http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/17/le-mans-organizers-target-diesels-with-new-rules/
zomg they are too fast.. and noone can compete.. I know.. lets punish those with superior technology.. thats a great idea.
on another note.. how successful have rules in motorsports, used to reduce the cost of racing, and raise lap times been successful?
I recently heard, rumors on the internets, that the current crop of rally cars are about as fast as the "killer B's" used to be. hmm. too fast to race my foot. (though 4wd and handling systems have finally caught up to powah)
Aren't the advantages of the diesels due to the rules being modified to allow them to be competitive? I may be wrong, but I got the impression that the rule makers were trying to kick start a highly visible "Green" technology by writing rules that favored ticket sales and TV viewership over rule equality and fairness. It seems the rules were a little too favorable to the diesels or the diesel guys just didn't need as much help as they were given and are winning a disproportionate number of races. IF I am right about anything I said, slightly modifying the rules to level the playing field isn't a bad idea in terms of fairness. That said, I wouldn't mind them keeping rules that encourage as many manufacturers as possible to research getting the most out of diesel technology.
Right- the problem isn't that diesels were too fast, but the rules made all of the alternatives too slow. Jeez- LeMans has been a one team show for years, until the P cars started to show up buring oil, too.
Not everybody thinks that diesel is the answer.
Audi had a gas direct injection motor that won twice- but that's not even competetive with the current rules. If you want to promote "tech" you can't make the rules favor one over the rest.
Gas DI, energy recovery, alcohol, and various other technologies would like to compete, but what's the point when the diesels have the advantage?
E-
Sportscar racing is looking gloomy no matter how you look at it right now. They are pointing their fingers directly at the E36 M3taay ecnonomy.
The same thing happened in motocross, the rules were written way back when to allow a 500 4 stroke to compete against 250 two strokes. Yamaha took advantage of that in 1997 to build the first YZ400 and had a big jump on the rest of the mfgs. when the new emissions regs went into effect. Of course the rest of the mfgs started squealing about the rules being written too long ago they shouldn't be valid now with different technology yada yada yada ad nauseam.
It's the old 'make me fast/make him slow' race rule thing that's been going on since the dawn of time.
Jensenman wrote:
It's the old 'make me fast/make him slow' race rule thing that's been going on since the dawn of time.
that is exactly how I view it.
YaNi
New Reader
9/17/08 12:10 p.m.
Are diesel's going to go the way of the rotary in LeMans Endurance Racing?
I hope they don't screw things up. ALMS is the only series I'm interested in watching.
Yeah, Mazda showed up with the 787B and whooped ass. Next thing ya know: 'make me fast/make him slow'.
Or even further back: the 'illegal' driving lights on the Minis.
Hey, when's that CERN supercollider due to be cranked up again? Maybe it will go 'boom', then the whole LeMans thing will move to a country where the organizers might not be so likely to graunch the rules. Like, say, Mexico.
The French bend the rules to allow French teams a better chance at winning, and yet they still can't beat das u-boaters.
