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http://joxjottings.blogspot.com/TESTING APRIL 22 2011
JOX JOTTINGS
As great Victor Meldrew might have said ‘I don’t believe it ...we are back at Le Mans already”! The sun was out, the sky was blue... weather here .. wish you were lovely!
You have slim team looking after things this weekend “Le Grand Fromage” is bravely leading from the front and your two smaller Dairy Lea portions, Jock and Tony are bringing up the rear scribbling furiously.
It was a great run down and a beautiful evening back at Chateau Tortoise.. it has been so warm that Titine (the tortoise) woke up early from hibernation. Our host JJ is far too friendly and generous and his good lady wife laid on a massive feast. We cant imagine why on earth we feel a bit fuzzy .. could it have been the beer, Pernod (Lots) white wine, red wine and then pink wine that did some damage ...naaaah!
If you have never been to testing it is all a bit surreal.. it is a bit like the party either hasn’t started or maybe finished early. Wide open spaces ... tumble weed blowing across the dusty car park ...virtually no people except the hardcore nutters who have their expensive cameras with huge egos all ready to go and have even invested €10 to diligently watch nothing going on.. which is a little odd, mind you there are around 154 drivers here. Away from the circuit bars are open and quiet...
All the same, the reason we are here is that there are due to be around 54 cars out testing on Sunday. Today and Saturday they are making a start on scrutineering.. as usual the more ‘public’ scrutineering will carry on in June, down town at the Place des Jacobins as before.
Those of you in the know, and that probably means all of you.. will know that there has been a big shake up in the regs for this year, so here goes for a potted version...
The ACO have resisted major changes to the Regs since 2007 so, brace yourselves, it is ‘all change’ for 2011, the 79th running of The 24 Hours of Le Mans. The pressure started to build up and the ACO realised that environmental pressures were building up and the new buzz words all start with ‘eco’.. we thought this would open the flood gates to all that new fangled hybrid stuff!! Not quite ... ‘they’ are here and ‘it’ will race .. just two cars so far and only one will be back in June. There was a rumour that Peugeot would bring their hybrid, but it would seem they are going to keep that under wraps a little longer.. More about Hybrids later.
Starting with Le Mans Prototype One.. LMP1. This year these will all new cars, with the exception of the Rebellion Racing Lola 10/60 that ran in 2011 specification last year , since the ‘old’ LMP1 cars became obsolete at the end of 2010. This is another reason why testing this year is so important. As far as specification is concerned it is down to the manufacturer to decide whether they choose to have a roof or leave the cockpit open. There is some debate whether a roof is a good thing or bad thing. A roof maybe more aerodynamic, it may stop buffeting and the driver feels more secure. On the other hand they are heavier and the doors fall off plus they have to run air conditioning so the jury is out for the moment!
The engines are now nearer the LMP2 specification and for petrol powered cars they will be 3.4 litres for the normally aspirated, non turbo, cars and 2.0 litres for turbo charged engines. The engine size for the diesel cars is reduced from 5.5 litres to 3.7 litres. I wonder if that will slow them up..probably not!
Many of the changes in LMP2 have been introduced to try and keep costs under control. This an interesting concept for the less well off amongst us...the price of the car is now pegged, and the price of the body and engine fixed but however quickly you say it, at €345,000 (excluding the cost of the engine which has to cost no more than €75,000) is still quite a lot of money. Or a modest house to you and me. The engines are now similar in many ways to the old GT2 power units and have to be based upon an engine that can be found in a ‘production’ car. The maximum size of a normally aspirated engine is 5.0 litres with a maximum of eight cylinders. The turbo charged versions are limited to 3.2 litres. Diesel engines are not permitted in LMP2. We wonder why that is.. it may be something to do with the saga of LMP1. It is possible to either have a roof or an open cockpit.
These changes mean that the engines are now being supplied by some of the major manufacturers that we got used to seeing at Le Mans in years gone by ...like BMW, Ford, Honda, Jaguar, Nissan and Toyota. The sharper enthusiast will of course realise that Honda are back this year and they may have a slight advantage this time since they ran their engines here last year under the then ‘anonymous’ banner of HPD. ( Honda Performance Development). This year the full name appears in the programme.
Remember that Hybrid bit? Well, for 2011 the ACO are encouraging better fuel efficiency and as result we will be seeing two cars here at testing fitted with KERS. (kinetic energy recovery systems). These are #5 Swiss Oreca based Hytech Hybrid and the #23 MIK Corse Zytek Hybrid.. Unlike in Formula One GP racing these are only linked to the throttle and cannot be used independently. The regulations specifically state that a KERS device is intended to decrease fuel consumption and definitely not offer more power.. so a totally different approach to F1. To prove it works the car must be able to travel the entire length of the pit lane here at Le Mans under ‘KERS’ power. We are not sure this is the blindingly brilliant innovation we were looking for.
These changes to the technical regulations should result in the quicker LMP2 cars being very close to the pace of the petrol powered LPM1 cars. The ‘new’ Audi hasn’t run yet in serious competition but will have been out at Spa 1000 km for a pre-Le Mans shake down. .The Peugeot ran at Sebring and got beaten by last year’s car so maybe the petrol .v. diesel debate goes on. Despite all this the future of LMP1 looks secure enough since it gives the major companies a playing field to explore, but what if Audi or Peugeot decide to pull out who would fill the vacuum ?
Look out for GT thoughts later ..
