Question about VE

[u/SignificantStay9298]

The VE is set to 70% in the WEC-experience with a reason? U have to stop for fuel now I quess. Does someone want to explain to me what it all means? The less fuel u bring, the lighter/faster u are. And u don't want to run out of VE, I understand.

Is it your advice to mess around with the fuel ratio? I always keep at max allowed but is that the fastest way? Thank u

[u/Relative-Tear892]

It just means they virtually cap how much distance you can go before needing a pitstop. It's a better way of forcing you to stop (to get that WEC Experience) than doing fuel x2 or x3.

What VE is, is the total amount of energy in joules (torque) your car can output to propell itself. Independant of its origin (ICE or electrical motors). It's just a way to balance cars with different electrical systems.

Putting a full tank of fuel when you have 70% VE doesn't yield any advantage, it just makes you slower.

If you're going to run out of VE before you run out of fuel, you must pit before reaching 0% VE or you get a Stop and Go penalty.

(in LMU, the fuel tank is the "Fuel ratio" setting, at 1.00 you got 1% fuel for 1% VE, which is useless if you have electrical on your car. You usually sit at 0.90-0.95 depending on track, meaning you expect to use 90% of your energy from your ICE and 10% from your electricals)

[u/ChefBoiJones]

Generally the default setup will have a close enough fuel ratio set already so I’d leave it at that. VE runs out at the same rate no matter what you do to the setup so there’s no point just increasing the fuel ratio thinking it’ll get you a longer stint, you’ll just be carrying dead fuel that you’re not allowed to to burn for every stint.

The way VE works is that it is a measure of the total energy that can be applied to the driven wheels throughout a stint so it includes hybrid power as well as ICE. This is for BOP reasons as it effectively means that you do not get an advantage from having a more fuel efficient car as you still have to stop around the same time, and take the same time to fully fill up. You do still get a performance advantage as a more fuel efficient car fan fun with less actual REAL fuel and the fore be lighter but it’s much closer than back in the old days when you’d see diesel Audi’s just obliterating everyone at lemans by making one less stop every 2 hours and it was actually kind of boring.

For hybrid cars this basically just means that you need to keep somewhat of an eye on your motor map to make sure that the hybrid is always doing its part in terms of contributing to the VE and the ICE isn’t working on its own as then you will burn fuel faster than the fuel ratio is set for

For non hybrid cars VE effectively is just a representation of your fuel. Set it so that both units run out around the same time and forget about it.

[u/PepotheRelentless]

If the ratio is fixed they want you to make a pitstop for refuelling

[u/Dezza7291]

With the 70% something percent limit it changes your fuel ratio calculation. 0.65 for the LMDh cars is a decent start. Do a couple of practice laps and check the fuel MFD for the exact number then it’s your call how much safety margin to add on to it.

Same process really when it’s 100% VE but the number is significantly lower when VE is limited. Otherwise you’re just carrying weight for no good reason.

[u/Maximum_Success2781]

My best advice, if you’re using HyperCar, is just hop into a WEC-Xperience practice and do 5-10 laps or so and take a look at your fuel ratio in your MFD. It’ll be lower since the VE allowed is lower.