World Endurance Championship 2015

[langwadt]

I'm surprised by all the positive comments. The same is true for so many other forums, endless praise for the WEC and F1 should take notice. Which does not make much sense to me. There are two problems about the F1 currently, I hear again and again:
- Engine being too small, making a dull noise;
- Overtaking, DRS is fake and otherwise there isn't much of it.

So how come the WEC is praised? The winning cars drive with smaller engines who make a worse noise than the V6 turbo's in F1. We don't even have to talk about overtaking, because there is none in WEC. On track excitement is very limited. All the action is in the pits/live timing etc.

All Im getting from this is that F1 is universally hated currently and people seem to grab every opportunity and race series to point that out. F1 needs an image overhaul more than anything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIAWz_VirDs

Thanks for that, I missed that one. But I'm sure you get the point I'm making. Anyways, I'm actually a big fan of WEC, its philosophy and attitude. I was just commenting on the general feelings towards WEC by the same people who burn down F1.

I know what you mean, most of the time the racing isn't that much different from F1 in that most passing is in the pits
but there seems to be more flat out driving, so it more like a time trial and the whole feel of the race more intense
with the added drama of watching all the near misses when they zigzag through slower cars

[Just_a_fan]

I was impressed by the fact that they were able to push for several hundred laps and there appeared to be no calls for saving brakes, tyres, fuel.

One thing that comes to mind when comparing F1 and WEC is the cost issue. We keep hearing that smaller teams can't compete in F1 because of the costs etc. Perhaps it's time to remove the rule that states that teams must build their own cars. Let teams run customer cars if they wish. Hell, let's have a parallel series of manufacturer and customer teams. That way the big guys with bigger budgets can be allowed to develop the technology with a slightly freer rule book. The customer teams still have something to race for and thus can attract sponsorship etc. It would grids with more cars, more racing and, importantly, the cars can be allowed to be "bad ass" again without risking financial meltdown for the bottom half of the grid.

It would be nice to see teams taking different routes with engines. If you want to run a smaller ICE with more ERS then why not? Bigger engine and smaller ERS? Fine, why not?

It would need the commercial rights holder to part with more prize money, of course, so I don't suppose there's a cat-in-Hell chance of it ever happening.

[Just_a_fan]

F1 vs LeMans?[...]
Not a fair comparison, it really is apples and oranges. But as a fan of F1 since the 1990's, I have to admit I felt jealous watching this version of LeMans..

Well said! A great summary of the comparative state of F1 and WEC at the moment.

No doubt Bernie will try to move the FIA to kill WEC if it gets too popular...

[langwadt]

F1 vs LeMans?[...]
Not a fair comparison, it really is apples and oranges. But as a fan of F1 since the 1990's, I have to admit I felt jealous watching this version of LeMans..

Well said! A great summary of the comparative state of F1 and WEC at the moment.

No doubt Bernie will try to move the FIA to kill WEC if it gets too popular...

I'm sure he would like to try, but he'll have a hard time killing Le Man because that is run by ACO
maybe that is the secret, ACO who has make a living on Le Man is also the makes the rulebook

[andartop]

https://youtu.be/LD4XfM2TZ2k

[enri_the_red]

Does anyone know where to get laptimes for all laps set during the Le Mans race?
I'm curious to know how Webber of Hulkenberg did compared to their team mates...

here you can find any timing info http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/

for your analysis I think you need:
- lap times http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/Result ... s_Race.PDF
- pit sequence (in order to check which driver was at the wheel at a given time) http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/Result ... s_Race.PDF

[Vettel Maggot]

I have to say I enjoyed watching at least 13 hours of that race.

How refreshing not to see Al Pacino or some other celeb eating salad and clearly not caring during a race. How fantastic to not hear anything about coast and brake, saving fuel, saving tyres and brakes. I loved the variety of technology and engines in the LMP1 class. During the race I found myself delving further and further into regulations, articles about how the cars work etc, it really caught my attention to the point where I had to force myself to go to bed at 3am because I had to be up early on Sunday. Welcome change from F1 where I am slowly losing the will to stay awake during races.

Well done WEC and Porsche =D>

[Cold Fussion]

Does anyone know where to get laptimes for all laps set during the Le Mans race?
I'm curious to know how Webber of Hulkenberg did compared to their team mates...

Webber was fairly slow compared to his team mates, Hulkenberg and his team mates may as well have been the same person.

[Sevach]

I'm surprised by all the positive comments. The same is true for so many other forums, endless praise for the WEC and F1 should take notice. Which does not make much sense to me. There are two problems about the F1 currently, I hear again and again:
- Engine being too small, making a dull noise;
- Overtaking, DRS is fake and otherwise there isn't much of it.

So how come the WEC is praised? The winning cars drive with smaller engines who make a worse noise than the V6 turbo's in F1. We don't even have to talk about overtaking, because there is none in WEC. On track excitement is very limited. All the action is in the pits/live timing etc.

All Im getting from this is that F1 is universally hated currently and people seem to grab every opportunity and race series to point that out. F1 needs an image overhaul more than anything.

2 things.

Different styles of racing, a 24h race isn't about overtaking, if a guy comes on behind you don't fight and risk a collision you let him through and wait, Lotterer was the fastest guy early on and made it past the 3 Porsches.

Freedom of the rules, both design and development, Porsche has a small engine, Toyota has a big one that sounds really cool, but this season their cars aren't up to scratch(Toyota had a dominant car last year), it's fair competition so no one is complaining.


Anyway, will this thing here make GT's more interesting 2016?

[Samraj_official]

F1 vs LeMans?
A 1h30min 'sprint' race where drivers are coasting the cars to save fuel and tires, lapping far off the qualifying pace compared to a 24h endurance race where the drivers were pushing throughout the night, lapping closer to qualifying pace.
The pinnacle of motorsports, where innovation is punished and the cars are so similar even hardcore fans would have trouble telling them apart were it not for the different liveries, compared to a 'lesser' formula, where there are vast differences in design among the top competitors and innovation is encouraged.
The 'greatest races on earth', which you can't watch live unless you pay, compared to a 'less interesting race' where all major competitors provide live in-car streams and timing free.
A 'sport' full of mudslinging, backstabbing and thrash-talking between the teams, compared to a 'sport' where major competitors were praising each other on live broadcast.
Last but not least, an 'intense' and fast race where at a worryingly increasing rate I happen to fall asleep halfway through, compared to a 'slow' endurance race which kept me awake and interested for 24h..

Not a fair comparison, it really is apples and oranges. But as a fan of F1 since the 1990's, I have to admit I felt jealous watching this version of LeMans..

100% True!!!! watching hulk and other drivers achieving incredible speeds in treacherous conditions in the dark was just something very special.......!!! Lemans is now turning out to be the real place of racing..it wasn't dull the pressure was immense . looking back at canadian gp made me feel sorry about the current rate of GRANDPRIX RACING!!!!!!!

[djos]

Webber was fairly slow compared to his team mates, Hulkenberg and his team mates may as well have been the same person.

How did the track conditions differ, did he consistently encounter more difficult traffic, what lap time targets where the drivers set, what strategies where in play at the time?

Unless you can answer those questions it's not fair to call one driver slow.

Btw, it was Hartley that got the #19 car the yellow flag penalty, Webber was just in the car when it was served. Prolly didn't have much impact on the race result.

[Just_a_fan]

F1 vs LeMans?[...]
Not a fair comparison, it really is apples and oranges. But as a fan of F1 since the 1990's, I have to admit I felt jealous watching this version of LeMans..

Well said! A great summary of the comparative state of F1 and WEC at the moment.

No doubt Bernie will try to move the FIA to kill WEC if it gets too popular...

I'm sure he would like to try, but he'll have a hard time killing Le Man because that is run by ACO
maybe that is the secret, ACO who has make a living on Le Man is also the makes the rulebook

WEC is a FIA sanctioned series. Le Mans is a stand alone race run by ACO.

[Cold Fussion]

Webber was fairly slow compared to his team mates, Hulkenberg and his team mates may as well have been the same person.

How did the track conditions differ, did he consistently encounter more difficult traffic, what lap time targets where the drivers set, what strategies where in play at the time?

Unless you can answer those questions it's not fair to call one driver slow.

Btw, it was Hartley that got the #19 car the yellow flag penalty, Webber was just in the car when it was served. Prolly didn't have much impact on the race result.

Track conditions and traffic are neither here or there. Timo was consistently the fastest guy in that car, while Hartley and Webber were similar ultimately i'm pretty sure Webber was slower over-all (if you discount Hartley's penalty).

[djos]

Maybe Timo thinks he had more to prove?

Anyway, you need to provide some proper stats and analysis if you want us to take your claim seriously.

[langwadt]

Well said! A great summary of the comparative state of F1 and WEC at the moment.

No doubt Bernie will try to move the FIA to kill WEC if it gets too popular...

I'm sure he would like to try, but he'll have a hard time killing Le Man because that is run by ACO
maybe that is the secret, ACO who has make a living on Le Man is also the makes the rulebook

WEC is a FIA sanctioned series. Le Mans is a stand alone race run by ACO.

I know, but the WEC follow the Le Man rules by ACO, the cars are called Le Man Prototypes and the race gets
you double points for the WEC, so the center point is ACO