2012 Technical Regulations for LMP1 cars

[The_Man]

Does anyone know where I can find the 2012 LMP1 technical regulations in English?

I have tried the ACO website, LeMans website and Mussalane's corner.

[Muulka]

I don't think they've been published yet. From reading Mulsanne's Corner the ACO has had problems with releasing regs in time lol.

But I'm pretty sure that the only changes are contained in the second most recent Mulsanne's Corner news article, about the so-called 'big honking holes.'

[Earnard Beccelstone]

Technical regs are not due out for a few weeks.

From the ACO website:

"The complete sporting regulations will not be announced before the 30th November 2011 after the next meeting of the Endurance Commission scheduled for 21st November 2011."

From recent discussions, the following has been decided:

Fuel/performance:

All the refuelling equipment will have the same flow.

No modifications will be made to the petrol engines.

The performance of the diesel engines will be pegged back by around 7% by decreasing the size of the air restrictors and the supercharger pressure. The diameter of the restrictors will be reduced from 47.4 mm to 45.8 mm for engines that have a single restrictor, and from 33.5 mm to 32.4 mm for those engines that have two. In addition, the supercharger pressure of the turbos will be reduced from 3 000 to 2 800 milibars.

The fuel tank capacity of diesel-engined LM P1 cars will be reduced by 5 litres (65 to 60 litres).

So, less power for diesel LMP1s and smaller tanks - means that they'll probably be slower and pit one lap earlier at Le Mans this year (9-11 laps per stint, instead of 10-12 per stint).

Chassis:

the dorsal element on the engine cover, the shark’s fin, will become mandatory on all LM P1, LM P2 and FLM prototypes and openings will be made above the front and rear wheels....

..the size of the rearview mirrors will be increased, and they must be equipped with a night mode as well as an electrical adjustment system that enables the driver in the cockpit to alter the rearview mirrors to meet his needs. The camera system at the rear will be mandatory on LM GTE cars and allowed on all the others..

Hybrid engines

The release of energy is allowed on the front wheels but only above 120 km/h. Safety measures concerning the specific brakes for hybrid engines have also been defined.

[The_Man]

This helps thank you.

Where did you get information about the recent discussions? If it is on the ACO website could you please post the link.

[Earnard Beccelstone]

ACO link

http://www.lemans.org/en/races/intercon ... _5410.html

[Earnard Beccelstone]

Rumours floating around that Honda will be making an announcement about a 2012 LMP1 entry within the next few weeks.

Not sure if it will be a petrol or diesel powerplant as Honda has just announced a renewed focus on the "fuel of satan".

[godlameroso]

It annoys me to no end that they're trying to make LMP's into open wheelers. I for one enjoy the sleek lines of the current prototypes; these new openings are going to look stupid, the fins are enough as it is. Leave it to the FIA to ruin a good thing.

[scuderiafan]

It annoys me to no end that they're trying to make LMP's into open wheelers. I for one enjoy the sleek lines of the current prototypes; these new openings are going to look stupid, the fins are enough as it is. Leave it to the FIA to ruin a good thing.

The openings on the fenders and the fins are implemented to prevent yaw-induced sudden rolls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSsorp6F ... D477539561

[wesley123]

Rumours floating around that Honda will be making an announcement about a 2012 LMP1 entry within the next few weeks.

Not sure if it will be a petrol or diesel powerplant as Honda has just announced a renewed focus on the "fuel of satan".

I thought this was already known? Strakka will run the ARX-03a which is a full bred LMP1 car. This one is run under the HPD badge, which is part of Honda. These cars are developped fully in CFD(and yes here it actually works) by Wirth Research.

Unless you are talking about something different, because then I have not said anything

[Earnard Beccelstone]

There have been some rumours floating around some French Sportscars websites about Honda possibly doing a factory-backed LMP1 entry at Le Mans next year.

Honda Performance Development said that its "only official commitment to date" is the ARX-03a for the Strakka Racing in the WEC, but it has numerous other options:

1 or 2 ARX-03b LMP2 for Level 5 Motorsports - ALMS program and Le Mans likely (Level 5 has an automatic qualification);

1 LMP1 ARX-03a for a TBA team for ALMS;

ARX-03b LMP2 2 for two TBA teams in WEC.


The phrase "only official commitment to date" leaves Honda lots of wriggle room . Its getting a little late for any announcement though, as Le Mans automatic invites have already been published.

Gut feeling is that they are might be going with a scenario like Toyota did in 2001, when they ran their TF101 test mule at a dozen F1 tracks, ahead of entering F1 in 2002.

[wesley123]

I have serious doubts by it. Why would Honda as an full factory-backed team run against their own HPD? Although last isn;t anywhere close of being an factory outfit it is just stupid. For example Toyota didnt race against the AAR Toyota's in the GTP series, and neither did Nissan with the Electramotive Nissans.

Although it must have said neither Electramotive nor AAR ever turned a wheel in europe their idea seems rather similair. HPD(Originally Acura) started running their cars only in the ALMS focussing on American only, but then they rebranded their Acura's to HPDs and started running them in europe, starting with Strakka Racing, but now also Level 5 Motorsport. Unless Honda decides to pull the plug out of the HPD efford the only thing I can actually see happening is rebranding the HPDs to Honda's for Europe or run a team of HPD's themselves.

First point raised seems quite logical now that I wrote it, Honda themselves has an really marginal input in the whole HPD effort, only building the engines for the effort which are taken directly from the indycars with barely any modifications. I can only wish that Honda takes more input engine wise since Wirth Research and the teams running both cars took a lot of effort to race these cars and get them as good as possible, where Honda actually seems to leave them behind engine wise.

[Pandamasque]

Rumours floating around that Honda will be making an announcement about a 2012 LMP1 entry within the next few weeks.

Not sure if it will be a petrol or diesel powerplant as Honda has just announced a renewed focus on the "fuel of satan".

I thought this was already known? Strakka will run the ARX-03a which is a full bred LMP1 car. This one is run under the HPD badge, which is part of Honda. These cars are developped fully in CFD(and yes here it actually works) by Wirth Research.

Unless you are talking about something different, because then I have not said anything

I'm pretty sure it's not going to be a diesel. I doubt it will be anything else but the ARX-03a-.... It's likely that Honda is going to collect some data and experience with a factory team and roll out a brand new petrol-hybrid car in 2014. Wirth mentioned the coupe being in the works awhile ago.

[wesley123]

The images are here for the new 2012 rules. Oak Pescarolo ran ther car in 2012 configuration

(From Mulsannescorner.com)

I can only say the new rules will come with something better, this looks hideous

[Pandamasque]

The images are here for the new 2012 rules. Oak Pescarolo ran ther car in 2012 configuration

Not quite. The obligatory addition of the Big Honking Fin (BHF) will mean you won't see more than 3 of those Big Honking Holes (BHH) at a time (unless viewed from above).
It is hideous indeed. Looks broken. Hopefully the clean sheet 2014 rules won't necessitate such 'there-I-fixed-it' features.

[wesley123]

Thank you for correcting me, the Oak Pescarolo is indeed missing its shark fin.

It indeed is hideous, I'd rather see more forced louvres than this, hope some team can do something interesting so it looks at least a little better