Think You Can Improve Sports Car Racing? The FIA Wants to Hear From You

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

This article was published by Andrew Evans (@Famine) on September 26th, 2017 in the FIA WEC category.

 

Solution:

Remove Downforce - If wings are needed to look cool, then keep them, but do not let them create downforce.
Remove traction control. Let the driver be the traction control. He will have to work. Imagine that.
No paddle shifting - Go back to gated shifter. Again, the driver will have to do the work.

All of these will add to the challenge and thus make racing far more exciting in my opinion.

 

We'd have cars that lap way more slowly than they do now.

Absolutely agree.

Far harsher on the clutch/gearbox than user-requested gearshifts, I agree with the sentiment but we'd see far fewer cars finishing races.

 

Ditch the LMP1 class, involve the new breed of hypercars, call the new class GT1.

Boom, instant improvement.

 

"Roll everything back to 1996 regulations because that was the last time racing was good" -The Internet

To be serious though, removing traction control or any kind of electronic aids to put more focus on driver skill would be a simple but significant improvement.

 

Adding an all electric class would be rather cool. Hot swap the batteries during pit stops and charge them in a trailer or something near the pits. It'd showcase new technology and probably help push battery development further too. It also might help keep manufactures that are considering jumping ship to Formula E since some of the technology would cross over.

 

Actually, I think this would be in the exact wrong direction. Unless the goal is to make racing more boring.

 

How would it be boring? Electric cars are fast and can be just as competitive. Plus there would be a whole new race strategy involved with electric cars too.

 

Because they don't make the vroom vroom noises and therefore they are bad, of course.

 

Delete.

 

They won't have much choice. In 40, 50 years, if it hasn't been replaced wholesale by it, Formula 1 is going to the same as Formula E. That's the march of technology in motorsports at work.

 

Return to Group C regulations.

Instant boom.

 

Like clockwork.

 

Le Mans as last season race??... As @rallymorten said...



All seriousness though, with manual gearbox and no traction control, drivers will be more connected to the car, and that means more awesomeness

Spoiler

It was a long survey as well...

 

Or even Aventadors, F12s etc.

 

That's more like 2010-spec GT1 which weren't even close to as insane as the pre-lmp900 GT1 cars. Those late 90's GT1s are my favourite racing cars to watch, and the new breed of F1 Hypercars comes really close in bodywork and insanity.

 

A proper Manuel gearbox and clutch would make it so good to watch

 

Contact JAF and have GT500 in a category right below lmp1 until LMP1 recovers, GT500 cars with more power would basically bring the GT1 era back.

 

Anything even close to those will probably be better than the new LMP1s.

 

How? Unless you watch the in-car camera the entirety of the race, anyone outside the car won't be able to tell a difference, not to mention There are shifters in rallying with very short throws and work sequentially.

I wouldn't have a problem with a full EV class, but limit the teams to...three packs sounds decent, with an auxiliary pack mounted for emergency use that can't be removed.

 

I'm not sure how well an EV would fair in an endurance series. Don't battery swaps usually take a long amount of time or am I missing something?

 

So, according to your logic: If you don't see it, it doesn't make a difference? Seriously?
Perhaps you've not driven a car with a manual gated shifter?

Let me help explain it then: Instead of just clicking with your little finger and the next gear seamlessly engages, now you have to employ the use of the clutch between every gear change. There is a delay between each shift. There is many opportunities for missed shifts, poor driving habits, locked drive wheels etc etc. This would make a huge difference in races. Now diver skill becomes a much bigger part in each race.

 

Survey: "What races do you think are important."

Me: (Sees new race in Adelaide as one of the options) *intensifies*.

In serious talk, I do hope WEC does turn to a more variety based format with their races instead of most races being 6 Hours. Gets repetitive and doesn't make most the races feel special if they are all the same time, having variety times for each racd could really spice things up a little for each race.

 

Just use fuel cells problem solved.

 

They can, but if you develop something that's more or less like a drill battery where you can pull the entire pack out and slap a new pack in it could work decently well. They'd just need to design some sort of lift like device to assist with pulling the pack out so you don't blow out the backs of your pit crew.

To balance weight you could have one pack on each side and one in the front and rear.

Pit stops would probably take longer at first, but as new technology moved forward it would get easier.

 

As far as a wide audience would be concerned, no.

 

The words I addressed were "fun to watch". I've driven manuals as a child, and for work trucks. No, I've not been "blessed" enough to use an almighty gated shifter, but I know enough that it isn't that different from a regular one. I've seen races with the stick shift manuals and with the flappy paddles, the only thing that's changed is that missed shifts are kinda gone, and only kinda because drivers still miss the timing.

As for your accusation, underfloor aero is a huge difference maker, as is internal ducting, chassis construction, reliable electronics, etc. The H-pattern shifter and the effort to change gear does not affect the product nearly as much as the downforce, the power, the gearing, the driver's skills, the tires, and anymore the team's resources away from the car.

 

I'd say revert back to the GT1 class. With there being cars like the P1, 918, Huayra, LaFerrari why couldn't there be another GT1 class? You'd probably have to tweak regulations to ensure that the same loophole workarounds don't happen cough cough Nissan, Toyota. Not to mention, wouldn't building a GT1 Car based off of one of your hypercar models be cheaper than making those crazy aerodynamic High tech ass LMPs?

 

Damn i am so glad none of you are in charge of racing

 

Likewise, nobody on the internet should ever be.

I do like that they are at least trying to take input from the fans, though IMO they should only hand these surveys out with paid-for tickets or on a present-at-track basis. You open anything up to the internet and you're bound to get weird results - see the 'community-vote' for the Kunos Ferrari 70th Anniversary pack.