fake bop wrestling like DPi or GTE.

And yet, one of those two series is "infinitely" more exciting than the other on a routine basis.