Hypercar regs

[Barry]

...….Apologies for such scepticism so early in the week

Does this mean Toyota win again and again?

I think hypercar is a dead duck.
Peugeot will go LMDh, it's a lot cheaper, if they go down that route I think Toyota will follow or pull out completely.
I can't see Toyota doing another season as the only viable entry in a class, they have had to take a lot of negative comments on the chin already in LMP1 and won't want to be seen to be avoiding the competition.
And they know as we all do any BOP will favour Peugeot!
IMHO the whole thing is a farce so that the ACO can save face instead of adopting DPI in the first place, which they should have done.
As Nick holland has pointed out LMDh is DPI 2.0.

[enzo]

Daddy stroll doesn't understand most Aston buyers would prefer a link to an LMP/gte car than a branded car getting a 10th place finish in F1. At least his son wont have any fear of losing his F1 seat and the likes of Hulkenberg cant get a drive !!

[Truck]

…….And they know as we all do any BOP will favour Peugeot!

Surely not 

Yes. its been a farce for ages and BoP adjustments aren't the cure as Aston saw last year, and Hypercar was too "adventurous".  That leaves LMDP, which is a super LMP2, which was probably the right idea to start with.  Toadying up to major manufacturers hasn't worked in the past either, - they just don't have the enthusiasm, or if they do there's no cash, So LMP1 has been pretty poor for years, but they've made it limp on, as Hypercar could.

Rant over

[championaudi]

*Daddy stroll doesn't understand most Aston buyers would prefer a link to an LMP/gte car than a branded car getting a 10th place finish in F1. At least his son wont have any fear of losing his F1 seat and the likes of Hulkenberg cant get a drive !! *

" rant alert!"

Since the early 90's Ive been a sportscar fan & was excited to see Aston return to sportscar racing in 2005, a fan through good times & bad, with the odd baseball cap /polo shirt bought to show my support .
Whist I could understand / tolerate their short term presence in current F1 (IPO etc) I never felt any interest / passion for their involvement ,especially with their association with the Thailand energy drink.
Stroll's money was needed but to wrap Aston future around Formula one is a mistake ,as it was said above , its buyers are clever people & must be cringing at its projected new future

[Scirocco]

So where does LMP2 fit in? Will there only be LMDh and hypercars or will there be another class?

[Lorry]

So where does LMP2 fit in?....

There is a new generation LMP2, using the same chassis as the LMDh cars, which may be a bit hypercarish.

Now the current Daytona prototypes were only just faster than a LMP2, so the LMP2s were restricted in the US.  These new categories are going to be close, although the LMDh cars will have more power and KERS, but not the 1000 bhp of the Hypercars, so seem to fit in-between.

I've been moaning about this for ages, as LMP2 was very successful, in terms of numbers, so they had to change it to restore chaos.

As everything is being delayed, I think that some of this is still up in the air, but someone will know

[lofty]

Although tigh t racing I thought lmp2 a onemake series.all the same engines sucks.no innovation just seems to be against the act idea.different engines blasting past at night at least helps guess the car.

[Lorry]

You've got a point, but P2/C2 didn't used to be like that.

LMP2 had become popular with the privateers, whilst LMP1 faded.  Only the rules limited the engine and chassis, but I suppose they limited the cost too

[Werner]

LMP2 – I still remember the time when the teams could built their own chassis and put whatever engine they liked in the back, e.g. a Mazda, AER, Judd, Zytek and others. I did media work for an LMP2 -team in those days and noticed that costs had started to skyrocket because of that freedom. And reliability was very low – I still remember the 2007 Le Mans when they even didn’t have enough teams to fill the podium after the race – only 2 LMP2 teams were classified.

This got a lot better when they introduced the cost capped chassis in 2011 and a few years later the Gibson engine, which is also cost-capped. Of course, I miss the variety of open- and closed LMP2-prototypes which we had until 2010, but the racing, the competition has become a lot better nowadays and because of the cost cap more teams can afford to race in this class. And these cars are quick – in 2019 the LMP2 did lap times of around 3:25 – which was a good time for an LMP1 not so long ago.

Currently the plan for 2021 for LMP2 is to reduce the output of the Gibson engine by 40 hp and introduce a standard tyre supplier for this class – all of this to make sure that there is a  performance gap compared to the new Hypercar/LMDh class.

[Barry]

When the phrase 'race of attrition' really was true.
LMP675 was fun though, loved it when MG were scaring the sh*t out of Audi in 2002, until they blew their engines!

[Werner]

When the phrase 'race of attrition' really was true.
LMP675 was fun though, loved it when MG were scaring the sh*t out of Audi in 2002, until they blew their engines!

Oh, I loved the MG too - because of a much lower car weight they were able to compete against LMP900 cars, well, at least as long as they lasted. That changed unfortunately completely with the introduction of the LMP1/LMP2 rules in 2005.