2014 Blancpain Endurance Series

[Speed-King]

If that trend continues, that'll be an interesting conundrum for Mr. Ratel:

"Can I get enough works teams to prop up Pro-Cup, or do I move against the factories and ensure that it remains a viable playground for privateers?"

Shades of '98.

[carbon_titanium]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

If that trend continues, that'll be an interesting conundrum for Mr. Ratel:

"Can I get enough works teams to prop up Pro-Cup, or do I move against the factories and ensure that it remains a viable playground for privateers?"

Shades of '98.

I guess he'll stay with pro-am teams... with them he can still have the BES with more than 40 entries per race (even if only 10 or less in pro cup)... better than a full "pseudo" pro of just 12-14 cars like fia gt 2012

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by carbon_titanium

I guess he'll stay with pro-am teams... with them he can still have the BES with more than 40 entries per race (even if only 10 or less in pro cup)... better than a full "pseudo" pro of just 12-14 cars like fia gt 2012

Eh, I don't think it would have much (if any) influence on the two lower classes of BES... so field sizes overall would not be the issue. The size and the composition of the top class would be. And now that the manufacturers have arrived in the series it'll be hard to get rid of them without creating hard feelings... After all, Ratel wants a certain extent of manufacturer involvement, though perhaps less than what it is right now.

[jasonjessica09]

It still baffles me (and John Watson's commentary) how bad the driving standards was at the 24 hours of Spa this year.

Why do drivers think they can win a race in the 3rd how? I just drive go-karts for fun whether it is the full fledged karts where you wear a suit and helmet to the fun carts at amusement parks. Yes you want to drive fast but never at the expense of hitting somebody and keeping four wheels on the road. Especially in these endurance races. Its about covering distance not necessarily racing another car on the track. Especially with the pro-am and gentleman driver cars.

I swear I think I could do a better job driving some of these GT3 cars after just a few hours of practice than some of the guys in the field. And obviously I never have done that.

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

It still baffles me (and John Watson's commentary) how bad the driving standards was at the 24 hours of Spa this year.

It looked really bad to me too. Of course I wasn't actually there so I can only tell from the camera footage which doesn't always tell you the whole truth.

There's a lot of bad driving in Tudor and PWC as well and the stewards don't seem to be willing or able to do anything about it.

I think they assume it'll work itself out with people crashing themselves out of the race, but when they involve other people's half-three quarter million dollar race cars... or a potential hospital visit (or worse), it just seems unacceptable to me.

As a driver and entrant I except the sanctioning body to be responsible for making sure qualified and non-dangerous drivers are out there with me. But as far as I can tell, as long as you filled out the paperwork to get a racing license and you bring money.... nobody actually checks if you can actually drive or race safely.

-mike

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

It looked really bad to me too. Of course I wasn't actually there so I can only tell from the camera footage which doesn't always tell you the whole truth.

There's a lot of bad driving in Tudor and PWC as well and the stewards don't seem to be willing or able to do anything about it.

I think they assume it'll work itself out with people crashing themselves out of the race, but when they involve other people's half-three quarter million dollar race cars... or a potential hospital visit (or worse), it just seems unacceptable to me.

As a driver and entrant I except the sanctioning body to be responsible for making sure qualified and non-dangerous drivers are out there with me. But as far as I can tell, as long as you filled out the paperwork to get a racing license and you bring money.... nobody actually checks if you can actually drive or race safely.

-mike

Bingo!

Time to act - now!

Yellow flags mean SLOW DOWN and don't overtake!
If you wanna imitate Senna, Schumacher or Vettel go and play on your Nintendo or Playstation (and don't join the Nissan program)!
If your belly is heavier than your right foot: don't compete!

[urdragon]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

ART are not quite happy about having to do battle with works squads as a privateer outfit, might be going elsewhere next year:
http://www.endurance-info.com/fr/fre...es-du-systeme/

Originally Posted by carbon_titanium

basicly is what MVDS experienced for years... anyway it would be very disappointing for ART or M-sport to lose the championship even winning the last race.

Thas is easy to be solved, just award less points in each of the checkpoints of the 24h races, and single effort entrants won't score enough points to the champ, even if the full season entry retires.

But, what the hell? Art signed to an endurance series, if they can't do a good performance in a 24h race, then they should go to a sprint series, no discusing here if it's a problem from Art drivers/setup or the MP412C reliability.

[carbon_titanium]

Originally Posted by urdragon

Thas is easy to be solved, just award less points in each of the checkpoints of the 24h races, and single effort entrants won't score enough points to the champ, even if the full season entry retires.

But, what the hell? Art signed to an endurance series, if they can't do a good performance in a 24h race, then they should go to a sprint series, no discusing here if it's a problem from Art drivers/setup or the MP412C reliability.

Yeah ART can't blame anyone or anything else but their cars for the spa fiasco, but true is that a private team budget and resources can't stand against the WRT/audi sport armada. After MVDS, BES risks to lose another important team in pro cup

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by urdragon

Thas is easy to be solved, just award less points in each of the checkpoints of the 24h races, and single effort entrants won't score enough points to the champ, even if the full season entry retires.

But, what the hell? Art signed to an endurance series, if they can't do a good performance in a 24h race, then they should go to a sprint series, no discusing here if it's a problem from Art drivers/setup or the MP412C reliability.

Their problem is not about that at all...

[urdragon]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Their problem is not about that at all...

If U wanna win an endurance series, finishing 24h of Spa (and probably in podium) is mandatory, and finishing the race doesn't depend on resources they only had one car less.

Anyway where were the 2ond and 3rd Mclaren drivers?, I would blame Woking, cause Chris Goodwin, is supposed to be working on the 650 GT3 or the P1XX?. BMW was there with MVDS.

[Juntos]

If you'll excuse me, I'm entertaining. Seems like leaves aren't the only things changing colors this fall. I don't recall to hearing ART mouing when they kept winning with had twice the budget of the rest of the GP2 field in the early days. You can't blame Audi for your own issues.

[Deleted]

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2014/0...-24-hours.html

A further comparison – this years pole setting WRT Audi set a time just six thousandths of a second slower than the full house, All-Inkl all pro-crewed GT1 Lamborghini Murcielago that sat 12th on the grid in 2007 amongst a large pack of GT1s, scroll back a few short years earlier and the time would have seen the car in the middle reaches of the top 10.

I would argue that today's asphalt runoffs & widened corner entries that allow shortcutting the track everywhere makes for extra second or two per lap as well...

[carbon_titanium]

2007 GT1 had no less than 600hp, actual gt3 are in a range of 500-540hp. 2007 GT1 min weight was 1100-1150kg, while gt3 are in a range of 1250-1330kg. Even if 2014 GT3 have much more downforce than 2007 GT1, in a fast track like spa, high power and lower weight is the winning mix! GT3 won't never run in 2.14

PS don't forget that GT1 had michelin, while BES GT3 must to use pirelli


Anyway during the FFSA gt tour spa race, in Q2 the pole was set in 2.17.7, basicly 0.1 seconds slower than the 2010 FIA GT1 pole... just to give you an idea how much heavy and detuned were the 2010-2011 specs GT1...

[TF110]

Yeah. Look back at Spa 2007 24hrs. Pole was 2:14.5 by the #5 Vette C6.R. The lamborghini dsc is quoting was nowhere near the GT1's pace in previous 24hr Spa races. 2008's pole was even faster- 2:13.9 by the Labre Vette.

[Hans Stuck Fan]

Originally Posted by TF110

Yeah. Look back at Spa 2007 24hrs. Pole was 2:14.5 by the #5 Vette C6.R. The lamborghini dsc is quoting was nowhere near the GT1's pace in previous 24hr Spa races. 2008's pole was even faster- 2:13.9 by the Labre Vette.

Saleen

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Hans Stuck Fan

Saleen

Yeah, not a Vette I was going to edit that, but it was posted too long ago! Thanks.

[Deleted]

Did the 2007 ACO GT1 & GT2 slowing downs affect FIA GT cars? I don't remember

Originally Posted by Motorsport.com

The LM P2 and GT2 categories are reserved mainly for private teams and must have performances inferior to those in LM P1 and LM GT1.

The A.C.O wants to ensure that the performances in each category and group of cars are respected as follows:
" 1st level of performance: LM P1
" 2nd level of performance: LM P2
" 3rd level of performance: LM GT1
" 4th level of performance: LM GT2

--

LM GT1: Given that the performance and top speed of these cars are constantly increasing approaching those of the LM P2s, their air restrictors will be reduced by 5%. As the capacity of the fuel tanks has to be adjusted according to the type of energy used (petrol or ethanol; see 'fuels' below), the amount of fuel on board the car must not exceed 90 litres.

LM GT2: To maintain a reasonable gap to the GT1s the air restrictors will also be reduced by 5%. As the capacity of the fuel tanks has to be adjusted according to the type of energy used (petrol or ethanol; see 'fuels' below), the amount of fuel on board the car must not exceed 90 litres.

[carbon_titanium]

Around 2007-2008 GT1 pole at le mans was around 3.50 (3.47 in 2008). In 2009 pole was a lot slower, 3.54, but I guess it was more because corvette racing basicly had no rivals, so they didn't need to push at all.
Does anybody know how was the top speed achieved by those GT1 at le mans?

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by carbon_titanium

Around 2007-2008 GT1 pole at le mans was around 3.50 (3.47 in 2008). In 2009 pole was a lot slower, 3.54, but I guess it was more because corvette racing basicly had no rivals, so they didn't need to push at all.
Does anybody know how was the top speed achieved by those GT1 at le mans?

You might wanna ask that question in the Le Mans segment of our wonderful forum.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by carbon_titanium

Around 2007-2008 GT1 pole at le mans was around 3.50 (3.47 in 2008). In 2009 pole was a lot slower, 3.54, but I guess it was more because corvette racing basicly had no rivals, so they didn't need to push at all.

Yeah and also this

2009 LMGT1
* Weight increase of 25kg.
* A minimum 25mm Gurney flap on the rear wing.
* Air restrictors reduced by 2%.
* Cars which run air conditioning will no longer be given an air restrictor advantage. Cars are still limited to 32 degrees Celsius inside the cockpit.

Note that also the 2009 GT2 pole (4:03.202) time dropped considerably from 2008 (3:58.152), again partly due to slowing downs

2009 LMGT2
* Weight increase of 20kg.
* A minimum 15mm Gurney flap on the rear wing.
* Minimum ride height increased by 5mm.
* Air restrictors reduced by 5%.
* Cars which run air conditioning will no longer be given an air restrictor advantage. Cars are still limited to 32 degrees Celsius inside the cockpit.

[carbon_titanium]

I guess that we all agree if I said that 2009 was a sort of "slow down edition" attempt by ACO.
LMP1 with new 1800mm rear wing and shorter restrictors for diesels.
Rain during qualifying influenced too, but pole dropped from 3.18 to 3.22

[Victor_RO]

Update on Marcus Mahy

Released from intensive care in Liege, transferred closer to home to a hospital in Guernsey, recovery continuing.

[Rodger Davies]

Great news, thanks for the link. I think we all feared the worst at the time, so all credit to the trackside and medical staff that this is the case.

[Coach Ep]

Did we find out what happened in the first place? (other than the awful pics and videos just after the impact.)

[rich07]

So Boutsen Gionion are switching one of their cars from McLaren to a BMW Z4 GT3 leased from Schubert Motorsport for this weekends Nurburgring 1000. It seems they are dissatisfied with McLaren, could be a sign of them running BMW next year which would be a shame to lose two McLarens.