[WEC] World Endurance Championship - The Prologue

[chernaudi]

I think it was more than that in the end--late season WEC rounds found Rebellion at times about 4 seconds back of Audi and Toyota. Rebellion were also about 8 seconds off the pole time at LM last year/4 seconds off the fastest Toyota per a list at lemans-history.com (worth a visit for the photo galleries alone!).

Rebellion now have to deal with running a sonic air restrictor (something that the factory teams with new cars don't have) and currently being 30kgs heavier pre BoP changes, which won't become known until the start of April (only a few days away, however).

[chernaudi]

According to DSC, only 1 LMP2 and 2-3 LMP1 cars have run laps 45 minutes into the session (though their page hasn't updated in a while).

It was less than 50 degress F when the session began. Could Audi and Toyota be waiting to do serious running in the later sessions when it warms up?

Also, there'll be a "competition yellow" at some point to test the local yellow slow down procedure for LM at some point today it seems.

EDIT: DSC's blog is slow to update and seems to be having problems related to internet feed or something (Paul Ricard is fairly remote), and neither Audi Sport or Toyota Hybrid twitter pages have been updated in nearly an hour/start of morning session as well.

[carbon_titanium]

i'm waiting for the speed trap data, it could help a lot to predict le mans top speeds. In 2010 the oreca 908HDi (rumored 700hp) top speed was 324km/h, during 2011 paul ricard test 908 best top speed was 327km/h according to mike mulsanne. Will the narrower and less drag designed 2014 LMP1-H be able to touch a so high top speed ?

[chernaudi]

DSC updated just now--took a 30 minute break due to a lack of on track action to do interviews for pieces they want to write this weekend.

The two Porsche still top the charts, and it seems that the Toyotas are doing installation laps and it seems that Audi are waiting to go out.

It has to be remembered that this morning is cold at PR, and though Porsche obviously need to take advantage of any running they can get, Audi and Toyota are seemingly taking it easy until the temps warm up to be more relevant to a "race" condition.

[chernaudi]

Seems that DSC is on another break (not a ton of teams doing much running at all so far) or there's internet issues at PR.

[gwyllion]

I think that you should stop hitting the refresh button that often. It is only testing

The lap times will appear on http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/ later today.

[Pontlieue]

endurance-info has lap times:

http://www.endurance-info.com/fr/pro...hybrid-devant/

[Alex Langheck]

Surely if they've billed this 'test' as The Prologue, there should be better coverage. Or am I missing something? Promotion isn't a strong point of the WEC in my view.

[chernaudi]

And no wonder why DSC's guy have been doing interviews. Only 15 cars have run a timed lap and no one seems to be pushing it yet, seeing as how Porsche are on top and we know of the difficulties in terms of reliability and speed they've been having.

[gwyllion]

Like I said earlier, this is only testing

Today there is 3 sessions, good for 10 hours in total, and tomorrow another 7 hours.

[gwyllion]

Toyota is also into 1:43.

Kazuki Nakajima is the third man under 1:44 he puts the #7 Toyota third fastest with 96 minutes of the session remaining

source: http://www.dailysportscar.com/?p=25930

[chernaudi]

#2 Audi first into the 1:42 bracket.

Today is also the first serious running any LMP1 team has done with the ACO/FIA fuel sensors functioning on board.

[gwyllion]

We’re told too that the LMP1 teams have not had any running with the FIA fuel flow sensors fitted until today.

source: http://www.dailysportscar.com/?p=25930

That is strange. Pascal Vasselon gave the impression that they already ran with the sensors. Maybe this was only on their test benches, not on a real race circuit.

One of the uncertainties, however, stems from the fuel flow meters, which has already caused issues in Formula One.

“Like everyone else, we had a few glitches with the flow meters,” Vasselon said. “What is certain is that we need this new regulation for the future of motorsport. It’s not easy but we are confident. We will also have to see how these new rules will react in traffic.

“With a given amount of energy, we can compare it to a GPS. If the driver does not follow the recommendations, the system recalculates it by itself to stay in the correct window.” In the case of an over-run, penalties are given.

source: http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/v...ous-two-years/

[bella]

Originally Posted by Alex Langheck

Surely if they've billed this 'test' as The Prologue, there should be better coverage. Or am I missing something? Promotion isn't a strong point of the WEC in my view.

i see your point, but i think you *are* missing something

live coverage isn't always a good thing, especially with testing. it's very difficult for the people doing the reporting to know exactly who's doing what with strategy, tyres and whathaveyou, and without that it's just cars going around in circles. so what is there to report on that has interest beyond the absolute die-hard fans?

the advantage of making an event of the big pre-season test is that it's effectively one huge press conference for the relevant media. everyone in the same place, running the upcoming seasons cars is really a good thing from the media perspective. the potential to generate far more content is there, both from a words and photos point of view. it's much better than holding a press conference in paris or something and a series of random, private tests. giving it a name means it has a catchy identity, and i think it's a really good idea to make a few adaptions and turn one day of it into a fan-friendly event.

that said, i do agree - english language coverage in particular of wec and elms is lacking. but endurance racing has been treading the path f1 is currently dealing with for years. how do you translate what is an incredibly technical, tactical and complex form of motorsport into a format that everyone can enjoy? it's very difficult.

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

source: http://www.dailysportscar.com/?p=25930

That is strange. Pascal Vasselon gave the impression that they already ran with the sensors. Maybe this was only on their test benches, not on a real race circuit.
source: http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/v...ous-two-years/

Thanks gwyllion. I was about to post about this as well. Could be that these are the latest iterations/specs of the fuel flow sensors, but it would be really surprising to learn that this is the first ever opportunity for the LMP1 contenders to actually run with the FIA fuel flow sensors on track.

I understand however, that the Prologue is the first real test where the entire system is being tested live, i.e. including the real-time communication of the relevant fuel-flow data to the FIA. That's possibly the source of the somewhat confusing and astonishing info.

[Bandicoot17]

Porsche just hit 328kph

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by @ZytekMotorsport

LMP1 analysis @FIAWEC Audi looks Safe. Toyota acceleration looks incredible. Porsche top speed looks good. pic.twitter.com/quRPP49pwx

source: https://twitter.com/ZytekMotorsport/...83675575795712

[airbusA346]

[Accident]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Does anyone else think RAM has wrecked their livery this year?



I thought the white 458s looked great last year. The chrome car at Dubai was also really distinctive. This for me is just a messy, watered-down amalgamation of the two.

I like the color choice but the layout of the livery isn't anything special. Looks great compared to that AF Corse car though.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by airbusA346

No improvements before the lunch break.

Originally Posted by @RacecarEd

Audi, Porsche, Porsche, Toyota, Audi, Toyota is the running order this morning in Ricard.

https://twitter.com/RacecarEd/status/449512848964976640

[gwyllion]

Full result of morning session on http://www.dailysportscar.com/?p=25930

2 Audi 1:42.788
14 Porsche 1:42.912
20 Porsche 1:43.2
7 Toyota 1:43.9
1 Audi 1:44.1
8 Toyota 1:44.8
12 Rebellion Lola 1:45.5
13 Rebellion Lola 1:47.4
22 Millennium Oreca 1:49.2
27 SMP Oreca 1:50.6
37 SMP Oreca 1:50.7
47 KCMG Oreca 1:51.4
92 Porsche 1:58.0
71 AF Corse Ferrari 1:58.6
52 RAM Ferrari 1:58.6
90 8Star Ferrari 1:58.8
61 AF Corse Ferrari 1:58.9
81 AF Corse Ferrari 1:59.0
75 Prospeed Porsche 1:59.1
53 RAM Ferrari 1:59.1
95 Aston Martin 1:59.6
99 Aston Martin 1:59.8
88 Proton Porsche 2:01.1
23 Millennium Oreca No time
26 G-Drive Morgan No time

[gwyllion]

The timing data from the morning session is available on http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/

The top speed numbers are very strange

• Porsche #20 328.3 km/h
• Porsche #14 317.6 km/h
• Toyota #7 313.0 km/h
• Toyota #8 302.5 km/h
• Audi #2 300.8 km/h
• Audi #1 293.5 km/h
• Rebellion #12 290.3 km/h
• Rebellion #13 284.2 km/h

It is very difficult to explain this huge difference. Either Porsche has very good low drag aero, or their V4 engine is extremely powerful, or they are using the hybrid system differently (release energy at top speed instead of corner exit), or they are exceeding the maximum fuel flow, ...

[bella]

do you think that one-off top speed could have been from getting a tow on the mistral?

[gustavobamba]

Originally Posted by Bandicoot17

Porsche just hit 328kph

Are Audi, Toyota speed trap´s correct??????? Did anyone know?

[gwyllion]

I quickly calculated the average over all laps for the top speed (excluding installation laps).

• Audi #1 288.8 km/h
• Audi #2 294.3 km/h
• Toyota #7 306.3 km/h
• Toyota #8 295.5 km/h
• Porsche #14 313.1 km/h
• Porsche #20 310.0 km/h

You can clearly see the difference between the low drag (#7) and high downforce (#8) aero of Toyota.