RE: Ferrari announces Le Mans Hypercar entry

RE: Ferrari announces Le Mans Hypercar entry

Author
Discussion

big_rob_sydney

3,409 posts

195 months

Wednesday 24th February 2021
quotequote all
2023??

What is this, a crystal ball, or what? Considering how quickly the world can turn upside down (covid, etc), who knows if this will actually happen. Is this just more vaporware? Hardly "news".

Isebac

227 posts

39 months

Wednesday 24th February 2021
quotequote all
How is that 50 years since Ferrari's last participation? What about the Ferrari 333 SP? That last raced in 2003. I guess it's not "factory-entered", but nevertheless it was a Ferrari and it raced at Le Mans.

Also, sadly, LMH cars are not in any way "derived from the world's greatest hypercars." That's what the initial idea was, but very quickly it devolved into another prototype spec. The fact that they stuck with the "hypercar" name pretty amusing.

Well, either way, I guess that another manufacturer joining - not to mention that manufacturer being Ferrari - can only be a good thing.

WonkeyDonkey

2,350 posts

104 months

Wednesday 24th February 2021
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I'm looking forward to this but I won't get too excited.

Things were all looking rosy this time in 2015 with Toyota, Audi, Porsche and Nissan committing to LMP1. Few short years later and we were left with just Toyota and a few privateers with no chance of an outright win.

anonymous-user

55 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
Rumour has it that when the Scuderia heard their new WEC Hypercar had to be as fast as their F1 car they decided to enter a Fiat Doblo van.

ettore

4,161 posts

253 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
big_rob_sydney said:
2023??

What is this, a crystal ball, or what? Considering how quickly the world can turn upside down (covid, etc), who knows if this will actually happen. Is this just more vaporware? Hardly "news".
Been on the gin? Trifle hysterical.

virgilio

427 posts

146 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
ducnick said:
bring back group C type rules. here is your limited amount of fuel/energy. do whatever you want with it to do as many laps as possible in 24 hrs
this. I totally agree (and cannot understand why FIA is so fixated with complex and technology stifling rules)

MikeT66

2,682 posts

125 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
MountainsofSussex said:
Am I the only one who has precisely no interest in this new LM class? It was supposed to be a chance for versions of cars you might occasionally see on the street fighting on the track. But it's ended up being another set of prototype regulations with zero road relevance. Something like GT3 or GTE with a much higher performance envelope, I'd have been up for, but this, yawn...
Same here. Was genuinely excited by the prospect of the Aston Martin Valkyrie and the Toyota hypercar hitting the track, hopefully encouraging others into the new format. AM then pulled the plug, and Toyota's fabulous looking car has turned into another LMP1 template. Since then, my interest has plummeted, sadly. I'm sure Ferrari getting involved will create some headlines, but the template is still wrong, I think. If the governing bodies want to forego the 'road-inspired' cars, then this...

virgilio said:
ducnick said:
bring back group C type rules. here is your limited amount of fuel/energy. do whatever you want with it to do as many laps as possible in 24 hrs
this. I totally agree (and cannot understand why FIA is so fixated with complex and technology stifling rules)
... is surely the best option. Throw in some additional requirements (two seats, whatever) and give the designers free reign. That would keep the series relevant for the new environmental technologies coming through and we are back to most reliable/fastest car winning - the original idea for the LM24hr.

Ahonen

5,018 posts

280 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
big_rob_sydney said:
2023??

What is this, a crystal ball, or what? Considering how quickly the world can turn upside down (covid, etc), who knows if this will actually happen. Is this just more vaporware? Hardly "news".
Of course it's news. The manufacturer has announced, just like Porsche did, that it will be racing LMDh in 2023. That is a news item. Do you think they should check for potential meteorite strikes too, just in case the world is scheduled to explode?

TheOctaneAddict

773 posts

48 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
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Good news, it would be nice to see a few different manufacturers fighting out for an overall victory.

Red6

370 posts

57 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
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Though I cannot stand the term Hypercar, I for one am looking forward to this new class and with Ferrari announcing their intentions to enter. It will be good to see them duking it out with Porsche for overall honours at Le Mans.

JD

2,781 posts

229 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
MountainsofSussex said:
Am I the only one who has precisely no interest in this new LM class? It was supposed to be a chance for versions of cars you might occasionally see on the street fighting on the track. But it's ended up being another set of prototype regulations with zero road relevance. Something like GT3 or GTE with a much higher performance envelope, I'd have been up for, but this, yawn...
I feel the complete opposite.

I feel like LMP1 was the peak of my interest for WEC, I can watch any motorsport series if I want to see just GTE type cars racing.

The way that an LMP1 car makes the GTE cars look slow is a sight to behold, and the best bit is, you still get to see the GTE class cars running, so it's win win.

ArnageWRC

2,074 posts

160 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
Has to be good news; another manufacturer (and it's Ferrari ) joining the 'joint' top class of the WEC. So, the FiA/ ACO are doing something right. If they all turn up, then it could be fabulous.



browngt3

1,411 posts

212 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
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Mystified by some of the negativity. This is actually the biggest news in motor racing for some time. Ferrari officially returning to Le Mans after 50 years! Come on! This is fantastic.

Just a small request please, Ferrari. Your car has to be a V12. What else can it be?

MDL111

6,992 posts

178 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
fblm said:
Rumour has it that when the Scuderia heard their new WEC Hypercar had to be as fast as their F1 car they decided to enter a Fiat Doblo van.
My first thought when reading the headline was “can’t win in F1, so we might as well try something else ...”

SamJB

84 posts

132 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
MikeT66 said:
MountainsofSussex said:
Am I the only one who has precisely no interest in this new LM class? It was supposed to be a chance for versions of cars you might occasionally see on the street fighting on the track. But it's ended up being another set of prototype regulations with zero road relevance. Something like GT3 or GTE with a much higher performance envelope, I'd have been up for, but this, yawn...
Same here. Was genuinely excited by the prospect of the Aston Martin Valkyrie and the Toyota hypercar hitting the track, hopefully encouraging others into the new format. AM then pulled the plug, and Toyota's fabulous looking car has turned into another LMP1 template. Since then, my interest has plummeted, sadly. I'm sure Ferrari getting involved will create some headlines, but the template is still wrong, I think. If the governing bodies want to forego the 'road-inspired' cars, then this...

virgilio said:
ducnick said:
bring back group C type rules. here is your limited amount of fuel/energy. do whatever you want with it to do as many laps as possible in 24 hrs
this. I totally agree (and cannot understand why FIA is so fixated with complex and technology stifling rules)
... is surely the best option. Throw in some additional requirements (two seats, whatever) and give the designers free reign. That would keep the series relevant for the new environmental technologies coming through and we are back to most reliable/fastest car winning - the original idea for the LM24hr.
I just don't understand this way of thinking I'm afraid. LMP1 cars have long been 'Hypercars' albeit without the title for a long time now, they're race cars designed to do one job whereby the way they look is largely dictated by the most efficient form of aerodynamics. Road cars have been steadily gravitating toward the shape of LMP1's for some time as that's the current peak of the industry's understanding of how to make a car fast.

What's the point of having race cars inspired by road cars which themselves were inspired by the race cars of five years ago? Do that and you end up with a format which no longer provides any inspiration to modern car design or development of technology, therefore is of little interest to manufacturers who aren't exactly in the business of standing still.

As for the point of 'do what you want with X amount of energy', this is pretty much what LMP1 was. If that's what you like, then I suggest watching the 2016 season WEC races on YouTube, they're all on there in full, they're great.

Personally, I think the LMP1 cars, Toyota's new GR010 and the new Glickenhaus all look fabulous and are amazing pieces of design and technology but frankly, if we're looking at the possibility of seeing races at Le Mans with a top class consisting of cars well into double figures from Porsche, Toyota, Audi, Ferrari, Glickenhaus and Peugeot, I'll be far too busy enjoying the racing to worry about those who moan they don't look like a car from the 80's.

Heck, ByKolles might even be there, that'd be something.

350Matt

3,740 posts

280 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
Trouble is they potentially had a great set of rules with the 1st draft of the hypercar regs where it was quite the free for all

however they've since changed to cap the power to 500Kw ( 671 Bhp) and thats including any hybrid effort and a fuel flow limit besides
this effectively knobbled the Valkyerie so AM withdrew the entry

for shame I say

let them race



MG CHRIS

9,091 posts

168 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
350Matt said:
Trouble is they potentially had a great set of rules with the 1st draft of the hypercar regs where it was quite the free for all

however they've since changed to cap the power to 500Kw ( 671 Bhp) and thats including any hybrid effort and a fuel flow limit besides
this effectively knobbled the Valkyerie so AM withdrew the entry

for shame I say

let them race
Aston left because of f1 nothing to do with hobbling the valkyerie in fact it was aston making a big fuss about advantaging road based cars over race designed cars which caused a delay with the regs then pulled out. If you look at the original rule set the biggest failure was calling it hyper car it was never going to end up with cars you can buy on the road. Even the rendering looking nothing like any road car you could buy.

As for people saying we need group c back we pretty much had that with lmp1 hybrid look how that turned out. Manufactures kill motorsport with a rule set with no restrictions it ends up with a spending war then teams leaving as the cost is way too high. Rule sets like gt3/tcr etc have proved hugely successful in fact I would go as far as saying manufactures should sell the cars for private teams to run and just have a factory backed private team. Porsche did it in group c and with the likes of the k3 911.

smilo996

2,813 posts

171 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
Gecko1978 said:
I think the reason is in this class you can build a car that will win think Peugeot and Audi etc, enter a SF90 and it gets beat by a 911 it damages the brand. I think with aston who had success win or loose it was more about being at the race for the brand. For Ferrari they will want podiums
911's being thrashed seems not to have dampened the enthusiasm for them.

Every day a journey

1,644 posts

39 months

Thursday 25th February 2021
quotequote all
MDL111 said:
fblm said:
Rumour has it that when the Scuderia heard their new WEC Hypercar had to be as fast as their F1 car they decided to enter a Fiat Doblo van.
My first thought when reading the headline was “can’t win in F1, so we might as well try something else ...”
Better than Honda's attitude of 'We're not winning everything so we're pulling out' (F1, motorbike racing, Powerboat racing etc etc). Then 'WE'RE BACK'.......then withdraw and so the cycle continues...

rampageturke

2,622 posts

163 months

Friday 26th February 2021
quotequote all
350Matt said:
Trouble is they potentially had a great set of rules with the 1st draft of the hypercar regs where it was quite the free for all

however they've since changed to cap the power to 500Kw ( 671 Bhp) and thats including any hybrid effort and a fuel flow limit besides
this effectively knobbled the Valkyerie so AM withdrew the entry

for shame I say

let them race
AM is being stubborn all on its own and probably sulking in the corner now with more manufacturers announcing their entry.

This is going to be a good era of racing.