[WEC] LMP Future Regulations (was Le Mans EVO rules - now hypercar rules)

[WyldStallion]

Originally Posted by GT6

Yes that paint scheme looks horrid, however if it remains as an open car it gets the thumbs up from me, probably will not happen but would be nice

Referring to Toyota GRSS demo at Le Mans. I think the days of open topped cars are over. LMPC was the last of it in sportscars. Even single seater/open wheeled cars are moving the closed direction. Look at IndyCar. Maybe open above the driver? But there is the rain?

Still we are getting close to October so maybe the racing livery for the GS Super sport is near. I was never a fan of the TS050 looks. Best looking LMP1 cars in order of time in the past decade were: 1. Audi R18 from 2012 2. Rebellion Lola from 2013 3. Nissan GTRLM from 2015 4. Porsche 919 from 2017

[Mike E]

Some more vague mutterings from McLaren on LMDh.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...regs-offering/

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Some more vague mutterings from McLaren on LMDh.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...regs-offering/

This is a pretty recurring story, McLaren talking about either LMH or DPI2.0/now LMDh...

[Simmi]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/hyund...Ks94srr8vFfmwE

Anyone heard anything about Hyundai sniffing around Hypercar or LMDh?

Story from the rallying side where they are rumoured to be jumping ship in favour of sportscars. DirtFish normally very well sourced but first I've heard of major sportscar links. Would make sense.

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by Simmi

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/hyund...Ks94srr8vFfmwE

Anyone heard anything about Hyundai sniffing around Hypercar or LMDh?

Story from the rallying side where they are rumoured to be jumping ship in favour of sportscars. DirtFish normally very well sourced but first I've heard of major sportscar links. Would make sense.

Hyundai have been looking at a sportscar programme for many years - came close to an LMP2 engine programme, came close to a DPi programme and have been 'in the room' for the LMDH regulations discussion from the start - I'd suggest they should be regarded as a very likely addition

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

Hyundai have been looking at a sportscar programme for many years - came close to an LMP2 engine programme, came close to a DPi programme and have been 'in the room' for the LMDH regulations discussion from the start - I'd suggest they should be regarded as a very likely addition

That would be nice to see. They have been supporting the Veloster TCR program over here and had a large display in the fan area at Road Atlanta this week.

[CTD]

I seem to recall they also roamed around on MulsanneMikes page some years ago, so Hyundai are not new to the scene in that regard.
the "N" program also seems to be more track oriented, so a step up to Sportscars would not be unnatural.

[GT6]

Well good news if it is true and at the moment we all need some good news

[S griffin]

We’ll see, even if it doesn’t happen, we’ve got something to possibly link our spirits for the future

[GingerPixel]

Mclaren seem like the eternal ghost of modern sports car racing. How many times have we read or heard that they might possibly consider trying to think about going prototype racing?

At this point the prospect of a Hyundai at Le Mans is more exciting than that of a Mclaren.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by GingerPixel

At this point the prospect of a Hyundai at Le Mans is more exciting than that of a Mclaren.

As Aston showed - even a commitment isn't enough these days. I could see McLaren going in a similar direction.

Porsche is the one I'd like to see get a timeframe announced. And I think Hyundai would add real value to sportscars if they do step in.

[truebeliever]

Originally Posted by Simmi

As Aston showed - even a commitment isn't enough these days. I could see McLaren going in a similar direction.

Porsche is the one I'd like to see get a timeframe announced. And I think Hyundai would add real value to sportscars if they do step in.

The questions to be asking, isn't whether Hyundai, McLaren, etc, will come in to sportscar racing, but rather, will there be any sportscar racing over the horizon at all? Or any racing for that matter?

''If'' it is to be continued with no spectators, then I would imagine, simple answer is NO. Sponsors pay for exposure, tv alone will never replace spectators, B2B hospitality and so on. Spectators pay to watch races, thus organizers rely on this money. No spectators, who pays for the expenses of putting on a race? Obvious these costs will be passed onto the teams, making their financial burden even higher than before, in a depressed financial landscape.

Whilst I applaud the various series announcing their 2021 calendars, I believe these are being overly optimistic of 2021. I would question who is going to be paying for all this racing, in a world where the economies have become seriously declined, unemployment rampant, and the Economic Tsunami approaching but yet to really hit?

Some can say, ''Yes but look at the full fields in what races there have been this year!''

True. However, the budgets for these were already committed, paid, before Covid arrived.

Then others will also say, ''Plenty of OEM teams and rich gentlemen drivers to keep it going.''

I would question that. OEM teams are already being cut back or stopped. Rich gentlemen drivers are rich because they have a constant money supply coming in. The Economic Tsunami will change this aspect. Lessen the money supply, lessen the expenditure.

It is certainly not a climate to be introducing new classes, which are going to cost significantly more expenditure for teams. Perhaps better to work at having less races, more combined series, less expenses for the teams. Finding funding for 2021 is going to be a challenge for most teams I would say. Even if that funding was at the level found for 2020, increases could well make this an impossible task.

A BIG dose of reality to the present world economic situation, would be a good idea, and not burying one's head in the sand and pretending life is normal. It is far from normal as we knew it, it may never return to normal either.

Optimism is a wonderful thing, reality is better.

[Napolis]

Originally Posted by truebeliever

The questions to be asking, isn't whether Hyundai, McLaren, etc, will come in to sportscar racing, but rather, will there be any sportscar racing over the horizon at all? Or any racing for that matter?

''If'' it is to be continued with no spectators, then I would imagine, simple answer is NO. Sponsors pay for exposure, tv alone will never replace spectators, B2B hospitality and so on. Spectators pay to watch races, thus organizers rely on this money. No spectators, who pays for the expenses of putting on a race? Obvious these costs will be passed onto the teams, making their financial burden even higher than before, in a depressed financial landscape.

Whilst I applaud the various series announcing their 2021 calendars, I believe these are being overly optimistic of 2021. I would question who is going to be paying for all this racing, in a world where the economies have become seriously declined, unemployment rampant, and the Economic Tsunami approaching but yet to really hit?

Some can say, ''Yes but look at the full fields in what races there have been this year!''

True. However, the budgets for these were already committed, paid, before Covid arrived.

Then others will also say, ''Plenty of OEM teams and rich gentlemen drivers to keep it going.''

I would question that. OEM teams are already being cut back or stopped. Rich gentlemen drivers are rich because they have a constant money supply coming in. The Economic Tsunami will change this aspect. Lessen the money supply, lessen the expenditure.

It is certainly not a climate to be introducing new classes, which are going to cost significantly more expenditure for teams. Perhaps better to work at having less races, more combined series, less expenses for the teams. Finding funding for 2021 is going to be a challenge for most teams I would say. Even if that funding was at the level found for 2020, increases could well make this an impossible task.

A BIG dose of reality to the present world economic situation, would be a good idea, and not burying one's head in the sand and pretending life is normal. It is far from normal as we knew it, it may never return to normal either.

Optimism is a wonderful thing, reality is better.

I agree. Sadly there are who aren't seeing this reality. This is why we feel strongly that GTE has to be scrapped and replaced by a much less costly GT3 @ 600 HP worldwide. Strange and hard days ahead. We learned a lot at the Baja last year and what we learned is going into our road Boots and this years Baja 1000 race Boot. We're doing all we can to reduce costs. In addition to our 004's and Boots we'll offer lower cost DYI Baja/Paris-Dakar/homebuilt road legal buggies and a DYI GT4.
We learned a lot at the N24 and The Baja 1000 and what we learned has gone into making our race cars for the road faster and better.
We're Race Boot testing today. We'll be back at the Baja 1000 in a few weeks and we will be a lot faster.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGn0T7jhPWC/?igshid=4c3l7tjf1o3f

[chernaudi]

And that's what the essence of motor racing was. Taking what you learned from racing and using it to make your road cars better. Now, racing is mostly entertainment and marketing for OEMs and sanctioning bodies anymore.

[Adam43]

Nah, that has sometimes a byproduct of racing. The essence of racing is racing.

Give humans a form of transport and and they’ll find a another one to race.

[Napolis]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

And that's what the essence of motor racing was. Taking what you learned from racing and using it to make your road cars better. Now, racing is mostly entertainment and marketing for OEMs and sanctioning bodies anymore.

Yes a big change for sure.
I'm not sure in OEM's race today to test/improve their road cars especially as their cars are becoming increasingly electric.
Ghost Racing in the era of COVID offers little to sponsors.
Racing of some sort will go on but if 2021 is a Ghost year racing as we know it will end for a long, long time.

[truebeliever]

Originally Posted by Napolis

Yes a big change for sure.
I'm not sure in OEM's race today to test/improve their road cars especially as their cars are becoming increasingly electric.
Ghost Racing in the era of COVID offers little to sponsors.
Racing of some sort will go on but if 2021 is a Ghost year racing as we know it will end for a long, long time.

You are correct Sir, which was my underlying point. No spectators = no, or very little in the way of commercial sponsors, and why would they?

Even F1 is saying, it ''could'' be a good idea to hold races into the future, with no spectators! WTF!!! See how long that lasts before sponsors start walking away.

We are living in days of fantasy, surrealism, and BS!! A world where too many simply will not, cannot grasp reality.

[Akrapovic]

hmmm. Not sure removing spectators from trackside has a huge effect on sponsor visibility. The large majority of the fans are watching from home. It's like not letting fans into a football grounds - doesn't matter, they're watching from home anyway.

WEC spectator count has always been low.

[kaivo]

https://www.motor1.com/news/450545/n...vlYOdmleuyFPKY

what if buggati joins

[carbsmith]

No spectators is a much bigger problem in sports cars or something like IndyCar where your sponsor buys are predicated less on sheer exposure (because it kind of sucks) and more on things like client hosting.

[truebeliever]

Originally Posted by carbsmith

No spectators is a much bigger problem in sports cars or something like IndyCar where your sponsor buys are predicated less on sheer exposure (because it kind of sucks) and more on things like client hosting.

CORRECT!

[truebeliever]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

hmmm. Not sure removing spectators from trackside has a huge effect on sponsor visibility. The large majority of the fans are watching from home. It's like not letting fans into a football grounds - doesn't matter, they're watching from home anyway.

WEC spectator count has always been low.

I think you are also missing an important point about no spectators.
It costs money to hold an event, especially something like LM24. The volume of spectators bring in revenue to the organizers. No spectators, who pays extra to offset these costs?
Obvious, the teams. Thus creating an ever increasing spiral upwards of costs to compete, in a dwindling sponsor market of companies wanting to spend.
No spectators is also ''removing'' the live, human involvement of it. No different be it football. tennis, etc, human presence has always and should always be a part of these events.
Or perhaps you are in favor of a world of virtual reality, where humans sit closed in their homes and only watch any sport on the box and see NO spectators in attendance? Plus the competitors surely see spectators as an integral and vital part of whatever sport it may be they are competing in.
This may well be a future world trying to be forced upon humanity, but for now, it's not a world I think most would favor.

[DistortedSmile]

Originally Posted by kaivo

https://www.motor1.com/news/450545/n...vlYOdmleuyFPKY

what if buggati joins

Would come out of left field but it certainly looks the part.

[S griffin]

Looks more like a McLaren F1 to me

[joeb]

Originally Posted by kaivo

https://www.motor1.com/news/450545/n...vlYOdmleuyFPKY

what if buggati joins

That car looks fantastic, but is most likely going to be some already sold out road super car.