[WEC] Porsche Prototype Discussion

[TF110]

I think something in high 15's, a 3:15.9 is what my prediction is. That will be fastest and Porsche will probably do it.

[Spyderman]

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...300283808.html

[sssssssss]

Originally Posted by TF110

I think something in high 15's, a 3:15.9 is what my prediction is. That will be fastest and Porsche will probably do it.

it isn't impossible. but i would be a bit surprised if they go that fast, mostly because they've been cut down on power so much. and especially if audi and toyota won't fight for pole as they usually do, i think porsche won't be as determined either to hit the ultimate time the car is capable of in quali trim. also, we've seen amazing speed by the porsche in ricard, silverstone and spa, but along with the power cut, let's not forget they also reverted back to their 2015 battery pack for le mans. i think the pace they showed in the 2016 races might have partially to do with their 2016 battery pack, which they considered too risky to race at le mans (although i expect them to race it after lm). on the other hand, looking at how much porsche is trying to get all the headlines all the time, it might be a goal for them to break the record of the track once more, if they feel capable of doing it (remains to be seen if that was just bragging from neel jani or if it's really true).

[Spyderman]

I think I remember reading somewhere that they will keep the 2015 battery for the remainder of the season.

[GasperG]

My guess is new battery was just lighter and they could offset that weight penalty elsewhere to go with the older battery.

[sssssssss]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

I think I remember reading somewhere that they will keep the 2015 battery for the remainder of the season.

i remember a big "maybe" in that respect, but i too can't tell where i read it. it clearly suggested they didn't make up their mind for the rest of the season.

[Giba]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

I think I remember reading somewhere that they will keep the 2015 battery for the remainder of the season.

In Autosport last week it said that Porsche were using the 2015 battery for the rest of the season due to the long lead time in the construction of new battery cells

[Artur]

Originally Posted by sssssssss

i too am a bit skeptical about it, to be honest. in fact, i even posted in the predictions thread a low 3:17 being the pole for this year. if they get faster than that, it's gonna be amazing. i also expect audi to have the pace to break the record, if porsche can, this year. i just hate they almost never go for it. anyway, ultimately, cars this year have proven to be faster on every track than in 2015, except spa, which is presumably because of the tire aspect. but at le mans it will be tougher.

nope, the tires were even too soft for the conditions. Last year, Audi even sort of tripple stinted at the end as the tires were harder. The cars were just slower there, as expected, and I'm still very skeptical about this 3.15 talk.

If cars do 3.15, it will mean they improved again by 5s, once you take into account the 4s taken with the -10MJ. If that happens, FIA/ACO will snap and slow them down so much that they'll have trouble keeping up with the GTs

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by Giba

In Autosport last week it said that Porsche were using the 2015 battery for the rest of the season due to the long lead time in the construction of new battery cells

Thank you! I knew I had seen that somewhere.

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by GasperG

My guess is new battery was just lighter and they could offset that weight penalty elsewhere to go with the older battery.

No, I think that there is a very real performance loss, but balancing up reliability and performance, reliability wins every time.

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by Artur

nope, the tires were even too soft for the conditions. Last year, Audi even sort of tripple stinted at the end as the tires were harder. The cars were just slower there, as expected, and I'm still very skeptical about this 3.15 talk.

If cars do 3.15, it will mean they improved again by 5s, once you take into account the 4s taken with the -10MJ. If that happens, FIA/ACO will snap and slow them down so much that they'll have trouble keeping up with the GTs

I agree, and in the process increase the danger: I read somewhere that Brendon Hartley (I think) said that because the cars are slower this year, they find themselves having to overstake the slower cars in the corners (as opposed to the straights) and as result this makes things a little more complicated.

[GasperG]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

No, I think that there is a very real performance loss, but balancing up reliability and performance, reliability wins every time.

Weight IS performance loss

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by GasperG

Weight IS performance loss

Not if its compensated by reducing it somewhere else.

[Spyderman]

One of the best interviews with Mark Webber. Talks of Testing leading up to Le Mans
:https://t.co/RoLhwjBFZo

[sssssssss]

Originally Posted by Artur

nope, the tires were even too soft for the conditions. Last year, Audi even sort of tripple stinted at the end as the tires were harder. The cars were just slower there, as expected, and I'm still very skeptical about this 3.15 talk.

If cars do 3.15, it will mean they improved again by 5s, once you take into account the 4s taken with the -10MJ. If that happens, FIA/ACO will snap and slow them down so much that they'll have trouble keeping up with the GTs

i still think it's unlikely to be half a second faster on every track and suddenly be more than 2 seconds slower at spa. i can understand it's a different track with different demands, but since they were faster anywhere else, it's still a big gap. i don't expect 3:15 at le mans, i think jani was bragging a bit, but i expect lap times to be very similar to 2015.

porsche seem to be expecting quite low top speeds on their own behalf, apparently, i too remember that interview when one of the drivers was saying it's harder to pass along the straights (not impossible though, porsche already hit 325 km/h at the test day, last year they did 327 km/h at the test day, but managed 340 km/h with good slipstream in the race). it didn't seem to affect audi, who seem to have the same top speeds as last year, probably compensated with better aero. and audi's was really huge last year. toyota so far hit 331 km/h as opposed to 335 km/h last year during test day, which is quite awkward, given they were saying last year they were struggling to get enough top speed down the straights. but again, just like with lap times, i also expect top speeds to be much higher this week, especially in the race, than they were at test day, it always ends up like that. afterall, toyota already did 341 km/h at the prologue and speeds on the mistral straight aren't higher than those on the mulsanne, so if they have a lower top speed than that at the end of this week, it's almost certainly because of a different setup than what they used at the prologue.

[gustavobamba]

I really don´t believe in 3:15 pole time but i may be wrong on that. The Qualifying could be done in rainy conditions!!!!

Audi will have the best top speeds followed by Toyota and then Porsche.

By my calculations porsche will have the 400 bhp extra boost from the hybrid for something like 27 seconds per lap... so the lap times will be good.

Toyota, because they are running in the same hybrid category, will have the same boost for 27 seconds too.

Audi in the 6 MJ category will have the extra 400 bhp for 20 seconds.

This year race will be very interesting indeed...

[Spyderman]

Apparently and according to this, the battery issue was due to a manufacturing problem at the cell manufacturing plant in Shanghai.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

Apparently and according to this, the battery issue was due to a manufacturing problem at the cell manufacturing plant in Shanghai.

I looked at the article and I can't find that being mentioned?

Richard

[Spyderman]

Sorry, the link leads to the wrong article
The correct article is about the 919 and asks if it is too conservative

A manufacturing problem at the factory in Shanghai let the energy storage in Spa completely fry.

https://translate.google.com/transla...tml&edit-text=

[sssssssss]

porsche fastest on ALL sectors the past practice session. it's true though that audi didn't really get the chance to have a go at the end of the session, when things heated up, but anyway, porsche seem to be in good shape. their top speeds are really low though compared to audi and toyota, but it doesn't seem to compromise their overall lap time at all.

[Spyderman]

I think the trap speeds mean a little less when analyzing LMP1H speeds because of the way each car's top speeds is reached (Hybrid strategy). For me all that the trap speeds reveals is that at that point, car Xis doing Y speed.
Having said that, I don't doubt that the Porsche's top speed is a little lower.

[sssssssss]

i wasn't looking into trap speeds when saying that, but at the onboard telemetry, which is much more relevant. trap speeds are all over the place.

anyway, porsche seem to be in great shape, as just about always. i'm still not sure what jani was talking about with that 3:15 figure though!

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by sssssssss

i wasn't looking into trap speeds when saying that, but at the onboard telemetry, which is much more relevant. trap speeds are all over the place.

anyway, porsche seem to be in great shape, as just about always. i'm still not sure what jani was talking about with that 3:15 figure though!

Agreed! 3:15 seems to be way out of reach, at least for Porsche

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[gustavobamba]

I saw the 3:19 lap from porsche and they could go easy on 3:18 but they had to slow in the final curves because they were behind toyota that could not overtake a ferrari.

3:15 lap times will be very difficult ... but i think 3:17 is on their reach. Toyota are close to them but Audi are struggling on the set up.

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by gustavobamba

I saw the 3:19 lap from porsche and they could go easy on 3:18 but they had to slow in the final curves because they were behind toyota that could not overtake a ferrari.

3:15 lap times will be very difficult ... but i think 3:17 is on their reach. Toyota are close to them but Audi are struggling on the set up.

Ideal lap for the #1 was 3:19.4. ideal lap for #2 slightly slower . ...under those conditions .

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