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

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

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.

Absolutely right.

[Aysedasi]

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!

I take back what I was saying yesterday - it just didn't look anything like that bad sitting at home in the sunshine!

[Woolley]

The rain, when it came, was bad and persistent. And 10 minutes after the red flag it became torrential. Racing couldn't have continued, and I was impressed that the decision to stop took into account both what was happening and what they knew was about to happen, and also was made before any drivers were penalised track position by having to pit without having the chance to move up again afterwards. Full marks to the race director.

[hcl123]

Originally Posted by PascaLM

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.

There you go, the problem is the choice... no Michelin's ? (unless there is preferential treatment behind the curtain on development... for others benefice not Michelins really)

[Bandicoot17]

Originally Posted by hcl123

There you go, the problem is the choice... no Michelin's ? (unless there is preferential treatment behind the curtain on development... for others benefice not Michelins really)

What?

[hcl123]

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?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKgdojB8mVA

hmmm... about 1: 36sec on the video, the Audi was in front behind a slower GT, the Toyota dives hard from behind on a corner ... more or less from a blind spot for the front driver... if they don't touch why did the Audi went off to ? ... and the Toyota spun right after making the corner ! ... mutual spooking ? ... c'mon i've heard better excuses, i think they slightly touch, in spite of both trying to avoid it on perceiving the situation.

( could had been a good maneuver given toyota an edge, on dry, if the car hasn't slip to the outside of corner, hitting the Audi... reckless driving for wet, not attending consequences, meaning i don't need to try hard to go exaggerating on a wet corner and hit everyone that is in front behind or side by side... what is my fault if a spun on wet right ?... even if my partner wins the race, by i trowing off a direct competitor right ? ... after all is wet right ? ( luckily very minor consequences of that episode)) ...

[hcl123]

Originally Posted by Bandicoot17

What?

There are no secrets, no preferential treatments, no "confidentiality" inside the P1 group... if there is, is something much more nasty than " i like you better" ( not in Michelin's interests i think).

[Bandicoot17]

Originally Posted by hcl123

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKgdojB8mVA

hmmm... about 1: 36sec on the video, the Audi was in front behind a slower GT, the Toyota dives hard from behind on a corner ... more or less from a blind spot for the front driver... if they don't touch why did the Audi went off to ? ... and the Toyota spun right after making the corner ! ... mutual spooking ? ... c'mon i've heard better excuses, i think they slightly touch, in spite of both trying to avoid it on perceiving the situation.

( could had been a good maneuver given toyota an edge, on dry, if the car hasn't slip to the outside of corner, hitting the Audi) ...

No chance they touched. They both got there and there was no grip. The Toyota got there far to quick and the Audi was most likely on the wrong tires or as shown in the rest of the race just plain useless in the rain. The Audi carries on because he loses grip as shown by the front moving around a considerable amount mid corner, and then the Toyota just arrives far too fast and loops it round.

[hcl123]

Both went off trying to avoid a touch... that video is not conclusive, doesn't show without a shred of a doubt they touch. Nevertheless is Toyota fault, no way a P1 (Audi or other) has less grip than a GT.

I can agree with no penalties because who lost more, more time on the episode, was the toyota in an episode without visible damages... lucky toyota driver in a lucky episode, both could have ended in a rail, for the toyota would had been divine justice.

Toyotas drivers don't like to see the rear end of an Audi (after all its 2-0)... i can understand... perhaps they think with right its their time (yet it doesn't make it might)... perhaps they will be tremendously disappointed ( blame with the toyota direction for the stupid engine choices lol)

(but the video is conclusive that the Toyota was on the left side of the Audi, but slided so badly that it hits the right side of the track, even the grass on the right side of the track before the next corner, and trying to correct this, and hitting the grass on the right side of track is when the toyota started to spin hard -> the only option for the Audi was only to go more into the right trough the grass )

[Bandicoot17]

Respectfully I don't see it in the same way you are. The Audi starts to loses it before the Toyota gets there and the yes the Toyota narrowly misses taking out the Audi but it didn't so what's the issue? The Toyota can't be at fault for something it didn't cause. I know you have some sort of bias against Toyota (or perhaps anyone that isn't Audi) but your stretching it a bit far here.

[hcl123]

But a nice word about Toyota tech... if anyone cares to see others threads ( i said before)... i still think Toyota has the best hybrid approach, and might not be only because of the capacitor, but the electric motor(s) to ( the future)... and was and still proves to be one of the best balanced cars on WEC ( if not the best balanced)... all this mitigates tremendously the engine choice, that with other rules would show strikingly .

[ and funny "capacitors" now is mostly if not exclusively used on hybrid electric buses and trucks... but is the Audi's that use the accordingly fuel type LOL -> the only fuel type that can resist the strong wave of intense electrification of all cars ]

[GT6]

Having watched all the cars in the dry and in the wet, it was IMHO that the AUDI was the most planted car in the dry looking really good as it cornered but as soon as it became damp/wet on what ever tyres then it all changed and the Audi became a handful.
However in all conditions the toyota was ugly, who ever designed those light structures on the front needs new glasses

[NelisB]

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!

Nice photo, really shows the conditions!

[NelisB]

Originally Posted by hcl123

Both went off trying to avoid a touch... that video is not conclusive, doesn't show without a shred of a doubt they touch. Nevertheless is Toyota fault, no way a P1 (Audi or other) has less grip than a GT.

I can agree with no penalties because who lost more, more time on the episode, was the toyota in an episode without visible damages... lucky toyota driver in a lucky episode, both could have ended in a rail, for the toyota would had been divine justice.

Toyotas drivers don't like to see the rear end of an Audi (after all its 2-0)... i can understand... perhaps they think with right its their time (yet it doesn't make it might)... perhaps they will be tremendously disappointed ( blame with the toyota direction for the stupid engine choices lol)

(but the video is conclusive that the Toyota was on the left side of the Audi, but slided so badly that it hits the right side of the track, even the grass on the right side of the track before the next corner, and trying to correct this, and hitting the grass on the right side of track is when the toyota started to spin hard -> the only option for the Audi was only to go more into the right trough the grass )

A GT car has more mechanical grip than a LMP1 car, the LMP1 car has to rely on it's aerodynamics to get the cornergrip. If a GT car is on the racing line and a LMP1 car has to lift off, especially in these tricky conditions that will give the LMP1 car a loss of downforce and a shift in weight. I think that is what you see at 1:36 in the youtube video you mentioned. That's why both the Toyota and the Audi lose it at almost the same time.

[PascaLM]

Yes. Engineers are professionals, motorists are professionals as the pilots are professionals. They have worked for months and months on their own solutions. We, forumers, are only observers, maybe with passion, but only observers.
We are not close to the cars, we are not on the track. So I think we can't have better or more precise opinions than they have.

[Mal]

Interesting to see the race being reported beyond the normal outlets:

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/201...ta-silverstone

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by Mal

Interesting to see the race being reported beyond the normal outlets:

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/201...ta-silverstone

Giles is a firm supporter of sportscar racing - and a regular WEC attendee

[airbusA346]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

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.

Last I heard, they take back all the Michelin tyres (in every class), only leaving the teams with a set of wets for the cars to travel on.

Originally Posted by sweetktg

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.

I'm sure the marshals can't force the driver to follow their instructions. If one wheel was still steerable, he would have dragged it back to the pits.

I am surprised there wasn't a shunt when one car came around Copse to find a queue of very slow cars.

Oh and I was on the outside of Copse entry, by the marshals post.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Mal

Interesting to see the race being reported beyond the normal outlets:

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/201...ta-silverstone

Good yes, but a shame they had to use a stock RBR photo........

[wdave0]

Originally Posted by NelisB

A GT car has more mechanical grip than a LMP1 car, the LMP1 car has to rely on it's aerodynamics to get the cornergrip. If a GT car is on the racing line and a LMP1 car has to lift off, especially in these tricky conditions that will give the LMP1 car a loss of downforce and a shift in weight. I think that is what you see at 1:36 in the youtube video you mentioned. That's why both the Toyota and the Audi lose it at almost the same time.

Also bear in mind that most hybrids begin harvesting energy on throttle lift, that would be like having rear brakes partly on, weight shift forward, no downforce, no mech grip, - take asuperman to keep it on path.

[wewantourdarbyback]

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!

I think, I just about dried out yesterday in the sun at Oulton...


Was a good race, just awesome to watch all those P1 cars again (some more P2 will be a nice addition when they come). The rain spoiled it a little, the Toyota and Audis were trading times nicely before the four rings made the decision not to go for tyres, I think we could have had an even better race.

[wewantourdarbyback]

Originally Posted by Peat

Racing was good, the LMP1's off the hairpin were mighty, batting away the GT's. Very impressive to watch.

I was incredibly impressed by the different ways the P1s handled their mighty power.

The Toyota was a rocket out of the slow corners, the acceleration looked unbelievable, the Audi couldn't get near that, but swept through Copse, Becketts etc like it was on rails.

[Salamus]

Originally Posted by Bandicoot17

It did get pretty dark too.

That is a beautiful shot!

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For those that missed the race or want to rewatch it.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

[GT-Eins]

More interesting figures regarding the first WEC-race:
http://www.gt-eins.de/Berichte2014/w...al=Statistiken

[Aysedasi]

Even more interesting working out what the heck those stats mean! Very colourful though! And thank you