cor123

Corvette Pegged Back in Post-Le Mans Test BoP Changes
By John Dagys
Updated: June 10, 2017

The Corvette C7.R has been slowed ahead of the start of official on-track activity for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the FIA confirming Friday Balance of Performance changes in the wake of last weekend’s Le Mans Test Day.

The GTE-Pro class Corvettes, which paced the test day, will start Free Practice on Wednesday with a 0.2 mm smaller air restrictor, which roughly equates to a five to ten horsepower decrease.

It is the only notable change to the BoP in the class, with the weight and power configurations from the Ford GT, Porsche 911 RSR, Ferrari 488 GTE and Aston Martin Vantage remaining unchanged.

Fuel capacities, however, have been adjusted for all GTE-Pro cars, in order to equalize refueling times and stint lengths at 35 seconds and 14 laps, respectively.

As a result, both the Ferrari and Aston Martin gain 3 liters, with 2-liter increases for the Corvette and Ford and 1 liter of additional capacity for Porsche.

Fuel capacity adjustments have also been made in GTE-Am for the 2016-spec Ferrari and Aston Martin, which both receive 4 additional liters.

However, the GTE-Am class Ferrari also gains a 0.03 increase in turbo boost pressures, across all power levels.

As was the case last year, the FIA reserves the right to make additional BoP changes at any time during race week, in the run-up to the next weekend’s race.

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/c...mans-test-bop/

sunsalem

I gotta wonder if Corvette Racing should sandbag a little more on Test Day.
IIRC, last year they led on Test Day too.
Unfortunately, the BoP adjustments took them right out of the race.
It was very fncking irritating...to say the least.

Lavender

Look at the lowlife creeps over at Fraud:

Ford Performance Global Director Dave Pericak admitted he’s “concerned” about the current GTE-Pro Balance of Performance for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, after all four Ford GTs did not set representative times in Sunday’s Le Mans Test Day.

“Overall I’m concerned about the BoP, looking at last year’s race, and how it played out and how competitive it was.”

Huh?

Ask Porsche Corvette and Aston Martin to get a specific answer as to how competitive that BoP was exactly.

I can't believe those lowlife rats have the guts to come out and say that in public....

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/p...s-at-test-day/

sunsalem

Hey, why not?
It worked for them last year!

The 2016 race was a joke.
Politics determined the outcome.
I think the organizers this year are mindful of what happened and won't repeat the same mistakes (I hope).

rasacrystal08

Yeah, and those GT's are just rolling off the production line now aren't they? Year and a half of racing and the CEO of Ford boasts at Daytona that he got his, Vin#1!! What happened to the rule that you had to produce 100 production cars before being allowed to enter?? Yeah, we all know what happened. $$

BrianCunningham

https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/ne...t-pace-918125/

sunsalem

Don't get me started.

Ol' Chip is at it again.

'Shifter

If the race is as obviously crooked as last year, it'll be my last LeMans...

sunsalem

I want to be optimistic...

5thGear

It's amazing that Ford was not stripped of the win last year for sandbagging and cheating the system. In the spirit of racing, competitiors accepted to have them in the race although they didn't meet the requirement for number of cars sold and they in return cheated and screwed everyone.

Corvette got the short end of the stick with power restriction. The power and pace should be decided based on the season not the week before the race.

sunsalem

I couldn't agree more.

It was a sad display of sportsmanship by Ganassi and not something common in Endurance Racing.
(Gee, I wonder why we Americans are sooooo respected around the world these days?)


FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN LE MANS:

Last night I watched an excellent, must-see NEW documentary about the race.
It's called Le Mans: Racing is Everything
Available now from Amazon for streaming.


It gives a bit of history of the race, but is primarily a behind-the-scenes look at the 2015 race.
VERY eye-opening and entertaining to boot.

The video is superb.
Shot with 4K cameras.
Available in UHD HDR, 1080p, etc.

I can't recommend this enough...a 3hr warmup for the race that will be hard to forget.

z28lt1

It will be closer than last year. How close remains to be seen. The fastest car last year (Frord) is slower this year. The second fastest (Ferrari) is the same. The slowest two (Corvette and Aston) from last year are faster this year. The Porsche is a new car, so who knows. So we know the race should be closer. What we don't know is if the 5 second a lap difference between the cars is now 4 or 1. My guess is somewhere in between.


This is all Le Mans specific. First off, the factory Corvette doesn't race in the WEC, so there is no "season" to go by. Secondly, Le Mans BoP is completely different than other tracks, due to the low downforce configuration and sustained time at top speed. That makes it difficult on the organizers as they have nothing but practice and qualifying (And previous years) to go by. Daytona helps a little because it is also a low downforce track.

So, I try to cut the organizers some slack because it is difficult, but I'm amazed they can't see what the public sees with regards to the level of sandbagging....

Foosh

As the old saying goes, "if you aren't cheating, you're not trying hard enough." This kinda stuff has been part of racing forever, and it's always been a cat and mouse game between racers and sanctioning bodies.

I'm amazed that people who seriously follow racing don't seem to understand that. Of course, rabid fans always cry foul when they perceive the competition isn't "playing fair." They never seem to see it the same way when the tables are turned.

The bottom line is every team is pushing the limits as far as they can to gain an advantage.

ferrmaro

We do understand that, but how can it be a game when the cat and mouse are in bed with each other? That's what people are upset about.

'Shifter

There's cheating, and then there is blatantly obvious cheating....

sunsalem

"Cheating" is different from pushing the edges of the regulations (IMO).
Racing teams are, usually, allowed to push to the edge of the regs, but not to overstep those limits.
When it does happen, there needs to be a strong sanctioning body to right the ship.

In F1, there is the FIA.
And believe me, they jump right on it to bring offenders (in their view) back in line.
Consequently, nearly every time they do step in it is for tech issues, not sportsmanship sins (cheating).
IMO, F1 is a very clean form of organized motor racing.
Of course, every now and then they do have their "problems," but it is pretty rare.
You can't have legitimate sport without rules being adhered to.

Exactly right.

Foosh

Uh, OK. If you believe that . . . never mind.

BTW, the sanctioning body for the 24 Hours of Le Mans is FIA.

sunsalem

The 24 Hours of Le Mans has been made part of the FIA WEC since 2012.
However, the FIA does NOT makes the regs/rules for Le Mans.
This is done by the ACO, as it has been done since the race's inception.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_of_Le_Mans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automo...b_de_l%27Ouest

Foosh

And so this French organization (ACO) now in charge since 2012, which is still associated with FIA is somehow "in bed with" Ford?

FIA has been associated with and the driver behind Le Mans for many decades as it was part of the World Sportscar Championship governed by FIA. It is now called the World Endurance Championship, which is organized by ACO, but it is still sanctioned by FIA. The ACO has no particular technical expertise to make the rules, and that must come from FIA w/ input from other sanctioning bodies.

FIA has long been accused of being "in bed with" Ferrari, but it's quite a stretch to come to the conclusion they're now colluding with Ford.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_...r_Championship

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIA_Wo...e_Championship

But, back to the accusations you and others are making here. What specifically is the nature of your allegation that FGT has overstepped the limits and is cheating? I'm not aware of a rule that says you have to go "all-out" in practice and qualifying, and I don't see any way to possibly enforce such a rule.

sunsalem

Huh?

"The ACO is responsible as a ruling body for race series, specifically sportscar series. The ACO has run or backed the following races or race series:
Current ---- 24 Hours of Le Mans"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automo...b_de_l%27Ouest

You're right, there isn't one that requires going "all-out in practice and qualifying."
However, the ACO has the power to post-race penalize any team that appears to have sand-bagged.
Because it was so blatant, there was a lot of surprise it didn't catch-out Ford last year.
This is when the accusations the ACO wanted a replay of the legendary Ford vs. Ferrari shootout of 50 years ago to play out again started.