I own a ford now so, interested in LeMans this weekend, this is horseshit.

[SpaceGhost]

Didn't see anyone posting "Ford GT LOL" this week as they qualified 1,2,4,5....

 

Anyway since that happened, the governing body did this:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a29589/last-minute-le-mans-rule-changes-make-ford-gts-slower-corvettes-faster/

 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160617/5e63e6800c50353d589c62ef95f70ab3.jpg

 

Last Minute Le Mans Rule Changes Make Ford GTs Slower, Corvettes Faster

 

The undeniable speed advantage enjoyed by the turbocharged Ford and Ferrari GTE-Pro cars in practice and qualifying has been met with significant Balance of Performance changes just over 24 hours before the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

 

The pole-winning Ford GTs, which qualified 1-2-4-5 in the 14-car class, have received an extra five kilos (11 pounds) of ballast, moving the four cars up to 1248 kgs (2751 lbs), but that's only a token change. The big pre-race adjustment is the removal of boost pressure throughout the twin-turbo V6's rev range from 4200-7000 rpms. Only the Ford's peak 7100 rpm range was left untouched.

 

 

For their part, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing seems to be taking the changes in stride.

 

"What we do as a race team is we race the race and try to minimize the things that can stop you from being at the front at the end," said Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull. "You win on racecraft, take what's given to you, and the faster you accept that, the faster you can push yourself to find the best strategy

 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160617/474534c78e7e22d1777d611b5b097a3f.jpg

Although Hull's outlook might not be shared within every corner of the combined FCGR, Ford, and Multimatic factory Le Mans program, the ace race strategist will use all 24 hours to overcome whatever performance reductions are shown on the stopwatch.

 

"What I like about what's happened with the [boP change] is it's a compliment to what's Ford's done and the team's done and the sanctioning body's done," he said. "They try to make it fair. You have to accept what you're given. It's the most carnivorous class of racing. The race will demonstrate who has the best racecraft."

 

On the Ferrari side, its new twin-turbo V8 488 was met with the opposite treatment as its boost was left alone in favor of reducing its pace through bolting an extra 25 kilos (55 pounds) to the three Prancing horses that qualified P3-5-6. The 488s also received and extra four liters of fuel capacity.

 

The slower non-turbos from Aston Martin, Corvette, and Porsche also had BoP changes made, and most were in the name of improving their pace.

 

Aston's V8 Vantages will breathe easier thanks to a further 0.4 mm opening of its air restrictors, which will increase power and torque. The Corvette C7.Rs received a 0.3 mm air restrictor break, but the team only has restrictors in hand that would allow a 0.2 mm break.

 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160617/7c3bdc95ccc9b54e113a67457c15009c.jpg

"It's a move in the right direction," said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. "The [0.3 mm] is enough of an improvement that we need to find a solution because we only have restrictors that will get us [0.2 mm]."

 

The C7.Rs were also given an additional seven liters of fuel capacity. The Porsche 911 RSRs did not receive weight or air restrictor changes, but now have eight liters of new fuel capacity.

 

Altogether, the changes to the Ferraris and Fords should make for an intense fight among GTE-Pro cars throughout Saturday and Sunday in La Sarthe as the changes should reduce the sizable 3.7-second gap that separated turbos from non-turbos.

 

Edited June 17, 2016 by Benjamin

[Gergwheel1647545492]

I am always a pro Chevy guy, and this seems like udder bullshit to me!! no boosties!!!

[RyM3rC]

They removed SOME boost, not boost entirely, right?

 

Racing politics LOL

[xlr8tn]

I know this is how all racing works but it's never made sense to me. What happened to "run what ya brung"? Isn't the point of racing to see who is fastest?

[AudiOn19s]

Balance of Performance adjustments are nothing new in these series. Anytime you're dealing with multiple platforms you're going to have to make adjustments from time to time. In my opinion they are going to give the new guy the benefit of the doubt until they prove that they are too fast and then they will make changes. The data that the organizers are capturing helps tell them the whole story on who's got the advantage over who.

 

Heck if you remember at Daytona this year there were multiple penalties given out after the race and BoP adjustments also made when they figured out people were sandbagging most of the race and when it was time to go they could suddenly turn out laps that were 2-3 seconds quicker than they had run the whole weekend.

[Dammit Charlie]

I know this is how all racing works but it's never made sense to me. What happened to "run what ya brung"? Isn't the point of racing to see who is fastest?

 

Agreed, spend millions if not billions in to development and have some jackass come along and throw lead in the car. BS.

[AudiOn19s]

Agreed, spend millions if not billions in to development and have some jackass come along and throw lead in the car. BS.

 

If you'd like to do that go race in F1. Since very few teams can afford to do that they go production car racing instead where the spirit of the rules are to make multiple platforms competitive with each other.

 

Otherwise these would all be spec series races where everyone is in an identical car. I like the brand variety that is seen in these series I think it makes them more fun.

 

Corvette is in the same boat here. The engines in the corvette in this series are smaller than the street car engines and make less power...I think the race cars are 100hp down on a completely stock street Z06

[Geeto67]

The data that the organizers are capturing helps tell them the whole story on who's got the advantage over who.

 

What is the data they are capturing and how do they generally make the decision to add weight vs restrict the intake and etc....

 

I have always wondered why they didn't just work of power to weight ratio. dyno the car, weigh it, and then adjust weight until they are all carrying the same ratio. This way the "driving characteristics" of each car remain largely unchanged.

[Dammit Charlie]

What is the data they are capturing and how do they generally make the decision to add weight vs restrict the intake and etc....

 

I have always wondered why they didn't just work of power to weight ratio. dyno the car, weigh it, and then adjust weight until they are all carrying the same ratio. This way the "driving characteristics" of each car remain largely unchanged.

 

If the powerbands were equivalent among all cars, that would work.

[AudiOn19s]

What is the data they are capturing and how do they generally make the decision to add weight vs restrict the intake and etc....

 

I have always wondered why they didn't just work of power to weight ratio. dyno the car, weigh it, and then adjust weight until they are all carrying the same ratio. This way the "driving characteristics" of each car remain largely unchanged.

 

NASA does it that way...the issue is there's still way to many ways to cheat the system.

 

FIA and other organizations are looking at all the live data that the teams are also looking at and looking for anomalies. GPS mph is simple but telling stat...you magically gain 3mph one lap and it's confirmed you weren't in a draft and there wasn't any weird environmental factor they know you're possibly holding back the rest of the time. They're even monitoring boost pressure. I think it was one of the caddy's in the world challenge series that was recently penalized for over-boost in a race. It was actually from hitting the rev limiter but the organizer stuck to their guns and said rules are rules, figure out how to not make it over-boost in that situation.

 

Big brother is watching in racing these days. IDK how they make decisions on cutting boost vs. limiting RPM's vs. different size air restrictions but I'm sure there's some magical formula that they have.

[Mowgli1647545497]

What the OP didn't post was the previous round of BoP adjustments done days back where the Corvettes were nerfed to slow them down to the lap times of the Fords and Ferraris.

 

...who, it turned out, where sandbagging during the BoP runs. And so, this round of further BoP adjustments.

 

Its all one big poker game combined with Kabuki Theatre sprinkled with a dash of racing.

[Mowgli1647545497]

And here's the link to one of those earlier articles:

 

Corvette's Magnussen accuses Ford of sandbagging to gain performance

http://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/corvettes-magnussen-accuses-ford-of-sandbagging-to-gain-performance-782033/

 

Pretty soon we'll have team captains taking fake dives in the pit lanes ala Premiere League Soccer.

[Dr. Apex]

Well that sucks, hopefully Ford can still pull out a good finish though!

 

Wasn't Toyota caught cheating with turbos/boost and shit back in the day with their Celica's I think it was? Might have been their rally cars I think, cars kept passing tech but had some trick intake box or something that gave them a ton more boost or something.

[Doc1647545523]

Well that sucks, hopefully Ford can still pull out a good finish though!

 

Wasn't Toyota caught cheating with turbos/boost and shit back in the day with their Celica's I think it was? Might have been their rally cars I think, cars kept passing tech but had some trick intake box or something that gave them a ton more boost or something.

 

Yep, that was during the 1995 World Rally Championship season. They got a 1 year ban for using illegal turbo restrictors on their ST205 Celica GT-Four WRC (not that you're ever going to see one of those anywhere).

[Dr. Apex]

Yep, that was during the 1995 World Rally Championship season. They got a 1 year ban for using illegal turbo restrictors on their ST205 Celica GT-Four WRC (not that you're ever going to see one of those anywhere).

 

Nope, those are unicorns!! I thought it was around then, couldn't remember for sure, thanks! Weren't they getting quite a bit more boost out of those things? Something like 100hp more?

[wagner]

What the OP didn't post was the previous round of BoP adjustments done days back where the Corvettes were nerfed to slow them down to the lap times of the Fords and Ferraris.

 

...who, it turned out, where sandbagging during the BoP runs. And so, this round of further BoP adjustments.

 

Its all one big poker game combined with Kabuki Theatre sprinkled with a dash of racing.

 

Rule one of race fight club: Never shake a tail feather and show your hand, its how you win the lead trophy or other "adjustment".