Sports Cars 2020 Endurance Racing Discussion Thread - WEC, ELMS etc

They’ve now clarified that what qualifies as an OEM will be at their discretion on a case by case basis.

https://racer.com/2019/12/05/aco-clarifies-fia-hypercar-ruling/

I still don’t really see any real reason for this to be a requirement. Unless that is the talks with IMSA are actually gaining some traction since IMSA has similar requirements for DPi.

 

They only have to build it and they can run it. That makes them OEM.

 

Just about every manufacturer I've seen that's had interest on having a Hypercar or DPi program been in favor of the 2 classes sharing similar regulations.

 

Monza and Kyalami join 2020/21 WEC calendar. Replacing Shanghai and this years fill in race at COTA.

https://racer.com/2019/12/12/monza-kyalami-join-wec-calendar-for-2020-21/

 

Corvette Racing will run a single C8.R at the COTA round of the WEC in February.

https://racer.com/2019/12/20/corvette-c8-r-entry-confirmed-for-cota/

 

Hmm...cool, good for publicity I suppose, and extra testing for Sebring.

 

It's probably not for publicity, in reality it will provide some testing before Sebring but IMSA will still change thr BoP after Daytona so whatever gains are made will probably be somewhat undone.

I think the most important factor is it gives a race for them to log data and performance. Then hand it to FIA/ACO before Le Mans and have it play into that BoP rather than the LM test alone. Though they do take info from gt lm too but it isn't the same as FIA controlled events.

Also another race doesn't hurt to get rid of potential gremlins that may occur if not found before the big race.

 

BTCC stalwarts Speedworks sample the Supra GT4...

 

love it!!!!!!!

 

so so majestic but one problem, is the emergency OFF Upside down?

 

Just wanna say I’m living a dream here at The Bend Motorsport Park for the second round of the Asian Le Mans series and my first international sportscar race. It’s so amazing to see and hear these cars in person.

Here’s hoping these leads to an eventual WEC race here, there have been talks with the ACO after all.

 

Last night, I was on YouTube and curiously came across a stream of the Asian Le Mans Series. There was a four-hour race around "The Bend" in Australia. This is a most fascinating track in the Australian state of South Australia. This track comes in about 10 different layouts, and its full course is at about 4.75 miles or 7.7 kilometers. So its full track is longer than Spa-Francorchamps! There were 25 entries for this race with about 21 actually racing. At first, I thought this track was that Chang circuit in Thailand or maybe Sydney Motorsports Park (which I still call Eastern Creek). It was an interesting race.

 

Look at the post above. Nah I'm kidding. I was very excited when I heard that international sports car racing was returning to Australia after 19 years. In fact I was thinking of going to the event, but Adelaide is too hot during the summer! Thankfully, I'm going to the 500 KM Supercar race there this year. The Bend is a very recent track, with only 2 Supercar rounds being hosted soo far. It's gotten a lot as praise as you could probably tell. I watched the whole race and it was actually quite eventful for an endurance, not to mention a good antidote for the lack of motorsport recently!

 

The full circuit is the second longest permanent circuit in the world.

You’re not wrong about Adelaide summers, I left on Sunday with a nasty sunburn after lining up for 20 minutes for a sausage roll. But it would’ve been worth going to this event solely due to the fact that they had the visitors centre and rooftop opened up to general admission. There was an impressive display of cars including a Carrera GT and a few Brock cars, a (pricey) restaurant up stairs and bar with incredible views. Here’s a photo I got while sitting opposite the bar:

 

...and that last bit of top-level sportscar racing in Australia? If I recall correctly, it was the famous "Race of a Thousand Years" by the (then) American Le Mans Series on the streets of Adelaide on New Year's Eve. Most remember that race for one Audi R8 LMP having that popular crocodile livery. I say this is great for Australia to have such a race like at The Bend.

I said in the YouTube chat that you can kind of compare The Bend to the track once known as Miller Motorsport Park (nowadays Utah Motorsports Campus). The Bend is as twisty, as technical, and with as considerate elevation changes to keep you honest like Utah Motorsports Campus. I really see The Bend as being quite a quality venue for years to come. That's especially if you can throw some extra money at it so it could be further developed to perhaps be a top-level FIA racing facility. And who knows? Maybe Formula 1, World Superbike, MotoGP, FIA WEC, or FIA WTCC may hold races there in the future.

It is still cool that Australia has itself some quality sportscar racing in the country for the first time in a long while after seeing this past weekend's race at The Bend.

 

Sadly the track is FIA Grade 2, so F1 cannot race there.

 

Will be interesting to see the LM cars around Bathurst.

 

The rooftop and visitors centre has been open to the general public the last couple of times I've been there. Couple that with my disabled parking and it allows me to go nearly everywhere around the whole circuit (and I can park right at the front door of the visitors centre most of the time). Great stuff!

Except for the heat you mentioned... and those damn friendly flies

Spoiler: Probably the same Brocky cars

 

Worse thing in Australia are the flies. Hasn't been bad this summer.

 

As much as I think it’d be cool for the Bugatti Chiron/Divo/etc. to be one of the hypercars, I really don’t think Bugatti has the money. I thought the last time they did motorsports was with the EB110, before they even started making the Veyron. They also just started to generate a profit with the Chiron, IIRC.

For similar reasons, idk if Koenigsegg would have the funding, either. They closest that they got was that CCGT meant for GT1.

I’m also not sure if Ferrari would wanna do much, since they spend a ton of money on F1. Not sure if they’d have enough funding left for a hypercar, even though I think the SF90 would be a nice base. Their last prototype was the 333SP in the 1990s, right?

Finally, as much as I think the Valkyrie (and similar projects like the Valhalla) is really neat - LM hypercar version included - I can’t help but to wonder if Aston Martin could’ve avoided notable financial trouble if they hadn’t developed these cars. Even with Red Bull’s help, I really don’t know how much the Valkyrie’s R&D ate into Aston Martin’s budget. I think the DBX will be helpful for them, but I think it’d also be good if they offered a model similar to the Porsche Boxster - something more “entry-level.” Pride in one’s traditions doesn’t cut paychecks, unfortunately.

 

Bugatti are owned by VAG. You are right about Aston Martin though. It would be better to build a car and sell it to privateers than anything else.

 

Magnussen and Rockenfeller will be in the Corvette for the CoTA race.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/magnussen-rockenfeller-set-for-unexpected-corvette-returns/

Happy to see Jan get a proper sendoff.

 

Rebellion is done with motor sports after Le Mans.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/rebellion-to-withdraw-from-motorsport-after-le-mans/

 

I wonder what affect this will have with Peugeot?

 

None, in fact it was reported today that they will be working with Ligier on the project.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/report-peugeot-to-partner-with-ligier-for-wec-entry/

 

It seems like some bad news about Aston Martin might be on the horizon.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/aston-martin-hypercar-program-in-further-jeopardy/

It's not too surprising considering recent events, but it will still suck to see the program get the axe.

 

What the hell?

 

Oh my god wtf Aston Martin
Toyota, SCG and Peugeot are the only WEC hypercars now?

 

Peugeot isn't a done deal yet.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/peugeot-to-make-decision-between-hypercar-lmdh/