I think they might quietly phase out the low drag/downforce configuration... According to Ben Bowlby in the latest Race Tech magazine:-wesley123 wrote:The aero isn't "better", it is lower drag.joseff wrote:I think they'll be fine come quali. 500+hp and 2MJ is what Audi had last year.
And the aero has to be better, that's the whole point of the design.
I can't find a very good picture... but this one from Dailysportscar looks like it has a twin-element rear wing to me....?Ben Bowlby wrote:The rear wing run will only be a single element
But if you carry less speed throw corners is more ineffective acceleration- All is balancing act. Maybe their figures for Satre will work enough i little uncertain here...wesley123 wrote:I'm certainly interested in the tire wear they'll have. Not only are cornering + braking forces applied through the front tires, but also power.
I guess it will reduce the wear on the rears, but I doubt it would be good for the front tires.
As for car design, I'm not so certain if they'll change their design drastically. the FWD layout does really seem to favor the low-drag design with the big tunnels, but I'm not certain it would work high-downforce wise. The engine seriously limits splitter area, and that is exactly where they'd need the downforce due to the change in balance.
It'll be interesting to see how they fare in the race, and how it fares next year. With the rear ERS I'm certain the low-drag design would be the way to go for them. I don't think they'll ever be fastest over a single lap, but less fuel consumption would mean less time in the pits, and that is a good position to make up time.
Isn't that what I said?wesley123 wrote:I'm certainly interested in the tire wear they'll have. Not only are cornering + braking forces applied through the front tires, but also power.
machin wrote:...having all the motive power and most of the braking forces through the front wheels...
My own experiences tell me low drag and its effects on fuel consumption on a racecar are overrated. On a road car where you are forced to drive at a steady speed most of the time by speed limits then low drag does follow through to lower fuel consumption.. but on a racecar fuel consumption is dominated by the engine power, efficiency and time spent at full throttle (i.e. fuel being used to accelerate the car, not just overcome the steady-state drag forces). Couple that with the fact that (at Le Mans in particular) in order to gain something from low fuel consumption you need to save a whole laps' worth of fuel to really make any difference to a race (i.e. try to save one or more pit stops over the race duration).I don't think they'll ever be fastest over a single lap, but less fuel consumption would mean less time in the pits, and that is a good position to make up time.
http://www.gran-turismo.com/gb/news/00_4439755.htmlRound 4 (Final Round) of the GT Academy 2015 online event is now available within the PlayStation®3-exclusive title "Gran Turismo 6". This is the Final Qualification Round. The participants of this round can obtain the Nissan GT-R LM NISMO in the game for free by completing a lap regardless of the lap time...
Weren't the Audi's doing 4 stints per tyre set last year? The fact is that the total contact area on the GTR's is much lower than the total contact area on a Toyota/Porsche/Audi (the fronts are the same size, and the rears are much smaller), so regardless of the weight distribution and power deployment (FWD vs RWD vs 4WD) their tyres are going to be more heavily loaded overall... heavily biasing the loads one way or the other (forwards in the GTRLM's case) can only make the situation worse.joseff wrote:https://youtu.be/fw_2N3tGMEg
They're expecting 3 stints out of the front tyres, 6-10 out of the rears.
Audi have done 5 stints on a set before.machin wrote:Weren't the Audi's doing 4 stints per tyre set last year? The fact is that the total contact area on the GTR's is much lower than the total contact area on a Toyota/Porsche/Audi (the fronts are the same size, and the rears are much smaller), so regardless of the weight distribution and power deployment (FWD vs RWD vs 4WD) their tyres are going to be more heavily loaded overall... heavily biasing the loads one way or the other (forwards in the GTRLM's case) can only make the situation worse.joseff wrote:https://youtu.be/fw_2N3tGMEg
They're expecting 3 stints out of the front tyres, 6-10 out of the rears.
In short: I don't see them having a tyre longevity advantage -quite the opposite.
Chief engineer believes they can do 3 stints on the fronts and between 6-10 stints on the rears.machin wrote:Actual race pace will be interesting; having all the motive power and most of the braking forces through the front wheels surely can't help their tyre longevity... something the other teams have been working hard to improve.... 4WD will allow them to address that issue....