Lockie to Race Diesel at Le Mans
V10 Twin Turbo prototype is a first for the 24 hour race
Calum Lockie will contest the Le Mans 24-Hour race this year after securing a drive in the Lola B2K10 entered by Taurus Sports. The diesel-turbo powered prototype is the first such car to be entered at Le Mans and represents a unique technical challenge for the world-famous race.
"I'm achieving two ambitions here ," says Lockie. "The first is to race at Le Mans and the second is to race a sports-prototype ." Having completed the pre-qualifying session on Sunday (25 April), the team has been accepted into the race and Lockie will share the driving with Phil Andrews and one other driver, yet to be confirmed.
The Lola is powered by a 5-litre diesel fuelled twin-turbo V10 engine, and the clear target is to be the first diesel-engined car to finish the race. "It's an exciting and innovative project that will get a lot of coverage ," says Lockie. Although a diesel-engined car was entered in the in 1951, it didn’t reach the finish.
Lockie drove the car for the first time during pre-qualifying and was immediately impressed even though some fuel pump problems interrupted their running. "When you get it going it absolutely takes off! The basic ingredients of the car are all there and the torque is just vast. The full potential of the package is obvious ," he added.
"The team at Taurus Sports has worked endless hours to get the project to this stage ," says Lockie. "It has been a fantastic team effort and I'm confident that the car will deliver in the race. Caterpillar, PI Research and Mountune have all been major partners in making the project work ."
The car will now be entered in the opening race of the Le Mans Endurance Series, the 1000km race at Monza (Italy) on May 9. "I'd love to do the Monza race with the team if I can pull a deal together ," says Lockie.
Link : www.taurussports.co.uk/
Taurus's Diesel
The magazine SPORTAUTO & MOTO reports that Audi will return to Le Mans with a diesel in 2005 however Taurus has beaten them to it with an entry accepted for this years race.
SPORTAUTO & MOTO suggests that the Audi 5 litre, twin turbo V10 has apparently already run on the dyno, and is quoting horsepower and torque figures of 650 bhp and 1400 Nm but the race engine is likely to be less "extreme" in the interests of reliability. Apparently Audi are claiming that the new V10 will cover two to three more laps of Le Mans than ever achieved by the twin turbo V8 FSI engine. Should the project go ahead Allan McNish and Dindo Capello will be at the wheel for the first track tests later this year.
The Taurus entry accepted for this years Le Mans 24hrs will be the first with a diesel-engined prototype in modern times. Ian Dawson first informed me of the project as we were leaving Sebring but asked that we did not publish it until the project was officially launched on Wednesday. Confirmation and acceptance of the entry has now come from the ACO.
Ian Dawson's Taurus Sports has entered a diesel-powered Lola B2K/10 chassis, the chassis used by the team last year which explains the purchase of the Intersport car for Sebring. The engine is a twin turbo V10,the engine's origins have as yet not been revealed but development is by Mountune, with with technical input from the world's largest manufacturer of diesels Caterpillar.
The engine has already run the engine in the car and a shakedown on a UK circuit this week is scheduled.
Apparently the ACO has been very helpful throughout and they have been aware of the engine's existence for some time.
Phil Andrews is the only driver assigned to this project at the moment and as the teams second entry a Judd powered car is only first reserve so a driver squad is yet to be finalised. Ian would very much like to keep Justin Wilson on the Taurus strength but a CART drive for Wilson might clash with those plans. Currently Didier Andre and Panoz refugee Benjamin Leuenberger are signed for the Judd Le Mans entry with the latter signed for the four LMES races
They will continue to run the ex Intersport car in the ALMS, probably starting at Sears Point.Larry Oberto will drive, and they will be putting together a test programme before they go racing in the USA.
However Taurus are not the first diesel at Le Mans as MAP an arms manufacturer from Paris entered a rather strange looking diesel with a horizontally opposed four cylinder engine of 9984cc in 1950, the car retired after seven hours.
In 1951 a second diesel entry appeared in the form of the Delettrez a six cylinder 4454cc car but it also retired after 3 hours. The Taurus entry could make history as the first to finish a Le Mans 24hour race.
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Caterpillar knows the diesel:
699 kW / 938 hp and 4713 N.m / 3476 lb ft in this one
I love the smell of diesel in the morning
>> Edited by dinkel on Wednesday 28th April 07:58
flooritforever said:
Can't wait to see it. Wonder what it sounds like?
Ever heard a Volkswagen Toureg V10 diesel running? Think of one of them on steriods, without any silencers. That ought to be close to the sound this thing should create.
Ford 6.8L V-10, tweaked alot in the States . . . Sounds fat.
LEOPARD 1 MAIN BATTLE TANK with MB838 V10 diesel engine, 830 hp. Anyone who served must have heard these roaring babies.
Check the sound of these UK Golf Diesel cup 4pots.
The UK Golf Cup: VWs with 2-litre diesel 4pot in the Golf TDI Racer with 210 hp @ 4000 rpm / 330 Nm @1750 rpm. Manual 6speed RCS gearbox. Breaks: 355 mm front / Mintex race blockers. Non-ABS-system, Pirelli PZero Corsa tires 225/40 ZR18 and 225/35 ZR19. The thingy weighs 1090 kgs.
Diesels take over . . . ?
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