Le Mans 24 hours 2010

[dumrick]

Well, when he sold the team to Jacques Nicolet, it was to allow the company to develop. After the financial crisis hit, Nicolet rushed to re-sell it to Mr. Py.

Henri on the sell of Pescarolo Sport: "Personally, if I agreed to sell 100% of my actions, to lose all the energy, the love and money invested in this team, it was with the guarantee to see it being maintained on its level, i.e. the highest level of Endurance racing. See such a knowledge, such an expertise and such an experience thrown to the nettles, it is a catastrophe."

[dumrick]

The first photos of the Norma-Judd M200, the first LMP car from this French constructor have been revealed.

This car will make its debut (!) at this year's 24 Hours. This chance was possible due to the withdrawal of the Dome.



It will be alligned by Pegasus Racing in LMP2 and the drivers will be Pegasus' boss, Julien Schell and Frédéric Da Rocha, with the third to be known later. I reckon that the true value of the car won't be known, for the time being...



This is the first LMP conceived according to ACO's 2011 regulations, which should make this year's races a matter of full-scale testing, ahead of the 2011 season.

Racing before Le Mans was planned, but a late delivery of X-Trac gearboxes meant that they will now test and debut at La Sarthe (humm, I've seen the same two years ago with Dome... X-Trac 'boxes must be terrific for costumers to put up with what seems to be a constant problem of the company).

[Pandamasque]

Looks a lot like Courage C65 to me. Is that the Judd V8 or the GV5 V10?

[wesley123]

seems like an courage C65 yes.

Also i thought the 2011 regulation were a rewite thus complete new rules? wich i see here is just an 2010 LMP car, nothing what i have expected for 2011 LMP's

[dumrick]

Is that the Judd V8 or the GV5 V10?

That's a V8, I believe the XV675, the car is a LMP2.

Also i thought the 2011 regulation were a rewite thus complete new rules? wich i see here is just an 2010 LMP car, nothing what i have expected for 2011 LMP's

Well, since the release of the 2010 rules, the "interim" allowances made it clear that the basic writing of the rules would be the same. Peugeot and Audi are building new cars, but that's because the engine downsizing will impose a different finesse on the process of obtaining downforce, other constructors are jumping at the chance of different equivalency rules between petrol and diesels to try to make an impression with a new chassis. But DOME is testing their S102 and it could race next year, with minor change.

[vyselegend]

I'm a bit surprised by the lack of visual changes too. I thought it was going to be something radical, but then we have to consider few things.

First, the 2011 LMP rules are much more toward an LMP2 sized car, so it's no surprise that the changes are minimal for a P2, but should look more drastic for P1.
Then, that naked Norma prototype still lacks some of the feats that will make 2011 cars different, such as the mandatory shark fin. Last, we must also consider that the Norma is certainly not going to lead the way in terms of exotic/"out of the box" designs since they have so much to understand with a rather simple car to begin with.
That way they'll avoid doing a WR and make a sophisticated design that takes years to get exploited correctly.

[wesley123]

I'm a bit surprised by the lack of visual changes too. I thought it was going to be something radical, but then we have to consider few things.

First, the 2011 LMP rules are much more toward an LMP2 sized car, so it's no surprise that the changes are minimal for a P2, but should look more drastic for P1.
Then, that naked Norma prototype still lacks some of the feats that will make 2011 cars different, such as the mandatory shark fin. Last, we must also consider that the Norma is certainly not going to lead the way in terms of exotic/"out of the box" designs since they have so much to understand with a rather simple car to begin with.
That way they'll avoid doing a WR and make a sophisticated design that takes years to get exploited correctly.

shark fin?

Cool, that means we can do the f duct too on LMP's

[dumrick]

that naked Norma prototype still lacks some of the feats that will make 2011 cars different, such as the mandatory shark fin

Is it final that the shark fin will be imposed? Last I knew about it, it was still just a (strong) possibility.


Today, the ACO announced that the Modena Ferrari hasn't confirmed its entry on the proper delays and will be replaced by the #88 Felbermayr-Proton Porsche. A little more balance between Ferraris and Porsches, may be a good thing.

The list of reserve cars now stand like this:

LMP
KSM : Lola-Judd n°39

GT
1 AF Corse : Ferrari 430GT n°95
2 Matech Compétition : Ford GT n°60
3 Spyker Squadron : Spyker C8 Laviolette n°86

So, we've some people missing from the reserves list, that have withdrawn their request for entry, namely Tokai University's Courage-YGK, the #28 Lola-Judd from José Ibañez, the Courage-Judd #22 entry from Kaneko Racing and the Aston Martin Vantage #91 from Team Hong Kong Racing.
The ACO has also stated that if more than 1 LMP is withdrawn, they will replace them by GT reserve entries. Just a note, the Pescarolos #16 and #17 remain on the entry list...

[dumrick]

News about withdrawals come pouring in. Today, the ACO confirmed that both Pescarolo LMP1's (as predicted) won't take the start, as well as the PK Racing Corvette C6.R (destroyed in a fire at the GT1 World Championship race meeting).

Therefore, have been confirmed for entry the second AF Corse Ferrari (with Alesi, Fisichella and Toni Vilander), the KSM Lola and the second Ford Matech.

Only one car remains on the reserve list, the second Spyker Squadron car.

This means that we'll have 6 Ferraris against 6 Porsches in GT2.

[vyselegend]

Is it final that the shark fin will be imposed? Last I knew about it, it was still just a (strong) possibility.

Yes, it's just that, a strong possibility. No official release yet about final bodywork rules, but in this interview of ACO's Rémy Brouard and Vincent Beaumesnil ( google translated in englih here )
Baumesnil stated that "Finally, we expect a note from the FIA to add shark fins. We talked with manufacturers and we have advanced hand in hand on this with the FIA. We know there will be those back, but we do not yet know in what form. Anyway, there is no compromise to safety. If we must add a point six months before the start of the season, we will. "


I'd bet they will do it because it has quite a few positives ( reducing the take-up phenomena under yaw, adding braking stability, more advertising room...) but not much negatives (mainly the fact it's ugly).

shark fin?

Cool, that means we can do the f duct too on LMP's

That is actually what could kill their will of implementing that on LMP. If it turns to be a technical nightmare to prevent all exotic interpretations of the fin, they'll probably prefer to avoid controversy again and simply cancel it.
Logic would tell ACO is already looking deep into the matter, but since it's the ACO we're talking about, I guess they will wake up when it's too late and make some "clarifications" during the season which will cost them credibility again. Or maybe I'm just too cynical...

[Pandamasque]

We don't know how it's going to look on an LMP car. It may be actually quite pretty.

[dumrick]

The ACO has published the entry list with drivers.

As usual, P1 and GT2 have so much driving talent it's almost obscene

The list can be found in pdf here.

[Pandamasque]

http://www.endurance-info.com/version2/ ... ewsID=4444

[dumrick]

With the biggest 24 hours of the year for motorsport fans fast approaching, teams start assembling their stands and news are pumping in.

You can check the stand allocation here. Oreca's #4 Peugeot will be just beside the three official cars - let's hope they avoid crashing into each other, like they did in 2009 with Pesca or Corvette did at Sebring...

Livery wise, Highcroft can't be sponsored by tequilla in Europe, so they revealed a photoshop of their livery.



BMW's art car by Jeff Koons has also been presented.





Kolles has tested the Audi R10 at Paul Ricard. The unknown factor is if the team, that hasn't raced yet this season is up for the job. The Audi R10 is the only car allowed to race in 2009 configuration and with a team like Bouchut/Bakkerud/Jarvis, they have the talent to surprise...



Planetlemans is releasing the traditional class preview. You can check the LMP1 previews here (Diesel cars) and here (Petrol).

[wesley123]

that norma is looking quite draggy imo. I asm pretty sure it will not even come close to the pace of most contenders. The car itself looks pretty much outdated, the car seems pretty much square all the way, it just doesnt look fast or new.