Sportscar/GT (and Le Mans) Rumours and Repetition

[MitchZ06]

I think Toyota nearly being on the pace of Audi rubbishes your claim the ACO haven't got petrol/diesel equivalency right....

[Thaw Daggerslash]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

I think Toyota nearly being on the pace of Audi rubbishes your claim the ACO haven't got petrol/diesel equivalency right....

One word: manufacturer.

Privateers with petrol cars are still miles off. As Bourdais said a couple of days ago on RLM, there really needs to be a LMP1.5 at the moment...

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by Thaw Daggerslash

One word: manufacturer.

Privateers with petrol cars are still miles off. As Bourdais said a couple of days ago on RLM, there really needs to be a LMP1.5 at the moment...

There is a LMP2 for those that don't want to play the LMP1 game. My opinion is that they need someone to come in and sell competitive manufacturer chassis to a number of privateers. Barring giving the privateer chassis a set of advantaged rules, they are not going to get any closer than they are now.

As you've admitted, it isn't about Diesel vs. Petrol, rather Manufacturer vs. Boutique Chassis Builder/privateer.

If you've got two or three privateer Audis, plus a couple of Toyotas, plus a handful of Porsche privateers, in addition to the factories, then we have something a bit more substantial. Unfortunately I don't think you would get such a thing without specific regulations.

[Dead-Eye]

Originally Posted by Thaw Daggerslash

One word: manufacturer.

That's exactly the point. The gap isn't caused by petrol vs. diesel, but by manufacturer vs. privateer.

Also, please don't speak for "everyone". I, as a fan, love the way the diesel cars sound. I don't want a field of them, but I don't want a field of Lola Aston Martins (still the best sounding LMP) either. Variety is good.

[MitchZ06]

Count me as a fan of the diesels too (without wanting a field, just a few). It just sounds so industrial vs the petrol engines.

[NightStalk3r]

Problem with the Audi's is they don't do diesel justice in how nice a good diesel engine can sound, they should ditch their current engine builder and get John Deere to supply the engines.

[MitchZ06]

That's either a joke or....well I dunno but the onboard sounds of the Audi and Peugeot before they bailed reminds me of men with hammers working in steel mills and boiler rooms.

[NightStalk3r]

Not a joke at all, when onboard the Audi's all you hear is a faint purr that there is even an engine there, in the Ultra all you hear is an alien invasion as the hybrid system whines away, certainly not the industrial or agricultural roar you get from big boy's Diesel engines.

[MitchZ06]

So Ultra's have the hybrid too? Only thought that was the e-trons?

Guess I'm hearing something you aren't...

Not a faint purr to me...

Such a cool sound

[Thaw Daggerslash]

Interestingly, Toyota still say the rules favour the diesels, and if they're saying they're at a disadvantage, well...you get the point.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100395

The "LMP1 is only for manufacturers" argument can only go so far. On that basis, we'd only have 6 cars in that class this year. And most people admit two of those don't really have a chance this year.

Obviously it'll become more interesting when Porsche come along etc, but I'd love for the rules to at least give privateers a slight chance of winning outright. Right now people like Rebellion, Pescarolo, etc, go in knowing straight away they have no chance.

[supermario21]

Originally Posted by Thaw Daggerslash

Interestingly, Toyota still say the rules favour the diesels, and if they're saying they're at a disadvantage, well...you get the point.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100395

The "LMP1 is only for manufacturers" argument can only go so far. On that basis, we'd only have 6 cars in that class this year. And most people admit two of those don't really have a chance this year.

Obviously it'll become more interesting when Porsche come along etc, but I'd love for the rules to at least give privateers a slight chance of winning outright. Right now people like Rebellion, Pescarolo, etc, go in knowing straight away they have no chance.

The slight chance is if the factory cars break down. Remember, only a few privateers won during the Group C era and that was either when works teams weren't present, or when Joest for example made superb strategy calls to negate the performance advantage of the works cars. To force privateers to have equal performance with works cars would be unfair to the manufacturers who have much more money invested. I agree, though, that if factories sold say year old cars to customers then they would be more competitive, but until then, I'd suggest just run in LMP2 or try to woo a manufacturer.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Thaw Daggerslash

Right now people like Rebellion, Pescarolo, etc, go in knowing straight away they have no chance.

In truth, they've all known that for quite a few years now. But still they come back.....

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Thaw Daggerslash

Obviously it'll become more interesting when Porsche come along etc, but I'd love for the rules to at least give privateers a slight chance of winning outright. Right now people like Rebellion, Pescarolo, etc, go in knowing straight away they have no chance.

You seem a bit out of the loop... 2014 regs were revealed yesterday: http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...16#post3090716

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by kurski

do you know what is the name of that design firm in Munich?

Adess

[batmobile]

Lotus LMP2 project for 2013 before LMP1
http://www.endurance-info.com/versio...nce-11419.html

[kober]

Originally Posted by batmobile

Lotus LMP2 project for 2013 before LMP1
http://www.endurance-info.com/versio...nce-11419.html

No badging? That can't be (contemporary) Lotus then

[Acid09]

Am I the only one who has lost complete track of this whole Lotus thing now?

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by kober

No badging? That can't be (contemporary) Lotus then

Haha!

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Acid09

Am I the only one who has lost complete track of this whole Lotus thing now?

Maybe this helps

[The Badger]

Ha , thats funny ............ but yeah , looks to resemble the goings on in their camp .

[MitchZ06]

Looks like a cross between the Audi and Toyota....

[tux]

So Lotus will develop the car and run it? Or it will be run by a private team?

Also with Dempsey racing anouncing that they will use the new Diesel Mazda engine in LMP2 next season i wonder if more teams will use it.

[GT3.14]

Looks like Lotus will have to find drivers with x-ray vision to see through the absurd bodywork over the front wheels.

[MagVanisher]

Originally Posted by GT3.14

Looks like Lotus will have to find drivers with x-ray vision to see through the absurd bodywork over the front wheels.

How about they need to make a headset/helmet with a monitor built-in, connected to a camera outside of the car.

[FstrthnU]

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/n...for-lola-cars/

Rebellion Racing could be running the/a pair of DOME S102.5(s) by the end of the season because they might not have enough parts remaining from Lola to support the Lola 12/60 through the entire WEC season