What happened to Aston Martin at Le Man??????

[richardlondon]

They had a nice car display outside the VIP area, but failed to show up on the track.
Video outside VIP area - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYSr4w9ummg

[NotNormal]

They struggled to keep the cars on track during practice and quailifying. They did however, both start the race but only lasted a few laps.

Must be a tad emabasing for the team especially as last years car finished in a respectable position.

I think there will be some serious conversations back at the factory in the following days and weeks but fingers crossed they have a better run/car next year though

[Nick M]

They didn't actually fail to show up on track, although if you blinked on Saturday around 3.00pm you would have missed them...

Woeful reliability issues were the root cause of their rather 'disappointing' appearance this year.

[Munter]

I understood from the commentary that the LMP1 cars both suffered mechanical alternator failures of some kind. I think the result of which did other damage that proved terminal.

[LoudV8]

Err car 22 has 'Aston Martin' on the cam covers and was in LMP1 and finished 7th, 2nd petrol car

[Red Firecracker]

When AMR were prepping the cars for the race on Thursday night, they noticed that the aluminium alternator drive wheel had cracks in it. They had not noticed this before, and the engine had been reliable (but not at peak performance) in the preceding Monza test and in practice, although with extremely limited running.

AMR got some new components made in steel, driven down and installed. Unfortunately that introduced a new harmonic in the gear driven drive to the water pump and thus failure. David Richards admitted that hindsight is 20:20 and faced with the same situation no new part would have been fitted, although he also stated that the other teams must be worried about the AMR engine as that can be the only reason that they are openly wondering why it is the configuration it is.

http://www.amr-teams.co.uk/2011/06/aston-martin-ra...

[Chris71]

LoudV8 said:

Err car 22 has 'Aston Martin' on the cam covers and was last in LMP1

EFA

Only two petrol finishers in P1 IIRC. Still nice to see (and hear) the old V12 Aston, though.

We're told the new cars were actually very quick through the fast curves, so maybe there is more to come from the AMR-One if and when the engine maladies are sorted.

Edited by Chris71 on Wednesday 15th June 12:00

[B.J.W]

Word round the campfire is that AM were using this year as a test platform for a hybrid car that will be developed for 2012.

[Naithan]

They were a mess. I mean you'd think they'd do extended testing in a standalone situation, not leman.

The GT car was doing well too bar the monster smash it was in and as for last years car, well it looked and sounded fantastc.

Really hope they sort it out. Flat six with a single turbocharger just sounds so wrong...

[Nick M]

Naithan said:

They were a mess. I mean you'd think they'd do extended testing in a standalone situation, not leman.

Really hope they sort it out. Flat six with a single turbocharger just sounds so wrong...

They have done a fair bit of testing 'behind closed doors', e.g. Monza, but the engine issues are what has knackered them this year. Too little running because the engine couldn't last more than a few laps / hours without the cylinder linings coming away, hence the move to different bore linings, etc. All stuff like that should have been sorted on the dyno, and it may have helped rattle out the pulley harmonics issues as well.

The engine (it's a straight not flat six by the way) sounded great when it was running though.

[Spiritual_Beggar]

Nick M said:

The engine (it's a straight not flat six by the way) sounded great when it was running though.

Did it?

I couldn't hear it over the Glorious Banshee shriek of the V12 of last years Aston!

[Bolognese]

Nick M said:

The engine (it's a straight not flat six by the way) sounded great when it was running though.

I agree, I thought it sounded pretty good. Not a patch on the old V12 though. Best sound ever!

[taylor172]

there was a one-77 knocking around the campsites... om nom nom!!!