Club Arnage

The front page of the local paper today gave the headlines, page 3 gave the details. It would seem likely that,although it has not been confirmed, Porsche will not be contesting the WEC next year but rather going down the electric route. The article stated that instead of spending €200 million a year it will cost but one tenth of that. A perfect reason, given the state of VW's finances after the emissions scandal and the fact that their share price has halved. Costs must be cut. I'm not saying that this is confirmed, just that the article stated that Porsche have refused to confirm or deny, which to me is a telling sign. The article goes on to say "how sad" Toyota are. More anon.

Unfortunately, I fear this will prove to be the case  :(

Was talking with a VAG Marketing guy recently and he made comments like "you'll never see those budgets again" although at the same time saying "we need to be seen out there".
The electric route thing fits in with comments like those....... :-\

Does the WEC & LM truly need the big bucks factory teams, other than for marketing activation?

I'd happily see Toyota v a reasonable bunch of garagistes, remember for much of the early Audi seasons that's how it was, although the Audis often ran under the guise of so called private teams. Sure Toyota will probably win everything, but if they slip up then giant killing is very much on the cards, as it was nearly this year, and would certainly have been if there had been 3 or 4 good privateers,  I wonder if Rebellion were thinking they should have stuck with the R-One for one more season!

I guess part of the problem for the factory teams is that their cars are now far too complicated and expensive for a private team to run, if they could defray the costs through selling or leasing some on then it would be more likely they would stay around I reckon.

I get that the future is with alternative fuels and hybrids, and LM has often been a great proving ground, it's just the costs have gotten way out of hand, and it's not just the racing budget,  but the marketing one too, it wasn't till they had gone that everyone realised how big a part of LM Audi had become.

Time will tell what happens, but the factories have always come and gone in all forms of motorsport.

Porsche perhaps ready to pack in WEC due to impending emissions scandal? Wait for it.

As for the electric route, I don't know if anyone saw the Formula E in New York recently.  There seemed to be about 50 spectators.  This may be because its the US, but with known name drivers and lots of money being thrown at this, I suspect the return is worse that WEC, and its boring.

It must be a lot cheaper though, and I think that's where the cookie crumbles, and its PC  ::)

And I see that Mercedes are quitting the DTM to go electric  :o

Where for art thou Klaatu and Gort. Come save us from this plight... :(

Speaking as one who has just gone hybrid I have to admit that I tend to spend more time conserving fuel (tax) than tooling around the highways and the byways.
However.....
I'd love to see a LM grid full of privateers in simpler cars. LMP 3's were awesome at Silverstone in May, and a return to a field full of private GTs would be most welcome.
The racing this year was fantastic but I'm a bit fed up with the "Premier League" factory teams.
There are many on this forum better informed than I but I would be happier watching cars like Lister, Panoz, De Tomaso, Morgan, etc. While we're at it lets see a couple of Blower Bentleys, the odd Norma and a brace of Pescarolas for local interest.

Can we also have a decent tartiflette stall and the return of Le Village to the dust bowl we all grew to love? Oh, and before I forget, a return of the strippers on the funfair and the vague smell of haddock!

Please...

Lord Old Fart

With you on all your points your lordship. NSX please.

Judging by the recent announcements from Paris and today, London, it looks like diesel (particularly or should I say particulately) and petrol cars are to be excluded from cities. Setting aside the arguments that buses, taxis and gridlocked traffic make pollution worse we are having to accept that change must happen.

Hello electric and hydrogen cell cars.

For the purposes of brevity I'm ignoring the arguments about how clean the power stations are that make the electricity.

My concern, however, is that if all car manufacturers are forced to abandon the internal combustion engine are they really going to be interested in motor sport? Will our favourite sport be solely classic car racing in the future as fewer new cars are produced with internal combustion engines?

Could, indeed, this be the eventual death knell for Le Mans as we know it?

Steve

Motorsport will continue I've no doubt of that, it's just that the power source will change.

I bet the horse racing fraternity were having the same discussions a hundred or so years ago when the motor car first appeared.

Surely not

Paddock is buzzin' about it in Spa right now.
Several websites already writing about the decision to leave WEC at the end of the season being taken by Porsche.  Official announcement to follow "by the end of this week" (i.e. tomorrow).

i'm afraid it's over and done with Porsche. Whether Toyota will continue remains the big question now. 
Let's hope Ginatta & SMP Racing will get their LMP1-L cars on the grid next year ... (not really counting on Perrin, it's awefully quiet down there).

I guess the phone line between the ACO and Peugeot will be red hot!

Has LMP1 caught F1 disease?

The cost of building 22'000 cars that cheat means you can't play anymore.


















The cost of building 22,000 cars that cheat the rules means Porsche can't play anymore.  Not the end but A new begining.