Ask a LMP and GT mechanic/engineer anything

[andybracing]

as the title says

[320d is all you need]

How do you repair some of the horrific crashes you have in what is effectively 20 minutes?

How are the cars designed and built in such a way to be so quick to swap parts on?

[andybracing]

as there have been some other ask racing people things, i thought i would start a thread if anyone is interested

[andybracing]

320d
alot of hard work, and yes we put alot of hard work into making them as quick to fix as poss, also alot of pre built parts, like if we have a part on one courner fail we just change the courner as a whole

[Rick101]

Best place to sleep on the job?

[andybracing]

sleep, whats that

[andybracing]

at leman or other 24 hr races its not uncomon to go 3 days without sleep

[andybracing]

will try to answer any questions

[surveyor]

June or September?

What difference does it make to the car, if any?

[andybracing]

alot to the set up and tyre compounds

[Rick101]

andybracing said:

sleep, whats that

[andybracing]

lightweights

[andybracing]

cheif bolty or enginere dont have that luxury, and thats what i tend to be

[CanoeSniffer]

• career questions*

What was your route to the gig?
What’s the lifestyle like?
What might one expect to earn spannering in high level motorsport?

I was set for a degree in motorsport engineering before getting the opportunity to take an engineering apprenticeship as a somewhat safer pathway, start my apprenticeship course to find the bloke I’m sat next to is retraining to find more prospects having not long since done his degree.. in motorsport engineering been scared off chasing the dream ever since.

[andybracing]

my route into m/sport well i kind of fell into it really
how much does it pay
that depends, if you work full time for a team then i would say about double that of a road car bolty, but if you freelance and gain a good reputation, so teams are always ringing you, then the skys the limit.

[isaldiri]

How major are the differences in setting up a lmp vs a gt car? The lmps have much more aero being lighter and having more df while the gt cars are relatively much heavier so aero performance won't be the be all end all I'd have thought.

And if I could, do you believe BoP in the gt cars actually is 'fairly' applied as it seems to quite conveniently favour whichever manufacturer in a particular year.... (Cough ford)....

[Red9zero]

How wierd was Le Mans last year with no spectators ? I have been for the 6 years previous to that and watching it on tv with empty grandstands was just surreal.

[Truckosaurus]

What is the most outrageous 'bodge' you've seen done to get a car back out on track?

[andybracing]

most outragous bodge ive ever seen was in if my memory serves me right in f3, may have been another, but a single seater anyway, the driver was about to win the championship as long as he finished the race, but he had a shunt and broke the top front wishbone a few laps from the end, he made it back to the pits, and the team didnt have a spare, so they found a big spanner and ty wraped and tank taped this spanner to the wishbone, told the driver to drive slowly. he wone the championship

[andybracing]

as to setting up lmp/gt, lmp are alot easyer and quicker to set up, as everything is easy to get to, gts tend to be a pain, but for both its just as important, as to changing the areo on lmp cars, there isnt a great deal you can do, i do remember once at leman we left the rear wing flap middle bolts loose, so at speed the wing would flatten, increasing the straightline speed, but in the slow bits the wing would return to where it should be and generate downforce.