This year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place not only behind closed doors and without many competitors from IMSA, but it will also be the last time the LMP1 hybrids will grace the Sarthe circuit. It brings to an end a period that started with the advent of the World Endurance Championship and involved full factory development programmes from Toyota, Audi, Porsche and Nissan.
Next year, the Hypercar regulation set will replace these regulations which have remained similar since 2012. These are hybrid prototypes that will be performance balanced. In 2022, the Hypercars will be joined by LMDh, which has a regulation set based on IMSA’s existing DPi philosophy.
The entry list for the 2020 edition of Le Mans boasts 60 cars, but the majority of the grid is made up of LMP2 and GTE-Am cars, which feature no fewer than 47 cars between them. It is a stark reminder to the regulation writers that they should build the grid from the back, looking after their privateers ahead of manufacturer needs as, when the chips are down, they always rely on those who choose to spend their own money.
Golden opportunity
It seems with the Hypercar regulations that the FIA has not yet learned that lesson, but the ACO’s inclusion of LMDh does open the door to low-cost manufacturer entries that are supported, or even led, by high-quality privateer entries. For such a team, the coming years are a golden opportunity to win endurance racing’s greatest prize.
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Denne historien er fra October 2020-utgaven av Racecar Engineering.
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Talk the torque
More thoughts on in-wheel motors and their effects on twisting force
Rolling about
An explanation of the limitations of a previous load transfer article, bringing jacking forces into the mix
F1 breaks schedule records
The FIA has confirmed no fewer than 23 races on the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship schedule, the highest number of grands prix ever to be held in a single season, and that has led to criticism from some teams that will be on the road for eight months.
Under pressure
Toyota may have finished first and second at Le Mans this year, but the effort required to overcome a fuel delivery problem and finish with both cars was Herculean
Physics at work
Dutch company, Intrax, offers Racecar Engineering an insight into the technologies it employs to optimise its suspension products
Williams' 2030 ambition
Williams Racing has committed to becoming climate positive by 2030 as part of an all-new sustainability strategy.
Diff'rent strokes
Racecar looks at the different types of mechanical differential, their benefits and limitations
Das Boot
A curious Twitter exchange fired up a unique, hydrogen-powered, cross-country project that will contest the Baja 1000 in November 2022
Air born
Every racecar engineer's dream is a blank sheet of paper design. When Hoonigan and Subaru approached Vermont Sportscars about building the next generation of Gymkhana racer, that's just what the company was given
Remote control
Called variously ‘virtual garages’, ‘mission control’ or ‘race support rooms’ is the future of race engineering sitting in the warm back at HQ?
