When we are now within range of the 24h of Le Mans, for which the protagonists will begin to prepare with the test day scheduled today, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest has issued a note to explain how the Balance of Performance works.
On the Circuit de la Sarthe on 15-16 June what is valid as the fourth seasonal event of the FIA World Endurance Championship will take place, in which not only the 37 participants in the World Championship will participate, but also the 25 invited by the French organization.
A few days ago all the parameters relating to weight and power that the HYPERCAR and LMGT3 Class cars will have to respect in the transalpine stage were published, but how does the BoP work? Here is ACO’s explanation provided for professionals and enthusiasts, which we report in full below.
#15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello, Marco Wittmann
Photo by: Marc Fleury
“The BoP is a key element of the Hypercar and LMGT3 regulations. It is a series of technical adjustments, which mainly concern weight and power and which are intended to create a level playing field between cars of different designs and architecture. Here is one full explanation of the process, as this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is just a week away.”
“The BoP therefore maintains a similar level of performance across all cars, significantly reducing development costs. All manufacturers on the grid agreed to the basic principles before entering the FIA WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The BoP has therefore played an active role in an unprecedentedly rich grid of competitive participants, with 14 manufacturers represented in 2024.”
“The purpose of the BoP is to balance the performance potential of cars. In other words, it assumes that each car is used to its maximum potential. It is not designed to erase performance gaps between two cars built by the same manufacturer or to help an abnormally slow to catch up with its rivals”.
“It also does not replace operational performance – be it tire management, driver skill, pit time or race performance – all of which are decisive factors and the main component of overall performance.”
#27 Heart Of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 of Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli, Alex Riberas
Photo by: Marc Fleury
How does Balance of Performance work?
“The BoP is established jointly by the FIA and ACO, working closely with the various manufacturers. It is based on data measured during the cars’ homologation process and, as regards the FIA WEC, on each manufacturer’s individual performance recorded in track by means of various sensors and indicators”.
“For Hypercars, the definition occurs in three successive stages. First, the FIA and the ACO balance the ‘homologation parameters’, i.e. the technical characteristics observed during homologation when the cars are inspected, measured and examined in a wind tunnel. It should be remembered that the aerodynamic performance window that applies to the homologation of Hypercars is very narrow, so the differences between the cars before reaching this first step are minimal.”
“The second step is ‘platform equivalence’. The Hypercar class has two different technical regulations: Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh), based on the use of common parts, and Le Mans Hypercar (LMH), which offers manufacturers have greater freedom. The two sets of regulations are very similar, but their different design may require performance adjustments. To this end, ‘platform equivalence’ applies to all cars of the same type, taking into account the levels of performance of the best LMDh type car and the best LMH type car”.
The final stage – ‘builder compensation’ – considers the individual performance of each builder based on data collected in the race. We must stress that ‘builders’ compensation’ – whatever its nature – is used sparingly and only when the data is deemed sufficiently robust, which requires several tenders.”
“An identical process is used for the LMGT3, except there is no ‘platform equivalence’ as all cars are built to the same technical regulations. A weight handicap is added to each race, based on the ranking of the championship, except for the 24 Hours of Le Mans”.
#11 Isotta Fraschini Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C of Carl Wattana Bennett, Jean-Karl Vernay, Antonio Serravalle
Photo by: Marc Fleury
How does the process apply to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and how does the BoP differ specifically for this race?
“The BoP of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Hypercar differs because it takes into account data from the previous year’s race, so there is not necessarily a direct link with the BoP published for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, for example.”
“For 2024, analyzes conducted by the FIA and ACO and the restrictive nature of the applicable technical regulations have meant that the BoP has been reduced to a minimum. Only the ‘homologation parameters’ have been corrected based on the measured data.”
“The weight and power settings have been adapted on this basis to the Le Mans circuit, but no platform equivalences or compensations between manufacturers have been applied. The merits of each manufacturer will therefore be appreciated at their fair value.”
“We have also introduced a measure of a purely technical nature: the differentiation of power at low and high speed. This measure does not alter the effective BoP, but modulates the power output above 250 km/h to balance the top speeds without having to make excessive changes to weight or power.”
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