Le Mans Mulsanne - better with or without chicane

[Welshbeef]

Watched a few laps of the old circuit and really the long straight section is pretty boring the new setup IMHO is far better.


I wonder IF the track reverted back what top speeds would the LMP1's etc hit?
Currently isn't it 220-230mph in between each chicane.

[ZX10R NIN]

I agree in this case the new circuit is a bit better as it presents a couple more opportunities of an overtake as you can grab a few feet back on the brakes to maybe grab a bit more slipstream, on the flipside the long straight would be more of a bonus for the LMP2/GT as they would make more of the long straight & the tow but they'd be horrible through the twisties as they'd be running so skinny on the wings, with the LMP1's they'd use up all their charge long before they got to the end.

[CraigyMc]

Welshbeef said:

I wonder IF the track reverted back what top speeds would the LMP1's etc hit?
Currently isn't it 220-230mph in between each chicane.

This year the LMP1s were slower in a straight line drag than the LMP2s because of aerodynamics. The LMP2s were hitting 341km/h (211mph) and the LMP1s a few mph behind that.

In 1971, at the kink at the end of the mulsanne, the 917s were hitting 225mph.

The fastest trap at Le Mans was just over 400km/h (252mph) but that was not a realistic attempt at race victory - it was a hero run by a car with very little cooling (everything taped up to cut drag for straight line performance).

The fastest that a race winner has gone down the mulsanne was likely a Sauber C9 in quali for the 1989 race - they actually hit 251mph and that's why the FIA banned straights over 2km long. They put the chicanes in after that event.

[Welshbeef]

Sauber C9's lovely cars.

Today it would have to be a very difficult strategy choice higher top speed or slower in the bends.

[CraigyMc]

Welshbeef said:

Sauber C9's lovely cars.

Today it would have to be a very difficult strategy choice higher top speed or slower in the bends.

It's not a choice really - cornering speed trumps all, downforce is king, that's why the LPM1s have such faster laptimes than the LPM2s.

[Dapster]

CraigyMc said:

The fastest trap at Le Mans was just over 400km/h (252mph) but that was not a realistic attempt at race victory - it was a hero run by a car with very little cooling (everything taped up to cut drag for straight line performance).

Wikimaditupia said:

In 1988, Team WM Peugeot knew they had no chance of winning the 24-hour endurance race, but they also knew that their Welter Racing designed car had very good aerodynamics.

Roger Dorchy and Claude Haldi would be the drivers of car 51. Car 51 went into the pits around 17:00 in the afternoon with engine problems. After spending 3,5 hours in the pits, the team had the car back on the track and they decided to go for it. With Roger Dorchy behind the wheel the WM P87 achieved the speed of 407 km/h (253.0 mph). The Peugeot retired shortly after that.

Give a 2km straight and say 2 years of uninhibited development, the technical might of Toyota and Porsche would probably see the LMP's closing in on fantastic speeds, say 270 - 280, but at that speed if a tyre let's go, then it's a dental records job for driver, marshals, and possibly crowd too. Also there'll be 100 mph speed differential with the GT cars and that's an unmanageable risk.

[Crafty_]

As someone mentioned, at the end of the current straight the LMP1s are affected massively by drag, if you try and increase speed that drag will only get substantially worse, so its going to be very hard work to make it go significantly faster.

in addition I wonder if they would run out of battery power on a 2k straight ? Possible not, provided it was fully charged and wasn't used anywhere else on the lap, which would kill the lap time.

Sure, you can develop a car for higher top speed, but then it isn't an LMP1, its just some derivative of one.

F1 this year has a similar aero issue on the straights, because of the bigger frntal area on the cars they cause much more drag. In Canada on the way to the grid there was a headwind on one straight and Carlos Sainz said he couldn't even get it in to top gear because of the strength of the wind ushing against the car.

[Tit For Tat]

The old Mulsanne was part of what made Le Mans iconic, the chicanes are vandalism of the worst kind.

[FourWheelDrift]

Tit For Tat said:

The old Mulsanne was part of what made Le Mans iconic, the chicanes are vandalism of the worst kind.

It really isn't.

[CraigyMc]

Crafty_ said:

As someone mentioned, at the end of the current straight the LMP1s are affected massively by drag, if you try and increase speed that drag will only get substantially worse, so its going to be very hard work to make it go significantly faster.

in addition I wonder if they would run out of battery power on a 2k straight ? Possible not, provided it was fully charged and wasn't used anywhere else on the lap, which would kill the lap time.

The LMP1s already lift and coast into corners to fill their batteries for the exit of the corners.
They don't run electric power all the way down the straights, just on the entries and exits of the corners (it's audible on several of the cars, because it sounds like a mechanical wailing, then it quickly disappears once the emotor isn't charging or isn't driving the thing any more).

It's very very notable on this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edwv-2SwWdM have a listen. Particularly at top speed, there's just internal combustion engine noise

[Welshbeef]

Tit For Tat said:

The old Mulsanne was part of what made Le Mans iconic, the chicanes are vandalism of the worst kind.

I was too young/never watched sports car racing until years later so I've literally only seen a lap with the old circuit on YouTube. Honestly the straight was boring. The new setup whilst previously I thought bigger max speed would be more entertaining it simply isn't.

As fun as 300mph top speed would be as others mentioned closing speeds of 100mph or a blow out make it unviable.


However a blowout even at 70mph is lethal let alone v max of current vehicles