This has been discussed before but focused, at the time, only on the Oreca 07. I used Woochoo's 1967 based Le Grand Circuit to test top speeds of the 3 prototypes since it has no chicanes to slow the cars down. First the Ligier 322kph with the stock Le Mans Aero and setup Then I stiffened the springs to max and tested again 323kph Next the Oreca 07 with Le Mans Aero and stock setup 315kph Then I maxed out the springs and raised the ride ht. 5cm front and rear and added packers. 323(almost 324) The Caddy does not have a Le Mans specific aero package but using the Low Drag Aero I got 330kph Max springs 331kph The Caddy also rides MUCH lower than the LMP2 cars. default ride ht was like 3.5cmfront and 4.5rear. The two LMP2 cars were closer to 5cm front and 6.5 rear. (didn't write those down) This test doesn't try and exactly match the setups but takes the default stock setup for each. Somebody with some motec skills could probably produce a more accurate test. But this shows, the Oreca and Ligier are equal IF the user knows to raise the Oreca's min ride ht. to avoid dragging the bottom of the car on the asphalt. Since there are no audio or visual cues that indicate dragging, it could be a big dis-advantage for users racing the Oreca vs Ligier.
p probably I mixed low downforce with low drag. One stems from the other so essentially the terms refer to the same thing. Occasionally during the summer I would rant at S397 about having both sets of dive planes on the Le Mans Aero package. Then I saw the delayed race and realized S397 was correct. All the Orecas had high and low sets of dive planes on. Seems it wasn't that long ago, maybe the 1990's, they used to swap out nose pieces at night to take advantage of the cooler air. Seems that isn't done anymore.
24H du mans, Alpine (oreca 07), with specific pacakge LeMans... only 1 dive plane (and specific for LeMans)
What are the handling difference between oreca vs ligier ? Could you guys share your experiences please ?
