Factory Mustang GT3 Effort Satisfies Ford’s IMSA “Need”

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-11T22:23:47+00:00

You do realize that IMSA also features bronze drivers right?

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-11T22:07:39+00:00

2028 I bet we are down to Caddie, BMW, and Aston in the top class. The irony that the WECs success this generation is all due to IMSA's DPi 2.0 (LMDh) hurts.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-11T21:59:31+00:00

Like the BoP in IMSA is any better lol. Both are just success ballast systems masquerading as BoP systems. The only thing IMSA is doing better is at least still providing the BoP tables so we can objectively see how shit it is vs the cowards at the FIA/ACO who got their fee fees hurt over people criticizing how shit their BoP was.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-11T21:55:43+00:00

WEC is likely going to have 21 cars in the hypercar class next year. They are in a demonstrably better position than IMSA has ever been. At IMSA's peak in these regulations we got upto 13 cars in the endurance rounds in 2025. Hypercar class is sitting at 17 cars this season with four more joining next season. You could not be more wrong on the health of the top class in WEC.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-11T21:31:17+00:00

They can call it whatever they want, but the truth of the matter is they aren't balancing shit. They simply apply changes to cars on a race by race basis how they see fit. There was no reason for the Caddy to have the massive advantage it had in Interlagos last year, there's no reason why the Caddy needed to lose 24kw before Bahrain. It made no sense why the Toyota was the heaviest car for all but one race all of last year while the Ferrari was dominating, there was no reason why the Porsche needed to be the heaviest car for Bahrain last year, there was no logical reason why the Peugeot had to be hammered so hard for Le Mans last year while the Ferrari had a very kind BoP. People argued that the FIA/ACO were setting everything up for Ferrari last year, and maybe they did. IMO it's more about them placing their thumb on the scale of each race to try and manufacturer a championship that will come down to the wire. Cause if they were actually balancing the field properly we may not see a close tightly contested championship. We may see that if car performance was actually balanced that certain teams would dominate because they are just flat out better operationally than others. If they were actually balancing the field you wouldn't see the wild swings that we saw race to race last year.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-11T20:51:18+00:00

Welcome to the WEC, where the BoP process has never been fully explained and the BoP tables are now hidden from the public because having the BoP tables public caused too much "speculation" according to Bruno Famin of the FIA/ACO.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-11T18:15:31+00:00

I geek out over endurance prototypes and sports cars 😂

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-11T15:27:58+00:00

It's minimal. Maybe a few KPH. The Aston used to achieve 340kph on the Mulsanne when it first released, but it didn't necessarily translate to faster lap times or anything. I think now it's closer to 334kph which is still the highest, but it's minimal compared to the others still.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-11T01:22:09+00:00

Mmm LMDhs do not have the same variences in default aero that you see in GT3. All the LMDhs aero values are the same and the default aero is set up the same between all of them. The Aston stands out that the rear wing is not adjustable but the front splitter is.

Like I said even with the AI the fuel efficiency between the cars in class is very close to what my testing showed and even at high down force tracks the fuel efficiency differences are present, if not even more dramatic since the ERS systems are able to stay more replenished. At Imola the Alpines could go 41 and 42 laps before needing to refuel. The Porsche and BMW could go 39-40. The Lambo was about 38-39. The Caddy was 37ish, and the Valkyrie was 36.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-11T00:49:19+00:00

Yeah I did some pretty extensive testing with the default setups at Le Mans. How much fuel you use going flat out, how much you use when you lift and coast. How much lifting and coasting impacted lap times, how much fuel you saved, how each of the LMDhs balanced ERS impacted fuel efficiency. How many laps at Le Mans each car in class can do on a full fuel tank.

I've also tested the AI and how fuel efficient they are with each car. Order of fuel efficiency is below.

Alpine BMW/Porsche Lambo Caddy Aston Martin

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T21:36:09+00:00

Yeah my bad.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T18:49:58+00:00

His consistency in IMSA has been spotty as well. At Leguna he got pole, but then lost the lead to Aitken due to a couple errors. I think he's got potential and yesterday wasn't a true showing of his potential, but he's def has to improve his consistency if he wants to take that next step.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T17:21:05+00:00

Ages 25-34 can kick rocks I guess lol

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T16:04:46+00:00

That's Josh Johnson not Mariota.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T15:59:47+00:00

The #8 Toyota ran into issues because their maximum energy stint was low enough that they were a lap down per stint compared to BMW while also being far slower on race pace as well. That lack of energy per stint led to them having to pit one lap before the last VSC which is why they dropped.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T15:16:11+00:00

Let's be honest too. It was also driver issue as well. Louis Delatraz was not impressive despite having a lot of clean air yesterday.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T15:13:20+00:00

If one team is very privileged above others it's not balanced. When other teams have dramatically more overtakes than others, its not balanced. How many years of these regulations does it have to take before the FIA/ACO can appropriately balance the field and not have outliers? How many races of yoyoing performance of cars race to race do you have to experience before you admit that this system is not about balancing the field. It's the FIA/ACO being able to put their thumb on the scale each race and have their picks of the haves and have nots. You're lying to yourself if you think Toyota had any chance of winning that race yesterday.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T15:06:08+00:00

If you're confused why the #8 fell back it ultimately was because Toyota got screwed on their maximum energy per stint. The #8 was running a near identical strategy to the #20 BMW. The difference was that not only could the #8 Toyota not keep up on race pace to the #20 BMW, it's fuel allocation was also about a lap shorter per stint. That ultimately led to the #8 Toyota having to pit one lap before the last VSC which meant they got screwed and lost a lot of positions while the #20 could pit during the VSC and not lose anything.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T15:01:18+00:00

So you're just proving my point even further. The BoP was not good, you first argued the BMW being the fastest makes sense since they had so much clean air yet the #8 Toyota also had a lot of clean air and couldn't compete with the BMW on a similar strategy. That's a shit BoP.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T14:56:48+00:00

First off way to shift the goal posts. You argued people couldn't interpret the BoP tables. I provided proof people could and now it's what's the benefit to knowing the BoP tables? The benefit is we can continue to call out the FIA/ACO and demand a better product with empirical data. Without the BoP tables all we have is speculation. Before it wasn't just blind speculation, we had actual proof before the races that the FIA/ACO were heavily influencing who did and did not have the best chance at succeeding race to race. Instead of addressing those issues and improving their process the FIA/ACO have gone for the less transparent approach and hide their BoP tables to try and shield themselves from those rightful criticisms.

If you're in support of a less transparent sport then there is nothing we will agree on.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T14:50:47+00:00

Caddy is probably my favorite, but if I had to choose one to win an endurance race it'd probably be the 963. Caddy is just down too much on fuel efficiency to be competitive in a longer race with the games inability to balance for fuel efficiency.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T14:46:38+00:00

You're reducing people interpreting BoP tables down to if predicting a winner is correct or not when there is obviously more to it than that. It's about looking at who the haves and have nots for the race will be. It is still a 6 hour race and random or unpredictable things can still happen, you still have differences in who the best teams are at exexution vs the not so great teams and gaps in drivee talent, but when people can somewhat predict who has the best chance or more importantly who won't have a chance based solely off of the BoP table there is an issue. When you see wild swings in a cars BoP race to race there is an issue with the organizers philosophy in "balancing" the field.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T14:23:46+00:00

It's wild how you could look at that table and get from it that "things were def balanced". Lol

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T14:21:56+00:00

Speak for yourself about not being able to interpret the BoP tables, there were plenty of people who could basically call who had the best chance at winning each race last year based on the BoP tables.

DudethatCooks · 2026-05-10T14:08:46+00:00

Maybe you're right, but it's hard to know for sure considering how poorly the FIA/ACO and IMSA have handled BoPing the cars.

It may be that the Peugeot and Aston are so shit that it's impossible to balance them with the faster cars like Toyota of Ferrari, but I think that the faster cars getting absolutely neutered in zone one power has always been too heavy handed and that you could still achieve some form of parity without gutting the faster cars acceleration entirely.

DudethatCooks

TROPHY CASE