[LM24] Le Mans Counterfactuals

[isynge]

This string, from the 2012 weather thread, prompted me to think about how different "What If" scenarios at Le Mans played out.

Kicking it off with the AMR-One last year...

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

Random thought: I wonder if 2001 weather last year would have done for the AMR-One what the 2001 weather briefly did for the LMP07 Panoz...

Originally Posted by Osella

...made it look slightly less ugly? Actually I liked both cars, but the AMR looked like it was designed in a hurry

Originally Posted by Le Vieux

Designed?

Are you sure?

Are you saying that somebody planned it to be that bad?

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

No, of course not... Flatter the car's performance before the inevitable mechanical failure. The LMP07 briefly led in the deluge at the start of the 2001 event.

Let's posit a point of departure of Thursday night, and that Aston Martin didn't take the catastrophic misstep of the changes they made on Friday, and we get cascading rain that means they're not as stressed, which means they have a chance to run the distance.

It's feasible that you could see them ending up somewhere around 10th overall. Does this give them the spur to go on, taking the gap between Le Mans and Silverstone to address the clear issues with the car, and as Pescarolo have done, find some additional pace out of the chassis, so they have a creditable end of season - okay not threatening Peugeot/Audi - but circulating effectively?

Does this give us two AMR-Ones on the grid this year?

Would Jota be running them?

Would this have pushed Pescarolo down this route (modding the underlying concept) or would it have meant going down the Oak route?

Appreciate this is a classic case of ifs and ands but hey, something's got to occupy us between now and Wednesday...

Equally, are there any other bits of alternative history we can look at and legitimately ask "what if?" - such as "what if Roger Dorchy had turned right instead of left at Mulsanne in 1984(?)"...

[Simmi]

I suppose if Peugeot had fitted the right conrods in 2010 we might be seeing three manufacturers go at it this year. Or would that defeat at LM have seen Audi's programme ripped up following two successive defeats hmmm...

[Gingers4Justice]

The issue with the AMR-ONEs was putting untested parts in the engines of both cars. That's what killed the project.

I would have loved to have seen Prodrive stick with it. Who knows where they would have been? If the tub is as good as they say it is and with the resources they have, it's not unconceivable that if they applied themselves at it they could have turned that thing into a decent car.

Another consideration: without the Aston's failure, where would the DeltaWing be?