Why and which gap? What do you think would be the limiting factor? Rules seem pretty relaxed about modifying the cars and you have BoP on top of that? Cars won’t be that much faster than current GTE Pro anyway
Penske and Chip Ganassi ARE factory teams. Ganassi runs both the IMSA and WEC Ford factory effort and Penske runs the ACURA factory DPi in IMSA. Also, while there are no factory teams in Indycar, it's well known that Penske is the closest thing to a factory team that GM have. The Chevy Indy car engines are designed and built by ILMOR. Who is a part owner of ILMOR both prior to and post Mercades? Oh yes, Roger Penske! Joest again isn't a fair comparison as they were the official Audi team, and are now the Mazda factory team in IMSA. When they won LeMans with a 956 in 1984 there was no Porsche factory team. They were a 'private' team running with back door factory support. Brun is the closest you have to an actual privateer team, and let's not forget they were an F1 team in the 80's and one of Porsche's favored private efforts. You cherry picked four of the best teams in the world, three of whom are really factory teams in sports car racing. In reality, they all make AF Corsa look like a bunch of college kids running a car out of moms suburban garage. And that's no insult to AF Corsa.
There is BoP so whatever advantage or disadvantage there is will be nullified (theoretically). The FXX-K Evo isn't that old of an update so I think it would still be competitive against whatever restricted version of the Valkyrie AM would be forced to run. But it's just a dream of mine. I don't see any owner doing something like that. GregB you reading this??!?!
There is maybe a confusion at to what is a factory team compared to a factory assisted team. Let's say that Penske is factory assisted at times, and private at other times. They ran so many programmes in so many different series: Lola, Camaro, AMC, Ferrari, Penske F1 and Indy, CANAM Porsche, Chevrolet, Porsche again, Mercedes, now Accura-Honda, etc ... As far as I know Penske is still independent, and that's how they can jump form one manufacturer to another, and work for several of them at the same time. I was talking about the Joest team BEFORE the Audi era, of course. They won twice Le Mans in succession first in 1984 (Pescarolo- Ludwig on a 956), and then by defeating the Porsche factory team on 962 with Ludwig-Parilla-Winter in 1985), then they repeated a few years later with 2 wins on WSC95 against the Porsche team (Alboretto-Johansson-Kristenssen in 1996 and Reuter-Jones-Wurz in 1997). After many years as a private Porsche entrant, Joest became contractor for Audi to run their endurance programme, like they do for Mazda now. Brun was totally independent, in endurance and in F1.
ok they could build a race purpose prototype using their upcoming v6 engine. That would prove more efficient in endurance racing. And later produce some 100 road going versions with 1000 +\- hp, sell them for abuot 2million each. As after 2021 they have to fire some f1 staffs and will have reduced f1 budget. MissionWinnow can sponsor the protos. Atlest this is more road relevant than of f1 and ferrari should jump in. Maybe in 2022 or 2023?
First, there's nothing in it for Ferrari to compete against Toyota. Completely different market segments. Now, Ferrari competing against Aston Martin, Porsche, McLaren or whomever else throws their hat into the arena is another issue entirely. But, look, Toyota already has a car built up and has started testing well ahead of the announcement of the new category. This seems reminiscent of the current F-1 V6 Hybrid rules where Mercedes-Benz had already been bench testing their new engine nearly two years ahead of the time that the rules were announced and therefore way ahead of the competition (an advantage they've held to this day). Ferrari has the tech and knowhow, but what it comes down to is if the formula attracts other manufactures in the market segment which justifies their inclusion. http://www.dailysportscar.com/2019/06/17/akio-toyoda-tests-first-prototype-of-toyotas-forthcoming-hypercar.html BHW
If Toyota goes ahead with their project in the Hypercar category without ever produced a supercar like the Ferrari SF90, the Porsche 918, the Aston Walkyrie or the McLaren Senna, it will have a head start, that's obvious. I agree with you there. There is nothing like starting from a clean sheet of paper to produce a race car. All the others will have to compromise with what was originally their road car designs. A Bugatti Chiron or a Koenigswegg wasn't designed to win Le Mans, just to be a supercar
Aston Martin will sell the Valkiria Hypercar to private teams, maybe Ferrari can do the same as it does now with 488 GTE. SMP currently race the BR01 built by Dallara, race Ferraris 488 in the Blacpain too and will need a new car for the Hypercar rules, also I remember that the 333SP and the F50 GT were built by Dallara in those days. I just think that this time if it could be. This could be the SF90S. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I'd love to see the SF90 Stradale in that class but I believe it's an aluminum tub, to be competitive in this class you'll need a carbon tub at a minimum. SO I think Ferrari will have to engineer a bespoke chassis for this class. also weren't some of the 333SPs built by Michelotto and some by Dallara? I can't recall the breakdown of who did what.
