[WEC] Porsche GTP / Hypercar: factory and customer

[Wilson345]

Hello everybody! It seems that they copied the Toyota solution.
https://twitter.com/nuerburgring/sta...61263643553792

[Articus]

What a bizarre photo op

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by kvenom

I still think its very ugly.

Personally I think it looks a whole heap prettier.....

[Adam43]

Brilliant photo.

There was a press conference and Toyota hosted it as they are based in that part of the world. Unfortunately they didn't manage to get it in the wind tunnel!

[bobec]

Is that a double diffuser?

[TF110]

Looks like it's close to the Toyota solution inside the rear engine cover opening. But they did something like this in 2015 except that wasn't enclosed. The extra wing it looks like.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Articus

What a bizarre photo op

Could you imagine being a TMG employee and walking out of the building not knowing that was there!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by kvenom

I still think its very ugly.

I think it looks nice.

[bobec]

[Articus]

If Porsche are competitive this weekend. Bodes well for continuing into 2018 with modest upgrades. I think their concern is that they were so far behind the Toyota that it's too expensive to upgrade for 2018 and simply withdrawal.

they still have work to do on the LM package however.

[bentley speed 8]

I kinda missed it, but is it correct that that the current 919 has rear facing cameras as a replacement for the wing mirrors?

[bobec]

Originally Posted by Articus

they still have work to do on the LM package however.

Any ideas why the HD front has narrow "fenders" and overall a more slender-looking front cover, while the Le Mans package has such a thick front end and huge fenders? Somehow it must be reducing drag. I've heard it makes the airflow go over the car instead of around it.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by bentley speed 8

I kinda missed it, but is it correct that that the current 919 has rear facing cameras as a replacement for the wing mirrors?

Incorrect. They buried the mirrors into the rear end of the wheel pods, but they're still mirrors. On pitstops you can see two clear Perspex (or something) caps on the sides of the car in front of the cockpit that always get cleaned while in the pits: those are the mirror housings. Audi did something similar in 2015 I seem to remember.

[chernaudi]

Porsche were plenty fast at LM. It wasn't like Toyota were running away from them. It looked that way at Silverstone and Spa because of the aero changes this year favoring running high downforce aero everywhere outside of LM. We have to remember that Porsche performance-wise did well at Spa in '15 and '16 with LM aero.

The changes that the ACO made, especially to the rear diffusers, have a lot to answer for there.

[carbsmith]

Originally Posted by bobec

Any ideas why the HD front has narrow "fenders" and overall a more slender-looking front cover, while the Le Mans package has such a thick front end and huge fenders? Somehow it must be reducing drag. I've heard it makes the airflow go over the car instead of around it.

It's that way to some extent with every car now. These days for drag reduction the primary goal with the front fenders is to keep air away from the big mandated holes on top which is done with really bulky upright fenders in a vertical airfoil shape, while for downforce generation you want small fenders to have more exposed front wing and bigger diveplanes. Everything is a compromise between the two but obviously weighted far more to the former at Le Mans.

Porsche has had the most extreme high downforce configuration for a while, presumably due to a combination of power and what tracks they optimize for. An LMP2 has to run the same bodywork at Monza as Long Beach after all.

In general the nose looks like a pretty straightforward detail evolution of last year's high downforce configuration though. A change to how the the fenders blend into the rest of the nose, change to the curve of the surface between the fenders and raised nose to have a simpler shape and higher trailing edge (probably related to the new sidepods?), and smaller headlights. Looks like they might have cutouts for supplemental lighting for the darker races. I think they must actually, those main headlights don't look like they can actually point inwards enough.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by carbsmith

From this angle it looks like they changed the livery and have a mostly black car. Wouldn't that be a nice change?

[MANvsFOOD]

Originally Posted by joeb

From this angle it looks like they changed the livery and have a mostly black car. Wouldn't that be a nice change?

The 30% (or whatever it is) white rule is such a dumb rule. Imagine if the 919 had a matte black finish (like the test cars).

[bobec]

Originally Posted by carbsmith

It's that way to some extent with every car now. These days for drag reduction the primary goal with the front fenders is to keep air away from the big mandated holes on top which is done with really bulky upright fenders in a vertical airfoil shape, while for downforce generation you want small fenders to have more exposed front wing and bigger diveplanes. Everything is a compromise between the two but obviously weighted far more to the former at Le Mans.

Good point, thanks. So basically the huge LM Spec fenders are there just to keep air away from the BHHs. Then I guess the idea is to split the airflow to each side of the pod.

That should mean there is more airflow interaction with the BHHs in the HD spec and hence extra drag that isn't the direct result of more downforce, but a consequence of making the downforce-generating elements more effective.

[bentley speed 8]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

Incorrect. They buried the mirrors into the rear end of the wheel pods, but they're still mirrors. On pitstops you can see two clear Perspex (or something) caps on the sides of the car in front of the cockpit that always get cleaned while in the pits: those are the mirror housings. Audi did something similar in 2015 I seem to remember.

Thanks for the information.

[deggis]

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/d...ue-this-month/

Comments from Vasselon on how Porsche possible pullout could affect them.

[TF110]

Sounds pretty confident about Peugeot rejoining the series. I think they'll stay for at least another year maybe two regardless of the Porsche decision. That's how everything being said leans.

[Spyderman]

Congratulations Porsche!

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

Congratulations Porsche!

Kinda wondering if that result helps the odds of Porsche giving the go-ahead to continue with the P1 program. Pretty dominant performance from a suppossedly old and uncompetitive car.

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Kinda wondering if that result helps the odds of Porsche giving the go-ahead to continue with the P1 program. Pretty dominant performance from a suppossedly old and uncompetitive car.

Me too, but I dont think so. This track suited the 919. They will struggle on tracks with longer straights.

[AoB Special Stage]

http://www.racer.com/wec-le-mans/ite...ons-beyond-wec