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13 Jun 2017, 17:47 (Ref:3740926) | #76 | ||||
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http://www.motorsport-aktuell.com/me...t-7996244.html And some navigation links redirects to AMuS: http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/motorsport-aktuell/ and the Le Mans section there: http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/2...s-1860856.html had nothing but normal race hype and previews. |
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13 Jun 2017, 17:51 (Ref:3740927) | #77 | ||
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If this alleged new is bad, the only thing I can think of is Porsche or maybe Toyota cutting back or withdrawing their LMP1 programs, or a major shift in the WEC's schedule for next year. It's clear that no changes will be happening to LMP2 unless the ACO are convinced to make it. And I don't think that it's got anything to do GTE BOP.
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13 Jun 2017, 18:05 (Ref:3740932) | #78 | |||
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Ceterum censeo GTE-Am esse delendam. |
13 Jun 2017, 18:12 (Ref:3740933) | #79 | |
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It doesn't make it confirmed, but it also doesn't make it not confirmed. This is how the Audi rumours started.
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13 Jun 2017, 18:15 (Ref:3740935) | #80 | |
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No, the Audi rumours started with an actual article by Marcus Schurig. You know, one that actually exists for people to read rather than the figment of other people's imagination.
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13 Jun 2017, 18:27 (Ref:3740940) | #81 | ||
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13 Jun 2017, 18:27 (Ref:3740941) | #82 | |
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Yeah, those blasted magazines, being a figment of imagination! I hate when magazines just don't exist, especially when they don't exist as printed paper and stuff!
If someone says it's in there, it's probably in there. Doesn't make it true, but I don't doubt the article exists. The Audi leaving Le Mans rumours didn't start with Marcus - that was just the first really good article on it. The Audi leaving Le Mans rumours were going since, oh I don't know, about 2003. |
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13 Jun 2017, 18:28 (Ref:3740942) | #83 | ||
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I've been told that the report is probably in their print magazine. Unfortunately, I don't think any place in the US carries it, certainly not any place locally. I'm glad to get Racecar Engineering at my local book store.
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13 Jun 2017, 18:30 (Ref:3740943) | #84 | |||
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People try and make the F1 connection by Auto Union (predecessor to present day Audi, and where Audi got their four rings logo from) running in Grand Prix racing (predecessor to modern day F1) prior to World War II. |
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13 Jun 2017, 18:38 (Ref:3740946) | #85 | ||
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The timing here is what I don't get since these decisions at the company level are made at the end of the year. I think the Marcus Schurig article also came just a few weeks or couple of months before the actual pullout news came. (Also, wasn't the initial suggestion that Audi would leave after 2017). Yes, there's maybe now a lot of media at the paddock right now but for the same reason unfounded rumor would spread easily. |
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13 Jun 2017, 18:42 (Ref:3740947) | #86 | |||
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13 Jun 2017, 18:50 (Ref:3740950) | #87 | ||
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But they're all at it. It's just a matter of degree - http://europe.autonews.com/article/2...missions-fraud |
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13 Jun 2017, 19:00 (Ref:3740953) | #88 | ||
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A newspaper did tests, Porsche denied them, hence an official investigation. https://www.carthrottle.com/post/por...tions-surface/ Edit: same link as Akrapovic posted. |
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13 Jun 2017, 19:02 (Ref:3740955) | #89 | |
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13 Jun 2017, 19:12 (Ref:3740960) | #90 | |
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Dagys was referring to the new diesel class for the WEC, trying to improve the road tech through racing but apparently they, like Top Gear, used touring car drivers to test.
Towsend Bell's twitter feed found the first slow zone |
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13 Jun 2017, 19:14 (Ref:3740963) | #91 | ||
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And this coincides with, in my opinion at least, the current LMP1 regs and their financial cost growing stale among the teams. When you have Toyota and Porsche agreeing in principal to limit chassis development, that should've maybe been a smoke signal that something was up.
This doesn't guarantee that either one will leave after this year. But it's a little too convenient in my view that we have critics pointing out that the LMP1 regs as they exist right now are unsustainable from a cost standpoint and with no one else wanting to come in right now, with dieselgate happening. IMO, it's just an excuse for VAG to cut losses and wait for the new rules cycle, which is the approach everyone else is taking. Especially when you consider that dieselgate hasn't hurt VAG's sales of diesel cars outside of NA (which were never high there anyways and all the fixed cars have quickly sold out), and that most VAG divisions are still making huge profits. I still think it's more that politics within Volkswagen Group and between VAG and the ACO/FIA are at play, and it's probably more sensible to let the current ACO LMP1 regs run their course and wait for 2020. There's probably more to this whole story than what Audi Sport and others have shared publicly, and that's stuff that Hindy has also talked about with the Audi Sport pull out. |
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13 Jun 2017, 23:19 (Ref:3741034) | #92 | |
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There is supposed to be an announcement this week. I don't know if it's good or bad, but the WEC's twitter has been positive about a surprise. That could just be the AJ Foyt rumor, but I hope there's more.
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14 Jun 2017, 03:06 (Ref:3741064) | #93 | ||
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Only positive thing that I've seen the ACO mention is whoever the race starter is supposed to be. Dagys' tweet is leaning towards bad news.
I think that LMP2 stuff and maybe GTE BOP can be ruled out. That leaves LMP1 or the 2018 schedule, or maybe even the 2020 rules package. |
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14 Jun 2017, 04:46 (Ref:3741076) | #94 | ||
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14 Jun 2017, 05:56 (Ref:3741082) | #95 | ||
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I wouldn't doubt that it's clickbait/self-promotion for SC365 (and before you dump on just him, Racer Magazine has been known to print sensational headlines for otherwise fairly mundane stories), though he's better connected than most of us on this board, and after seeing various programs go away, never materialize, or fail to deliver, nothing would surprise me.
Not to mention that Hindy has been talking of Porsche leaving again recently (a rumor that won't go away since Audi left), and Auto Motor und Sport's Motorsport Akutell print mag has hinted of that possibility. Only thing I can say, if it's bad news, is what it's not, which is LMP2 stuff so far hasn't materialized, nor has anything outlandish (at least yet) in terms of GT BOP. That IMO leaves us with something to do with LMP1 (possibly privateer related), or the 2018 schedule. Or, for all I know, GTE Am might be phased out/merged with GTE Pro, since GTE Am numbers have dropped big time this season, while LMP2 and GTE Pro numbers have gone up. |
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14 Jun 2017, 07:11 (Ref:3741097) | #96 | |||
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Source: internal ... |
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14 Jun 2017, 08:01 (Ref:3741110) | #97 | ||
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SC365 saying that Porsche are denying pull out rumors until at least end of 2018:
http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/p...1-exit-rumors/ However, the MSA article was written by the same guy who predicted the Audi Sport pull out a few months before it happened and chronicled Nissan's troubles in LMP1. |
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14 Jun 2017, 08:05 (Ref:3741112) | #98 | ||
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To me it reads like the program is on probation and the board won't stand for another season of uncompetitiveness. So if the team can win a few races and show that they have found ways to drastically improve the chassis for next year, they'll get the go ahead. If not, the plug will be pulled.
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14 Jun 2017, 08:36 (Ref:3741118) | #99 | ||
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Difference is that Porsche were reasonably competitive last year, and only errors and bad luck in the first half the season kept the #1 Porsche from being a serious contender for the drivers' title. Granted, Audi dominated races at Nurburgring, Mexico, COTA and Fuji to come up short either due to freak problems, pit strategy, or Porsche getting luck with timing of full course yellows.
This year, Toyota are bearing the fruits of them stepping up their budget and commitment that was made in 2015 when it was clear they needed a new car, and fast. The 919 is now almost 4 years old as far as it's tub design, and it's not like the 956/962 or Audi R8 or Pescarolo C60/01 days where a chassis can be competitive for years. But I have my suspicions that Audi continuing in the WEC was contingent on winning Le Mans last year, or having a shot at the manufacturers' title. If the LM win or the manufacturers' championship happened or looked likely, they might have stayed. But when LM didn't happen and it looked like the manufacturers' championship wasn't going to happen, it made it easy to pull the plug and cut their losses. IMO, things with the rules package right now at LM and the WEC seem to be getting stale for those in charge of motorsports at Volkswagen Group, especially in terms of ROI on a dollar vs benefits basis. |
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14 Jun 2017, 09:27 (Ref:3741123) | #100 | ||
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Basically for a short overall picture in LMP1, the teams and the ACO milked the current regs for all they were worth. And owing to the cyclical and volitle nature of road racing, things peaked for the current regs in 2015, and the bubble has burst and things will slide downhill until the new rules take effect. It's just simply that things in road racing, more than other motorsports, go in bursts and cycles where things peak, but most of the time things level out and stagnate in between.
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