Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2025 i Racecar Engineering

Enzo Ferrari once famously said the E-Type Jaguar was ‘the most beautiful car in the world’, and many would agree. So, when two gleaming examples are parked up, the sunshine glinting off their curvaceous bodywork, you might expect them to be the centre of attention. Then why was everyone looking at a Citroën 2CV parked nearby? That was the situation outside Peter Thurston’s classic car workshop in Herne Bay, Kent one morning this spring. But then this is no ordinary 2CV. It sports abnormally wide wheelarches and an aero package for a start. The most impressive thing about it, though, is hinted at by the badge on the back that reads 2CV8. That’s right, this once humble French people’s car now packs a 4.6-litre V8 engine. Regular readers might have…

Michelin has been the sole supplier of tyres to Hypercar since the class was introduced to the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2021, and has now unveiled its range of tyres that will take the category through the next three years, starting in 2026. The new range features a higher percentage of renewable content, in terms of steel and rubber, has better warm-up capabilities and the company is targeting an increase in mileage per set of tyres in order to reduce tyre allocations in race conditions from 2027 onwards. The new tyre has been a long time coming, after delays induced by poor weather during the track testing phase prevented it being introduced in 2025 as planned. It replaces a range of tyres that has a storied history. Michelin’s initial…

Toyota celebrates 40 years of competition at Le Mans in 2025, though it is only relatively recently that the team has found success in the 24-hour race. The Japanese manufacturer’s Le Mans story began in 1985 with the TOM’s-run 85C, a turbocharged Group C car that finished 12th on its debut. Dome followed in 1986 before Toyotabranded cars ran through to 1990. The spectacular TS010 raced in 1992 and 1993 with a 3.5-litre engine designed to Formula 1 rules at the time. The Supra model represented the marque in 1995 and 1996, before the TS020, also known as the GT-One, entered the fray in 1998 and 1999. At the latter event, Toyota came its closest to winning, prior to the current era, only for a series of unfortunate events to…

Our sport has come a long way from the days of hanging a crew man over the pit wall with a chalkboard to give split times. Nowadays, even club teams have some degree of access to advanced radio communications, telemetry and even streaming video. However, with the proliferation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations – of which SpaceX’s Starlink is the most well known – a new generation of connected racecar has arrived. This technology is giving competitors at all levels of motorsport access to data bandwidths that would have been the envy of Formula 1 teams a couple of decades ago. Moreover, it has the potential to offer competitors in remote events that have historically lacked any degree of connectivity (think Baja 1000 and Dakar Rally) new pathways…

Opel has presented a prototype electric rally car based on its popular Mokka model. The Opel Mokka GSE Rally produces 207kW, equivalent to 280bhp, from its electric powertrain, which features a 400V, 54kWh battery. Propulsion is generated by a multi-plate limited slip differential and motorsport-grade gearbox, plus a reinforced driveshaft. Opel has been running an electric rally series for Corsas since 2021, but says it has developed the Mokka prototype to test its powertrain technology in a competition car. The Mokka GSE Rally is the first car developed to the requirements of the FIA’s eRally5 regulations, although no competitive outings have been confirmed. It sports a purpose-built rally suspension package from Bilstein, consisting of reinforced MacPherson struts and uni-ball mounts on the front axle. The rear axle, meanwhile, is rigid,…

New regulations for the FIA World Rally Championship continue to be developed ahead of their planned introduction in 2027. A notable outcome from recent meetings between the FIA and car manufacturers has been a new chapter to the draft regulations on bodywork. The addition defines the size and shape of volumes, which are designed to be open enough for a wide range of designs to emerge. This is part of the FIA’s plan to bring more cars into competition at the sharp end of the WRC, opening the top class to vehicles with more contrasting body styles than today. The meetings also covered requirements for using sustainable materials in bodywork manufacture, as well as criteria for homologation. Meanwhile, simulations on crash testing different designs of chassis are ongoing, with real-world…

Bernie Ecclestone, the former ringmaster of Formula 1, was not that complimentary about the new hybrid engine rules when they were introduced in 2014. At the time, the new 1.6-litre, V6 power units were a thorn in the impresario’s side. They were too quiet, too expensive and too complex, and he campaigned long and hard to not introduce them. Some of those problems remain unresolved to this day, but in true Formula 1 fashion, after lots of complaints the paddock has come to terms with them. Now though, after 12 years, the current power units will be replaced by a new generation of engines in 2026, introducing a whole raft of fresh debates and concerns. Stefano Domenicali, Ecclestone’s successor, will never be as critical of the proposed new regulations as…

In retrospect, it’s no easy task to communicate what the Cunningham sportscars meant to car enthusiasts in America in the mid-20th century. America’s post-war automobiles were worthy enough, but sporting? Not at all. Not since the Auburn Speedsters and Cord 810s of the mid-1930s had American auto makers produced cars that appealed to the person for whom driving was more than a way of trundling from point a to point b. And so it was in 1951, the 48 states were galvanised by the news that the B S Cunningham Company of West Palm Beach, Florida would not only produce a new American sportscar, but would also race a team of three cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This was big news, in America and abroad. Briggs Cunningham…

The world of GT3 racing is, on paper at least, relatively straightforward. The cars are based on existing high performance production models, homologated by the FIA. They are accepted for racing in national and international championships around the world and it is one of the most prolific categories in racing. All good so far. The cars were originally planned to be cost effective, both to buy and to run, compared to, for example, GTE cars. Performance is balanced through different processes, but to the same end; to reduce the incentive to spend money developing cars, and to ensure everyone has a fair chance at winning. However, for the 2025 season there has been a sudden change in the way the cars are prepared for competition. Series are starting to impose…

Designing a racecar from scratch means working with partners from an early stage. Porsche’s 963 LMDh prototype may have relied on the Multimatic platform that is available for sale, but the Canadian company worked to Porsche’s design brief to create the chassis to carry the German manufacturer’s 4.6-litre twin-turbocharged V8. Key among the initial design parameters is heat rejection numbers, from the engine and the hybrid system, which is mounted at the rear and is spec across all LMDh cars, along with the Bosch MGU and battery from Fortescue Zero. Specifying the cooling requirements means sizing the radiators, which carries with it an aerodynamic (and weight) impact, so it was important for Mobil to be involved in the design phase with its lubricants from the beginning. ‘Sometimes, OEMs spend years…

The autonomous racecar design competition, Abu Dhabi Racing League (A2RL), will return for its second edition in November. Teams will continue to implement their own AI algorithms on a provided racecar to complete various challenges, including a new sim’ sprint. The spec car will be the EAV24, an updated version of the vehicle used in the inaugural 2024 A2RL event, which is based on the Dallara Super Formula SF23 chassis. According to the series, the car has been ‘re-engineered to incorporate enhanced sensor arrays, upgraded compute systems and refined control logic, optimised for the demanding conditions of autonomous racing’. The new sim’ sprint element involves virtual races, giving teams the chance to test their algorithms in a competitive scenario before unleashing them on the real EAV24. Plans to open the…

The Genesis sportscar team has purchased a new driver-in-the-loop simulator for its LMDh project. The Hyundai brand has opted for a Dynisma DMG-360XY system, which is designed to combine high bandwidth with high stiffness, low latency and high horizontal and ground plane excursion. Genesis will use the system to develop its GMR-001 Hypercar that will debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship next year, prior to joining the IMSA Sportscar Championship in 2027. Genesis-contracted drivers, André Lotterer and Pipo Derani, recently undertook virtual test sessions at Dynisma’s base in Bristol, UK. This involved calibrating the simulator to the GMR-001’s parameters and setting up a tyre model. Genesis has not confirmed exactly where the simulator will be housed, although it is most likely to be installed near the Circuit Paul Ricard…

Four years is a long time in motorsport. That’s especially true when it comes to sustainability advances in fuel since 2021. When TotalEnergies ceased to supply its control Excellium Rally blend to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) at the end of that season, it had a renewable content of just 10 per cent. During the intervening years, the move away from petrol to fully sustainable fuel has become an increasingly common theme, although Formula 1 will be somewhat late to the party in 2026. It would be a mistake to assume that, just because fully sustainable status has been reached, the fuel development process is nearing its end So much so, it has virtually ceased to be a topic of conversation in the FIA World Endurance Championship, which began…

Ferrari has dominated the opening three races of the FIA World Endurance Championship, winning each from pole position. The question is whether or not it can translate that early form into a third straight win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its 499P. The Balance of Performance will be completely different for Le Mans, and the organisers are not planning to reveal what they are going to do until the cars are at Le Mans, but there are trends we can see already. Although the WEC has lost Lamborghini for the 2025 season, it gained Aston Martin and so can still boast eight manufacturers competing in Hypercar. That alone is a fantastic testament to the current rule set, with OEM competition departments able to guarantee they can compete…

For most of its existence, both as Zytek Engineering and under its current guise, Gibson Technology has championed the normally aspirated engine. The Derbyshire, UK-based firm has been a leading racecar engine builder since the 1980s, with its best known work taking place in single seaters and sportscars. Since 2017, Gibson’s 4.2-litre V8 (GK428) has been the licenced engine of LMP2. Anybody who has been to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the last eight years will be familiar with its hair-raising soundtrack. However, Gibson is aware that its propensity for big, noisy V8s is at odds with the directions being taken by many high-level series. Across motorsport, organisers are chasing lightweight, efficient, turbocharged engines. In Formula 1, V8 and V10 have become heritage terms, as the championship gallops…

NASCAR as a sport, and a cultural icon in America, is defined by speed, sound and colourful personalities. While all tracks the Cup Series visits are demanding in their own right, the superspeedways of Daytona and Talladega are the kings of the hill in size and speed. Famous for packs of tightly bunched cars, they present a difficult challenge for NASCAR aerodynamicists to keep the racecars from taking off when they inevitably end up sideways, or backwards, at speeds close to 200mph (321.8km/h). This has been an area of research since the 1980s and continues to this day. The engineering of a new lift-off safety device gives a glimpse into the methods and obstacles involved in this type of testing. Disruptive devices The current Gen 7 (aka Next Gen) NASCAR…

The Penske team was once again the centre of attention in the build up to this year’s Indianapolis 500 for all the wrong reasons. The cars of Will Power and Josef Newgarden, who was defending his 2024 Indy 500 title having also won in 2023, were sent to the back of the grid after it was found the attachment of the rear crash structure had been modified, deemed a contravention of IndyCar regulations. The team had used a filler to blend the join and smooth the airflow across it. Although it is unlikely that such a modification would help any individual car aerodynamically, any alteration to a safety structure is illegal under IndyCar rules. The team was photographed modifying the attachment in pit lane ahead of the final qualifying session,…

The hydrogen-fuelled charging system that will provide electricity for FIA Extreme H events has undergone its first test. Like its Extreme E predecessor, Extreme H will hold races in remote environments that require the use of portable units to charge essential facilities. To do this, a system called the Hydrogen Power Unit (HPU2) has been developed by GeoPura. Each unit generates 500kW of electricity, five times more than the previous HPU1 variant. The system runs on green hydrogen, which is hydrogen gas that has been produced using renewably sourced electricity (ie from wind or solar power) to electrolyse water. Saudi Arabia’s Enowa will supply the green hydrogen for the Extreme H chargers. Where the HPU1 had an integrated battery system, the HPU2 has an external battery. This, according to Extreme…