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Fords at LeMans


Stray Kat

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Its happening right now fellas and ladies. LeMans is rocking with the sound of race engines.

 

After Q1 the Ford GTs are in the show in positions 3,4,8 and 10. All Fords are competing in the GTE Pro class. I expect those qualifying positions to improve as well. Maybe a Ford can nudge the Porsche teams off the pole.

 

When FoMoCo released their upcoming gas/hybrids I truly do hope they build a team and vehicle to compete for the overall.

 

IMO F1 would be a waste but top level endurance sports car racing can really showcase a company technical prowess.

 

Thoughts?

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Oh boy Sebastian Bourdais is fired up about that exchange with the Porsche.

As he should be. That was ridiculous. Weaved back and forth 3 or 4 times on one straight - that’s clearly against the rules. Then ran him off the track twice. That should have been a penalty which would have put the GT in second instead of third.

 

Only two teams in LMP1 and only Toyota was a hybrid? Were there no other hybrid teams this year? What happened to Porsche?

That was Toyota brining a 9mm to a knife fight. 12 laps ahead. Ridiculous.

 

It was fun watching Bourdais fight with the 911 though. The rest of the race was relatively boring. Thank goodness for DVRs.

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As he should be. That was ridiculous. Weaved back and forth 3 or 4 times on one straight - thats clearly against the rules. Then ran him off the track twice. That should have been a penalty which would have put the GT in second instead of third.

 

Only two teams in LMP1 and only Toyota was a hybrid? Were there no other hybrid teams this year? What happened to Porsche?

That was Toyota brining a 9mm to a knife fight. 12 laps ahead. Ridiculous.

 

It was fun watching Bourdais fight with the 911 though. The rest of the race was relatively boring. Thank goodness for DVRs.

Porsche got pissed at the LMP1 rule changes for this year and backed out of the class.
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I don’t see how that’s possible with prototypes. Maybe they’re going to expand the GT classes and allow more power on the top class. I think the 600 hp factory GT is actually detuned to around 450 hp by regulation and BOP rules. Make GT1 wide open - run what you brung with no BOP rules.

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I don’t see how that’s possible with prototypes. Maybe they’re going to expand the GT classes and allow more power on the top class. I think the 600 hp factory GT is actually detuned to around 450 hp by regulation and BOP rules. Make GT1 wide open - run what you brung with no BOP rules.

 

The FIA has suggested the 2020 cars return to more of a GTP regulations (such as http://tech-racingcars.wikidot.com/mercedes-clr). The cars will be bigger with 2 seats in the cockpit, spec hybrid system in the front, and up to ~520-550hp from the engine). And also to have 1/4 budget of the current LMP1 factory effort.

 

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/details-of-2020-hypercar-design-revealed/

 

 

hey will come into effect for the 2020-21 WEC season and make their 24 Hours of Le Mans debut in June 2021.

Several aspects of the design are open, including free engine architecture and the ability to run any number of cylinders with either a turbocharged or naturally-aspirated design.

The cars will have an overall weight of 980kg while weight distribution will be capped, along with a defined maximum fuel flow, controlled efficiency and other regulations to prevent expensive development.

An electric motor will be mounted on the front axle with a fixed performance of 200 kW, giving the cars a four-wheel-drive layout, while the ICE engine’s maximum performance target is 520 kW.

Each car will have two seats, a bigger cockpit than the current LMP1 machines, a wider windscreen and a roofline more consistent with road cars.

Manufacturers will be required to make their hybrid systems available for privateer teams to lease at a yet-to-be-determined cost cap, while any manufacturer or company can build its own hybrid system, which will be homologated by the FIA and ACO.

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I'd still like to see a more open top tier GT class with more power where they set the rules at the beginning of the year and they don't change them during the year. If one team figures something out they get to use it for the year and then they adjust in the off season if necessary or wait for the other teams to catch up.

 

Limiting fuel flow is an interesting equalizer. Still allows the teams to innovate with their engines.

 

Sounds like they're going back to something more like this I presume. They'll certainly look better.

 

 

1200px-NissanR90CK.JPG

Edited by akirby
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Id like to see about a half dozen privateer Ford GTs in the GTE Am class.

 

How do they handle that? I know with the Ferrari the AM class runs the older 458 while the pros get the 488 (or at least they did last year). What are the rule differences on the cars?

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Found it.

 

 

Quite simply, the GTE Pro class is the sole preserve of manufacturer teams, running only professional drivers, while GTE Am is designed to be a place where gentlemen drivers can compete on a level playing field.

The way this is achieved is through the FIA ‘grading’ system, which categorises drivers as platinum, gold, silver or bronze depending on their past achievements in motorsport and, in some cases, their age.

GTE Am teams must use at least one bronze-rated driver, as well as one rated no higher than silver. This means they are in effect limited to a maximum of one driver rated gold or higher in their line-ups. GTE Pro teams, on the other hand, are subject to no such restraints.

One other differentiator between the classes is that GTE Am teams are only allowed to run cars that are at least one year old. This excludes them from using the new Aston Martin Vantage or BMW M8 GTE in the 2018/19 Super Season, but in theory these could be made available to GTE Am teams in 2019/20.

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Personally I like the LMP1 and LMP2 cars as they are. Ford should run a Lincoln Continental Prototype in LMP1 with a hybrid drive/Ecoboost in a Multimatic chassis.

 

This would be a coup detat for North American sports car racing and probably trigger Cadillac to do the same.

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Maybe so but when youre competing at the pinnacle of automobile racing you are flexing your engineering IQ.

 

Porsche competes in WEC in both GT and Prototype classes save for their boycott this year. They have established quite a reputation having done this. Audi is another that isnt afraid to tackle the highest peak.

 

Ford can do it. They have streamlined their racing program. Time to make it payoff bigly.

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http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/common-prototype-regs-the-guiding-principle-for-ford-commitment/

 

 

Ford Performance global motorsports director Mark Rushbrook says that having a common set of top-level regulations between IMSA and WEC is one of its “guiding principles” for the manufacturer to commit to a prototype program.

The American automaker, which has been involved in technical working group meetings to help shape the ‘hypercar’ based platform the ACO revealed last week, has been eyeing its next steps following the likely conclusion of the Ford GT program at the end of next year.

Rushbrook indicated that a prototype effort is among the programs currently being evaluated in its global motorsports cycle plan, which also includes the ABB FIA Formula E Championship and newly confirmed FIA Electric World Rallycross Championship.

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I'd like to see a GT3 class with Mustangs, Camaros, etc. and only one prototype class.

 

It looks like the GT really is going away - any chance Ford does a new 2 seater above Mustang to compete directly with Corvette and continue competing in GTE pro?

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I'd like to see a GT3 class with Mustangs, Camaros, etc. and only one prototype class.

 

It looks like the GT really is going away - any chance Ford does a new 2 seater above Mustang to compete directly with Corvette and continue competing in GTE pro?

I don't think so. I think they're more likely to focus all efforts on the Mustang program. Get all they can out of the S550 before its replacement gets here in a few years.

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