That’s all anyone can really talk about in the Le Mans paddock. As each team was making last-minute check-outs and fine-tuning before 3:00 p.m. local time on Friday and Saturday (the start of the 84th running of the 24 Hour Classic), the GTE class competitors were in the spotlight. I was waiting for the final. The decision made by the organizer regarding the most important BoP, i.e. the calculation of balance of performance.
Ideally, BoP would use exhaustive performance data from previous races and track sessions to selectively increase weight or reduce power for some cars, resulting in better results than the two Le Mans races. It creates close competition in very diverse classes, including the fastest GTE in the production-based grouping. 911s and Ferrari 488s compete against Corvettes and Ford GTs. In reality, BoP manipulation is a black art practiced by the French (and other sports car sanctioning bodies in various races) according to their own rules.
In the pre-race test session at Le Mans last week, the Corvette C7.R dominated the lap times, but subsequent BoP changes put the Corvette and Porsche teams at a huge disadvantage, resulting in disastrous qualifying times in the final pre-season. It is said that it brought about -Thursday race session. The Corvettes were more than 4.6 seconds off the pace, and the 911s were also far behind, but both the new Ford GT and Ferrari 488 quickly became faster. In the Le Mans paddock, there was soon speculation that the French might be manipulating the BOP system to recreate the classic Ferrari vs. Ford battle at the expense of Le Mans heavyweights such as Chevrolet and Porsche. There was a lot of innuendo.
Frank Steffen Walliser, Porsche’s head of GT racing, was so upset by the recent BoP changes that he choked up when asked about it during an emotional press conference on Friday. “We need a BoP, but we don’t need this kind of BoP,” he said. “We’re going to fight.” Cornered by reporters, Corvette Racing boss Doug Fehan is said to have had a major stroke, but Walliser and Fehan are determined to fight no matter what. said he plans to continue racing.
Meanwhile, Ford Performance boss Dave Pericak said of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), which runs the 24 Hours of Le Mans, “they have said many times that they are booking the race.” I was careful not to laugh. You have the right to make changes up until the moment the flag is lowered. However, Pericak said the Corvette’s time was “questionable” and did some punch-bagging for the Chevrolet team in trying to make it look like they were more seriously injured than they actually were, thereby currying a more favorable BoP formula from ACO. hinted that he may have done so.
All teams convened for a meeting on Friday afternoon, where further changes to the BoP format were announced. In a highly unusual move so close to the start of the race, the ACO slammed the two leading turbo cars, the Ford GT and the Ferrari 488, with token weight increases (22 pounds for the Ford, 33 pounds for the Ferrari). But more importantly, the boost pressure adjustment at certain rpms reduced the Ford’s power output by 1.3%. While Ferrari’s boost was left in place, all major non-turbo teams including Aston Martin, Chevrolet and Porsche made breakthroughs by increasing the size of their intake restrictors.
Problem: The impending start of tomorrow’s race means there is no time to test the changes in upcoming practice or qualifying sessions, so the ACO could inadvertently skew the results again and either may have given the team an advantage. Another big problem is that whoever wins on Sunday, a last-second tussle with the BoP could leave the result permanently tainted by the organizers’ hasty and perhaps unfair intervention. It means that there is.
Still, a lot can happen in a 24-hour period, and driver error, pit mistakes, and weather are just some of the variables that can’t be controlled, so BoP could turn out to be completely irrelevant. There is a gender.Find out Sunday at 3 p.m.
