These guys obviously didn’t see the same race we all saw at Barcelona if they are adjusting diesels based on that that race. Compared to the Kolles Audis, all the petrol cars looked they needed to be slowed down.

DK

Rather late for the ACO to be making regulation changes.

In 2011, turbodiesel engines will get even more engine displacement over turbo gasoline/ethanol engines. It is at 37.5 % right now (4.0 vs 5.5 liters) and will go to over 70 % in 2011 (2.0 vs 3.7 liters, plus no twin-turbos for gasoline engines in 2011).

That sure tightens things up at spa. The astons can pull an upset at spa, maybd even at lemans. If team Lnt enters a full professional linetp at spa the zytek can be in the running. The acuras would sure want a rematch by petit lemans

@rick
Engine displacement is not everything.
With the right regulations, engine caracteristics of petrol and diesel engines can be made more similar. For example, lower turbo pressures for diesel engines could force the manufacturers to develope higher revving diesel engines to achieve the wanted engine power (is that what the common market wants?).
The key to achieving equality between diesel end petrol engined cars is in the creation of engine regs that let diesel and petrol engines look much more similar in power, torque and fuel consumption (although there will always be differences between them). Whether the differences in engine capacities help or not, is something for the engineering specialists.

All I can say is…”Good luck, Kolles…”

They’ll not be happy!

Indeed, Kolles is now relegated to the back of the LMP1 grid

and indeed, this might be a motivator for Verstappen to get his drive on the petrol Pesca

Welcome to 2007 ACO!

Didn’t a petrol powered Aston Martin win overall in Spain? Thought so…

Were Audi and “The Lion” clearly faster than anybody else in Sebring? Thought so…

Never mind the new car blues experienced by both Acura teams at Sebring, they are not on the ultimate pace just yet. I found some of the comments coming out of St Pete kinda of funny too, Acura would be WAY behind if they wanted to go to Le Mans this season and you would see RADICAL changes to the car for 2010, which might happen anyway.

We’ll know MUCH more after Le Mans at Petit…

Now the ACO is trying to close up the field, when it didn’t need it actually. All the turbo cars are going to do is ask Honeywell to increase efficiency in the turbo system to get back say 10% reduction in power they got from the rules change.

ACO vs Cubic Dollars, we all know who wins that battle…

I think they are trying to avoid the issues with the new Audi R15 – by making a new rule to fit all….

Well all I can say is come on Aston…..

Let them Race!

Nonsense regulations that at the end only satisfies AUDI.

This could have been the biggest day for THE LION and best 24hr DU Mans race ever…ACO just destroyed it.

We must not forget that the diesel powered cars are also the cars of the big manufacturers.
So what speed does Diesel bring and what is the gain of the big factory budgets?

Maybe the smart thing to do for Audi and Peugeot is to supply their diesel engines to private teams and chassis builders to eliminate the diesel factor.

The kolles team is only slow because they dont have all the performance upgrades from audi. $$$$

we will see at the 1000km of Spa if it works, because i do want to see a battle between petrol vs diesel LMP1. but i heard on speed tv that one of Mclaren engineers is going to put of a sports car progrom that doesn’t launch until 2011

Kolles has never raced an Audi R10 before, let alone compete in the Le Mans Series. They have little support from Audi. They do have the 2009 Audi R15′s rear wing.

Again, Acura does not sell any cars in Europe. They will not compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France until they (Acura) start selling cars in Europe. It is rumored that HPD and Wirth Research have stopped development of the Acura ARX-02a. Intersport Racing is the only other full-time team in ALMS’ LMP1 class besides the Acura teams.

The Kolles R10 TDI is private entry, that’s why there is limited support from Audi.

But I cannot see Audi wanting to hinder the Kolles effort, it does not look good for them, that’s why there is an R15 style wing designed by Audi Sport to meet the 2009 regs.

The problem with is that the R10 reached its development potential in 2007, there were minor aero tweaks in 2008, but Audi could see it was slower than the 908, which is why there is the R15 TDI. McNish has said that the R15 “does everything the R10 did not”, but it was still slower than the 908 in a staight line at Sebring.

We will see how this translates with these late rule changes, but so far the advantage is with Peugeot, provided they can last 24 hrs without problems, not Audi.

The fact that Acuru don’t sell cars in Europe may not be the only reason there are not here…..the requirements for the car to race in the US differ from in Europe, I am given to understand.

There they go mucking around in the regulations book again. DON’T BE LIKE THE FIA! Leave well enough alone!

Kiki said: “DON’T BE LIKE THE FIA!”

I’m quoting that, because it’s something that simply cannot be said often enough.

If they hadn’t given diesels performance breaks over and above the petrol cars in the first place, this discussion wouldn’t have happened. If diesel was strictly comparable then why would they need the breaks ? Even allowing more capacity and lighter weight, why do they then need a vast break on time tank size and fuel flow during refuelling ?

Oh yeah, they’re a major manufacturer and they lobbies like hell, probably made significant contributions too…..

Wrong headed from the beginning.

When you add to the fact that Audi is the team that has made LeMans interesting since nearly 2002 you should understand why they were given those “breaks” with their diesel effort. Coming into the diesel era was a gamble fortunately they made it work, but it could have been a multi million lost gamble.

Because of Audi manufacturers that left for F1 are starting to believe sports car racing is a viable showcase platform again.

For along time the organization had let Audi all the advantage of winning just to entertain fans and the same time promote the sport, now that they have serious competition well… is time to slow the diesels and put everyone at the same level even LMP2.In AMLS is everything AUDI…they put up a sign at Sebring that said ” AUDI clean Diesel” and they got the “clean energy” dumbest price. This is turn into NASCAR, trying to create a traffic jam sort of race not mention marketing. When I go to a race a want to see the best car winning regardless the second car been a privateer without enough money…

Audi paid for those signs to be at Sebring the same for LeMans. And they provide the Safety car at LeMans it’s all part of their marketing strategy. They have invested heavily in the sport and it’s only right that they reap the benefits.

They’ve kept fans interested and in turn it has allowed other teams to be able to find sponsorship deals.

Omar, racing is simply a money hungry sport. There’s no way around that fact.

how the hell is simply giving the win to the only two works teams fielding diesels entertainment ? Since when has paying a pile of marketing money meant anyone should have the rules rewritten for them ? Since the arrival of the R10 it’s been diesel or waste your entry fee. The Audi drivers haven’t even been permitted to race each other to any significant extent.

If this is the way it has to be at Le Mans then maybe it should die, as it is clear that the race is not merely secondary to the sporting event. It is the sporting event, and is available to the highest bidder. “Hey if your car isn’t quite quick enough we’ll rewrite the rules for you so you get your win anyway”.

If they aren’t quick enough without rigging the rules, maybe they should design something quicker or employ faster drivers.

Bring back the sport for gods sake. Leave the marketing on the advertising hoardings, and especially…… especially lock the marketing dweebs out of rules rewrites to favour the manufacturer of the month.

Lets make the cars equal then… lets make the race as boring as it can be, let just glorify the drivers and let hope for the big wreck (since they’ll all run at the speed -NASCAR)…listen, this Le Mans sport it about PRIDE specially the 24hours of Le Mans, who ever decide to “waste it’s entry fee” knows it is racing with the best for winning either LMP1, LMP2,GT or GT2. It just happens there are only two diesels team but more competition will soon arrive.

Hell, I don’t think that Aston Martin, after all this years of invest millions on there current gas engine machine and changing the fuselage, wants to win a series or the 24hr knowing that it’s biggest competitor(goal to beat) has just been slow down. Do you?
…I would feel demoralize.

Audi does have the best crew as you’ve seen the past 2 years. Peugeot has been a worthy opponent but Audi proved that they weren’t just smoke and mirrors.

Besides with the R8, Pescarolo was sometimes faster at LeMans and Dyson when they ran P1 Lolas were sometimes faster in ALMS but Pescarolo never beat them at LeMans and even though Dyson did win some races, they never beat them in the championship. It’s not all dollars there’s substance behind it.

Audi was so good they scared off the competition. BMW, Cadillac, Panoz al had top notch programs, but Audi was simply stronger.

Fans go check the report that Audi’s Dr Wolfgang Ullrich put on Endurance-Info. agreed 100% , I been telling you all that ACO will kill the motorsport.

he’s just had an advantage removed that played to his own personal agenda. Of course he’s displeased. The winner of this years Vingt Quatre is going to have to fight for it….. Good.

If truth be told, I suspect Peugeot or Audi will still win, after all their teamwork is of the highest order, their drivers are professionals. Arguments that they need the advantages negotiated for the two works teams in order to do so are just spurious.

As far as scaring off works opposition goes, this did begin with the R8′s, but the rot really set in with the R10′s. Reading the rule book whilst deciding on whether to enter or not would have told you that much. The R8 years didn’t favour anyone in particular and Audi were the ultimate professionals, the R10 years …….? Works diesel or forget it. Why pay money to participate in the Audi/Peugeot marketing effort. Those manufacturers without a useful diesel did the right thing – they would have ended up paying money in an increasingly hostile financial environment to make themselves look bad and the diesel guys look good. There has to be a level playing field.

The petrol power teams ? If they are going to end up losing, which may well happen this year, they have to lose because they made mistakes or weren’t fast enough under the same rules. Not because the diesels have tanks that allow them to go further before stopping, allowed to refuel faster, run at lower weights with relatively oversized engines.

This time last year, the teams that didn’t have access to the works diesels explained in plain language what the problems were and nothing was done. It appears that this time the organisers noticed the disparity and did something about it.

Ultimately it comes down to this – Dr Ulrich has to shout, it’s his job, but if they win this year, under the new rules, it will be worth much, much more than previously when it was won by the marketing department before the race started. If they simply withdraw, then the suspicion will be that the manufacturers cannot stand honest competition.