Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2023 i Racecar Engineering

Ford has returned to GT racing for the first time since the remarkable Ford GT that raced in the WEC and IMSA from 2016 to 2019. This time, however, it has brought a completely different beast, based on the perennially popular Mustang, which has been built to the new GT3 regulations. The 5.4-litre Coyote engine is prepared at M-Sport, the rest of the car by Multimatic, and there is a global race programme in place already, with Multimatic running the factory team in IMSA, and Proton Competition announced at Le Mans as a partner for the World Endurance Championship. The new car was unveiled at Le Mans, a clear indication from Ford Performance that it wants to race it at the world-famous event, although it is likely to be only…

‘It looks like the box it came in,’ was a comment heard in the paddock on its debut at Watkins Glen in 1970. Even that harsh judgement of the appearance of the Chaparral 2J may have been generous. However, handsome is as handsome does and, in its own astonishing way, the 2J did handsomely. A world champion was sufficiently impressed with its concept to drive the new Chaparral that year, and set a fastest lap in very quick company. Although the 2J did not last long enough to come close to winning a race, it showed great potential and restored its developer, Jim Hall, to his well-earned status of wizard technician of Group 7 racing. In the rest of the 1970 Can-Am season, it revealed phenomenal pace. But was it…

Lotus has announced an upgrade package for the Emira GT4 racer that was featured in Racecar Engineering last year. Amongst the improvements are a 10 per cent increase in power to 455bhp, a new six-speed, paddle-shift gearbox and control system from Hewland, as well as enhancements to the braking system, dampers, springs and cooling packs. The company worked with renowned racing expert, RML, to develop the car further, and it is now ready for delivery to customers in the UK, Europe, China, Australia and the US, where it is eligible for competition in global GT4 classes and non-homologated and specialist race series. ‘The Emira road car was such an excellent starting point for a GT4, and we’ve now refined and tuned the package with the team at RML to create…

From the inside, it didn’t appear that there were more than 300,000 people at Le Mans this year. The centenary race was sold out within weeks of tickets going on sale, with many excited by the prospect of competition for Toyota from the likes of Ferrari, Porsche and Cadillac, plus the chance to see Peugeot’s 9X8 at the track for the first time. As usual, few could have predicted the result. That Ferrari would have the faster car was a given, but that it would last for 24 hours at race-winning pace was a shock. While it seemed business as usual in the paddock and surrounding area, photographers who ventured out to the rest of the track said they had never seen the place so busy. Hills that are normally…

Ferrari overcame all the odds to take victory at the centenary of the first running of the 24-hours of Le Mans. James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi took a narrow win over Toyota, crossing the line just over a minute ahead of the chasing GR010. It was a win that was unexpected, given Toyota’s dominance of the first three races of the FIA World Endurance Championship, taking victory at each. The Japanese brand came to Le Mans on the back of five successive wins, and was perfectly prepared. However, the team was hit with a Balance of Performance change, with 37kg added to the GR010, and 4MJ of power added per stint. In the end, that proved telling. Ferrari, which also had a BoP change that was less…

FORMULA 1 – RED BULL POWERTRAINS Formula 1 used to be easy: design a chassis, acquire a Cosworth DFV and Hewland transmissions, sign deals for brakes and tyres, assemble the bits and within months, or weeks, maiden grands prix beckon. That’s how McLaren, Williams, Tyrrell (now Mercedes), Jordan (Aston Martin) and Stewart (Red Bull) started out – exactly 50 per cent of the current grid. However, as turbochargers, hybrids and brake-by-wire systems were adopted, so power units (PU) became increasingly complex. Add in costs and time scales for development of PUs, coupled with zero prize monies and a kick up the exhaust pipe from customer teams and drivers when things go awry, and it is little wonder the PU suppliers exited one by one after Formula 1’s heyday of seven…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic notion of robot armies taking over the world, it has become embedded within the technology we interact with every day. Whether it is opening your ’phone with face recognition, asking Alexa the temperature outside or checking your latest Spotify recommendations, AI is accelerating our ability to consume information and operate technology more efficiently. Although it may feel like AI has sneaked up on us over the last few years, it has been around since 1956, when the first AI program was presented by John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky at a Dartmouth College conference. Since then, the progress of AI has been somewhat of a rollercoaster. AI is accelerating our ability to consume information and operate technology more efficiently Data scientists would develop…

Alpine unveiled its new LMDh- specification Le Mans Hypercar at the 24-hour race last month. The French company has selected ORECA as its chassis partner, continuing the relationship it forged with the LMP1 programme, and the A424 will be powered by a 3.4-litre V6 engine from Mecachrome that shares its architecture with the company’s Formula 2 engine. The team will be run by Philippe Sinault’s Signatech team in the World Endurance Championship, and the manufacturer is looking for a partner team in the US for the 2025 season. As the car runs to LMDh regulations, it will feature the Xtrac gearbox, Bosch MGU and WAE-supplied battery that is standard for the category. It will be a two-wheel drive hybrid, with the electronic system producing a maximum of 50kW of energy.…

LE MANS – HYDROGEN FUTURE That the Automobile Club de l’Ouest is to introduce hydrogen to its Le Mans grid in 2026 is not a surprise. A technical director of the FIA, Bernard Niclot, has been working on the regulations since 2017, the ACO has involved itself heavily in the development of a hydrogen fuel cell prototype and the regulations are ready to be written. The surprise is that the new cars will be going for outright victory at Le Mans from 2026. The plan is to finalise the regulations by December 2023, to allow manufacturers time to start looking into the technology, and understand what it has to offer. Ten manufacturers are sitting around the table to thrash out the rules. While no one was willing to reveal the…

When Cosworth designed its XD engine, it was with 500 miles at Indianapolis in mind. Similarly, when Judd produced its DB, 24 hours at Le Mans was the target. And yet now these units have shown themselves to be the very best at pushing cars up a hill of just a mile or so in length for little more than 30 seconds. These are not the only engines used in the British Hillclimb Championship (BHC), though, and you’re as likely to hear a screaming, supercharged motorbike unit as a ripping V8 at Prescott, Shelsley Walsh, Loton Park or any of the other hills that are visited by the BHC. This is no surprise because, as we discovered last month (RE V33N7) British speed hillclimbing is a category with a great…

The boundary between the virtual and physical world is constantly evolving and becoming ever more blurred. Nowhere is this truer than in the realm of the development and testing of vehicles, both in mainstream automotive and motorsport. The virtualisation of testing through simulation and modelling allows for much expensive physical prototyping to be avoided, and is now a necessity in many current racing series, thanks to extensive restrictions on track testing. However, there is only so much that can be achieved in the purely virtual domain, and the sooner physical components can be introduced into the picture the better. This is where X, or everything-in-the-loop testing, comes into play. Put simply, it’s the integration of physical and software components into models and, not to be forgotten, the driver.…

A furious Toyota railed against the Balance of Performance change that was issued shortly before the Le Mans test day, which penalised the GR010 for its successes in the FIA World Endurance Championship so far this season. The Japanese manufacturer introduced an updated car for this season, with a modified engine and gearbox, a shift in weight distribution and improved aerodynamics, using its performance ‘jokers’ that are allowed under the regulations. It dominated the races at Sebring, Portimão and Spa before a change for the Le Mans race. ‘In this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, battles outside the race track hindered everyone’s battles as sportsmen,’ said Akiyo Toyoda. ‘I am truly sorry, sorry, and sorry about this. However, in such a way everyone in the team fought fair and square.’…