WEC 2024

[Spoutnik]

[AR3-GP]

Anthony Davidson said during the qualy broadcast that 1hp was worth 1 tenth at Le Mans (thus 1kW = 1.34 tenths), so using this, and the previous reference points regarding 10kg being worth 4 tenths (or for Toyota 36kg being 1.2 seconds), I decided to calculate a weight and power corrected hyperpole. The Porsche is the reference car for the calculations. For each kilogram more or less that another hypercar weighs relative to the Porsche, I added or subtracted 0.03 tenths to its hyperpole time. For each kW more or less that another hypercar has relative to the Porsche, I added or subtracted 1.34 tenths to its laptime. If you are following, then you should understand that no correction needed to be performed for the reference car, the Porsche.

Average power is a calculation of the weighted average power based on the parameters above and below 250km/h with an assumption of 45% of lap above 250km/h according to Ferrari's head of endurance, Ferdinando Conizza.
Correction Factors:


Weight and power corrected hyperpole classification:


Ferrari on top by 4.5 tenths to the nearest manufacturer (this is before accounting for Fuoco's run that was ruined by red flag). If the Toyota participated in hyperpole, then I would have expected them to be somewhere near the Ferrari. Difficult to say if it would have been ahead or behind but definetely ahead of any LMDH car.

Considering the fact that the Toyota did not participate in hyperpole and was on course for a high 3.23 in the qualifying before the 7 car crashed, and the fact that Fuoco had two attempts ruined at the end hyperpole (one due to red flag, and another due to mistake in T1), I think Toyota and Ferrari would be no less than 1 second ahead of any LMDH car here at Le Mans without the BOP formula.

This is an academic exercise, of course. It has no meaning. The premise of the category is to balance the cars using BOP. Low drag cars like the Ferrari will have their straight line speed balanced with the rest. There is also more design freedom with the LMH ruleset. Many LMDH manufacturers built in aerodynamic compromises for styling purposes (the Cadillac, BMW, Lamborghini, etc) with an understanding that they wouldn't be penalized for it.

[AR3-GP]

General observations from onboard footage and team comments:

Isotta Fraschini: very slow. The traction control needs refinement. It is so aggressive that they are losing a lot of laptime on corner exits.

Porsche: This car is very "on the nose". The rear breaks free so easily in low speed corners. It does not look nice to drive, but the polesitter said the car was nice to drive... . Front end likes to snap without notice.

Alpine: This car is very stable compared to the Porsche. It looks very easy to drive however the drivers don't use as much curb as others like the Porsche. For a 24H event, I would want to drive something comfortable like this. They struggle with tire warmup (especially the fronts). You can see the front tire temps in the onboard camera pointed at the steering wheel. They are almost 20 deg C lower than the rears. Very fast in sector 2.

Ferrari: Also very stable, but slightly more front end than the Alpine in my opinion. Car looks glued to the track in low speed corners (unlike the Porsche). The drivers use the curbs without any problems.

Lamborghini: The car is overweight. Terrible under braking.

[dialtone]

I’m a bit ambivalent about this 2 step bop. I get trying to balance the field and it makes sense and I even support it. But while power and weight are somewhat general features and don’t exactly change a car, introducing more complex bop rules is a different deal to me. What’s next? A long radius corner penalty and a curb riding suspension stiffener? A tire warmup help or cap on laps per tires? That’s nonsense to me.

[emp]

Good to see that some other people are watching the 24h race this year. I think we may have a very good one this year, with some rain, more competitive cars. I hope we get the onboards live from Ferrari and Toyota on youtube.

[AR3-GP]

Good to see that some other people are watching the 24h race this year. I think we may have a very good one this year, with some rain, more competitive cars. I hope we get the onboards live from Ferrari and Toyota on youtube.

The live onboards are currently scheduled. Links are here:

Toyota:https://www.youtube.com/@TOYOTAGAZOORac ... el/streams
Alpine:https://www.youtube.com/@AlpineCars/streams
Ferrari:https://www.youtube.com/@Ferrari
Lamborghini:https://www.youtube.com/@LamborghiniSqu ... se/streams
Cadillac:https://www.youtube.com/@Cadillac/streams
Porsche: https://www.twitch.tv/porsche

Live Timing (2 options):
https://live.fiawec.com/en/live
https://fiawec.tv/page/6655a4a4e43bb36e84c8d3cd

[AR3-GP]

I’m a bit ambivalent about this 2 step bop. I get trying to balance the field and it makes sense and I even support it. But while power and weight are somewhat general features and don’t exactly change a car, introducing more complex bop rules is a different deal to me. What’s next? A long radius corner penalty and a curb riding suspension stiffener? A tire warmup help or cap on laps per tires? That’s nonsense to me.

We once had an F1 race with mandated tire stints. . It was nonsense, I agree.

I agree that it can look overly regulated. Personally, I don't understand why they allowed the performance window to be so large. They should have made Ferrari add drag to the car in the homologation (or made the others reduce drag before homologation) so the cars all fit closer together inherently. With a tighter homologation window, BOP wouldn't be needed or if it was, would only vary 5kg and 2-3kw between the cars and the teams and fans could no longer points to the BOP table and the large disparities. The current way is ripe for misinterpretations and claims of favoritism by onlookers.

[dialtone]

Well… that’s a good start. 3 cars in the top 5.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jjn9128]

We once had an F1 race with mandated tire stints. . It was nonsense, I agree.

I agree that it can look overly regulated. Personally, I don't understand why they allowed the performance window to be so large. They should have made Ferrari add drag to the car in the homologation (or made the others reduce drag before homologation) so the cars all fit closer together inherently. With a tighter homologation window, BOP wouldn't be needed or if it was, would only vary 5kg and 2-3kw between the cars and the teams and fans could no longer points to the BOP table and the large disparities. The current way is ripe for misinterpretations and claims of favoritism by onlookers.

https://www.pmw-magazine.com/wp-content ... Window.jpg

Because it theoretically allows gives you a chance to go high downforce but low drag, or low drag but also low downforce. The reality is everyone aims for the top corner, max DF at the efficiency limit because that's what the lap sims say is optimal.

It's very difficult to "add drag" without also adding or degrading downforce - or adding drag uniformly across an aeromap such that it actually reduces vmax (assuming that's the aim).

There's also the inherent issue in BOP that not everyone shows their hand until the last moment so BOP penalties will always be in danger of accusations of bias.

[Fakepivot]

Ferrari looking strong come on hope they keep that advantage.

[AR3-GP]

My impression so far is that no one has anything for the Ferraris. Quick and no tire deg.

[dialtone]

83 is doing fine. 50 not sure why they are so behind and 51 was caught in the wet tire problrm like porsche 6.

They are fast but Toyotas are very close lap time wise at the moment.

Still open and for 50 to win will take a huge performance from the drivers overnight.

[Chuckjr]

Live link for those that want to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/live/_spxhCWGp0 ... RB8lz7G7CR

[lio007]

Alpine: PU failure

[dialtone]

Massive Ferrari bailout by that SC. Not sure why 83 would be under investigation, it seemed the bmw misjudged the speed to me.

Still a long race and now toyota is definitely in it.