Toyota's new Le Mans car - official pics and spec
Discussion
Rude-boy said:
Red Firecracker said:
Banned. The fin is an aero regulation requirement to try and give the cars more stability in a spin and stop them flying.
The split you can see, I believe, is that between the fin and the central rear wing support.
Vocal Minority said:
No, no, no, This is Pistonheads! Le Mans should be 30 Corvettes, 19 Aston V12s and 1 Panoz. - We don't like different, we don't like change.
In all seriousness, I am all for it. There is a tremendous variety of cars at Le Mans this year. Petrol, Deisel, Hybrid variations of both, the Delta Wing (I really dont get why people are so upset about 2 cars amongst 50 looking a bit wierd) and there will still be big V8s and screaming Ferraris (no Aston V12 though. Boooooo)
If they had 30 vettes though, you wouldn't be able to come within a mile of the circuit as your head and chest would explode due to the noise.In all seriousness, I am all for it. There is a tremendous variety of cars at Le Mans this year. Petrol, Deisel, Hybrid variations of both, the Delta Wing (I really dont get why people are so upset about 2 cars amongst 50 looking a bit wierd) and there will still be big V8s and screaming Ferraris (no Aston V12 though. Boooooo)
Just one going down the pit straight the other year made my rib cage rattle.
SystemParanoia said:
... but.. they dont appear to have any downforce at all ?
There is a shed load of it, the whole car is one massive wing, rather than a tube with wings added on.And best of all there is even a little bit of Aston in there. Hell it would almost be unpatriotic not to support it!
Rude-boy said:
Red Firecracker said:
Banned. The fin is an aero regulation requirement to try and give the cars more stability in a spin and stop them flying.
The split you can see, I believe, is that between the fin and the central rear wing support.
Well done Toyota .. at last we might see the end of those ruddy diesels.
They really have deserved better results in the past at Le Mans - so I hope they do well, although I'm pretty sure it will take quite some effort to get KERS
type techno to be 24hr reliable. After all - if it only works for 1 hr then you have to carry the weight around for the next 23 hrs.
They really have deserved better results in the past at Le Mans - so I hope they do well, although I'm pretty sure it will take quite some effort to get KERS
type techno to be 24hr reliable. After all - if it only works for 1 hr then you have to carry the weight around for the next 23 hrs.
SystemParanoia said:
they may have swappable batteries at pit time ?
Possible but I don't know if that is even allowed in the regulations. Certainly the placing of these is likely to as low as possible and as such it could easily mean that it could be a lift the car and drop the cells affair, but I doubt it.
As for the system failing after an hour and then lugging the weight around for another 23 comment, that is true but the car will have been built to hit the scales bang on mim weight (+1kg for luck/variance) so dropping a dead system would render the car under weight. As with any new tec it is a bit of a step into the unknown but I have more faith in Toyota getting it right than I do others who are looking to step into hy/electric racing.
Article subtitle said:
Le Man's first hybrid is officially unveiled
Article main body said:
So there you have it, the first - and so far only - hybrid Le Mans car. Though rumour has it that Audi is working on its own hybrid competitor...
Except that Hope Racing ran an LMP1 hybrid last year.Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff