[supra93]

Higher quality photos.

[Pr0metheus]

Originally Posted by Pic18

I guess Ford figured something out aero wise with curved front splitter as you can see BMW emulating it in that photo. BMW has been on a bit of a role lately, hopefully the M8 can be quick right out of the box.

Yea, you are right. Also reminds me of the front of the Porsche 919 and last years Oreca front splitters.

Also just noticed (am wrapping up WEC 6H Nurburgring) that the 488 GTE (GTE Am & GTE PRO) has had them for a while, but with a slightly different design with just a portion of the middle being raised significantly more than the sides.

Should we get our hopes up that it will sound better than the 991.2 911 RSR?

[Scrippy]

Originally Posted by Pic18

I guess Ford figured something out aero wise with curved front splitter as you can see BMW emulating it in that photo. BMW has been on a bit of a role lately, hopefully the M8 can be quick right out of the box.

I wonder what improvements this offers? I wonder if it is more a tweak for more downforce or cooling air flow increase? Or just damage prevention for a rough road during race time?

[Pr0metheus]

Originally Posted by Scrippy

I wonder what improvements this offers? I wonder if it is more a tweak for more downforce or cooling air flow increase? Or just damage prevention for a rough road during race time?

Take a look at the 488 GTE; it looks like a method to control the amount of air going under the car and then piping the rest to the sides/front fender dive planes/canards.

An example of curved front bumper and large canards/dive planes is the Porsche 919 hybrid high downforce package (WEC after LeMans).

[chris82]

Originally Posted by supra93

the M8 GTE will mark BMW's return to the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2018, including the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans, where BMW has not raced for the past 6 years

Well it's about damn time.....

[bradleyland]

Originally Posted by Pr0metheus

Take a look at the 488 GTE; it looks like a method to control the amount of air going under the car and then piping the rest to the sides/front fender dive planes/canards.

An example of curved front bumper and large canards/dive planes is the Porsche 919 hybrid high downforce package (WEC after LeMans).

Yeah, you can bet this is for more downforce.

Most of the car's downforce comes from the combination of the under-tray and diffuser. The diffuser only works if there is air flowing through it though, so when building a splitter, there's a balance of generating downforce upfront, and sending enough air to the diffuser for it to work efficiently. Most cars have ducting that split the air up, sending it to different places. This looks to me like a design that allows air to bypass any ducting and go straight under the car, where it is naturally picked up by the low pressure area in the diffuser. I'm betting it results in lower drag for the same downforce effect.

[Pic18]

Originally Posted by Pr0metheus

Take a look at the 488 GTE; it looks like a method to control the amount of air going under the car and then piping the rest to the sides/front fender dive planes/canards.

An example of curved front bumper and large canards/dive planes is the Porsche 919 hybrid high downforce package (WEC after LeMans).

Yes in retrospect I am sure the Ford GT's were not the first to use this (likely prototypes as you mention) and your hypothesis on what it does makes sense. I just found the change interesting. You can also see the rear has a more pronounced cut out (above the rear diffuser) kind of the like the current 911 RSR so BMW is definitely taking advantage of all the aero rules.

My one hope for this car (besides being competitive out of the box) is a bit more exhaust noise. I love BMW's, but there is nothing like the sound of the corvette's at an IMSA race. I don't expect that loud of an exhaust from BMW, but a bit more noise would be nice.

[Pic18]

Originally Posted by cbertels

Will this replace the current M6 GTLM cars? Seems like the BMW teams just got into a groove sorting out that chassis. Hopefully the new car isn't plagued by its predecessors gremlins.

This will definitely replace the current M6 GTLM. The press release mentions the debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona which is an IMSA Weather Tech race so BMW Team RLL will be running these next year and it appears BMW will also have a team (not sure if factory or customer) in WEC per the press release.

[cbertels]

Can you provide a link to where I can find the upcoming schedule if it's ben published? I'd like to follow the series more closely and see how the new car shapes up.

[bradleyland]

Originally Posted by cbertels

Can you provide a link to where I can find the upcoming schedule if it's ben published? I'd like to follow the series more closely and see how the new car shapes up.

The WeatherTech Sportscar Championship (WTSC) series schedule is published here (when it becomes available):

http://sportscarchampionship.imsa.co.../race-schedule

The current 2017 season hasn't finished yet, so you'll notice that 2018 is blank. Once they finalize the schedule, it will appear there.

BMW have done well in the last couple of races, and there are still some great events left this year. There's a race at Lime Rock this weekend. You should tune in.

In the US, you're stuck watching the main WTSC race broadcast on Fox; either Fox Sports 1 or Fox Sports 2. If you have a cable subscription, I highly recommend getting the FoxSportsGo application for your mobile device. Fox routinely "bumps" the WTSC races when other sports (baseball, soccer, etc) run long, so the most consistent way to watch them is to use FoxSportsGo to stream to your TV using an Apple TV, Chromecast, or Roku (depending upon what kind of phone you have). You get a dedicated stream that will never be bumped.

In addition to the WTSC series, there are a couple of companion series. The 2nd tier series is called the Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge (CTSC). This series races two classes: GS (Grand Sport) and ST (Street Tuner). The cars that race in this series are much closer to actual production cars, and next year, we can expect to see a BMW M4 GT4 racing in this series. Will definitely be worth a watch. The CTSC series often has better racing than WTSC, believe it or not. The guys in ST really like to trade paint.

Oh, and welcome to the club

[cbertels]

Thanks!!!

[Pr0metheus]

Originally Posted by Pic18

Yes in retrospect I am sure the Ford GT's were not the first to use this (likely prototypes as you mention) and your hypothesis on what it does makes sense. I just found the change interesting. You can also see the rear has a more pronounced cut out (above the rear diffuser) kind of the like the current 911 RSR so BMW is definitely taking advantage of all the aero rules.

My one hope for this car (besides being competitive out of the box) is a bit more exhaust noise. I love BMW's, but there is nothing like the sound of the corvette's at an IMSA race. I don't expect that loud of an exhaust from BMW, but a bit more noise would be nice.

Didn't mean to sound like I was lecturing; I JUST LOVE DOWCUSSING THIS STUFF!!

I spend most of the race studying the cars and teams nerding out hard on the tech.

[Pr0metheus]

Originally Posted by bradleyland

The WeatherTech Sportscar Championship (WTSC) series schedule is published here (when it becomes available):

http://sportscarchampionship.imsa.co.../race-schedule

The current 2017 season hasn't finished yet, so you'll notice that 2018 is blank. Once they finalize the schedule, it will appear there.

BMW have done well in the last couple of races, and there are still some great events left this year. There's a race at Lime Rock this weekend. You should tune in.

In the US, you're stuck watching the main WTSC race broadcast on Fox; either Fox Sports 1 or Fox Sports 2. If you have a cable subscription, I highly recommend getting the FoxSportsGo application for your mobile device. Fox routinely "bumps" the WTSC races when other sports (baseball, soccer, etc) run long, so the most consistent way to watch them is to use FoxSportsGo to stream to your TV using an Apple TV, Chromecast, or Roku (depending upon what kind of phone you have). You get a dedicated stream that will never be bumped.

In addition to the WTSC series, there are a couple of companion series. The 2nd tier series is called the Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge (CTSC). This series races two classes: GS (Grand Sport) and ST (Street Tuner). The cars that race in this series are much closer to actual production cars, and next year, we can expect to see a BMW M4 GT4 racing in this series. Will definitely be worth a watch. The CTSC series often has better racing than WTSC, believe it or not. The guys in ST really like to trade paint.

Oh, and welcome to the club

IMSA also has an app and sometimes broadcasts live car cam footage & you can sometimes catch the voice cast on Www.radiolemans.com or look for updates on

http://www.dailysportscar.com/national

I've had to get around The Fox issue quite a bit and refuse to give them $ for what they did to the Speed (previously Speedvision) Channel years ago.

In addition to the app, you can completely bypass all this BS and watch for free @ the IMSA YouTube channel.

Here is a teaser for Lime Rock this weekend:

As for WEC (BMW 2018), they have a fantastic app and web platform. If you pay (well worth it for whole season including 24 Hours of Lemans) because you get to watch it live or GO BACK AND WATCH AGAIN until the next race weekend. I would suggest paying for the mobile platform and not the PC/web platform as I believe replays are only available with the mobile device option. WEC also have a great YouTube account (handle = FIAWEC) and have been uploading content more efficiently this year. I think they even have lots of the races from 2017 up.

If you are interested, BMW will have their own factory car(S) in Formula E in 2018 as well; they are partners with MS Amlin this year. Can also find races on Youyube Formula E account, but Fox Sports makes watching practice and races a bit more challenging.

Hope this helps and wasn't too much yappin'.

[bradleyland]

Agree on how great the IMSA app and YouTube channel are, but the only way to watch live race broadcasts (in the US) is through Fox. They upload full races to YouTube, but it usually takes a few days. Occasionally they'll broadcast through IMSA.tv, but it seems Fox have locked up the broadcast rights. I can't remember the last time I was able to watch a WTSC race on IMSA.tv, other than in-car footage.

I really wish IMSA would give us a direct-pay option like WEC.

[Pr0metheus]

Originally Posted by bradleyland

Agree on how great the IMSA app and YouTube channel are, but the only way to watch live race broadcasts (in the US) is through Fox. They upload full races to YouTube, but it usually takes a few days. Occasionally they'll broadcast through IMSA.tv, but it seems Fox have locked up the broadcast rights. I can't remember the last time I was able to watch a WTSC race on IMSA.tv, other than in-car footage.

I really wish IMSA would give us a direct-pay option like WEC.

*please take my money*

[Pr0metheus]

Imsa is on top of the YouTube account today; Quali is already uploaded!

[Pic18]

Originally Posted by Pr0metheus

Didn't mean to sound like I was lecturing; I JUST LOVE DOWCUSSING THIS STUFF!!

I spend most of the race studying the cars and teams nerding out hard on the tech.

I didn't take it as a lecture at all. I love sports car racing, especially IMSA and am glad to see BMW embracing the newest tech. GT racing is so close that little things make a big difference so as stated before I hope these changes equal a fast car out of the box. Of course that would mean bop changes but that is a whole other discussion.

Also glad to see others as interest as I am. Made it to three live races this year so far and hope to go to one more. Also I and still need to go to Daytona one day so maybe this new car is an excuse. Lol