[WEC Race] WEC 2015 Round 1: Silverstone

[Acid09]

Am I the only one who finds it massively disappointing that after such a cracking race, on British soil no less, there is absolutely nothing on the WEC in Autosport's headline section:

http://www.autosport.com

Instead, the top stories are all about some personal "drama" between two overpaid F1 drivers.

It's sad to see the state motorsport journalism apparently is in.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Acid09

Am I the only one who finds it massively disappointing that after such a cracking race, on British soil no less, there is absolutely nothing on the WEC in Autosport's headline section:

http://www.autosport.com

Instead, the top stories are all about some personal "drama" between two overpaid F1 drivers.

It's sad to see the state motorsport journalism apparently is in.

Quite - Autosport every once in a while produces some content that reassures that it's got a wider purview, but then it goes and does just as you describe - I know they'll defend it by saying F1 sells in a way that other series don't, but it's not great is it?

[wdave0]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

...But according to Hindy, the hare will be Nissan, and the rest will be the tortoises. He aid something along the lines of "....this lot will look like they have been nailed to a post".

So Nissan's PR team sent a jug of their Kool Aid up to the announcer's booth.

[joeb]

I was pleasantly surprised to see the ESM guys finish in 3rd with the old HPD. I know they were DQ'd, but I was still happy to see them up there. Question is now will they be able to wrap their heads around the Ligier and make some meaningful progress by Le Mans

[Acid09]

Originally Posted by wdave0

So Nissan's PR team sent a jug of their Kool Aid up to the announcer's booth.

I really love Hindy as much as the next guy but them and DSC are so deep in Nissan's pockets you simply have to take everything they say regarding that effort with a big grain of salt.

I don't mean this in a bad way. I know bills need to be paid and if that's the price that needs to be paid for this fantastic coverage, so be it.

[Victor_RO]

Fingers crossed for that, if they can get the Ligier working well they'll be worrying G-Drive quite badly. Particularly the Sharp/Dalziel/DHH crew.

[wdave0]

Originally Posted by joeb

I was pleasantly surprised to see the ESM guys finish in 3rd with the old HPD. I know they were DQ'd, but I was still happy to see them up there. Question is now will they be able to wrap their heads around the Ligier and make some meaningful progress by Le Mans

That old horse was surprisingly good. At least the Ligier/Honda has been tried and is a little known but they aren't going to have much time with it before LM. Seems to me there should be one previously raced car out there someplace, that would be a little head start at least.

[J Jay]

I wouldn't even waste my disappointment on it - F1 first, a bit of bike news and a smattering of everything else has been Autosport's MO for quite a while now. That they care much more about the bottom line than keeping abreast of the wider world of motorsport really shouldn't be a surprise.

The increasing numbers across the boards for the WEC are of much more importance than whatever the mainstream motoring press choose (not to) publish.

[Simmi]

Can't say I'm surprised by Autosport's coverage. But in terms of what will generate more hits there's no contest. The same way their magazine sales drop during any week in which they don't put F1 on the cover.

With great racing like this weekend the WEC will continue to move in the right direction and win people over.

A stand-out moment for me was watching at the loop as Lotterer dispatched the Porsche for the leas. Lots of people are rightly praising the battle Fassler and Jani had. But the Audi had the pace and didn't need to get caught up in that kind of pattern. Lotterer knew what he needed to do, dived-bombed through and ran the 919 out over the kerbs. Ruthless but required as it helped him go clear during a stint which he put the race beyond reach for everyone else - despite Fassler's best efforts when he got back in.

That's why he's the best sportscar driver in the world.

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by Simmi

A stand-out moment for me was watching at the loop as Lotterer dispatched the Porsche for the leas. Lots of people are rightly praising the battle Fassler and Jani had. But the Audi had the pace and didn't need to get caught up in that kind of pattern. Lotterer knew what he needed to do, dived-bombed through and ran the 919 out over the kerbs. Ruthless but required as it helped him go clear during a stint which he put the race beyond reach for everyone else - despite Fassler's best efforts when he got back in.

That's why he's the best sportscar driver in the world.

Could you give a rough timestamp for this? I'm watching the replay as best I can over the week but I've not seen this in any of the highlights.

From what I've seen so far it was clear that the R18 had the pace over the other factory cars but not enough to make clean quick passes over them. That must be the difference Lotterer makes.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by J Jay

I wouldn't even waste my disappointment on it - F1 first, a bit of bike news and a smattering of everything else has been Autosport's MO for quite a while now. That they care much more about the bottom line than keeping abreast of the wider world of motorsport really shouldn't be a surprise.

The increasing numbers across the boards for the WEC are of much more importance than whatever the mainstream motoring press choose (not to) publish.

On that it was quite encouraging to see 5 pages of pretty universally positive comments on Autosport's own forum about Silverstone.

The steps the manufacturers are making to activate their investment will help too - and here in particular Nissan deserve some serious credit for throwing Garage 40 open and letting people clamber all over the cars - be they show cars or not being allowed to sit in a cockpit and get a feel for driving position and visibility was absolutely fantastic, and something my other half described as the best bit of the weekend. If people figure this is the sort of fun that can be had with the WEC you can see them getting a lot more excited by the prospect.

[Badlands99]

Originally Posted by J Jay

Could you give a rough timestamp for this? I'm watching the replay as best I can over the week but I've not seen this in any of the highlights.

From what I've seen so far it was clear that the R18 had the pace over the other factory cars but not enough to make clean quick passes over them. That must be the difference Lotterer makes.

I was watching from the loop around that time and my guess would be just after the two hour mark. Superb battle!

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by J Jay

Could you give a rough timestamp for this? I'm watching the replay as best I can over the week but I've not seen this in any of the highlights.

From what I've seen so far it was clear that the R18 had the pace over the other factory cars but not enough to make clean quick passes over them. That must be the difference Lotterer makes.

It was around half distance. Maybe 15mins before half-way? Hopefully it made the coverage. It wasn't what I'd call a squeaky clean pass. It was a robust divebomb - but that's the way it had to be.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Simmi

It was around half distance. Maybe 15mins before half-way? Hopefully it made the coverage. It wasn't what I'd call a squeaky clean pass. It was a robust divebomb - but that's the way it had to be.

Not sure about when it was, but it definitely made it into the coverage, #7 dived on the inside of #18 at the first corner of the Arena and strong-armed him to the outside forcing him into the run-off.

[CTD]

I just found that someone had recorded the whole Stream and uploaded it to Youtube:
https://youtu.be/6VibdXK7X7o

[outnumbered]

I've just watched some of the TV stream after being at the circuit yesterday, trying to work out how Audi got their lead for the last couple of hours, after the race was apparently so close in the 2nd and 3rd hours.

It looks to me like a combination of Lotterer being faster than Dumas in their parallel stint in hours 3-4, and also possibly the Audi not taking tyres about 2 hours from the end, when Porsche had to.

[J Jay]

To save page space with quotes, thanks Simmi, Victor_RO, Badlands99 for the timings. The link CTD posted is a rip of the stream that I deggis posted before the race (and I watched for the first 30/last 10 minutes), but thanks as well because I didn't realize he had uploaded the broadcast so quickly.

Originally Posted by isynge

On that it was quite encouraging to see 5 pages of pretty universally positive comments on Autosport's own forum about Silverstone.

IIRC there's more than a bit of crossover between the Autosport BB and here but as you say it was good to see that the Silverstone 6 Hours was received well. Actually the forum is usually welcoming of the "major" endurance races (WEC, Bathurst, Spa/Ring 24) anyway.

Originally Posted by isynge

The steps the manufacturers are making to activate their investment will help too - and here in particular Nissan deserve some serious credit for throwing Garage 40 open and letting people clamber all over the cars - be they show cars or not being allowed to sit in a cockpit and get a feel for driving position and visibility was absolutely fantastic, and something my other half described as the best bit of the weekend. If people figure this is the sort of fun that can be had with the WEC you can see them getting a lot more excited by the prospect.

Yeah, I've said as much in the Porsche thread. The best thing the manufacturers can do to attract attention is to openly invite people to experience the depth of engineering and technology that goes into these cars.

[Greem]

I lost my WEC virginity yesterday, being one of the flaggies - just before the bridge on the Wellington Straight.

There were lots of words whirling round my head, but one stood out: Wow.

The way the LMP1 cars accelerated out of Aintree was nothing short of breathtaking. Obviously I only had a little snapshot of what was happening (and no audible commentary) but it was bloody brilliant. My arms ache today from blue flagging so much - which the wind made harder than it should be

Consider me converted!

[GT6]

Well i am glad you liked it, all of us on the other side of the fences appreciate the effort the marshalls put in to these events so please accept my thanks

[Badlands99]

Originally Posted by GT6

Well i am glad you liked it, all of us on the other side of the fences appreciate the effort the marshalls put in to these events so please accept my thanks

Would also like to echo the 'thanks' to all the marshalls for their time and effort.

Would really like to single out the couple of guys who were working the post on the outside of Club corner in front of the access gate. Being a photographer who doesn't have (and is never likely to get) accreditation, I was very grateful that the guys made the effort not to be standing in the same place all the time thereby allowing people to get the shots that they were after. Keep up the great work.

[Giba]

An unbelievable race yesterday and if it was possible makes me look forward to Le Mans even more.

Originally Posted by bella

the paint job on the bykolles doesn't do it any favours at all!...

......anyone else seriously considering spa and the nurburgring?

I disagree about the ByKolles livery, as due how bright the dayglo big honkin' fin is, my eyes seem to discount it and so the car looks like it doesn't have the fin on it

I sadly can't do spa but nurburgring is sooo tempting however transport there is the big problem

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by J Jay

Could you give a rough timestamp for this? I'm watching the replay as best I can over the week but I've not seen this in any of the highlights.

Got myself a copy of the race now. You can see the move with 3:27:38 to go.

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by Acid09

I really love Hindy as much as the next guy but them and DSC are so deep in Nissan's pockets you simply have to take everything they say regarding that effort with a big grain of salt.

I don't mean this in a bad way. I know bills need to be paid and if that's the price that needs to be paid for this fantastic coverage, so be it.

How am I supposed to take that comment in anything other than a bad way?

The ONLY effect that a relationship with any sponsor has on our coverage is to give us a little more detail from time to time and they don't do that exclusively with us either.

We have been told in some detail about progress in testing and we were giving viewers/listeners a flavour of that - Are you trying to say that you DON'T want to know what's going on?

You may also have heard me say that the launch day for the GT-R LM was the single biggest day for page views EVER on DSC - so honestly if YOU don't want to hear about the Nissan there are evidently plenty that do.

Oh and John was talking about straight line speed in the comment that was being quoted - it was passed when we were witnessing the superiority in a straight line of the Porsche over the Audi

[Mike E]

Here is some more enthusiastic coverage from Motorsport.
http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/ra...ars/wec-vs-f1/

[TF110]

Whats the "1200hp" talk with the Nissan? Is that real? If so and the 2mj rumor is true, that must last for very short periods of time. So what say you on the rating of this race? I would give it 8.5-9/10. It would have been even better without the track limits being abused so much and Nissan/Rebellion being there.