FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[spankyham]

It is absolutely super racing in the GT pro class between the 458 and Vantage. Right now Senna is just ahead of Bruni, but it is down to less than a second gap!

[spankyham]

Wow, what a move by Bruni to get past Senna and put the 458 into the lead in class! This is awesome stuff.

.... and now Senna is all over Bruni and looks like re-taking the lead. Amazing to be racing this close after 18 hours and still there is a "normal" WEC race distance to go

[spankyham]

Super to see Marc Gene (Ferrari driver) doing such a great job in the outright lead Audi. Love it

[What's Burning?]

The GT classes never fail to entertain. I woke this morning to find a Porsche in the overall lead but it was a pie in the sky moment. Audi are just looking so strong and may have even seen a podium sweep were it not for the early unfortunate accident.

[spankyham]

Another truly great Le Mans! The GT racing was superb. The fuel tank size adjustments seemed to be spot on. The racing between the 458 and the Vette was riveting for most of the race. The effort from the Astons was also great.

Of course it is great, speaking as a Ferrari fan, to have a big win to celebrate, well done again by the AF Corse boys.

I was gutted for Webber, I so wanted to see him on the podium. But I thought it was a fitting result for Audi, given how well they planned and executed this race. I can't help but note that they did it with a "real green" engine option, i.e. diesel.


Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[spankyham]

[youtube]D77GyLavJig[/youtube]



Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[What's Burning?]

It may be that we saw the last of the diesel Audis. Very likely they'll show up with a gasoline engine next year.

[spankyham]

It may be that we saw the last of the diesel Audis. Very likely they'll show up with a gasoline engine next year.

I hope not, but I suspect that's true. Which IMO shows that racing and recent rule changes have nought to do with being green

[What's Burning?]

Diesel in not inherently more efficient than gasoline. It is simply different. It does sport more energy per gallon, but it also take up considerably more crude oil to make a gallon of diesel than it does to make a gallon of gasoline. Additionally, the clean diesel is clean when compared to old diesel technology but not when compared to new gasoline powered engines. I prefer diesel over hybrids because of the reduced complexity and additional requirement of batteries but it's no greener than an efficient gasoline engine.

In Europe diesel is cheaper because it's propped up to be so, it's taxed less. That's not the case stateside. There are pros and cons to all forms of petroleum based fuels and if we REALLY wanted cleaner, then we'd be using natural gas or making a concerted move to hydrogen powers. I think you fail to see the forest for the trees Spanky.

In the end what the new regulations do is the best way to spurt actual innovation, and it does away with what is a very limiting factor. Many people have called for the same in F1, just regulate the power going IN and let the technology advancements and ingenuity of engineers get the most out of that available power.

The ship has sailed on the old ways no matter how great those engines sounded. Believe me, no matter how great a Ferrari V12 sounded in an F1 car of yore, it paled in comparison to a Rolls Royce Merlin in a Spitfire. But we no longer us either.

[spankyham]

That's a really great post WB.

To clarify, my thoughts on diesel related only to greenness, not efficiency. Diesel can be immediately carbon neutral, so for me it is the logical direction. Therefore, if green was the fia goal they should stipulate bio fueled diesel engines. Of course that doesn't suit the production car industry because it doesn't shift energy income to them as hybrid does.

My uncle flew Spitfires in WW2, and I got up close and personal with them many times - albeit much later on. They have a distinct sound, that's true, but I actually most liked the V10s.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[What's Burning?]

Would it make you feel better if I said something derogatory about you?

I guess it's easy to confuse green from efficient and they are indeed very different unless specifically defined in the context. Solar panels are "green" but they aren't very efficient either so I understand your point. Ultimately we're probably best just looking for what's more efficient. I've actually heard (can't source) that diesel engines are considerably more difficult to produce and because of that, add to the manufacturing cost. Had we not seen the tax incentive for hybryd cars, they'd never have taken off. I think in the end we'd have all be best served by choosing one technology and running with that but now that the specs are open for racing if someone can make that leap and get to 14 laps, we'll see them go in that direction quickly.

Funny that your typical legacy race car would get 4~4.5 mpg.... even with ALL the advancements in the various ER systems, they're getting about 6 mpg. about a 1/3 better but it's still SIX MILES PER GALLON!

[spankyham]

[youtube]u6FL8V__ylM[/youtube]

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk