The Le Mans General Discussion Thread

On another, different, unrelated topic- Anyone see what Lord Drayson is up to? About to set the Electric Car Speed Record in his Lola B12. Pretty cool stuff I think. Maybe he'll come back after Nissan brings their new Electric Proto-thing.
 
In actual news, Pat Long is going to join Joe Foster and Patrick Dempsey in their GTE Am Porsche 911 RSR. Michael Avenatti has had a few business commitments come up, and personally asked if Long would come sit in for him with Porsche's blessing.
I'm sure Long is just pleased to be back at Le Mans.
 
hawkeye122
In actual news, Pat Long is going to join Joe Foster and Patrick Dempsey in their GTE Am Porsche 911 RSR. Michael Avenatti has had a few business commitments come up, and personally asked if Long would come sit in for him with Porsche's blessing.
I'm sure Long is just pleased to be back at Le Mans.
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Pat Long with Dempsey? Did NOT see that coming...
 
Did we already talk about the Caterham-Zytek-Greaves mash-up? I feel like that's a brand conflict, with Alpine being there and all.
 
hawkeye122
Did we already talk about the Caterham-Zytek-Greaves mash-up? I feel like that's a brand conflict, with Alpine being there and all.
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Renault and Caterham are in a partnership to make cars under the Alpine & Caterham names so I don't see any issues arising.
 
cate-zyte-z11sn-niss-lmp2-2013.jpg
 
If Jason bothered to post any info about it...

Motorsport Authority

Caterham is continuing its aggressive expansion to become a serious player in both motorsport and the production car world. In addition to its continued participation in GP2 and Formula One racing, the British firm has now confirmed its entry for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

This will be Caterham’s debut at the classic endurance race, with the automaker keen to further elevate its position as a global authority in performance car development ahead of the launch of its new road car due in 2016.

Interestingly, Caterham’s road car partner, Renault Alpine, has also chosen Le Mans to demonstrate its performance potential.

Caterham will run the #41 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan in the LMP2 category, with Caterham’s F1 reserve driver and GP2 star, Alexander Rossi, joining up with Tom Kimber-Smith and Lotus F1 Team part owner Eric Lux in the driver lineup.

Though its LMP2 prototype is based on the design of an existing team, in this case Greaves Motorsport, a crew of Caterham engineers, technicians and data analysts will work extensively on the car.

“While there won’t be any specification changes we can apply to the car for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, because the car is homologated for the whole season, we will be looking in more detail at how our various areas of expertise across both Caterham Technology & Innovation and Caterham Composites can be applied to a customer sports prototype program in future,” Caterham Technology CEO Mike Gascoyne said in a statement.

The sports prototype he is referring to is the SP/300.R that was first revealed in 2011. Caterham is continuing development on the customer race car and is investigating the viability of producing a customer sports prototype package in the future.

The Caterham Motorsport #41 LMP2 prototype will make its track debut at the official Le Mans test session this weekend.
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I'll wait and see how this turns out.
 
Meh, I'm more interested when they actually have something to do with the car rather than just pasting their logo on to it. Its not much different from the 13-year old 'Morgan' Courages.
At least for a change the 'Lotus' cars are actually new cars, even if they still seemingly have little to do with Lotus Cars in engineering terms.
 
So I did some number crunching on the nationalities of drivers and teams. The French event is dominated by French drivers, with the United Kingdom being next, followed by the United States. The UK leads in the number of cars from teams bearing it's nationality, but it's tied with the US based solely on the number of Teams, thanks in part to Aston Martin Racing entering five cars in the event (tied by the sole Italian team, AF Corse and it's five Ferrari's).

  • France - 39 drivers with 9 Cars over five Teams
  • UK - 26 drivers with 11 Cars over six Teams
  • US - 19 drivers with 8 Cars over six Teams
  • Switzerland - 9 drivers with 4 Cars over three Teams
  • Germany - 14 drivers with 6 Cars over three Teams
  • Italy - 11 drivers with 5 Cars on one Team

  • Teams based in/representing 16 Different Countries.
  • Drivers from 32 different nationalities are represented, including Monaco and the Ivory Coast.
  • Five brands are represented in the GT Classes by six different cars, with the Ferrari 458 GT2 being the most represented model at eight cars.
  • Six different engine manufacturers are represented between the two Prototype Classes with Nissan being the leading engine supplier.
  • Twelve different chassis from Nine different manufacturers are spread out between the two Prototype categories, Eleven and Eight if you count the Alpine A450 as an Oreca 03.
 
Ardius
Meh, I'm more interested when they actually have something to do with the car rather than just pasting their logo on to it. Its not much different from the 13-year old 'Morgan' Courages.
At least for a change the 'Lotus' cars are actually new cars, even if they still seemingly have little to do with Lotus Cars in engineering terms.
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So you read the press release? They can't change the car this year, its homologated. The point is the future of Caterham involvement.
 
Eight? I didnt think it would be that many... Lets see...

Audi
Toyota
Lola-Rebellion
HPD ARX Blah blah LMP1
Oreca 03
Zytec
HPD P2

What am I missing?

JK. Courage/Oak/Morgan
 
hawkeye122
Eight? I didnt think it would be that many... Lets see...

Audi
Toyota
Lola-Rebellion
HPD ARX Blah blah LMP1
Oreca 03
Zytec
HPD P2

What am I missing?

JK. Courage/Oak/Morgan
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Also Lotus.

Audi - 1
Toyota - 1
Lola - 3
HPD - 2
Courage/Oak/Morgan - 1
Lotus - 1
Oreca - 1
Zytec - 1

and if you count it...
Alpine - 1

So that's 8(9) Chassis manufacturers with 11(12) different models of chassis between them. HPD has two (with the P1 and P2 cars) and Lola has three (with the P1 Rebellion's and two different P2 cars).
 
freshseth83
So you read the press release? They can't change the car this year, its homologated. The point is the future of Caterham involvement.
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Nothing to stop Caterham building their own car and get it homologated, but thats not my point.
I'm not saying Caterham should be doing anything, I am however saying I don't get excited over a sticker and a dash of paint.
 
Whats exciting is the future prospects of their involvement. And pay close attention because it's more than just paint (actually vinyl as paint is too heavy), the fenders and headlight assembly have changed.
 
freshseth83
Whats exciting is the future prospects of their involvement. And pay close attention because it's more than just paint (actually vinyl as paint is too heavy), the fenders and headlight assembly have changed.
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Essentially its a Caterham bodykit.

Also, all 3 will be run at Goodwood :drool:

580232_592268037473150_1676365311_n.jpg
 
I agree with seth, it's nice to see more manufacturer involvement in the P2 class from Alpine, Caterham, Morgan and Lotus. If it keeps the group of cars strong, and has the potential to spawn new or refreshed chassis (like the Lotus T128), then I don't mind a paint job and front-end change if that's what gets things started.
 
Snaeper
I agree with seth, it's nice to see more manufacturer involvement in the P2 class from Alpine, Caterham, Morgan and Lotus. If it keeps the group of cars strong, and has the potential to spawn new or refreshed chassis (like the Lotus T128), then I don't mind a paint job and front-end change if that's what gets things started.
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Alpine and Caterham have plans to develop their own cars in the future (which is a bit strange as Caterham is a part owner of Alpine), but as far as I know, Morgan and Lotus will continue to be nothing more than sponsorships (with naming rights) for OAK and Kodewa respectively.
 
Well that picture of the three Toyota's help truly show how much inspiration along with the current FIA/ACO regs gave way to the current TS030
 
freshseth83
Whats exciting is the future prospects of their involvement. And pay close attention because it's more than just paint (actually vinyl as paint is too heavy), the fenders and headlight assembly have changed.
Click to expand...

Wow they moved the headlights. I expect them to gain a lot of time from that. :dunce:

Again, my point was simply that I don't really get excited at seeing such minimal input from companies. Yeah sure they say they are going to be working on 2014..so I'll get excited about that in 2014 then. Right now there isn't much to be excited about other that they are "involved".
 
Ardius
Wow they moved the headlights. I expect them to gain a lot of time from that. :dunce:

Again, my point was simply that I don't really get excited at seeing such minimal input from companies. Yeah sure they say they are going to be working on 2014..so I'll get excited about that in 2014 then. Right now there isn't much to be excited about other that they are "involved".
Click to expand...

Uh, no. They reshaped the whole front. The fenders are more upright and the diveplanes are missing. That's a significant change usually only seen by top teams like Toyota and Audi running a "LM spec" car. I get it, YOU aren't excited. That's great, but the prospect of them being more involved next year is exciting to teams and fans, especially those who appreciate variety.

Moving on, heres a picture of the new DOME S103 from the rear, the point of discussion is the 'handgrip'(?) looking aero appendage on the roof

downloadfilev.jpg
 
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Rebellion Racing to build LMP1 2014 car in partnership with ORECA

REBELLION_R_ONE_LMP1_691.jpg


Bart HAYDEN - REBELLION Racing Team Manager :
​
"The new Regulations for 2014 provide a great opportunity for Privateer LMP1 entrants to challenge for overall race wins. At REBELLION Racing, we are motivated by the prospect of those victories and having truly established ourselves in the LMP1 category over the past seasons, we want to build upon our success and reach an even higher level.

REBELLION Racing are delighted to be able to commit our future to the LMP1 category at such an early stage. We have chosen ORECA to develop and build the REBELLION R-ONE because they have a strong record of success, they have produced many successful prototype cars and they share our passion for Endurance Racing.

We have much work to do to be ready for the 2014 season, but we are all looking forward to the challenge ahead.”
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Yes! More privateer teams are accepting the LMP1 2014 rules and regs. 👍

Next years Le Mans/FIA WEC is surely be the best! :)
 
As long as its a coupe like that pic, wow.

Nice to see Rebellion and Oreca taking up the challenge and hope to see them succeed. :)
 
Oreca... Don't they run the Factory team right now? I can't help but think that could be extremely beneficial as far as Engine and Suspension data...
 

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