Aston Martin's Le Mans Mountain
Rules aimed at levelling performance still favour diesels, say Brit underdogs
Aston Martin’s debut campaign in the LMP1 class at Le Mans this year may not be helped by rule changes aimed at blunting the performance advantage of diesel-powered rivals.
Aston Martin Racing is entering three Gulf-liveried LMP1 prototypes, powered by the same production-derived V12 engine that has given the Aston Martin DBR9 victory in the GT1 class at the 24 Hours for the last two years.
Rule changes pose challenges in the pits
‘Diesel race engine technology is relatively new compared to petrol technology, so bigger steps in performance can be achieved making it easier to compensate for the changes imposed by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest,’ claims Aston in a press statement released yesterday.
With speeds at the circuit getting quicker year on year, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest – which organises the race – is also aiming to slow all the cars down, with a target lap time on the eight-mile track of around three and a half minutes.
The new diesel Audi R15
The result of these new rules is to make pit stops considerably longer, which puts greater emphasis on a strategic approach to the race and encourages teams to limit the use of tyres. A pit stop this year will take around 15 seconds more than it did last year, adding up to several minutes over the course of the race.
There will be a maximum noise limit of 112 decibels and post-race scrutineering will also become stricter, with harsh penalties for competitors missing any parts of bodywork or car structure at the finish.
Some even more far-reaching changes are set to be introduced for the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2010, allowing homologation of hybrid technology cars, encouraging further use of hybrid technology such as KERS and reducing carbon emissions.
Aston Martin Racing Team Principal George Howard-Chappell says: ‘The changes to the pit stop rules mean that the emphasis has switched to getting more out of a set of tyres, making it a good idea to do an extra stint on each set if you can. That obviously impacts on the whole tyre wear aspect of the car. In the end these new rules just provide another set of numbers to compute: they don’t make a fundamental difference to the unique challenge of the race.’
But only time will tell I guess.
Eh? At Le Mans???
In fairness it's a pretty generous limit - something like 115db drive-by or something like that.
To anyone watching the race its evident the diesels are hugely more powerful, like running a 3ltr petrol vs a 5 ltr petrol kind of difference.
the problem is once again down to the lack of understanding of torque and bhp by the officials or they want to skew things over to diesel for some reason.....
I would slap a smaller restrictor on the diesels
GINETTA are the Brit underdogs!
And you won't have to worry just about the glorious noise levels, you'll have to wear your shades to prevent being 'tango'ed'
by the LMP1 factory Ginetta Zytec.
Sod Aston (Lola) - here's to the 5 Ginettas in the race!
GINETTA are the Brit underdogs!
And you won't have to worry just about the glorious noise levels, you'll have to wear your shades to prevent being 'tango'ed'
by the LMP1 factory Ginetta Zytec.Sod Aston (Lola) - here's to the 5 Ginettas in the race!
Taking the Spa race as an example (which isn't really a good marker due to the way the race panned out, however), the petrol engined cars have improved pace and the diesels have lost pace. However, outright pace is not going to automatically bring you top step of the podium.
here's to the Ginettas. You'd think the Lola-Aston Martins were the only British entry sometimes.GINETTA are the Brit underdogs!
And you won't have to worry just about the glorious noise levels, you'll have to wear your shades to prevent being 'tango'ed'
by the LMP1 factory Ginetta Zytec.Sod Aston (Lola) - here's to the 5 Ginettas in the race!
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