[LM24] Porsche in top category at Le Mans 24

[jhansen]

Originally Posted by sssssssss

the audi r8 was one of the best racecars ever.

True. But the Zytek had superior pace to the R8. Dyson also showed that the R8 could be beaten. Had more serious efforts been around earlier the R8 might have won less. But then again, the car may have evolved further and quicker. We'll never know.

Hopefully, we'll see Porsche in P1 sooner rather than later. Porsche vs. Audi is a battle I'd love to see.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by jhansen

Hopefully, we'll see Porsche in P1 sooner rather than later. Porsche vs. Audi is a battle I'd love to see.

Well, I see it right now, and I love what I see...

[paul-collins]

Originally Posted by jhansen

True. But the Zytek had superior pace to the R8. Dyson also showed that the R8 could be beaten. Had more serious efforts been around earlier the R8 might have won less. But then again, the car may have evolved further and quicker.

For those who wonder where the R8 would stand relative to previous competition, I remind you that the R8 held the post-chicane distance record before the R10 claimed it last year.

As jhansen points out, there's a good chance that the R8 would have simply evolved more over the life of the car, if they had've been challenged. There was no engine development - beyond remapping for new restrictors - after 2003.

[sssssssss]

Originally Posted by jhansen

True. But the Zytek had superior pace to the R8. Dyson also showed that the R8 could be beaten. Had more serious efforts been around earlier the R8 might have won less. But then again, the car may have evolved further and quicker. We'll never know.

Hopefully, we'll see Porsche in P1 sooner rather than later. Porsche vs. Audi is a battle I'd love to see.

The Zytek did not have superior pace to the R8. It reached higher top speeds, but for sure it wasn't nearly that quick over an entire lap, not to mention an entire race. Audi always won with sufficient gap over all of its competitors, and that can only be translated by superior pace of the R8 over the others. In addition, the best lap of the 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004 races was set by an Audi R8. Bentley had the fastest pace in 2003 and Pescarolo in 2005, but none of them went nearly as quick as the 2002 R8 (over 3:32 for both Bentley and Pescarolo vs. 3:29 by the 2002 R8).
In fact, like I already mentioned, NO LMP CAR ever was as quick in race pace or qualifying times as the last official Audi team R8 (the 2002 model). Except for top speed, where it was always 2nd or 3rd best, the R8 surpassed the competition with incredible ease on any given criteria. Especially pace.
In actuality, the 2002 R8 was not surpassed even by the R10, given that the fastest times and speeds of the R10 in 2007 are on a over 3 sec. faster track config. The 2006 R10, which raced on the same track configuration as the R8 and with about the same competition (Pescarolos, Domes etc) was slightly slower than the 2002 R8 in qualifying and had just about the same insane pace. Again, nobody surpassed Audi in pace by now in LMP, from 1999 to 2007. The 2003-2005 variants of the R8 were all seriously slowed down from the original R8 (2000-2002). But the official R8 was the fastest LMP. Period!

[jhansen]

Actually you're correct, at Le Mans the R8 probably did not have any peers. Maybe the Bentley would be one. Had the Bentley been able to run to 2002 restrictors it could have topped the R8's lap time.

Edit: In fact, the Bentley ran two more laps than the works Audi of 2002.

But the Zytek ate the R8 for lunch on shorter tracks.

[ss_collins]

Top speed wise the Dome S101 was always top dog pretty much. I'd like to see a Dome developed Honda at Le Mans - now that would be super quick!

[duke_toaster]

The only way we would be able to see them race eachother is to give the LMP2s a little less weight and/or bigger air restrictor holes to merge the two classes

[chewymonster]

Yep, the road going R8 has matched up very well against the 911, winning many comparisons.

Just hope that Porsche doesn't try to interfere with the road going R8 and future high power Audis.

[ThePenguin]

With Porsche and Audi becoming so close together now, I doubt that we will see those two companies competing against one another in Le Mans. It could be that they may have a joint project in the future, instead of competing against one another.

[sssssssss]

in fact, porsche and audi are pretty obvious in avoiding direct competition indeed. they always were hand in hand. most probably we'll see porsche again in top category at le mans when audi temporarily retires. they might interchange and alternate from now on, for they have seen they are 2 extremely powerful voices now instead of one, as audi has proved just as competitive as porsche.
as a side remark, i noticed the latest years of porsche at LM (especially the year 1998) they were running already on this new type of a setup (higher downforce, more stability, more stamina and slightly less top speed) that audi has imposed as standard, as none can compete against them if they don't embrace it too. so it's again pretty obvious audi are inheriting porsche's knowledge for sportscar racing, and, form now on, maybe viceversa too