Michelin Tyres at the WEC 6 Hours of Silverstone

Your scribbler has the enquiring mind of a child! So where did this Michelin and Bibendum business start?

Back in 1894 Edouard and Andre Michelin were in Lyon attending an exhibition and they noticed a pile of used tyres that made Edouard think of a man with no arms.. bit of imagination needed here I agree. Some four years later Andre met a cartoonist called Marius Rossillon. Marius showed him an image that had been rejected by a Munich brewery. It was a cartoon of a sizeable rather regal figure holding a massive glass of beer and quoting Horace’s phrase “Nunc est bibendum” or “now is the time to drink”! André immediately suggested replacing the man with a figure made from tyres. This transformed the earlier image into Michelin's current symbol. Today, Bibendum is one of the world's most recognised trademarks, representing Michelin in over 150 countries. 

Enough history.. back to The 6 Hours of Silverstone! 

Michelin have all but cornered that market in WEC, there are only four cars on the grid using Dunlop. This year’s visit gives the tyre suppliers a new challenge because the entire track has been resurfaced. It will be the first time this has happened in 22 years of hard use. The only chance to test here was at the end of July when the exceptionally hot weather wasn’t really representative of the conditions teams normally encountered at Silverstone.

The long, fast track features ten right-hand and eight left-hand turns which put tremendous strain on tyres. The technical regulations for the 2018/2019 FIA WEC dictate that, Michelin’s partners must use tyres that were developed to cover the entire super-season. Jérôme Mondain who is manager of Michelin Motorsport’s endurance racing programmes tells us that  “Silverstone was recently resurfaced, so it’s like we are going there for the very first time because we have zero data. Based on experience, wear rates are likely to be low if the conditions stay dry due to the new surface’s characteristics. That said, the track promises to heat up in direct sunshine and we could see particularly high ground temperatures which would certainly have an impact on tyre performance. If it rains, the resurfacing probably won’t assist draining, so standing water will tend to accumulate and this will lower the aquaplaning threshold.” 

The regulations state that FIA WEC entries for Silverstone are allowed just 18 tyres in the LM P1, LM P2 and LM GTE Pro classes, but LM GTE Am runners will be able to use up to 26 tyres. Teams will be able to choose between hard- and medium-compound tyres. If it rains, as well it might, they will be able to fit either ‘Wets’ or ‘Full Wets’.Things are a bit different for the LM P1 teams who will have the option of selecting the ‘Hybrid’ intermediate slick for drying conditions.

This Hybrid tyre is just for the LMP1 cars and was introduced to replace the more conventional ‘intermediate’ treaded  tyre for the first time in 2012. It’s revolutionary compound means this pattern-less tyre can be used in damp and drying conditions. Michelin have brought along around 3,200 tyres to Silverstone in order to cover the possible weather conditions and different strategies of its 30 different cars..

Jock Simpson

WEC Silverstone 6 Hours - The Race Highlights (and a few low lights)

OK these guys are racing drivers.. it is in their DNA to be competitive but it still comes as a surprise when with just six hours to go they drive into each other! It was a messy start that the stewards decided to investigate. In amongst the general excitement there was contact between #3 Rebellion car and #17 SMP Racing . The upshot was the two Rebellion cars nearly hitting each other., which would have been a pity!

The Ford GT’s had a messy sort of start and lost out in a big way in the muddle but quickly showed they had the pace to match the Astons and the race leading Porsche. After the chaotic start the #38 Jackie Chan DC racing earned itself a drive through penalty! The pit entry cuts out a fair chunk of circuit so it isn’t such a major penalty in reality.

The two BMW M8 GTE started better than most and were looking good but the ever faster Fords caught and passed them. Remember the #17 SMP Racing that was involved in ‘the action’ at the start? Well, the earned themselves a drive through penalty! Next on Ford’s shopping list was the #97 Aston Martin which had qualified well and had kept out of trouble at the start. Everybody had expected the Ford GT to be quick and it was proved to be right.

Also as expected the Toyota Twins were having a ‘race’ of the own with the lead changing occasionally during the pit stops. They are obviously way quicker than the rest of the cars in LMP1, so no surprises there then. Only some kind of mechanical catastrophe will rob them of a victory but the question is whether it will be #7 or #8 on the top step.

#11 SMP Racing BR1 pulled off the track with what looked like a blown engine. Not encouraging information for Lawrence Tomlinson and Ginetta who have just swapped from Mecachrome to AER for the balance of their troubled season. Several cars have had surprising spins, maybe due to the resurfaced track, one victim was #29 Racing for Nederland. It seems the track was resurfaced but the very hot spell has caused ‘micro’ bumps to appear.

The Fords were on a charge and after 90mins #67 took the lead in GTE Pro.. it had taken time but it they were looking good as the Aston Martins faded. The reason the #95 Aston had slowed was due to getting stuck in 4th gear.. a new actuator and longish pit stop later it was back into the action.

The #4 Bykolles Racing Team car driven by Rene Binder had a serious fright when he caught up some slower cars which caught him out and he lost it into the barriers. It was a fairly hard hit which led to a Full Course Yellow and Rene being carted off to the medical centre for a check over.

One very lucky spectator was one of the infamous ‘Silverstone Hares’ who narrowly avoided getting flattened while crossing the track!

One of the messier accidents involved #17 and #71.. they both wanted the same bit of track and made contact. The #71 Ferrari came off rather worst with a rear right puncture. The tyre then fell apart taking most of the rear corner with it scattering carbon fibre all over the track. This incurred the wrath of the Clerk of The Course and brought out the safety car while the mess was cleared up. The #17 SMP Racing then had a spin which was probably down to damage caused when it collided with the #71 car.

You may recall one of the Ford GT’s having a spot of bother keeping its door shut at Le Mans, unfortunately the problem struck the #66 car here at Silverstone and it was forced to pit while the door was replaced.

With all the action going on in and around GTE Pro it was easy to overlook the AF Corse #51 Ferrari which was keeping out of trouble and fending off the challenges from Porsche and leading the class for sometime. Maybe Ferrari were bluffing but they reckoned they didn’t really have a chance here but clever tactics and low tyre wear seem to have paid off and the Porsches (who are notoriously greedy with their tyres)  will be very hard pressed to catch them… unless of course we get a safety car...

It came as a surprise when the #8 Toyota arrived in the pits for a scheduled stop and had its nose section replaced.. this was part of a plan to sort out a cure for oversteer. At the other end of the reliability scale is the #10 Dragonspeed BR1... they have a tricky race all round with what may be a record breaking 11 pit stops!

With less than an hour to go the Toyota Twins swapped places and the #8 car took the lead.. just to remind you that is the Alonso car...surely they are not ‘engineering’ a result? No.. of course not !!

At this level it was a surprise when  #50 #56 #90 all got hit with 75 second stop go penalty for coming into the pits too early when the safety car was out.. they should have waited for three laps behind the safety car before they piled off into the pits.. seemed like a silly mistake but a harsh penalty!!

So it all panned out roughly as we expected.. the ‘right’ Toyota won with Alonso on board.. the #7 car had some unscheduled work on its rear body panels which wasn’t as slick as you might have expected losing them 10 precious seconds, the delay let #8 car take the lead. The ‘Best of The Rest’ in LMP1 was the #3 Rebellion Racing R13-Gibson.

In LMP2 Jackie Chan DC Racing had a great race with a 1st (#38) and 2nd (#37) ahead of the #36 Signatech Alpine Matmut. They didn’t run into trouble like the others, it was a very tidy performance.

Some of the best racing came out of LMGTE with a great battle between Ferrari, Porsche, Ford and of course Aston Martin. The #13 AF Corse Ferrari had a relatively straightforward win in the end. They had the edge as far as tyres and tactics were concerned. Porsche had a busy day chasing down the Ferraris and fending off the Fords. The result was Porsche #91 came second ahead of the #87 Ford GT.

It is amazing that Dempsey-Proton Racing and their #77 Porsche 911 RSR made their way steadily through the race to come home despite not having the quickest car on the grid.  The #90 TF Sport Aston Martin took second place. After a long and intense battle, Jorg Bergmeister clinched the final podium spot in the #56 Prjoect 1 Porsche, passing Pedro Lamy in the #98 Aston Martin in the final lap of the race. 

Postscript - 1

Both Toyota TS050 Hybrids have been disqualified from Sunday’s Six Hours of Silverstone due to technical infractions, handing the overall victory to Rebellion Racing. The cars, which finished 1-2 in the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, were found to have failed skid block deflection tests.

According to a stewards report issued late Sunday, the “front part” of the No. 8 Toyota’s skid block deflected 9 mm under the specified 2500 N load on both sides of the skid block, while the No. 7 car had 8 mm of deflection on the left side and 6 mm on the right side. It was found to be a breach of Art. 3.5.6.d of the LMP1H technical regulations, resulting in exclusions.

While there were no reports of the Toyotas being involved in any incidents, the Japanese manufacturer has claimed, per the stewards report, that both cars must have sustained “some sort of damage” to the internal stays affixed to the portion of the skid block. The stewards, however, dismissed that explanation, stating that cars must be able to withstand the “normal rigors” of a six-hour race.

It comes after a dominant run for the Toyotas, which finished four laps clear of the competition, led by the No. 8 entry of Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima.
(Edit - Toyota Gazoo Racing have withdrawn their appeal against Silverstone exclusions so the result will stand.)

Postscript - 2

In GTE Pro, the Porsche #91 was excluded from it's second-place finish. The ride height was judged to have been 2mm lower than the permitted 50mm.  The #67 Ford GT of Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx moves up to second in class as a result, and Porsche #92 of Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre is promoted to third.

Race Results
Toyota stewards report
Porsche #91 stewards report

Text: Jock Simpson
Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen

FIA WEC 2017 - 6 Hours of Silverstone: Race gallery

 

 

 

 

Full gallery available here:

FIA WEC 2017 - 6 Hours of Silverstone: Toyota takes first race of the season

After a thrilling & exciting race, the #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi crossed the finish line first, only to recover the lead back in the final 15 minutes of the race. Race start was in hazy sunshine at 12 noon, but the rain would be a factor in the race as it came and went all afternoon. 

© Sportscarglobal.com

Conway retained the lead from pole in the #7 Toyota. In the  #26 G-drive Lynn slipped to 3rd from LMP2 pole, behind #36 and #31. After 10 minutes Buemi passed Conway to put #8 into lead but Conway managed to post the fastest lap on lap 4 (1:39.656) In the two Fords GTs Priaulx and Mucke were in charge of GTE Pro from front row. Spirit of race #54 Ferrari led the #98 Aston Martin in GTE Am. More woes for the ByKolles CLM #4 which was wheeled into its garage after only 15 minutes of racing with brake problems.

The 2 Fords were side by side then Priaulx was passed by team mate followed by Mako in Porsche #91. Problems for #67 relegated him swiftly down the order. Lamy took GTE Am lead at 12:35 in Aston Martin #98 passing Castellacci in #54 Ferrari at Luffield. Mako passed the Ford #66 to put Porsche #91 into lead of GTE Pro. Both Toyotas were first of LMP1-H cars to do scheduled stop at 12:46. There was minor contact between Calado in the #51 Ferrari and Christensen in the #92 Porsche. There was a problem with the door of the #26 G-Drive that required replacement of the entire door at the car's next scheduled stop. 

Conway in Toyota #7 retook the lead from Buemi in #8 at 13:10 but #8 won a track limits warning at 13:21. There was a big wiggle for Buemi in Toyota #8 as he braked very late for the pit lane speed limit. Davidson took over the car at 13:36. Manor (Hirschi) #24 and Vaillante Rebellion (Heinemeiner Hansson) #13 made contact at The Loop - #13 the loser in that battle - the incident won #13 a 15s penalty.

Problems for #7 Toyota were reported and Kobayashi slipped to 4th at 13:50. There were sprinkles of rain on and off at that time but nothing serious. Bernhard in #2 Porsche was catching Davidson in Toyota #8 only 3.5s ahead at 14:10. Estre in Porsche #92 took 3rd in GTE Pro at 14:19.

Rear roll bar was reported as the problem afflicting the #7 Toyota and there was new bodywork for #7 at regular stop at 14:30. Kobayashi had a trip  to gravel in #7 on a damp track. Porsche #1 made an unscheduled stop to change tyres at 14:37 and leading #2 Porsche was fortunate to put on intermediates at exactly the right moment. #8 Toyota was back into lead after more tyre stops for Porsche. The damp caught out Dala Lana who had a spin at Vale  in leading GTE Am #98 at 15:15.

There was a Fire for the #92 Porsche which stopped at Luffield at 15:20 bringing about a brief full course yellow. Lopez was another driver caught out by rain at Copse and put #7 Toyota hard into the tyres at 15:30 bringing about another FCY. Lopez seemed determined to get himself out of the gravel despite the heavy damage to the nose of the Toyota. Finally craned onto tarmac and crept back to the circuit for a long drive back to pit lane dropping debris around the track. The FCY turned into a Safety Car situation while the track was cleared of debris and the barriers repaired. 

There was contact between  #71 (Bird) and #13 (Beche) at Abbey resulting in damage to #13 which required a 12 minute pit garage visit and resulted in a 15 second penalty for #71. Tincknell in #67 Ford GT passed Mako in #91 Porsche for 3rd place at 16:13. Vaxiviere muscled the #28 TDS Racing past Rao in the #36 Alpine to take the lead of LMP2 at 16:15

Lots of cars were pinged for speeding under the FCY / SC period including class leaders. 

The #7 Toyota that Lopez managed to limp back to the pits finally made it back onto the track at 16:50 with Conway at the wheel. Lopez was taken to hospital for precautionary tests but appeared to be unharmed. Once repaired, the #7 seemed to be more on the pace than when it was carrying the roll bar handling problem.  At 17:15 there was a bizarre incident when Rossiter in the ByKolles #4 ENSO CLM collided with Adam in the #97 Aston on pit entry.  The #4 was the loser in that contact and was retired, while #97 rejoined.

With 30 minutes remaining Hartley was leading in the #2 Porsche 919 but had to make his last stop for a splash before the flag. He emerged from pit lane just 8.9s ahead of Buemi in the #8 Toyota. There was a tense last half hour in GTE Am also with a battle between Griffin in the #61 Ferrari and Lamy in the #98 Aston Martin. Griffin finally made the pass at Copse and pulled out a couple of car lengths on Lamy.

With 20 minutes until the chequered flag the gap between Hartley and Buemi was down to 3.9s and was whittled down to less than a second just as rain started with 15 minutes remaining. Buemi finally (inevitably) made his way past the Porsche #2 in The Loop with 12 minutes remaining and was uncatchable until the finish.

In LMP2 Jackie Chan DC Racing won the race with the #38 Oreca of Oliver Jarvis, Ho-Pin Tung and Thomas Laurent. Nico Prost, Bruno Senna & Julien Canal came home second in the #13 Rebellion, ahead of the #28 TDS Racing who took the third podium spot. First LMP2 race and immediately first podium for last year's LM GTE Am champions Emmanuel Collard & François Perrodo joined by Matthieu Vaxiviere.

In the final minutes the #67 Ford GT was leading GTE Pro but had a reappearance of a door problem they had early in the race but made it home to the class win. Griffin in the Ferrari #61 slipped to 3rd behind the #54 Ferrari. Barker in the Gulf Racing Porsche #86 came out for the last lap after a 45 minute stop.

Lamy in #98 and Molina in #54 had last lap contact at Stowe leaving #98 Aston stopped just after the finish line salvaging second place and Molina in the Spirit of Race Ferrari stopped on track. The #61 Clearwater Racing Ferrari snatched the GTE Am win with the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche third.

Full results can be found HERE

Dave DAVIES