An ordinary family car in a Le Mans 24hour?
Discussion
Sunday morning contemplations had me thinking about this.
How would an ordinary, everyday family car cope being put through the paces of "the world's toughest endurance race"?
Let's assume that we're talking the top of the range so that the tyres, brakes, etc. are as good as is being offered by the manufacturer.
If the car was pushed as much as your average PHer was able to push, would it last 24 hours? Or would it suffer radiator, turbo, engine failures? Would brake fluid boil too quickly? Would pads and discs, or tyres, last the duration of a tank of fuel?
And which car do we think would do the best?
How would an ordinary, everyday family car cope being put through the paces of "the world's toughest endurance race"?
Let's assume that we're talking the top of the range so that the tyres, brakes, etc. are as good as is being offered by the manufacturer.
If the car was pushed as much as your average PHer was able to push, would it last 24 hours? Or would it suffer radiator, turbo, engine failures? Would brake fluid boil too quickly? Would pads and discs, or tyres, last the duration of a tank of fuel?
And which car do we think would do the best?
Jimbo. said:
It'd be fine. They get driven to destruction time and time again during development, so 24 hrs around a track would be a breeze
Tested to destruction, and driven to the limit for 24 hours without something failing, are two different objectives.I just don't think OEM brakes, etc. could cope with that sort of punishment.
After only an hour or so on a PH hoon, the cars stand crackling and sizzling in cooldown mode, with us drivers passing comment on brake fade, etc. while sipping our coffees.
Managing that for 24 hours, but with the engine screaming at the limiter and repeated heavy braking is, I would have thought, going to be quite a challenge.
Actually, a basic car would probably be OK on the brakes - there are what, four really big stops on the track, with massive straights of about half a minute or more before them. That'd be enough to cool them off.
Suspension components wouldn't be too badly stressed if the car was running standard road tyres (since the grip would be much lower than race tyres) and due to the lower grip levels speed around all of the sweeping corners would be reduced.
I reckon it would be possible. They certainly do it at Nurburg for the 24 hours there.
Suspension components wouldn't be too badly stressed if the car was running standard road tyres (since the grip would be much lower than race tyres) and due to the lower grip levels speed around all of the sweeping corners would be reduced.
I reckon it would be possible. They certainly do it at Nurburg for the 24 hours there.
To be honest I don't think the brakes and/or turbos would cope. The only time I've driven a family car at high speed for hours on end the brakes cooked and the engine never went properly again. Still, it was a company car... That was just a sprint to the South of France. Well under the proposed 24 hours!
IMHO the engine, drive train, gearbox would last no problem at all (I remember reading an article that described how the new Ford Focus' engine was run at max RPM on a bench for 30k miles....!).
The brake pads and discs would not last for any time at all if driven hard on the track for any sustained amount of time.
The brake pads and discs would not last for any time at all if driven hard on the track for any sustained amount of time.
davepoth said:
Actually, a basic car would probably be OK on the brakes - there are what, four really big stops on the track, with massive straights of about half a minute or more before them. That'd be enough to cool them off.
What I was thinking. It would take forever for a normal car to get down the Mulsanne!OdramaSwimLaden said:
The brake pads and discs would not last for any time at all if driven hard on the track for any sustained amount of time.
Standard pads and discs would last a lot longer than the race pads the race cars use. The big worry would be cooking the brakes, but as I mentioned if production cars can manage the 'Ring for 24 hours straight, which is much, much harder on the car in every respect, then Le Mans shouldn't be a problem. davepoth said:
OdramaSwimLaden said:
The brake pads and discs would not last for any time at all if driven hard on the track for any sustained amount of time.
Standard pads and discs would last a lot longer than the race pads the race cars use. The big worry would be cooking the brakes, but as I mentioned if production cars can manage the 'Ring for 24 hours straight, which is much, much harder on the car in every respect, then Le Mans shouldn't be a problem. Re: the Nurburgring 24hrs, all of the cars have upgraded brakes, in some way or another.
FFS stupid I phone
Sure you could easily drive a standard family car round a track for 24 hours.
But if you raced it round you would kill the brakes pretty quick I reckon - breaking down from what 140mph to 20/30 mph a couple of times per lap is going to kill them pretty quickly I reckon.
Sure you could easily drive a standard family car round a track for 24 hours.
But if you raced it round you would kill the brakes pretty quick I reckon - breaking down from what 140mph to 20/30 mph a couple of times per lap is going to kill them pretty quickly I reckon.
Pints said:
I just don't think OEM brakes, etc. could cope with that sort of punishment.
After only an hour or so on a PH hoon, the cars stand crackling and sizzling in cooldown mode, with us drivers passing comment on brake fade, etc. while sipping our coffees.
Most cars will ping and crackle on cool down after a decent drive, on a cold night on the way home from work my old Fiesta used to ping like mad even after a moderately paced drive then 7 miles down dual carriageway to cool it right down before getting home. You don't need to hoon it to make it ping!After only an hour or so on a PH hoon, the cars stand crackling and sizzling in cooldown mode, with us drivers passing comment on brake fade, etc. while sipping our coffees.
As for Le Mans for 24 hours, it would be in need of some refreshment afterwards I would have thought, but the average car could cope. The Nurburgring would be a much bigger test - I don't thinkaverage family wagon brakes would cope. Something like a hot hatch with Brembo kit would probably fare a lot better.
Mr Gearchange said:
FFS stupid I phone
Sure you could easily drive a standard family car round a track for 24 hours.
But if you raced it round you would kill the brakes pretty quick I reckon - breaking down from what 140mph to 20/30 mph a couple of times per lap is going to kill them pretty quickly I reckon.
I don't think many family cars would get up to 140mph, even though the straights are fairly long - you'd be looking at something that could crack 180 to get to that speed in the space available. Sure you could easily drive a standard family car round a track for 24 hours.
But if you raced it round you would kill the brakes pretty quick I reckon - breaking down from what 140mph to 20/30 mph a couple of times per lap is going to kill them pretty quickly I reckon.
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