Basically another year of painful lesson like 2008.....They will likely come back stronger like 2009, but next year will be interesting to see if they choose to grandfather the current car or roll out the new one...
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Basically another year of painful lesson like 2008.....They will likely come back stronger like 2009, but next year will be interesting to see if they choose to grandfather the current car or roll out the new one...
ALMS at Miller Motorsports Park on Speed now.
Roush-Yates of Ford Racing NASCAR fame to offer engine supply to teams (namely Lola teams) in 2011 with a LMP2 spec EcoBoost V6 and possibly a 5.0 V8 derived from the 5.0 Mustang in the future, as well as a possible LMP1 spec engine next year:
[url]http://www.americanlemans.com/primary1.php?cat=news|15069[/url]
Good to know that we currently have a Taurus SHO with a 3.5 litre Ecoboost engine. What a pedigree next year's cars will have.:)
IMSA may also allow performance ballanced FIA GT3 cars to enter GTC next year:
[url="http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/alms-mid-ohio-post-race-notebook1/"]AUTO-RACING - ALMS: Mid-Ohio Post-Race Notebook - SPEED.com[/url]
ALMS at Road America today 3pm on Speed and they will also have On Board Pass online.
In GT the Vettes qualied 1-2 in a shortened session due to red flag. More importantly regarding standings the Melo/Bruni Risi car qualied in 7th so they have heavy lifting to do if they are to win the c'ship with only three races left....they are 8 points out. Points leader #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR is fourth on the grid behind the other Risi car.
Should make for a great race.
Dude....Drayson car WON.....didn't see that one coming.....didn't watch it neither, but just read it on Autosport, now I wish I had watched it...
Strakka HPD LMP2 also won in LMS race, beating the P1s.....also shocking....
Though if anywhere they were to do it, it would be Hungaroring....
I did watch it, and the Drayson win was probably more shocking like. Loved that.
Was surprised at the 62 car dropping back so rapidly at the end of the race after seeming like they would be in contention at the finish.
Audi annouced their ILMC lineups this morning: Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen will be teamed in the #7 in all 3 races. Dindo Capello will be in the #8 at Silverstone and China with Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas respectivly.
Allan, Tom, and Dindo will be in the #7 at PLM, the #8 having the Le Mans crew of Andre Lotterer, Beniot Treluyer and Marcel Fassler.
Peugeot won Silverstone 1000k. Audi qualified on pole, but the lead car had a diff/gearbox/input shaft failure very early on and DNFed. The remaining Audi was slower than the 908...
I find it weird how inconsistent from the comments of the drivers as to how the new Audi high downforce package handled....though the condition was not exactly consistent I guess and that probably had something to do with it...
The reality is.... Audi domination is over.
It takes a massive effort to stay on top and you can spend yourself into oblivion doing it....I think the company is catching their breath.
the most striking thing is that the Pugs only needed 6 stops to be consistently faster than the Audi, which needed a 7th stop for a splah and dash, so they had the slower car and the higher fuel consumption...
I mean, the R15 is a spider, which I have heard is at a disadvantage to a coupe with the current rules. There is more too it than that I'd imagine.
And for the conspiracy theorists - did the ACO tweak with the coupe/spider balance when Peugeot were entering to give the advantage to a French manufacturer?
I don't know enough to know or not know - I believe I've heard that the ACO has had a French bias in past.
[quote=Kitdy;947885]I mean, the R15 is a spider, which I have heard is at a disadvantage to a coupe with the current rules. There is more too it than that I'd imagine.
And for the conspiracy theorists - did the ACO tweak with the coupe/spider balance when Peugeot were entering to give the advantage to a French manufacturer?
I don't know enough to know or not know - I believe I've heard that the ACO has had a French bias in past.[/quote]
this is basically a discussion which we had four years ago when the Pug entered the scene.....
Audi is now considering a coupe, but they have always claimed that the ease of driver change and the time gains resulting from that, outbalanced the drag disadvantage. The limitation added last year to the number of wheelguns to be used at the same time, took away the driver change advantage, as this now can be done within the same time as changing the wheels.
And as far as the ACO is concerned, you will always read in Anglo-Saxon media that is has a French bias....after all they ARE French.
Speaking of Audi, they may be returning to the ALMS next year: [url="http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/alms-marshall-pruett-audi-weighing-its-options-for-2011/"]AUTO-RACING - ALMS: Audi Weighing Its 2011 Options - SPEED.com[/url]
As for the race, the #8 Audi had a ton of understeer (unusual, as the R15 has tended even early in its life last year to be a neutral/oversteery car), and that assureldly burned up more fuel due to the drivers having to play with the throttle-it works the same even in NASCAR.
A neutral/oversteery car you can punch it or ease on it and go, which will save fuel, while with understeer, you have play with the throttle to try and invoke power oversteer.
I think why the Audis slowed down during the race and the Pugs picked up pace was that the weather condiditons changed from qualifying and warm up, where Audi had the pace, to the race where especially the #8 struggled. The #7 and even the #8 were fast in practice and qualifying, but it was cooler and less windy on Friday and Saturday, and Dindo said that the #8 was a good car until late in the warm up when it developed the understeer. It also didn't help that a spin and a pitstop to change damaged tires spotted Peugeot about 30 seconds easily.
England is like Holland in that respect: you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes...