[WEC Race] 2014 FIA WEC - Round 1 - Silverstone

[rich07]

Originally Posted by hcl123

Picture of the day...




don't move honey ... the #7 winner is coming

Flashers wear hi viz these days?

How considerate.....

(I'm joking-in all seriousness that's most gentlemanly of him)

[GT6]

Well that was a great weekend, overall weather was good and racing brilliant, meet just about everyone i know who was there at various points during the 3 days and had a great time.
Only bad point was the freezing cold wind while we were in club grandstand at the beginning of the main race.
thanks to james for organising the curry on saturday night and good to meet all those that said hello, sorry if i did miss anyone and see you all at Le mans

[PascaLM]

In this article (fr), E-I reports that Toyota decided to change the tyres to wet on the #7 and to new hybrid tyres on #8 which then was lapping five seconds faster than its sister car. Audi stayed on slick tyres during the period of light rain.
E-I also explain that the hybrid tyre, which looks like a slick, is confidential and still in development.

[Maelochs]

To be fair, Brabs is a citizen of the world ...

[naca]

Originally Posted by rich07

Well I just saw a brief 30 second coverage of Webbers debut on one of the nightly news programmes, good to see some coverage-poor old Brabs didn't get a mention here in Australia after he won with Peugeot in 2009 .

Ignorance is bliss isn't it.....

I remember Brabham's win getting a mention on the news here in Australia when he won. The major stations generally have reported who won the LM24 to the great unwashed every year. Although I believe this was probably the first time a non LM WEC event has got some general coverage.

[BudLightJaguar]

Originally Posted by rich07

Flashers wear hi viz these days?

How considerate.....

(I'm joking-in all seriousness that's most gentlemanly of him)

Thanks for the advice. I'll tell the children that trench coat is out of fashion.

[Woolley]

I got the impression the Audis were quick but harder to drive, thus leaving them on slicks might not have been the best decision.

The Di Grassi car went so quickly he stood no chance. I was watching it, looked up to see the next car coming and in that instant it turned left and wasn't coming back. Similarly, Treluyer turned right so suddenly he was off before he had time to react.

[Steve Tarrant]

Originally Posted by rich07

Flashers wear hi viz these days?

How considerate.....

(I'm joking-in all seriousness that's most gentlemanly of him)

I, as a marshal, can see the funny side of this too!

But in all seriousness, a couple of the girls were on the verge of hypothermia and all the grid marshals were helping the grid girls as best they could. A couple did have to leave the grid before their duties ended, so it must have been bad.

[GT6]

Well i can tell you we were all wrapped up in Club grandstand and frooze, the wind just cut into you so what it must have been like for those girls i can not imagine.

[airbusA346]

Originally Posted by Pandemonium

Can anybody find out the number of spectators on track and on the stream?

Have read somewhere that it was 43,000 at the circuit.

Originally Posted by bentley speed 8

I think so too, but they also had some bad luck, especially in AM (fires, penalties, etc)

#51 also had a fire and penalty.


The pit walk was ridiculous. Having to fight through the group of people blocking the pit lane in front of the Porsche garage, and the queue when I walked towards Audi was nearly at the Start/Finish gantry (from Porsche). There was also quite a few people at the pit entry gate moaning because they got there just as they shut the gate with 10 minutes left.

The group of people blocking the pit lane decided to then block the paddock behind the Porsche P1 trucks.

I also thought it took the marshals a long time to clear the debris at Copse, there were numerous large gaps in traffic to clear the large pieces of bodywork. Also noticed a couple of laps before the safety car came in that one Aston nearly stopped at Copse, backing the pack up, it plus the car behind then drove off again at speed and the Aston behind them nearly stopped and went really slow all the way to Maggotts backing the pack up and then drove off at speed.

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by airbusA346

I also thought it took the marshals a long time to clear the debris at Copse, there were numerous large gaps in traffic to clear the large pieces of bodywork.

I'm guessing not much point in rushing and taking risks when it was clear the SC was going to take a long time to sort out the trailing pack. Couldn't see the clear up from where I was but I could see the SC troubles. Why, oh why can't we do this right in Europe?

Originally Posted by airbusA346

Also noticed a couple of laps before the safety car came in that one Aston nearly stopped at Copse, backing the pack up, it plus the car behind then drove off again at speed and the Aston behind them nearly stopped and went really slow all the way to Maggotts backing the pack up and then drove off at speed.

He backed them up all the way down the old pit straight too, no idea why. He was getting hand signals from the Ferrari following him. Our theory was he was slowing them down to allow his team mate to catch up.

[hcl123]

Originally Posted by Woolley

I got the impression the Audis were quick but harder to drive, thus leaving them on slicks might not have been the best decision.

The Di Grassi car went so quickly he stood no chance. I was watching it, looked up to see the next car coming and in that instant it turned left and wasn't coming back. Similarly, Treluyer turned right so suddenly he was off before he had time to react.

looking carefully at videos...

#2 had a previous spin on straight, #1 also went off not in corner but in acceleration on the finish straight (i think), #2 went off clearly yet on straight... tires ? probably helped... but i think there is more to it, that rear differential seems too sensitive for rain conditions, when grip conditions between track and non-track (track guides, different sections of track) are more acute.

funny #7 also had a spin but clearly on a corner... not counting with a "touch" between #2 Audi and #8 Toyota ( i think), clearly #8 fault, could had resulted in an ugly crash, both went off (luckily undamaged) ... but none penalty accrued (its open season for Audis, yet guessed how much of it played to increase the #2 instability)

So penalties will be only for fuel flow infractions ( uber stupid game)... so say it the greased oil lords... the rest you can do pretty much how you like it, specially if you are a petrol...

[hcl123]

Originally Posted by PascaLM

In this article (fr), E-I reports that Toyota decided to change the tyres to wet on the #7 and to new hybrid tyres on #8 which then was lapping five seconds faster than its sister car. Audi stayed on slick tyres during the period of light rain.
E-I also explain that the hybrid tyre, which looks like a slick, is confidential and still in development.

Sounds like its an "exclusive"... yet all are on Michelin... how can it be "confidential" ?... preferential treatment ? ( i don't think so)

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by hcl123

Sounds like its an "exclusive"... yet all are on Michelin... how can it be "confidential" ?... preferential treatment ? ( i don't think so)

It's not an "exclusive", the tires have been in development for a couple of years now, but are STILL in development, that's why they're "confidential". The Audi that won at Spa a couple of years ago won because it used these hybrid intermediate tires, and at Le Mans last year both Audi and Toyota used these tires extensively with the rain that kept coming and going. Audi didn't use these tires yesterday because they f*cked up the strategy, both Toyota and Porsche used the slick intermediates on at least one car in the hour 1 rain shower.

EDIT: And the degree of confidentiality extends to the fact that the tires are "leased", Michelin take back for analysis every single tire of this specification after being used.

[PascaLM]

Originally Posted by hcl123

Sounds like its an "exclusive"... yet all are on Michelin... how can it be "confidential" ?... preferential treatment ? ( i don't think so)

In the ACO small video about tires, the guy of Michelin explains that they can develop specific tires for each manufacturer, but in order to avoid any advantage to one of them, they let each try all kind of these tires. So Audi can try the specific tires made for Toyota, etc.
As Victor_RO said, the "hybrid" tires are leased then taken away by Michelin after having being used because of confidential developments.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by PascaLM

In this article (fr), E-I reports that Toyota decided to change the tyres to wet on the #7 and to new hybrid tyres on #8 which then was lapping five seconds faster than its sister car. Audi stayed on slick tyres during the period of light rain.
E-I also explain that the hybrid tyre, which looks like a slick, is confidential and still in development.

Wanted to highlight this. This split decision to have different tires is what had the #7 car fade back from the #8. It also led to the spin by Wurz. But now they know better for next time.

Originally Posted by hcl123

looking carefully at videos...

#2 had a previous spin on straight, #1 also went off not in corner but in acceleration on the finish straight (i think), #2 went off clearly yet on straight... tires ? probably helped... but i think there is more to it, that rear differential seems too sensitive for rain conditions, when grip conditions between track and non-track (track guides, different sections of track) are more acute.

funny #7 also had a spin but clearly on a corner... not counting with a "touch" between #2 Audi and #8 Toyota ( i think), clearly #8 fault, could had resulted in an ugly crash, both went off (luckily undamaged) ... but none penalty accrued (its open season for Audis, yet guessed how much of it played to increase the #2 instability)

So penalties will be only for fuel flow infractions ( uber stupid game)... so say it the greased oil lords... the rest you can do pretty much how you like it, specially if you are a petrol...

What? Nakajima didn't touch the Audi. You must have missed the replays. He spun before coming near the Audi and the gt car. How are you going to penalize someone for spinning on a wet track?

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by TF110

What? Nakajima didn't touch the Audi. You must have missed the replays. He spun before coming near the Audi and the gt car. How are you going to penalize someone for spinning on a wet track?

For once I agree with TF110, the Toyota spun behind a GT car and the Audi went off in sympathy/avoidance, the cars were a few meters apart throughout the incident.

[TF110]

I first thought they made contact, but there was no damage and Nakajima went in an awkward direction. Then saw the replay and they both ended up losing it there. Must have been the track.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Steve Tarrant

I, as a marshal, can see the funny side of this too!

But in all seriousness, a couple of the girls were on the verge of hypothermia and all the grid marshals were helping the grid girls as best they could. A couple did have to leave the grid before their duties ended, so it must have been bad.

It was very cold as this shot of the Porsche demonstrates:

[sweetktg]

Originally Posted by airbusA346

I also thought it took the marshals a long time to clear the debris at Copse, there were numerous large gaps in traffic to clear the large pieces of bodywork. Also noticed a couple of laps before the safety car came in that one Aston nearly stopped at Copse, backing the pack up, it plus the car behind then drove off again at speed and the Aston behind them nearly stopped and went really slow all the way to Maggotts backing the pack up and then drove off at speed.

The marshals were acting under the instructions from race control, who in turn were waiting for clearance to allow the marshals on track - once all the clearances were received the track was very quickly cleared. The driver was not helping matters who was determined to get his car back to the pits (even though it was clear from the start that it was in no state) & refused to follow the marshals instructions, then he proceeded to ignore them completely.

I won't repeat what we thought of that Aston driver, as he very nearly caused a serious accident with an LMP having to brake very hard when he came across the very slow queue of cars. We also assumed that he did that to allow his team mate to catch up.

[sweetktg]

Originally Posted by Bandicoot17

Got back to the car park and it was ankle deep by my car, I imagine there would have been a few areas on the track like that.

The track was indeed very wet on the national pit straight (which was from all accounts the drier part of the circuit) & that was before it rained even heavier as we were clearing up.

[OldSinger]

Reference the commets about the rain. This was Arena before the red flag. And the rain just got worse. Shame I had a long walk back to my car after the race stopped!

[Beetle]

Well I missed the entire race due to illness... made the 6:00 AM wakeup entirely impossible. Oh well, it looks like I didn't miss an exciting finish due to the rain. Congratulations to Toyota, and I hope we can see better action and less rain at Spa in two weeks time!

Hoping that someone will hurry up and upload the full race on YouTube. :/

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by OldSinger

Reference the commets about the rain. This was Arena before the red flag. And the rain just got worse. Shame I had a long walk back to my car after the race stopped!

Great shot !

[Bandicoot17]

It did get pretty dark too.