[WEC] Peugeot Sport returning to WEC

[veeten]

That's the target, the original 9x8 for Qatar, and the updated version will debut for the second race of the season at Imola. Gives them a chance to compare the data between them.
https://www.sportscar365.com/lemans/...r-updated-9x8/

[Sodemo]

Not a bad idea, I guess this will be another “learning year” for them…?

[Gerard C]

When you see what "just to accomodate the tire dimensions" involves in changes lets hope they can find the theoretical results of the very first study they made (with a rear wing) to put a good car on the track asap. Lets see what kind of BOP they have to help. All in all, what a waste of energy, time and money this car is.

[GingerPixel]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

All in all, what a waste of energy, time and money this car is.

I'm perplexed by this statement. By this logic, are all cars that aren't winning also a waste of space? That would leave us with a lot of empty grids!

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by GingerPixel

I'm perplexed by this statement. By this logic, are all cars that aren't winning also a waste of space? That would leave us with a lot of empty grids!

I think it's more a case of originality being a by-word for doing it wrong, given that Peugeot have been relatively successful in the past with less radical car designs. It's not just that the car hasn't won races; the (original) 9X8 lacked consistency, and the results at its "favoured" circuits, which was on-pace but not leading, did not make up for the lack of pace elsewhere.

We'd all rather have 9X8s over nothing, but with the increasing interest in LMH and WEC/Le Mans being more or less full for the class, the perceived choice at the moment is 9X8s or a more conventional, and therefore competitive, car.

[joeb]

2023 and 2024 versions have recently been on track together according to sources at DSC

https://www.dailysportscar.com/2024/...as-marina.html

[Gerard C]

"Something" is coming… https://twitter.com/peugeotsport/sta...%7Ctwtr%5Etrue

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by joeb

2023 and 2024 versions have recently been on track together according to sources at DSC

https://www.dailysportscar.com/2024/...as-marina.html

That’s cool. It’d be great to see both at once. Obviously not on, but it hanging around in practice for the first race would be fun. So we can see some sector times and top speeds and make up comedy theories about it.

Like when Walkinshaw joked he’d get the XJR-14 out for practice at Le Mans.

[Mike E]

https://twitter.com/pan_nullo/status...O4EPcuWmA&s=19

[Ferrari333SP]

Peugeot is taking their sweet-a** time in revealing the official design of the new car

[Adam43]

There’s no rush.
And you could argue that the longer they wait the better.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Ferrari333SP

Peugeot is taking their sweet-a** time in revealing the official design of the new car

What's to be gained in the news cycle releasing it any time around the entry release? Might as well wait until next week and get more eyes on your release than just a glimpse

[TF110]

The inner rear fenders look interesting. I like the low rear wing too.

[Sodemo]

Am I right in saying they have moved to the larger rear tyres? Perhaps hard to confirm in that blurry photo but they look pretty narrow. Its not a mock-up?

[peetleouf]

Yes, it's not just a question of adding a spoiler, the tires have also evolved and Peugeot will have the same dimensions as the other competitors. It would appear that the 9X8 EVO is considered a new prototype rather than an evolution. This means that the homologation phase will take time, which is why we'll be seeing the 2023 version of the 9X8 in Qatar.

[Sodemo]

Who is now left running the equal tyres front and rear?

[veeten]

This is true, as the tire size changes totally caught them off guard. Ferrari and Toyota made the preference to the 28mm front/ 34mm rear, while Peugeot was stuck with the 31mm units. It was too late for them to rmake changes, not to mention costly. So now, after 2 seasons, they have gone away from the original design and went with similar "littles and bigs", conventional rear air extraction, and a rear wing.

Many would say to all of this, "... what a waste."

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Who is now left running the equal tyres front and rear?

I think they were the only ones. Plus iirc, the rules state you must run the wider rears on any new car.

[Mike E]

That's right. Easier to manage for LMDh/LMH convergence.

[Adam43]

Yeah, they’ve made the same change as Toyota did in 2022. Now the 4WD component isn’t as important it makes sense.

Mike, I think you’re right, it’s good for the balancing.

[S griffin]

I seem to remember them saying the tyres were one of the major problems with the car last year. Hope this solution has sorted it out

[Matador]

I feel like the bewinged wonder is going to be a bit of a dark horse.

[Gerard C]

Lets hope for them it does not become a black sheep.

[KlBD]

I'm starting to feel that with any car, to be competitive means first being able to understand, manage, and extract performance from the tires. If you have issues with that, then figuring out the balance of the rest of your design concept becomes a headache and you're left plugging holes you are not sure really exist.

With the 9x8 maybe the problem was not a single thing like the tire width or lack of rear wing, but probably the combination of choices they made in the design concept were too hard to make work well together.

[Gerard C]

With a slick tarmac surface and a good BoP, they showed that the wingless concept is viable. The result they got in Qatar is another story.