Porsche continues to struggle with the new RSR. Over the last year and then again tonight, just don’t seem to be finding any lucky breaks. The Fords are nuts fast. Must be something in the rules that are giving them too much of an advantage. Anyone else trying to watch some of the Daytona 24?

 

Watching it as much as I can. Porsche is definitely having growing pains with their mid-engine 911 and my hypothesis is that they are having a bit of issue 1) adapting to the mid-engine design in terms of suspension design, etc., 2) cooling the engine given that they have gone to a central radiator in the front, 3) aerodynamics of trying to get the front and rear balanced in a car whose shape is inherently not aerodynamic. My guess is that they will bounce back with some BoP adjustment and dogged German attitude.

As for the Ford's I have to say that they design, construction, etc. is much more aligned to the LMP1, DPi class than a true GTLM class. But that is subject to debate as all the cars in GTLM try to get away with as many loopholes as they can.

 

They should go turbo like rest, I love the variety of all the makes, but wish was at least competitive

 

They got spanked in GTD too.

Yeah the ford gt looks like it a good 5 tenths on the pace of the vette, which was 5 tenths faster than the 911.

 

I tuned in last nite just as the Audi was being parked at the pit lane exit to serve a so called Nuclear penalty for a refuel rig that was allowing to much flow.that IMSA had given them to use in this very race. After seeing this farce play out for 5 mil I never watched again.
Meantime Wayne Taylor team was having their 3 R rear flat tire.
When I want stupid rules being played out I watch F1 racing.

 

 

Well, I know the tire chief for the 5 and the 31 car (P1 and P2), 60+ sets and NO tire failures...

How you deal with "stupid rules" is what wins you the race...

 

Big time. They'll get it going... Daytona is the outlier.

 

Watching it with my own two eyes I saw the fords just disappear on the banking. One example was a ford came out of the pits behind a Porsche that was on track and the ford caught and passed and gained a 4 second lead on the Porsche in 1 1/2 laps. And it wasn't just a driver or a ford it was all of them and both of them. They drove passed the Ferrari like it was standings still. Ford also had a faster fueling rig I understand. As I watched and looked at lap times etc the fords were consistently .5 to 1 seconds faster than everyone else. On every lap I checked. Once they came out of the infield it was game over.

 

Went to the race. As I sat there watching, I was thinking the same thing. The Ford GTs and Corvettes seem to be so much faster. And, looking at the onboard live video - the Porsche's had so much drama - like there were driving at 11/10ths while GTs and Vettes were running nearly perfect laps as if they were driving at 9/10ths.

It must be humbling for the Porsche brass. This is a glory time for racing. And, Ford and GM are kicking butt. Time for Porsche to do what it takes to make it happen. They need a SERIOUS lobby to get the BOP corrected.

 

+997

CONGRATS To Cadillac

 

 

The death penalty for the Audi... what else can you expect from the same family that owns NASCAR. Pure crap, if Audi was smart enough to figure out how to fill the car faster good for them. Cars should have a class & displacement limit and the rest is up to them. BOP = BS.

 

Torque. Unless the RSR's were mic'ed up differently than in previous years, it sounded like they were turning at least 500 more revs at redline. If IMSA is going to try and balance the cars according to what their strengths would be under "unrestricted" rules, the Porsche is going to suffer from a lack of grunt. Not HP, torque. The Vettes are 5.5L, the Ferrari is a turbo, the Ford is a turbo, and the BMW is a turbo. If the BOP were perfect, they would be able to account for this, but it's not a perfect science so by having access to torque, you have another bullet in your gun that can keep you competitive if they botch the balancing. I saw an RSR battling the 67 Ford and coming on to the banking I couldn't believe how the Ford had closed. I figured the Ford would sail by but it never did. The RSR stayed in front, but the gap was smaller after it came on to the banking. This is the argument for a turbo engine, which Porsche shunned because 1) they considered it to be too complicated and heavy and 2) because they explicitly said IMSA and WEC were going to get better at balancing (this comment was made after the 2016 Le Mans 24 where Ford and Ferrari ran away after sandbagging).

This brings me to my next point where I can't help being a conspiracy theorist. Gannassi was the grand marshal, he's got 199 wins (and wouldn't a crown jewel race be a nice 200th), he has a history of being able to negotiate the BOP in IMSA better than his competitors (see the Lexus and BMW-powered prototype days), and Ford received BOTH a larger fuel tank and air restrictor before the race. To best illustrate the point, Ford retuned their engines prior to the the 2016 Le Mans to lower the IAT which gave them a boatload more power. They apparently had no idea how to keep temperatures in check prior to Le Mans, and oddly enough, the IAT's were something that the BOP didn't keep an eye on until after the race........ Either IMSA is really ****ing bad at their job or they were okay with giving a little more leeway to Ford during this particular race and figured "we can always go back and adjust later".