Le mans engines after the race?

[Welshbeef]

Question here for engines that have lasted the full race.
What happens to them?
Are they serviced and then continued to be used or do they need a full rebuild?

Am guessing they are pretty well worn and maybe at the end of their useful life?


Or do smaller outfits buy them as a used car then race it in other races until the engine gives up?



Also if we took a road car raced it to the max for 24 hours giving it full servicing during the race would it still then be fine to use for many many years on the road ? Or would it be a bin job?

[falkster]

I would have thought the wealthier teams, that have more power in their engines, would rebuild theirs after each race or when something happens. The lesser teams or the teams that don't try to get every spare bhp out of the engine would maybe last a few races and be less likely to go pop??
Only a guess but that's how it worked when I used to race MX, I'd get some many hours out of my engine before needing to split it but my bike wasn't as fast as some of the other lads that were rebuilding their engines more often.

[SirSamuelOfBuca]

id have to bin my car before even getting to the race

[davepoth]

Welshbeef said:

Also if we took a road car raced it to the max for 24 hours giving it full servicing during the race would it still then be fine to use for many many years on the road ? Or would it be a bin job?

A road car engine, run to the road car redline, should be fine after 24 hours assuming the sump had been baffled properly for high speed cornering. The brakes and suspension would likely be utterly knackered though.

[Ekona]

A bone stock GT3RS ran the N24H a year or so ago. Drove there from the factory, drove the entire race, drove back to the factory.

[veevee]

davepoth said:

Welshbeef said:

Also if we took a road car raced it to the max for 24 hours giving it full servicing during the race would it still then be fine to use for many many years on the road ? Or would it be a bin job?

A road car engine, run to the road car redline, should be fine after 24 hours assuming the sump had been baffled properly for high speed cornering. The brakes and suspension would likely be utterly knackered though.

The suspension on most peoples cars has done a lot more than 24 hours and isn't 'knackered'.

[Welshbeef]

veevee said:

davepoth said:

Welshbeef said:

Also if we took a road car raced it to the max for 24 hours giving it full servicing during the race would it still then be fine to use for many many years on the road ? Or would it be a bin job?

A road car engine, run to the road car redline, should be fine after 24 hours assuming the sump had been baffled properly for high speed cornering. The brakes and suspension would likely be utterly knackered though.

The suspension on most peoples cars has done a lot more than 24 hours and isn't 'knackered'.

If I was say running my 330d you couldn't raise the rev limit as the engine is limited by characteristics of a compression engine.

[Animal]

veevee said:

The suspension on most peoples cars has done a lot more than 24 hours and isn't 'knackered'.

Not with comparable loadings though...

[veevee]

Animal said:

veevee said:

The suspension on most peoples cars has done a lot more than 24 hours and isn't 'knackered'.

Not with comparable loadings though...

True, but you're talking about tens of thousands of hours of use vs. 24, on something presumably built for that purpose?

[bakerstreet]

davepoth said:

A road car engine, run to the road car redline, should be fine after 24 hours assuming the sump had been baffled properly for high speed cornering. The brakes and suspension would likely be utterly knackered though.

Their is a team called Phase One Endurance who race in the motorcycle endurance championship. They use standard engines and replace everything else.

After the races, the standard bodywoork goes back on the bike and it goes upo for sale. The engine has done around 2k race miles.

IIRC the bikes are still going strong. Came up on a bike forum a couple of years ago

[XitUp]

I would guess that the GT engines last a lot longer than the LMP engines?

Either way, where can I buy the bits from one of the Toyota TS 030 cars to stick in a Prius?

[300bhp/ton]

Animal said:

veevee said:

The suspension on most peoples cars has done a lot more than 24 hours and isn't 'knackered'.

Not with comparable loadings though...

I'm not so sure. Plenty of pot hole, bumps and road humps as well as potential high speed cornering.

[KB_S1]

300bhp/ton said:

I'm not so sure. Plenty of pot hole, bumps and road humps as well as potential high speed cornering.

Slick tyres and possibly genuine downforce make a huge difference.
Without those the car would totally uncompetitive in most races so can't be compared.

[McSam]

veevee said:

Animal said:

veevee said:

The suspension on most peoples cars has done a lot more than 24 hours and isn't 'knackered'.

Not with comparable loadings though...

True, but you're talking about tens of thousands of hours of use vs. 24, on something presumably built for that purpose?

Ever driven over a circuit's kerbing?

If you're using slicks you will be massively over any design loads, too.

[traffman]

veevee said:

Animal said:

veevee said:

The suspension on most peoples cars has done a lot more than 24 hours and isn't 'knackered'.

Not with comparable loadings though...

True, but you're talking about tens of thousands of hours of use vs. 24, on something presumably built for that purpose?

Have you tried cornering at 160 mph with your road car on the way to the shops over a 24 hour period?

That would surely knacker a road car.

[GroundEffect]

If the car doesn't break the moment it crosses the line after 24 hours, it's over-engineered.

[Welshbeef]

Would be good to do a compression test before and after to see how much engine wear has occurred.

Also out of interest would any of these cars have thermostats? Or run without as they will be at max temp all the time plus no thermostat = less to go wrong. Or is this a red herring.

[McSam]

Doesn't matter too much about a thermostat as even if it fails, they fail open so it won't inhibit you during the race. I imagine they do without, though.

[DonkeyApple]

davepoth said:

A road car engine, run to the road car redline, should be fine after 24 hours assuming the sump had been baffled properly for high speed cornering. The brakes and suspension would likely be utterly knackered though.

Perfect for minicabbing then.

[PhillipM]

veevee said:

The suspension on most peoples cars has done a lot more than 24 hours and isn't 'knackered'.

Half the cars on the road have tired dampers, most people just don't notice.

And 24 hours with slicks and downforce is a whole lot of heat in the damper oil.