[WEC] New rules. New manufacturers. The 2021 and beyond positivity thread!

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

May be it's time to open a new thread for Lamborghini coming to WEC? Just sayin'. Good news: no news from Grosjean…

Click Here.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by Adam43

What it is extremely unlikely to be is a definitive fact and reporting of data straight from the team!

Are you sure? Between what we know, almost nothing, and what team say, no gospel, its still interesting to guess. So imagine you're a new entrant in the LMH or LMHd field what would you do? Given that the BoP can be either of good help or a threaten. One clue: Aspirin can help…

[veeten]

Ok, Adam. It's done

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Are you sure? Between what we know, almost nothing, and what team say, no gospel, it's still interesting to guess. So imagine you're a new entrant in the LMH or LMHd field what would you do? Given that the BoP can be either of good help or a threaten. One clue: Aspirin can help…

Yes I am pretty sure.

I guess 677.2hp an 1046kg. As this is of no interest and isn’t in any way informative I will not put it in the Lamborghini thread for the guys.

It’ll go through the usual wind tunnel testing to get it into the window. And then BoP will be applied to finish off. Which, I guess, will probably be conservative at first until they get more data. None of this is new. We’re pretty much all up to speed on how it works. We should start from this. I don’t get a headache with it at all.

[Adam43]

Lambo Thread: https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158230
Thanks veeten

[veeten]

Hey, with more manufacturers and cars coming, it's only natural that we'll see more threads. The more the merrier, I say...

[tomcug]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Maximum total combined power output (engine + hybrid system) is 500 kW giving circa 670,5 hp

Max power one can get in BOP is 520 kW actually For now it doesn't matter, car isn't even homologated yet.

[Gerard C]

Tks!

[merak1974]

Originally Posted by merak1974

...and Maserati is just about to unveil their track-only hypercar (based on the MC20), which surely must be an excellent base for developing a capable LM contender.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a4...k-car-details/

From the unveiling of the GT2's track-only sister hypercar, the Maserati MCXtrema, at the Monterey Car Week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMeTDckAEOI&t=16s

[Mike E]

This would have tied in nicely with a Hypercar program. Too bad...

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...stion-supercar

[joeb]

Could possibly be 40 cars on the grid next season. Although how that would work with having to share garages and equipment at some tracks is uncertain.

https://www.autosport.com/wec/news/w...ason/10519681/

[merak1974]

Originally Posted by Mike E

This would have tied in nicely with a Hypercar program. Too bad...

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...stion-supercar

I agree. Stellantis already has the Peugeot entry, but personally I would rather see Alfa Romeo or Maserati on the hypercar grid.

[Simmi]

https://www.dailysportscar.com/2023/...-together.html

A really good piece here from DSC on the current GT3 hopes. Looks like the ACO is (thankfully) trying to get the grid sizes up to allow more people to enter.

Some good nuggets in here - including United Autosports being the frontrunners for a prospective McLaren GT3 entry.

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Simmi

https://www.dailysportscar.com/2023/...-together.html

A really good piece here from DSC on the current GT3 hopes. Looks like the ACO is (thankfully) trying to get the grid sizes up to allow more people to enter.

Some good nuggets in here - including United Autosports being the frontrunners for a prospective McLaren GT3 entry.

The McLaren/United tie up is such a no brainer considering their connections but it must be frustrating for the likes of Optimum and Garage 59.

[S griffin]

To be fair there is nothing much wrong with the grid size atm, we certainly have plenty of quality too, but a few more wouldn’t hurt

[veeten]

Mainly, most manufacturers are waiting to see how the first original entrants are/have faired before choosing to commit to a build, especially the likes of IF and other small efforts do very well. Next season, you have four new entrants for WEC, if they do well, more will giving it very serious consideration. All three racing organizations were looking forward to this and so were we.

As I said before, great things happening...

[S griffin]

The biggest worry is if more manufacturers come in and squeeze the smaller private teams out. Hopefully that won’t happen, but the cynic in me feels it could. We should be thankful for those private teams that did do it when they could

[Matador]

Originally Posted by S griffin

The biggest worry is if more manufacturers come in and squeeze the smaller private teams out. Hopefully that won’t happen, but the cynic in me feels it could. We should be thankful for those private teams that did do it when they could

I feel like this time around we are seeing more collaboration between manufacturers and private teams. For example;


Prema/Iron Lynx -> Lamborghini
WRT -> BMW
JOTA, Proton, Penske -> Porsche
Joest -> Glickenhaus
Vectorsport -> Isotta
Oreca -> Puegot


etc. etc.


It seems that outside of Toyota really, that private teams are basically running the operations of the manufacturers in partnership moreso than a wholly and complete factory effort. With LMP2 disappearing from the WEC grid, any fall out will likely be with the GT3 cars/teams which we can already see happening.

[S griffin]

I’d say more professional teams rather than private teams if you know what I mean. WRT and JOTA are well established and got a pretty good budget behind them for example. Will be exciting to have a few manufacturers joining like BMW

[Simmi]

I'm still unclear about what WEC will do if/when the grid expands again in '25.

If you're UA for example trying to scramble together a McLaren programme last minute - for potentially a single season. That's a lot of effort and funds required without any certainty.

Even if a manufacturer pulls out of hypercar, you've got Aston possibly waiting in the wings. You've got a second full season Lambo surely. Plus maybe a customer car of some sort. You'd think at worst it will break even.

[RL17]

WEC could do with one or two more large field races or restrict Hypercar entries pretty strictly for the non-LM races.

Is it still just 38 entries? should also bar teams from Le Mans the following year if they don’t turn up for full season. Yes harsh but need a healthy GT3 line up with teams having a bit more certainty for those teams and not just allow any outfit with a very old car make and little real history to come in.

Or run a pre-LM qualifying race at say an early WEC round?

[Coach Ep]

40 car entry for WEC is what's being worked on for 2024 (and beyond presumably).

Add that number to the already announced 15 P2 slots and the handful or so auto invites and we're already getting close to the 62 max. for LM (although some of the P2 entries will be auto invites).

Time to rethink the LMP2 allotment imo and reduces the number to 10-12 (depending on final number of Hypercar entries in WEC). Also, see Porsche's desire to run a third car again.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Simmi

I'm still unclear about what WEC will do if/when the grid expands again in '25.

If you're UA for example trying to scramble together a McLaren programme last minute - for potentially a single season. That's a lot of effort and funds required without any certainty.

Even if a manufacturer pulls out of hypercar, you've got Aston possibly waiting in the wings. You've got a second full season Lambo surely. Plus maybe a customer car of some sort. You'd think at worst it will break even.

It is a tough position to be in for sure, especially knowing that this grid interest won't last forever and programs will drop out at the top level. How do you keep lower classes engaged when you don't have room for them?

Would there ever be a Hypercar only race or a GT only race? IMSA makes that work, but would anybody really be that excited about another GT3 race?

[broadrun96]

And it seems like the IMSA GT3 events drew a bit more than the same SRO events, or at least from the tv pictures. Not sure a WEC GT3 would have that same draw with bigger SRO series in Europe, or at least bigger grid numbers

[veeten]

But, a prototype event could be possible. Hypercar + LMP2 event could work, using tracks like Silverstone, Monza, or Spa and making it between 4 - 8 hours, could make for great weekend race. Not to mention making it an LM qualifier puts the verbal icing on the cake.