ACO to slow diesel

[ds240]

Read on BBC news that ACO are thinking of taking steps to slow the performance of the diesel cars down for next years race.

I don't think this will be a bad thing. Let them keep their fuel economy advantage, but take away their power advantage allowances would seem fair.


---------------------
www.lemans24.piczo.com

[simon138]

dailysportscar.com had an article on this morning saying that they are thinking of limiting the diametre or the refueling hose to 33mm in stead of 38mm. apparently diesel flows slower than the normal stuff so this will efectively slow the diesels down by taking longer to fill the tank (i think).

also worth mentioning that the penske porsche spiders are faster than the r10's in practice at the utah ALMS. i do hope they are at LM next year to kick audi/peugeot in the teeth.

si.

Edited by simon138 on Friday 14th July 11:10

[Saabyfox]

I thought the steps were to limit the size of the fuel tanks rather than slow them filling them up ?
LMP1 cars had 90 litres of fuel ?
Surely if you dropped this to 70 litres, they would have several pit stops extra in the race, evening things out perhaps ?

[20vt_mk2dub]

a damn good move if they do it as that would make for a much better and more even playing field...

the pescarolo's had to lap 1.4sec quicker than the R10's to be able to win and that sort of thing just isnt possible and made for a little of a boring race.

Well done ACO if they do this

[sleep envy]

any chance they can make them a bit louder too?

[White_van_man]

im all up for a nice even race but the ACO just cant stand seeing their golden boys (pescarolo) loosing it will be interesting to see how they restrict the LMP2 porsches next year to make sure they dont beat them!!

Edited by White_van_man on Friday 14th July 16:14

[DavidT]

Shame on the ACO but they have form, let's face it.

We talk about Henri's team being petit but they looked pretty solid to me.

A fantastic achievement by Audi, regardless of how much they spent.

Rule changes are inevitable but would you bet against the Pesca's being powered by Peugeot soot chuckers next year ?

[warmfuzzies]

So again Audi suffer whilst racing within the rules.
Surely for gods sake its up to the others to catch up???? and yes I do understand their budget is enormous....

Oh, noise levels are due to be cut to IIRC 113? or 115dB for 07/08, and aircon to boot for enclosed cabins...
Why don't they just leave it alone.

kevin

[ds240]

I don't think it is so much Audi being cheated on... they had a different set of rules and allowences to work on. Allowing them greater peformance. They did well to make sure they had that performance, but they either need to allow faster petrol or slow the diesel. Remember they made the rules for diesel with no reference point in terms of racing cars to base it on.

I don't think they should take away fuel tank size. The one technology advantage that is fair to have if you build a diesel engine is the fuel economy. They should look to reduce the power, that would be a better solution. Then it is up to the petrol engined teams to find the extra economy or power.

[AlexS]

warmfuzzies said:

So again Audi suffer whilst racing within the rules.
Surely for gods sake its up to the others to catch up???? and yes I do understand their budget is enormous....

Oh, noise levels are due to be cut to IIRC 113? or 115dB for 07/08, and aircon to boot for enclosed cabins...
Why don't they just leave it alone.

kevin

Audi have done well to maximise things under the existing rules, but the rules are also meant to give equivalency between the petrol and diesel cars running in the same class. Currently the Audi has both a power advantage and an economy one. I don't think anyone really knows how fast the Audi can actually go either. The drivers were talking about changing up at 4000rpm, yet the engine actually revs to 5000 or so, plus they appeared to be coming in early for their pitstops.

[warmfuzzies]

Ok, question time, does the VE (Volumetric efficiency) of a diesel differ from a petrol?

Kevin.

[AlexS]

Not sure how the valve timing (which affects VE) on diesels compares to petrols, though pumping losses are certainly lower due to the lack of throttle restriction.

For the Lemans series the engines are limited by restrictor plates (limits maximum power) and boost limitations (keeps a cap on midrange torque). Currently the restrictor sizing allows the diesels to generate more power.

[DavidT]

AlexS said:

warmfuzzies said:

So again Audi suffer whilst racing within the rules.
Surely for gods sake its up to the others to catch up???? and yes I do understand their budget is enormous....

Oh, noise levels are due to be cut to IIRC 113? or 115dB for 07/08, and aircon to boot for enclosed cabins...
Why don't they just leave it alone.

kevin

Audi have done well to maximise things under the existing rules, but the rules are also meant to give equivalency between the petrol and diesel cars running in the same class. Currently the Audi has both a power advantage and an economy one. I don't think anyone really knows how fast the Audi can actually go either. The drivers were talking about changing up at 4000rpm, yet the engine actually revs to 5000 or so, plus they appeared to be coming in early for their pitstops.

I think you're right about the early pit stops and early upshifting. The race was won at a canter, maybe the R10 has 400 lap pace ?

Either way, the R10 is a good step on from the R8, even leaving the engine aside and I wonder what will challenge it with the rules as they are. Peugeot must be wondering what to do with their diesel challenge.