[LM24 Race] 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours Race Thread

[TF110]

Originally Posted by kvenom

Kobayashi did it on mediums as well. Track faster + Soft tires?

I heard that too! They're not hanging about. Conway is doing 19's on his 'race' stint.

[OmerRS]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

1.8 seconds separating the entire GTE Pro field now that Ford is built a beach out the back of the garage. Fancy that!

Ferrari is 1 sec slower than last year with same BOP, seems like Ferrari still plays the same game.

I think Aston and Ferrari have the best BOP at the moment. If you look at the latest BOP tables, Ford's are running very low boost and heaviest.

[kvenom]

3:22.8 for Sarrazin on 22lap old Hard tires.

[AndreasDavour]

Porsche doing a long run with 3:21 consistently. That's quite impressive.

[TzeiTzei]

It's nice to see the Riley at LM, but they must feel it's a huge waste of time and money.

[TF110]

The #8 getting put back together with Buemi inside.

[cokata]

Just imagine how quick the car would have been now if the 2015 rules remained. Sub 3:10 for sure maybe even lower

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by OmerRS

Ferrari is 1 sec slower than last year with same BOP, seems like Ferrari still plays the same game.

I think Aston and Ferrari have the best BOP at the moment. If you look at the latest BOP tables, Ford's are running very low boost and heaviest.

Ferrari has slightly less fuel allocation than last year. Still got the theoretically fastest session to come yet too. BoP tables are a bad way of comparing who has the best and worst BoP. The entire point of BoP is a set of parameters you adjust to account for the the strengths and weaknesses of cars which cannot be changed. The Ford has a CoG advantage. The Ferrari and Ford have weight position advantages the Corvette and Aston don't have. So saying the ford's BoP table isn't good could just mean the car has significant advantages in everything else. Welcome to BOP racing, where having a good car is punished.

There's no denying at all that Ford have spent the week playing funny buggers. "Oh we're so slow, we've got no chance". That changed overnight they went from mid pack GTE Am (ha, as if anyone believed that) to within a second of the Pro leader. That's pure BoP gaming, nothing else.

[airbusA346]

Red Flag

[TzeiTzei]

Another Ligier bites the armco.

[airbusA346]

Session is finished.

[TF110]

SERIOUSLY?! Another lmp2 barrier hit. These guys are not helping.

[J Jay]

Show's over, folks. Session red flagged and now terminated.

[bentley speed 8]

Red flag

[Akrapovic]

Panis Barthez having a terrible day. They should paint it in the old livery, it was much nicer. And brought them more luck!

[TzeiTzei]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

There's no denying at all that Ford have spent the week playing funny buggers. "Oh we're so slow, we've got no chance". That changed overnight they went from mid pack GTE Am (ha, as if anyone believed that) to within a second of the Pro leader. That's pure BoP gaming, nothing else.

When the flag drops, the bullshit stops. There is no point to listen to anything they say.

[TF110]

I don't recall ford saying they were actually slow but slowed down. Everyone knew they were running to a delta at the test day. Aston Martin being in the 51's is surprising though!

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by TF110

I don't recall ford saying they were slow. Everyone knew they were running to a delta at the test day. Aston Martin being in the 51's is surprising though!

They said it a LOT on RLM. Every interview and me to on was how they don't expect to be competitive this year and the boost levels are too low for them to challenge for the win. We've heard more about Ford's "problems" than any other GTE team this year.

I think the Aston is about where it should be. We know the Ferrari is the baseline car, but even that lost a a little bit of fuel. If everything is balanced around that then the Aston is only 2 tenths off of that. That's pretty spot on. Corvette only 3 tenths off that.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

They said

I fixed my post. I remember them saying they were slowed down, but not 'slow'

[Akrapovic]

We really need to stop quoting each other whilst we edit.

I accidentally posted that two word post because if the page is still loading on an iPhone then the keyboard zips away whilst you're typing and the submit button is in the firing line!

[Acid09]

Rob Leupen said on Eurosport that Toyota isn't done with setting fast times yet, the #7 thinks there's more to gain still.

I guess they really want to demoralize Porsche as payback for Dumas rolling around on the floor last year

[Adam43]

I see your wink. They might want to go better, but that isn't the reason.

[Acid09]

With the uncertainties for the top class that are on the horizon and the ACO probably not being happy with these speeds at all, chances are the times set tonight will stand for a long, long time...so there's plenty of incentive to improve indeed.

[sssssssss]

amazingly, the lap was done on medium tires and i think i saw porsche's 3:17 being done on hards (might be wrong about that one though).

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by Acid09

Rob Leupen said on Eurosport that Toyota isn't done with setting fast times yet, the #7 thinks there's more to gain still.

Isn't the lowest ever lap time around La Sarthe Pedro's 3'13.9 from 1971? Granted that was on a track without the Porsche curves or any Hunaudieres chicanes, but if Toyota can get below that, they would sweep all the qualifying/single lap records.