Silverstone

The rules have been changed once again. The TDI's fuel capacity has been cut even further.

http://fourtitude.com/news/motorspo...-preview-audi-begins-new-era-world-champions/

This will be... interesting... to watch.

Everyone's starting out with new cars, even if Audi's still calling this thing an R18. That said, Audi and Toyota do have a drivetrain head start, at least.

Sunday at 7am, right?

El Dobro said:

Sunday at 7am, right?

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Right!

Practice and qualifying results:

http://www.fiawec.com/races/6-hours-of-silverstone/results-and-chrono.html

Looks like this is going to be interesting, given the new rules which seem to be slanted in favor of the gassers.

Looks like you pay if you want to see the race this year.

#1 Audi crashed, made it back to the pits, and then retired. (Audi just confirmed on Twitter that it was a damaged monocoque - Radio Le Mans was speculating that it might be an outside assistance issue, but it wasn't.)

#2 Audi in trouble, Radio Le Mans mentioned brake balance issues. Off pace, and the car went off into the gravel after one lock-up.

Wow, Audi's really having some tough luck.

And they're now officially retired, although they certainly tried to get back, but when both front suspensions are destroyed, not gonna happen.

Both Toyotas (which are leading), one Porsche (the other having retired after losing a wheel), one Rebellion (the other having retired after gearbox failure) left in P1.

There is no joy in Mudville... but it will be an interesting season.

Next stop Spa on May 3rd.

Silverstone and Spa were both warmups for Le Mans. It is too soon to write off the Audis this year.

TornadoRed said:

Silverstone and Spa were both warmups for Le Mans. It is too soon to write off the Audis this year.

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Yes, you are right. I was @Spa.
But it was very clear that the Porsches and the Toyota's were substantial faster than the Audi's. Only Porsche did not last. The Toyota's at the other hand...

RedInk said:

Yes, you are right. I was @Spa.
But it was very clear that the Porsches and the Toyota's were substantial faster than the Audi's. Only Porsche did not last. The Toyota's at the other hand...

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Substantially faster? Wasn't the difference about 0.5-0.7 seconds per lap? Don't you think maybe the Audis were not showing all they were capable of?

Silverstone & Spa

TornadoRed said:

Substantially faster? Wasn't the difference about 0.5-0.7 seconds per lap? Don't you think maybe the Audis were not showing all they were capable of?

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At the begining of the race - lets say the first 3 hours or so - the differents/lap was sometimes 3 s and more. Maybe this could be related to traffic, but at the same moment, the Porsches were really raging! Even Toyota was not able to keep up with the Porsches.
Both Audi's had to pit early. One due to a punctured tyre and the second one because there were some problems with electronics.
I saw to the end of the race indeed 0,5 - 0,7 s/lap, but this could be because Toyota took it a bit easier.
In their official statement, The Belgian Audiclub wrote <translated from Dutch>:".... Due to a lack of top speed Audi could not at any time claim the victory, leaving the trio Duval-Kristensen-Di Grassi at the second place at 1'13" of the winners..."
I think we will only find an answer to our questions when the results of the 24 hours are known.

I was listening to Radio Le Mans, and they were talking about a 20 km/h deficit on the straights, due to a power deficit. However, the two Audis that were running a high downforce configuration were making it up in the slow sectors due to better grip.

The regulations are slanted in favor of the gassers and that has put a choke hold on Audi. IMO, anyway.

On to Le Mans.

My understanding was that it was more, Audi designed their car towards a draft of the regulations, regarding fuel flow allowances for the various size hybrid systems, and then the ACO changed it to encourage larger hybrid systems. Audi was left flat-footed with a too-small hybrid system (they have a 2 MJ system, whereas Porsche and Toyota both have 6 MJ systems).

Mind you, Porsche does have one issue that they told Radio Le Mans about. Their hybrid system uses a LiIon battery, which cannot charge to full capacity on the track, and suffers capacity degradation through the race, and they said that it would be a factor at Spa. Le Mans is four times the duration!