2017 General WEC/ELMS/AsLMS Discussion ThreadSports Cars 

  • Thread starter IforceV8
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No mention of the wec lately I see. Haven't posted here in a while, but Shanghai's race is over. Toyota #8 won the race but the Porsche won the (season) battle. #2 Porsche won the wdc title and the Porsche team won the constructors. Would have been nice to see Porsche not apply team orders swapping positions with the sister car giving it 'free' wins, but hey, it worked out for them.
 
Toyota were heading for a 1-2 but the #7 lost 6 or 7 laps late in the race due to collision damage - that handed the Championship to Porsche but they would have had a big enough lead to make it likely they'd have won in in the last round anyway.

Toyota have the same number of wins as Porsche this season. Le mans, as usual, is the decisive difference.

In other news. Three teams have confirmed LMP1 entries for the super season.
 
So did I understand this correctly: FIA WEC 2018/2019 will be a "superseason" with Toyota, Manor and DragonSpeed in the LMP1 class?
 
Whitestar
So did I understand this correctly: FIA WEC 2018/2019 will be a "superseason" with Toyota, Manor and DragonSpeed in the LMP1 class?
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SMP and presumably ByKolles as well.

Not sure how entertaining it will be though as even if they get the car performance close Toyota will still have the major personnel advantage.
 
Whitestar
So did I understand this correctly: FIA WEC 2018/2019 will be a "superseason" with Toyota, Manor and DragonSpeed in the LMP1 class?
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Sorry it's two. I mistook the last entry as two separate teams when it is two concerns working together.
 
trustjab
No mention of the wec lately I see. Haven't posted here in a while, but Shanghai's race is over. Toyota #8 won the race but the Porsche won the (season) battle. #2 Porsche won the wdc title and the Porsche team won the constructors. Would have been nice to see Porsche not apply team orders swapping positions with the sister car giving it 'free' wins, but hey, it worked out for them.
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It would also have helped if Jose Maria Lopez would stop driving the car like a damn touring car every time he comes across a slower car. Its like all he knows how to do is hit things.
 
RACECAR
It would also have helped if Jose Maria Lopez would stop driving the car like a damn touring car every time he comes across a slower car. Its like all he knows how to do is hit things.
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These two incidents in all the races that he's run this year is not any indication that's all he knows how to do. It's like people forgot all about his great battle in Austin, his perfectly clean run as a 'rookie' at LM, not putting a foot wrong in Fuji's wet race etc. Every driver has an accident or two.

I found this to be interesting to say the least
 
trustjab
These two incidents in all the races that he's run this year is not any indication that's all he knows how to do. It's like people forgot all about his great battle in Austin, his perfectly clean run as a 'rookie' at LM, not putting a foot wrong in Fuji's wet race etc. Every driver has an accident or two.
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I was reffering to the Shanghai race. First incident in the lead, spins out. Second incident (Also in the lead), damages the car. How did he not learn from the first one? He even admitted he was too aggressive after the first (which I actually applauded him for). Its why it annoyed me that again he was at too aggressive with traffic a second time. He has the pace, the aggression isn't needed (especially when you are in the class with the most pace and power).
 
Totally different parts of the track and two different classes of cars. The second incident with the Porsche was weird. If you saw it live, the Porsche was on the outside part of the track in the fast turn leading to the straight. There were other cars to the inside and the Toyota went that line, it looked like he merged to the racing line thinking the Porsche was either staying wide or was cleared. I don't think it was an aggressive move, but it was a big mistake, obviously. He misjudged what the Porsche was doing, I think that was different from the first contact. That's my opinion. But this season he's a rookie and this was the only blemish so far, unless he was responsible for the car breaking at Silverstone.
 
Does anyone know where I can find the poster for WEC Bahrain 2017? I cant find it at all on the official website nor anywhere else I've looked.
 
Maybe this short article will interest you Folks

https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/gte-should-take-le-mans-wins-if-lmp1-fails-bird-975762/

It´s a bit sad this thread gets such Little Input but I thought I´d share some. As always, the racing regulations cycle is moving on: The WEC seems to be in the period of 1993....Prototypes are too expensive, GT racing is thriving again and the first voices of "Le mans is a road race, take it back to it´s roots" can be heard. The same mood was felt in the early 70s after Prototype Domination. I am very excited for the future developments of this. It´s only a Drivers opinion in the article I know, but since there was a huge Survey from the WEC organizers asking the fans how the future should be, there clearly will be massive changes in the next couple of years.

I don´t want to create a new thread, but here is my question:

What are your thoughts on future WEC - Strenghtening of GT cars (for an outright win) or Keeping LMP1/LMP2 (or all current classes) as they are?


PS: My own opinion is that prototypes should definitely stay, WEC and Le Mans without them is just senseless but that the organizers shouldn´t Forget what GTE has done to the Image and how much factory backing it has. My dream would be GT1 and GT2 with P1 and P2 like in the 90s, the last truly exciting period of closed wheel Motorsport. The rules could be applied to the road cars currently existing and the categories of today´s WEC could be modified (altough it would be costly and difficult) but that´s just my ideal Picture.
 
notsofast
Many thanks good sir (or madam)
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👍

trustjab
Apparently the BBC is saying Alonso could do most if not all of the WEC super season for 2018/19 for Toyota! Wow!
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Would probably make sense, if only because it wouldn't interrupt his F1 schedule.

But, and this is pure speculation, what if McLaren ends up fighting at the sharp end through to the end of 2018 (engine reliability withstanding)? I somehow doubt Brown and co. would be so willing then to let Alonso spend time away?

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To give an opinion @SilkCutXJR, perhaps in the end, does it really matter if the LMP class goes extinct?

If the original mantra of the Le Mans 24 Hours still holds weight, then this year's LMP1 class, the class that acts as a showcase for efficiency and future technologies championed by some of the biggest names in the business, on face value alone failed miserably. True, the #2 Porsche was victorious, but it, along with every car in the class suffered problems, and only 2 finished out of the 6 entered (the #8 Toyota was 9 laps down come the flag). Compare that to both GTE classes, and only 3 retired out of a total of 29 starters.

In its current guise, the LMP category is pretty much on its knees. Most of the big players have left, setting their sights on different targets, leaving really just one to fight itself with 2 cars, barring any decision to pull the plug in the very near future. And even if rules are changed to bring a BoP-style flavour to proceedings for the new season, I can't see any of the potential upstarts even laying a glove on Toyota at any track the series goes to, much less Circuit de la Sarthe.

With the GTE class ready to include BMW among it ranks, it's arguably the strongest its ever been. The only sticking point is BoP, a necessary evil that it could live without (along with many other series that implement it, but that's for another time), but on face value, it arguably provides more competition.

Perhaps the best way forward would be to make GT cars the stars, but retain the prototype formula in some way. For example, what is now GTE Pro and Am, make them GT1 and GT2, and introduce a GT3 class so that way, teams and manufacturers who compete in the likes of Blancpain etc. would then be able to compete at places like Le Mans without having to modify their cars to meet regulations. Saves money, and gives more teams exposure on bigger "stages".
 
Carbon_6
👍



Would probably make sense, if only because it wouldn't interrupt his F1 schedule.

But, and this is pure speculation, what if McLaren ends up fighting at the sharp end through to the end of 2018 (engine reliability withstanding)? I somehow doubt Brown and co. would be so willing then to let Alonso spend time away?

----------

To give an opinion @SilkCutXJR, perhaps in the end, does it really matter if the LMP class goes extinct?

If the original mantra of the Le Mans 24 Hours still holds weight, then this year's LMP1 class, the class that acts as a showcase for efficiency and future technologies championed by some of the biggest names in the business, on face value alone failed miserably. True, the #2 Porsche was victorious, but it, along with every car in the class suffered problems, and only 2 finished out of the 6 entered (the #8 Toyota was 9 laps down come the flag). Compare that to both GTE classes, and only 3 retired out of a total of 29 starters.

In its current guise, the LMP category is pretty much on its knees. Most of the big players have left, setting their sights on different targets, leaving really just one to fight itself with 2 cars, barring any decision to pull the plug in the very near future. And even if rules are changed to bring a BoP-style flavour to proceedings for the new season, I can't see any of the potential upstarts even laying a glove on Toyota at any track the series goes to, much less Circuit de la Sarthe.

With the GTE class ready to include BMW among it ranks, it's arguably the strongest its ever been. The only sticking point is BoP, a necessary evil that it could live without (along with many other series that implement it, but that's for another time), but on face value, it arguably provides more competition.

Perhaps the best way forward would be to make GT cars the stars, but retain the prototype formula in some way. For example, what is now GTE Pro and Am, make them GT1 and GT2, and introduce a GT3 class so that way, teams and manufacturers who compete in the likes of Blancpain etc. would then be able to compete at places like Le Mans without having to modify their cars to meet regulations. Saves money, and gives more teams exposure on bigger "stages".
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We have similar opinions Sir. I would also like more involvement of makes at le mans from the likes of blancpain. And I also think that GTE is running on a leash. The true performance potential of those cars is yet to be unleashed with proper GT1/GT2 regulations.

The wec has to admit that even with last minute scraped together lmps and new teams, it will hardly prove the point of lmp1s future existence in its current format. This years le mans was unbelievably exciting but 5 out of 6 cars with temporary or terminal drivetrain failure...my lord. First rule at le mans: don‘t experiment and keep it simple. Lmp1 is neither and the new teams are entering a grueling season with unproven hardware. I see it as a transition period to hopefully greater days of endurance racing. 2 years ago I made a youtube comment about how it could be that gt monsters return....was far less possible than it seems now.
 

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