2013 12 Hours of Sebring

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by JLGarcia

DHH said the Continental PC tire so far seems an improvement over the old Michelins. I guess nobody told him that the forum experts said they couldn't make a capable tire.

Originally Posted by JLGarcia

Not everything's a conspiracy, bro.

Just flotsam then!








L.P.

[chernaudi]

It should be noted that the #2 Audi's late flyer was within .3 of a second of last year's pole time. I think that when it comes down to qualifying time, I'll bet that this year's pole will be significantly faster than last year's time, and the #2 should benefit from having more downforce and any other LMP1, including it's teammate (the rear wing mods) and a somewhat more powerful hybrid system.

Of course, it was claimed that a R18 e-tron ran a 1:43 in testing last year. Audi probably are def. sandbagging to keep the ACO from making anymore BOP changes, and you can bet that Toyota will be doing the same in the WEC rounds before LM, and that the other ALMS teams will be playing that game most of the year.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by Lebanza

I agree with above, I like teams running split liveries.

I wonder what would happen , if indeed the 2 beemers will run different liveries , if they entered the WEC .

As the WEC is under the Fia banner ..... remember when the BAR F1 team was setup ..... they wanted to run 1 car in 555 livery and the other in Lucky Strike liveries . The Fia ruled that this would not be allowed , hence the cars were run with a split livery on both cars . Silly rule , but I wonder would it apply now ?

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

You must have missed this tweet from @Audi__Sport. Jarvis did some running in the #2 Audi today.

http://endurance-info.com/version2/a...nce-16543.html reports that Di Grassi, McNish and Jarvis were on testing duty today. That makes sense because Di Grassi and Jarvis are Sebring rookies. Tomorrow Audi will only test with the 2013 car.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

It should be noted that the #2 Audi's late flyer was within .3 of a second of last year's pole time.

It should be noted that the difference between 1:46.262 and 1:45.820 is 0.442 seconds

[gregtummer]

Are the Petrol cars using 2% larger restrictors for this race/for the ALMS season?

[chernaudi]

Still doesn't really answer the question of why Audi decided to only run the #2 but didn't do any running with the #1 today and aren't expected to tomorrow. I can understand Tom probably not being on site yet (his father died a few days ago, which that's obviously understandable as to why he might not be there on site, as well as him knowing Sebring like the back of his hand like Allan does), and Ben and Marcel have tons of laps from Audi's private testing of the R15 and R18 there the past few years.

Also, the #1 has to deal with the same BOP measures that the #2 does (smaller restrictor and having to, like last year, run with 15kgs of ballast, this time on account of the hybrid system), but the #2 is the new-spec car with the endplate extensions and the new hybrid system. So not all the notes will apply equally to both cars, but just having the second car out there should provide more opportunities for more info on track conditions and items related to that.

But even with that, the #2 didn't get as much track time as I though that it would--it only ran about 35-40 laps in both sessions, while last year, Audi ran 70-80+ laps with all three of their cars in both sessions. Did they have problems with the car (I know that di Grassi pulled off at turn 6 with some issue near the end of the session--and immediately after he ran fastest lap), or was it a "run a few laps, pit, adjust, and run a few more laps" deal where they did short runs?

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by gregtummer

Are the Petrol cars using 2% larger restrictors for this race/for the ALMS season?

The BoP changes (see bulletin 2013-02) are valid for the complete season until they are rebalanced

It turns out that I was wrong. FIA has increased the restrictor for non-hybrid petrol cars by 2%, but they have also decreased the restrictor for diesel cars by 3%.

• FIA 2012:
  • 3.4 NA: 43.3 mm -> 1473 mm2
  • 2.0 turbo: 42.9 mm -> 1445 mm2
  • 3.7 diesel: 45.8 mm -> 1648 mm2
• FIA 2013:
  • 3.4 NA: 43.8 mm -> 1507 mm2 (+2%)
  • 2.0 turbo: 43.4 mm -> 1473 mm2 (+2%)
  • 3.7 diesel: 45.1 mm -> 1598 mm2 (-3%)

However, IMSA has their own BoP rules, which give the privateers an even bigger restrictor. This explains why the lap times of Rebellion has improved so much compared to last year.

• IMSA 2013:
  • 3.4 NA: 44.4 mm -> 1548 mm2 (+5%)
  • 2.0 turbo: 45.0 mm -> 1590 mm2 (+10%)
  • 3.7 diesel: 45.1 mm -> 1598 mm2 (-3%)

Note that IMSA already used these restrictor sizes in 2012 after Sebring.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by JLGarcia

DHH said the Continental PC tire so far seems an improvement over the old Michelins. I guess nobody told him that the forum experts said they couldn't make a capable tire.

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

It certainly is unexpected, though the Michelin tires were quite a hard compound to begin with.

According to EI, the Conti's that are on the PC's this week are the exact same tires the DP's run.

So far, the best PC time is 0.5 seconds faster than the pole last season.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

I think that when it comes down to qualifying time, I'll bet that this year's pole will be significantly faster than last year's time....
Audi probably are def. sandbagging to keep the ACO from making anymore BOP changes, and you can bet that Toyota will be doing the same in the WEC rounds before LM

You contradict yourself somewhat here---will go faster but will sandbag to avoid BoP adjustments. I am sure Audi will want to qualify one two, but I don't know that setting a record doing it would be that important, unless the other P1 cars are expected to be that fast. So, I would expect them to watch other's times, track conditions, traffic and whatever else and put in measured one two qualifying times.

[TheMightyM]

Not sure it's a given that Audi is one two in qualifying. I would doubt that they can hold much back in the #1 to do that, given it's a year-old, the BOP adjustments, and updates to the HPD and Lolas.

Muscle Milk, Dyson, and Rebellion are racing for overall glory here and aren't going to be too worried about BOP implications.

[chernaudi]

Audi will be faster than last year, because most of the cars--especially the Rebellion Lolas--have been significantly faster than last year. Some of it is BOP, and some of is the improvements (2012 bodywork on the Rebellion Lolas, and wide front tires on the HPD), and some of it is tire related--I don't think that even with Dunlop gone from the ALMS/WEC that Michelin stood still, especially for Audi, who had tire wear issues in the WEC races last year.

And today was only the first day of testing on a dirty track, and almost everyone in the LMP1 class aside from Audi are noticeably faster than last year, and the #2 R18 got to within about .4 of a second of last year's pole time. I have no doubt that though Audi "claim" to be down on power (see the Audi R18 thread for more discussion about that--key words being "don't believe the factory teams" press releases), that what ever the regs tried to take away, they once again got back.

Rebellion, MM and Dyson may be racing for glory, but Rebellion also have a car entered in the WEC, and HPD have an LMP1 in the WEC. ALMS BOP be damned, if they go "too" fast, that might not only have an impact on those efforts, but also TMG--who, also have a hybrid system on their car, and might have to deal with more than the 15kgs of hybrid BOP before LM if the ACO feel that the "normal" ALMS or WEC spec cars are too fast. I doubt that, since the ACO has been trying to speed those cars up for years, but because TMG straddle that line (gasoline engine with a hybrid system), they're probably hoping that Audi leaves the LMP1 privateers in the dust--and that they hope that they won't demonstrate the same themselves at Silverstone and Spa.

It's ironic that NASCAR, formerly the king of BOP, doesn't really do that anymore, while these guys in the sportscar ranks have to play the game of trying to win, while trying to hold back from the BOP spectre.

[TF110]

The ACO won't adjust LMP cars from Sebring for the WEC. Those are ALMS cars. They're mostly running at ALMS spec. So why would they change their cars after one race without the biggest competition, Toyota, showing what they have done? And to really put a stop to this theory is that Toyota are supposedly going to Silverstone with 2012 cars. If the ACO is going to do performance balancing, they'll probably wait to see what Toyota does, not Rebellion.

[The Badger]

Eddie Lawson in the RSR LMPC .

http://www.endurance-info.com/versio...nce-16547.html

[ger80]

I guess #1 not running yesterday because Leena was on her way from London Science museum. How are they supposed to run #1 without engineer...

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by ger80

I guess #1 not running yesterday because Leena was on her way from London Science museum. How are they supposed to run #1 without engineer...

http://endurance-info.com/version2/a...nce-16543.html suggests that the Audi #1 will not do any running today either. So that is not the only reason. Audi Sport has enough engineers that could replace her for the test sessions.

Maybe Audi feels that they will not learn that much from testing with the old specification of the R18, which will not be used in the remainder of the season. Audi has a big test week planned after Sebring with the 2013 R18. That testing data is a lot more valuable.

[dxk1]

Just noticed, according to the entry list, the Astons are running on E-10 while the rest of the GTE field is running on E-85. Is this an advantage or a disadvantage?

DK

[Mike Hedlund]

For those interested in a tour of our JDX Hertz rig & race car, let's do Friday at 2:30PM -- Look for the big purple trailer. Feel free to bring along anyone you'd like. :-)

-mike

[baszero]

Le Mans will feature the brand new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Type 991, it is not clear by looking at the entry list whether any of the 991-types will be starting at Sebring too, as you only see "911".

Does anybody know what exact types will be at Sebring?

[seanyb505]

Sounds good, and thanks!

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by baszero

Le Mans will feature the brand new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Type 991, it is not clear by looking at the entry list whether any of the 991-types will be starting at Sebring too, as you only see "911".

Does anybody know what exact types will be at Sebring?

All the 911s at Sebring (RSR and Cup) are all 997s, the only places where the 991 will race this year are the WEC (991 RSR) and Porsche Supercup (991 GT3 Cup).

[Mindspin13B]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

For those interested in a tour of our JDX Hertz rig & race car, let's do Friday at 2:30PM -- Look for the big purple trailer. Feel free to bring along anyone you'd like. :-)

-mike

In! Thanks, Mike!

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

All the 911s at Sebring (RSR and Cup) are all 997s, the only places where the 991 will race this year are the WEC (991 RSR) and Porsche Supercup (991 GT3 Cup).

Is in not down to race in Nurburgring 24 too , I thought it was ?

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Is in not down to race in Nurburgring 24 too , I thought it was ?

I thought Manthey's main VLN/N24 car this year would be the 997 RSR they used last year in GT Open.

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by dxk1

Just noticed, according to the entry list, the Astons are running on E-10 while the rest of the GTE field is running on E-85. Is this an advantage or a disadvantage?

DK

AFAIK, E85 = more power, lower fuel milage. But the choice of E10 is probably related to the fact that it is used in European races and the Vantage isn't prepared for E85 yet.