Shock News #2: Porsche Withdraw From WEC and Le Mans for 2018

[protonv5]

.

 

[protonv5]

Haha. So dumb. Another site I'll have to part with. Oh well. Enjoy that free electricity.

 

[edzio]

Internal combustion, boys. Accept no substitutes.

 

[Frietpan]

Hmm are they preparing for f1?

 

[Jim Layee]

The infernal combustion engine is dead , what you seen now is just the death throws of a redundant technology

 

[Akra]

The infernal combustion engine is dead , what you seen now is just the death throws of a redundant technology

Not quite there yet, but certainly within our life time it will be redundant technology for the general public. But a sport does not need to based on current technology, as sailing and horse riding have shown us. Motorsport can stick to the ICE if it wants to, it just needs to accept not being road relevant - just like how sailing is not relevant to international shipping.

 

[Jim Layee]

Not quite there yet, but certainly within our life time it will be redundant technology for the general public. But a sport does not need to based on current technology, as sailing and horse riding have shown us. Motorsport can stick to the ICE if it wants to, it just needs to accept not being road relevant - just like how sailing is not relevant to international shipping.

It could do , think how many millions watch live steam rallies on world wide tv / internet.

 

[Brandon Wright]

But energy is free! I have a wind turbine! It only cost me $4.55 and was made out of recycled badgers.

But the birds man. Think of the birds!

 

[Jonas Bögemann]

This is a catastrophe, but also shows us one thing: We need to make racing, racing again. Not excitsting as the playground of companies and cheap entertainment business (especially F1 with their push to "improve the 'show'")!
I expect the next months to be very hard, but if the right and motivated people, racers, get together, we might see something new again. Something pure and in the spirit of the sport again!

 

[BoogerMac]

People need to get over it. The world is based on profits and the top level motorsports aren't generating that. F1 used to lead the way in innovation, but with aerodynamics and combustion engines dying out, its not anymore. The only reason Gene Haas started a team is because he wanted to take his brand global. Instead of trying to "work into markets", he shoved it in Europe's faces by plastering it all over two cars in their favorite motorsport (genius marketing move btw). Give it a few more years, they'll be gone too. If not, they would be trying to develop their own engines, chassis, etc. within the next year or two (highly unlikely).

Formula E now fills the automotive innovation void and soon, Electric GT (Tesla backed) will as well. If Tesla's new pet project catches on with companies like Formula E has, say goodbye to WEC as a whole and most GT-series racing around the world.

So if you want grass roots racing, you better learn to love dirt track racing or Formula Trucks (both of which I absolutely LOVE by the way) because they will never "sell out".

Get out your pitchforks!

EDIT: Forgot to mention, this is something North American motorsports are combating effectively by keeping cost way down in comparison. IMSA will become one of the biggest motorsport bodies in the world at this pace.

 

[Dave R]

I fail to see how BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes making an entrance into Formula E will do anything but drive the series forward in technology. I'm saddened it came at expense of losing the Mercedes DTM and the Porsche LMP team, but I am excited at the prospect of three of the best forces in racing pushing the other competitors to their limits and making this a series worth watching.

 

[wombat999]

Somewhat OT but count the number of Solar panels on our home, we are 90% 'off the grid'.
TESLA battery 'power bank' installation next on the agenda.

 

[protonv5]

Somewhat OT but count the number of Solar panels on our home, we are 90% 'off the grid'.
TESLA battery 'power bank' installation next on the agenda.

View attachment 204100

Wow, that truly is absurd. And a waste of money.
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2009/sep/18/dirty-detail-solar-panels-need-water/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/high-tech-solar-projects-fail-to-deliver-1434138485
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckj...mpanies-continue-to-go-bankrupt/#eda19f45c50f

Definitely the future.

 

[protonv5]

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/05/3...oses-the-wynne-mcguinty-green-energy-disaster

Just search for windmill scams. They're rampant around the world. The whole idea is a scam. Just read the article. They can't produce enough usable energy. Gee, what a surprise.

The whole Electric/Green/Renewable energy thing is a scam.

 

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I still think we all need to reconsider using the power technology of Urville, France. Sadly noone yet has answered to this and rejected my proposal.
Are we all living in Urville then?

 

[Andrew Harper]

They do allow them. But not as factory entries like they are in IMSA, because they are only eligible for LMP1-L, which is a privateer class.

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/beaumesnil-no-mountain-to-climb-for-dpis-in-lmp1-privateer/

Hiya, sorry I was at work last night so I didn't get chance to answer. Interesting article and thanks for the link it answers the mystery that I had previously read about.

What I was referring to was a great 10 page article in Racecar Engineering about the creation of the Mazda RT24-P DPi (Feb/Mar 2017).

When the ACO learnt about the creation of the LMP2 based DPi class (early 2016) they increased the minimum weight limit of the LMP2's to allow the DPi's to race at Le Mans (as the DPi's are a fair bit heavier). Whether that would have been in the LMP2 category (which would be odd as the ACO want LMP2 to be customer only) or in their own category as IMSA/DPi for example the article doesn't say.

Then all of a sudden the ACO changed their mind (in June 2016) and this is where your great article comes into play. The ACO are saying "yes you can run your cars at Le Mans" but to do so you need to change the car to European WEC specification, which means losing the DPi bodywork and also changing the cars technically to such a point it would be expensive to do but also probably make the cars uncompetitive.

They also want them to run in LMP1 Privateer, which is also a bit of a two finger salute because you and I know that they are a LMP2 chassis underneath (albeit a heavily developed one).

I think that's a shame, maybe the ACO were almost a bit jealous of the success of the DPi platform and decided to make it tough for a DPi car to be competitive (knowing what the ACO can be like it wouldn't surprise me). I would prefer the cars to run in their own category (DPi, IMSA class maybe) rather than go head to head with an existing class.

When I first went to Le Mans in '93 I think there were about a dozen classes racing (including IMSA type classes) bring those back and just allow the DPi cars to race there without all the politics

 

[Akra]

Can the mods maybe split this thread? Stick it into OT. Maybe call it "protonv5 quits the forum and doesn't understand basic engineering principles" or something. It's ruining a WEC thread.

 

[protonv5]

Can the mods maybe split this thread? Stick it into OT. Maybe call it "protonv5 quits the forum and doesn't understand basic engineering principles" or something. It's ruining a WEC thread.

Actually I think a better title would be "AKRA goes all in with Renewables despite proof that it is not sustainable and wastes billions"

 

[Akra]

Actually I think a better title would be "AKRA goes all in with Renewables despite proof that it is not sustainable and wastes billions"

"Akra works in the industry and studies the topic. And knows you can't bottle electricity in 1 litre bottles" would be a better one.

Again, this is a WEC thread. I suggest if you want to tell us how awful windmills are, and why you can't send power to a power station, use another thread. I'll happily contribute to that one too if you want.

 

[protonv5]

"Akra works in the industry and studies the topic. And knows you can't bottle electricity in 1 litre bottles" would be a better one.

Again, this is a WEC thread. I suggest if you want to tell us how awful windmills are, and why you can't send power to a power station, use another thread. I'll happily contribute to that one too if you want.

Either way is fine with me. Still haven't heard you answer to the fact that it's not sustainable and the fact that what I'm saying correct. But it's ok. Keep pointing out the liter of electricity thing since that's all you have left. Oh, forgot to mention: I have a good friend in the Aerospace industry. He's a janitor for NASA. But we're all glad you're in the energy industry.