963 + 911 = 0

[Walt9xx]

Today at the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona with two Porsche 963 entries in GTP, two Porsche 911 GT3 R entries in GTD-Pro and 5 entries in GTD resulted in 0 podium finishes for Porsche.
In the two GTD classes, Porsche was at a disadvantage since qualifying as IMSA's BOP, Balance of Performance, was not balanced for all the Porsche 911 GT3 R racecars. It was evident at qualifying when mostly all of the Porsche qualified well down among the other entries. Best in GTD-Pro was 8th and in GTD 14th.
Porsche Vice President of Porsche Motorsports commented, "We're disappointed, no question about it." The number 7 Porsche 963 after 5 hours had an ESS issue, its Electrical Service System and was set back 18 laps, while the number 6 Porsche 963 suffered powertrain damage. "We experienced several problems but at the same time, we were able to learn a great deal. The good thing is, we know where we now stand and what we need to work on. We will now prepare systematically for the next race at Sebring in March.
I think that the Porsche team performed at their highest level, as they changed that ESS unit, which is about 110 pounds and is installed from under the car, alongside the driver and requires numerous bolts holding it in position and many wires connecting it to the electrical components in this car and lost only 18 laps. That 18 laps I figure is equivalent to about 27 minutes.
I will be at Sebring and we will have to wait and see if IMSA does anything with the BOP and what Porsche will do.
If you are going to Sebring, let me know!

[blueline]

I don't pretend to know how these decisions are made and please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that there have been times when BOP adjustments were made after obvious qualifying discrepancies between the fastest and slowest cars. I know there are concerns and wary eyes cast towards those IMSA feels might be purposely dragging their feet during qualifying but obviously that doesn't matter now. Today's final results have put those concerns to bed. I'd be surprised if no BOP adjustments before Sebring.

Have fun at Sebring!

[Tom]

I got to interview several 70's racecar drivers when I did the 000 article on the 944 GTR. That car ran in both IMSA and the Trans Am series. The Trans Am series in particular kept adding ballast to the 944 GTR until the American cars could beat it. More than one racer told me that the head of the Trans Am series at the time had vowed never to let one of those foreign jobs beat american muscle while he was in charge. No idea how true that is, but I did hear it several times and they did add 6 or 700 pounds of ballast to that pour car. I'm thinking a lot of pro racing happens off the track...

[blueline]

I got to interview several 70's racecar drivers when I did the 000 article on the 944 GTR. That car ran in both IMSA and the Trans Am series. The Trans Am series in particular kept adding ballast to the 944 GTR until the American cars could beat it. More than one racer told me that the head of the Trans Am series at the time had vowed never to let one of those foreign jobs beat american muscle while he was in charge. No idea how true that is, but I did hear it several times and they did add 6 or 700 pounds of ballast to that pour car. I'm thinking a lot of pro racing happens off the track...

I'm sure there have been almost countless (and largely hidden) instances of some measure of BOP bias both large and small by those wanting a particular outcome for whatever reason, such as money/graft or a dislike of a certain manufacturer or to shun a geographical area. Maybe a dislike for a particular driver or team too. There's not a lot of "sunshine" in those decisions, especially in racing's earlier days. Unfortunately, BOP decisions can be made without truly honest or direct explanations. Politicians! What, in a sanctioning body? Say it ain't so! Lol.

[Walt9xx]

FYI: IMSA BOP
IMSA uses wind tunnel data, engine dyno data and logged car data as reference to monitoring a cars performance with data loggers on each car. Fuel consumption and fuel flow is monitored.
ITC= IMSA Technical Committee, analyze timing, scoring results and data from loggers following each race and produce reports with recommendations on the cars results.
Porsche will have to wait and see if IMSA does any BOP changes for Sebring.
For Daytona the Porsche 911 GT3 R was limited to a max rpm of 9400, with 2 - 33 mm air restrictors. I do not know what the normal air intake dimensions, are but it looks like they were given rpm's but with limited air intake? Does anyone know?

[blueline]

FYI: IMSA BOP
IMSA uses wind tunnel data, engine dyno data and logged car data as reference to monitoring a cars performance with data loggers on each car. Fuel consumption and fuel flow is monitored.
ITC= IMSA Technical Committee, analyze timing, scoring results and data from loggers following each race and produce reports with recommendations on the cars results.
Porsche will have to wait and see if IMSA does any BOP changes for Sebring.
For Daytona the Porsche 911 GT3 R was limited to a max rpm of 9400, with 2 - 33 mm air restrictors. I do not know what the normal air intake dimensions, are but it looks like they were given rpm's but with limited air intake? Does anyone know?

I read a brief Autoweek article that mentioned the reduced air, but it was a short and generic comment:

"The new Ferrari 296 GT3s, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and the Porsche 911 GT3 R all suffered from not enough straightaway speed due to the air restrictors assigned to the exemplary new examples of aluminum and carbon fiber technology. IMSA’s choices for Balance of Performance clearly expects these cars to gain speed as the season progresses due to better weight distribution and a broader performance window."

Link to the Autoweek article: https://www.autoweek.com/racing/more-ra ... ing-acura/