When are Porsche getting back to racing at Le Mans

[timmo]

With Porsche owning 25% of Audi and Audi owning Bentley and Lamborghini
will we ever see Porsche doing what they do best ?

They are more profitable than they have ever been so why dont they get a car ready for LMP1 ?
Peugeot did it in 9 months !
or are they just filled with bean counters in Stuttgart ?

tim

[hog 1]

Diesel's rule, so you may well ask the question, "what chance of seeing a biodiesel engine in the next Cayenne then"?
Oh, and Porsche have also denied funding research on GTL [gas to liquids engine], so you know what that means!

[cheburator]

timmo said:

With Porsche owning 25% of Audi and Audi owning Bentley and Lamborghini
will we ever see Porsche doing what they do best ?

They are more profitable than they have ever been so why dont they get a car ready for LMP1 ?
Peugeot did it in 9 months !
or are they just filled with bean counters in Stuttgart ?

tim

I agree... Surely there has never been a better time for them to return to what they do best - produce race winning machinery? Then again, Porsche racing was at its best when the company was on the verge of bancruptcy

[kayc]

cheburator said:

timmo said:

With Porsche owning 25% of Audi and Audi owning Bentley and Lamborghini
will we ever see Porsche doing what they do best ?

They are more profitable than they have ever been so why dont they get a car ready for LMP1 ?
Peugeot did it in 9 months !
or are they just filled with bean counters in Stuttgart ?

tim

I agree... Surely there has never been a better time for them to return to what they do best - produce race winning machinery? Then again, Porsche racing was at its best when the company was on the verge of bancruptcy

If it doent make money Porsche wont do it..i think thats been made fairly obvious in the last few years..the pursuit of perfection just to enhance the 'brand'is economically not worth it "we wont sell anymore cars because we win le-mans " say the acants.

[runnersp]

IMHO they didn't take the RS Spyder to LeMans because the LMP2 regulations are far more restrictive than they are in the US where the Spyder gives the the antichrist oil burners a run for their money... I think Porsche will get back into it when the ACO stops favouring diseasels... So not anytime soon then...

[Crimp a Length]

Porkers are finished at Le Mans.
Diesels rule now in this stupid tree hugging nanny society we live in i'm afraid, and Stuttgart have already made it clear they are not venturing down this route..................?

[DanH]

Still, they won LMP2 again didn't they? Although they seem to do well from reliability rather than outright pace which is a shame!

[anonymous-user]

Crimp a Length said:

Porkers are finished at Le Mans.

no. no reason why at all. 115 octane ethanol blend bring it on! where there's a will theres a way. unfortunately theres no will...

[andy tims]

DanH said:

Still, they won LMP2 again didn't they?

Not at Le Mans Dan.

They are too tight to fund a factory entered RS Spyder.

This year there were only 4 997's in GT2 all privately entered & one did win it's class.

Whether Porsche would sell more cars if they won Le Mans (or even the LMP2 class) is a good question. Don't they sell too many already? A huge number of threads on here complain about the detrimental effects of increased production volumes.

I'd love them to enter Le Mans prototype racing again, but they just don't seem to need to. Maybe if the R8 road car starts claiming some of the 911's market share they might actually be motivated into action.

[PolarExpress]

I don't think Porsche have a great deal to prove at LM.

Everyone knows that if they seriously entered LM on a level playing field, they could (and would) wipe the floor in all classes.

That said, I really do hope the RS Spyders make an appearance at LM2008... perhaps/most likely by Team Penske.

[DanH]

andy tims said:

DanH said:

Still, they won LMP2 again didn't they?

Not at Le Mans Dan.

They are too tight to fund a factory entered RS Spyder.

This year there were only 4 997's in GT2 all privately entered & one did win it's class.

Whether Porsche would sell more cars if they won Le Mans (or even the LMP2 class) is a good question. Don't they sell too many already? A huge number of threads on here complain about the detrimental effects of increased production volumes.

I'd love them to enter Le Mans prototype racing again, but they just don't seem to need to. Maybe if the R8 road car starts claiming some of the 911's market share they might actually be motivated into action.

Sorry I meant GT2 lol. I was still wrong though!

Definitely too much complacency from Porsche though. The market is changing and competition has arrived.

[DanH]

PolarExpress said:

I don't think Porsche have a great deal to prove at LM.

Everyone knows that if they seriously entered LM on a level playing field, they could (and would) wipe the floor in all classes.

That said, I really do hope the RS Spyders make an appearance at LM2008... perhaps/most likely by Team Penske.

That's like saying lotus have nothing to prove having won F1 30 years ago. People forget pretty quickly. I don't see a Lotus and think of the racing heritage - I think oh its another Elise with a chavvy loud exhaust

[PolarExpress]

DanH said:

PolarExpress said:

I don't think Porsche have a great deal to prove at LM.

Everyone knows that if they seriously entered LM on a level playing field, they could (and would) wipe the floor in all classes.

That said, I really do hope the RS Spyders make an appearance at LM2008... perhaps/most likely by Team Penske.

That's like saying lotus have nothing to prove having won F1 30 years ago. People forget pretty quickly. I don't see a Lotus and think of the racing heritage - I think oh its another Elise with a chavvy loud exhaust

Did you just forget that they came 1st and 3rd at this year's LM in the GT2 class? Or that they won the GT2 class quite a few times over the past couple of years? Ok, so their last GT1 class win was 1998, but I think they had a fairly dominant run throughout the 70s and 80s... Porsche have been slightly more consistent/dominant than Lotus were. As a company, Porsche are also slightly more robust than Lotus ever were (or hope to be for that matter) which can only help their motorsport aspirations in terms of funding/backing.

[Sean Edwards]

Porsche have no interest in making a Diesel. They did not allow any private teams to enter the RS Spyder at Le Mans this year because it is not reliable enough yet.

Our GT2 car is quick, but still not as quick as the Ferrari's, but I am confident that in the Spa 24 hours the Porsche's reliability will get us a win, just like at Le Mans. Porsche are working hard with all of us to develop the 997 RSR to be able to compete on outright pace with the 430.

There will be Spyder’s at Le Mans next year for sure, hopefully with me in one

www.seanedwards.eu

[PolarExpress]

Sean Edwards said:

Porsche have no interest in making a Diesel. They did not allow any private teams to enter the RS Spyder at Le Mans this year because it is not reliable enough yet.

Our GT2 car is quick, but still not as quick as the Ferrari's, but I am confident that in the Spa 24 hours the Porsche's reliability will get us a win, just like at Le Mans. Porsche are working hard with all of us to develop the 997 RSR to be able to compete on outright pace with the 430.

There will be Spyder’s at Le Mans next year for sure, hopefully with me in one

www.seanedwards.eu

Good luck Sean, I'll be at LM08 for sure to watch the Spyders. The mechanical competition wasn't quite as feirce but the RSR made a good showing at the Ring24, and it'll be interesting to see how/what Manthey/Porsche learned from last year at the Spa24hrs translates into the 2008 season.

[nbetts]

Porsche AG official line on racing at Le Mans as a factory team is that they will not compete or enter into the Le Mans 24hour race whilst the rules permit diesels to race.

Open/Closed case.

[kayc]

nbetts said:

Porsche AG official line on racing at Le Mans as a factory team is that they will not compete or enter into the Le Mans 24hour race whilst the rules permit diesels to race.

Open/Closed case.

Why?

[ATG]

Why jeopardise the current strength of the brand by risking turning up at Le Mans with a factory team and then losing?

[nbetts]

kayc said:

nbetts said:

Porsche AG official line on racing at Le Mans as a factory team is that they will not compete or enter into the Le Mans 24hour race whilst the rules permit diesels to race.

Open/Closed case.

Why?

Not a level playing field. Porsche will not make a diesel car. Not my words, Porsche AG.

The organisers of the 24 hour race at Le Mans this year put a 10% less fuel capacity on the diesels this year in order to attract some of the big names that have moved away since the diesel introduction.

[kennyboy]

nbetts said:

Porsche AG official line on racing at Le Mans as a factory team is that they will not compete or enter into the Le Mans 24hour race whilst the rules permit diesels to race.

Open/Closed case.

Seeing the diesel procession at Le Mans this year I don't think it will be long before something is done to level the playing field again.

Perhaps the diesels do have a place but from what I saw LMP1 wasn't competitive: turbo diesels vs the rest.

I can't believe a diesel engine could have a better power to weight ratio than a petrol with equivalent £'s invested AND with equal induction i.e. forced.