LMP2 - Trouble brewing
Discussion
Actually teams are sweating about budgets, especially in the WEC. The solutions proposed will do nothing to bring down the costs, everyone will have to buy new engines and, possibly, new chassis.
On the other hand the current cost cap regulations are not working as planned, one car introduced last year drove a coach and horses through the limits, even if the difference is not recovered up front but later through higher running costs.
It is a complicated situation and not everything is out in the open.
On the other hand the current cost cap regulations are not working as planned, one car introduced last year drove a coach and horses through the limits, even if the difference is not recovered up front but later through higher running costs.
It is a complicated situation and not everything is out in the open.
I think they should leave it alone....however there are only really 4 manufactures at the moment, Oreca, Onroak, Honda and Strakka Dome. All the others are only on paper, so is restricting the chassis builders to 4 so bad....maybe not. I think the thing that would annoy me most is the spec engine. Would be good to have a proper race engine, however, the Nissan is clearly the best engine at the moment, Honda are not going to let that run in its chassis. This is where VW group step in and why Bentley were at the meeting.
So who are the magic four going to be:
ORECA - The 05b already uses an LMP1 design tub and is at the 1900mm width. Oh and they are French.
ONROAK - The Ligier JS2 is a coupe and already proven. Oh and they are French
HONDA HPD - The proposal mandates a north American manufacturer, plus there are rumours of a Honda LMP1 or GTE project, so ACO will keep them sweet
??????
Number 4, Probably the Strakka Dome. Its running this year and is apparently fast. The Zytek/Gibson is just a CAD drawing at the moment, they are saying they need to sell 8 cars to make a return on them investing the money. Well....I dont think they will sell 8. Anyone looking to enter in 2016 with a long term program will need to look at this very seriously before committing. Think the ACO should also be careful as this will effect business.
So who are the magic four going to be:
ORECA - The 05b already uses an LMP1 design tub and is at the 1900mm width. Oh and they are French.
ONROAK - The Ligier JS2 is a coupe and already proven. Oh and they are French
HONDA HPD - The proposal mandates a north American manufacturer, plus there are rumours of a Honda LMP1 or GTE project, so ACO will keep them sweet
??????
Number 4, Probably the Strakka Dome. Its running this year and is apparently fast. The Zytek/Gibson is just a CAD drawing at the moment, they are saying they need to sell 8 cars to make a return on them investing the money. Well....I dont think they will sell 8. Anyone looking to enter in 2016 with a long term program will need to look at this very seriously before committing. Think the ACO should also be careful as this will effect business.
You can add the SMP BR01 (what cost cap?) and the Multimatic (Lola) B12/80 to the currently existing list. The Honda is not really Honda Japan though, it is an HPD badged Wirth chassis, HPD being the racing division setup by Honda North America to develop and race the Acura (ARX-01 - re-badged/homologated Courage) chassis. Riley are also a North American manufacturer who must be looking at the proposed rules with an open mind considering their dominance of the DP market
Great Dane said:
Did you hear the interview with Hughes de Chaunac from Oreca saying "I can't imagine that we are not selected" and rightly so they have one of the best organisations in customer racing.
Yep, but I have a slight issue with this... He's happy with the proposals because he's in them, if he were outside of them he'd be kicking up a fuss. It just feels wrong to me.Graham's issue is mainly with the timing that they have to make a decision before the new cars have actually been really bedded in performance wise (bearing in mind that once the car has been homologated, there is no development for three years - only for obvious design flaws with regards reliability and safety - that was why for instance Strakka didn't race last year)
So EMS have been forced to ditch the HPD ARX 04b and purchase a Ligier JS2. They are claiming its because HPD didn't want to homologate the chassis as it wasn't fast enough, but isn't it more that they wanted to wait and see what the LMP regs would be in 2017!? I hope they compensated EMS for having to buy a new car at such short notice.
I'd say the most likely scenario is as per what has already been released by ESM & HPD. Holding back a car before homologation is not a new thing, just look at Strakka, and racing a bad chassis would be infinitely worse than waiting, especially in a customer class. Plus, the ACO have already stated that should the new LMP2 regs come into force (big if), then one of the chosen four would be North American, so HPD would have a pretty good chance one would think.
Obviously we don't have the full picture, but from what i can see, this smacks of corruption / protecting interests. OK, if some teams are effectively breaching the cost cap, that needs to be sorted. However, the governing body arranging for an oligopoly by design, stifling competition and risking putting manufacturers and teams out of business? Utter crap IMO.
Of course, it's not new - i used to kart and the blatent backhanders were obvious then. When exhaust silencers for 100cc karts were brought in, they mandated 1 single (and bloody expensive) add on silencer. None others were legal. 2 years later, that very same silencer was no longer legal because it didn't work. Someone made a hige payday then.
I see this as no different. It effectively chops Lm legends like Dome out of lmp2, and no tyre war means michelin will be p1 supplier forever more. From what i have read, the teams were not asking for this. The only winners are the "chosen few" who from the sounds of it already know who will win the RFP. How the competitions commission don't get up in arms I don't know.
Tl;dr? It's utter s
te.
Of course, it's not new - i used to kart and the blatent backhanders were obvious then. When exhaust silencers for 100cc karts were brought in, they mandated 1 single (and bloody expensive) add on silencer. None others were legal. 2 years later, that very same silencer was no longer legal because it didn't work. Someone made a hige payday then.
I see this as no different. It effectively chops Lm legends like Dome out of lmp2, and no tyre war means michelin will be p1 supplier forever more. From what i have read, the teams were not asking for this. The only winners are the "chosen few" who from the sounds of it already know who will win the RFP. How the competitions commission don't get up in arms I don't know.
Tl;dr? It's utter s
te.Well that is that. If they have ratified this then 4 manufactures it will probably be as well.
http://www.dailysportscar.com/2015/03/20/single-en...
http://www.dailysportscar.com/2015/03/20/single-en...
So you take the most popular class (30 entries for Le Mans vs 14 for LMP1/9 for GTE Pro/13 for GTE Am), the greatest competitions between chassis manufacturers (8, vs 6 in LMP1/4 in GTE Pro/4 in GTE Am) and as many engine manufacturers as GTE Pro and Am (4) and only 1 less than LMP1 - and try your best to kill it!
Gassing Station | Le Mans | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff