GP2 Forum

Well, I don't know the car but I really like it

Welcome back HF. Cadillac entered this car in (I think) 1999-2001 but it wasn't successful. A real shame as it was a really pretty car! They redesigned it for 2002 and it became a bit of an Audi R8 clone, but it wasn't very pretty or successful and the team was disbanded.

Wow, yesterday I visited the LMS race at the Nürburgring! It was very impressive to see the cars racing. Also the atmosphere was great, the autograph-session was a nice part of the day and I was able to talk with some drivers.

The #35 Saulnier Pescarolo LMP2 was probably the loudest car I've ever seen (heard). But the Embassys and the other Pescarolos sounded also very raw. The best enginge-sound of the LMP cars was the one of the RS Spyders (didn't expect that, because the good old Porsche 962 has a very unspectacular engine-noise). The GT1 Corvette with it's V8 (6994ccm) sounded fantastic, too.

I also made some photos, but nothing too spectacular... I hope that gives me new motivation for the LMS carset (which is still a lot of work).

I watched some of the race on TV (the whole race was shown live over here in the UK) and that Lola-Aston still looks stunning. Bit of a dull race to watch on TV really as the Peugeots waltzed away with it but it's always good to see such a diverse field of cars. It was also good to see the reappearance of WR after they failed to make it to Le Mans this year. For those who don't know, WR are kind of like the Minardi of the sports prototype world, so I love 'em!

The Welter is a nice car with interesting aerodynamics and sadly it's also the absolute slowest prototype in the field. I had the impression, that it even hold up some of the GT1 cars...

The Lavaggi prototype is the second classic backmarker in the grid. Except the Diesel powered cars the Lavaggi and the WR were the calmest cars, btw. But the Lavaggi was faster then I expected, sometimes it battled with some LMP2 cars and once with a LMP1 Zytek.

Well you have to expect the Lavaggi to be slow, Giovanni Lavaggi used to drive for Minardi and Pacific in F1! I believe he made his F1 debut as a mere youngster at the age of 37...

RML switched from an open to a closed prototype! It will be already used in the next LMS race. Very cool!

I'm hoping to go along to Silverstone for next week's LMS race there. Should be fun!

I really like these closed prototypes that keep popping up recently. A little bit like the Group C-era days...

What a desaster for Peugeot! Car Number 7 is out of the race!!!!!!! If Prémat/Rockefeller finish, with at least 3 points, they will be champions!

I didn't make it to the race

Judging from what I've read on Autosport.com it sounds like I'm missing a cracker! The finish is live on TV over here in the UK so I'll be watching that. The first Peugeot accident sounds nasty, yet another LM car getting airborne. Bit worrying, that.

I read yesterday that the Le Mans organisers are pegging back the performance of the diesels for 2009, and also reducing the size of the rear wing. I like the current breed of prototypes but the amount of airborne accidents this season shows that maybe they're getting a bit too fast. Hopefully there'll be a slightly more competitive series and 24 Heures du Mans next year.

Regarding the backflips, there's an older article at the Mulsanne's Corner website that goes into some detail analyzing the backflips of the Mercedes at the 1999 Le Mans races... from reading that, I guess the cars potential to get airborne in certain situations is a more complex aerodynamical problem rather than just an issue of speed.

That for sure is an unexpected turn in the title race, with Peugeot losing a lot of time and positions in the race with both cars...

By the way, Peugeot announced and presented they will be entering a 908 Hybrid car in some capacity next year (although apparently, the ACO has made it clear hybrid cars won't be making any points in 2009).

True about the aero AD, to me the major problem appears to be that these cars have to have flat bottoms. That's fair enough in a single seater, but in a sports car there's a much bigger area on the bottom of the car so when too much air gets under it (or if it gets under there too fast) it becomes unstable. And as speeds increase the instability increases too, till you reach a point where it starts to increase exponentially. That's why there have been so many airborne accidents this year, so a speed cut will help but the real root of the problem lies with the aero rules.

Maybe they should opt for a stepped bottom, just like in F1, it's common since '94 (unfortunately because of tragic reasons).
Or do they want to wait untill something really terrible happens in LMS as well, before they change it.

Well they've had this problem for nearly ten years and stepped bottoms, ground effect and things have all been suggested but for some reason none have been implemented. Even after the death of Michele Alboreto in testing a few years ago (2000 I think) when the tyre punctured and air got under the car nothing was really done. I guess the main concerns are cost and grid sizes, this branch of the sport relies on a large number of independent runners and they can't all afford to go and build or buy new chassis if their current cars are declared obsolete, especially as sportscar racing is on a bit of a resurgence at the moment and the organisers probably are worried about losing that momentum.