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Le Mans: Pruett’s Official Test Day Blog Part 2
Written by: Marshall Pruett   
06/03/2008
St. Ippolyts, England
 
Pescarolo driver Romain Dumas joked about the need for an LMP1.5 category for non-diesel prototypes. He might actually be on to something. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos


LMP1.5

Penske Porsche driver Romain Dumas, driving for fellow Frenchman Henri Pescarolo at Le Mans this year, had the quote of the day on Sunday while talking to our friends at Radio Le Mans.

When asked about what could be done to bridge the massive gap in lap times between the diesel-powered LMP1 cars and his own gasoline-powered LMP1 car, he remarked ‘They should call us LMP1.5 because we have no chance of keeping up with the diesels. They blow past us on the straights like we aren’t moving.”

Such is the state of disparity in LMP1 that Dumas’ remarks, while comical, are worth considering. The ACO’s diesel-to-gasoline equivalency formula is a work of mathematical art, but as we’ve seen in the ALMS, the LMS, and again at Le Mans this year, there’s nothing remotely equivalent between the two types of engines when they hit the track.

There are logical questions to ask why the maths are insufficiently regulating parity in LMP1—is it the size of the teams—manufacturer vs. privateer? The budgets between the two? Development resources?

All three areas certainly influence the reasons why a privateer constructor like Pescarolo, armed with a customer Judd V10, are incapable of a straight fight with a giant like Peugeot that manufactures a twin-turbo V12 diesel, mates it to a dedicated chassis, and pours tens of millions of dollars to develop and race the combo to victory.

But the tool used to mitigate these differences are the rules—with a few changes to a few numbers, Pescarolo, Courage, Lola, Dome, and a host of other LMP1 hopefuls could find themselves much closer to the marques with mighty budgets.
If you don't have one of these, or a Peugeot, you currently have no hope of winning a straight fight in LMP1. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos

That leads to the next line of questions: should privateers be able to run with the manufacturers in a class such as LMP1? Should an LMP1.5-esque class be initiated for privateers? I do believe the financial and human assets allocated by a manufacturer should win out over a privateer—rules should not be altered to allow a privateer constructor spending $1M to have an equal chance of beating a manufacturer spending $100M to compete in the same series—it’d drive out the manufacturers, or cause them to buy less interesting cars from the privateers.

And they’d still win with those $1M cars.

All the privateers want is a fighting chance. Pescarolo mentioned last year about the need for the rules to be modified within P1—that he knew where he’d finish at Le Mans before the race had even started: behind the diesels.

So it seems that if the rules are slanted in favor of diesels and the ACO is slow or unwilling to make reactive changes to establish a somewhat equal playing ground, it would take the availability of a competitive diesel making it into the hands of a privateer to give them the fighting chance they’re asking for. The only commercially available diesel sportscar engine is the undeveloped Ricardo 4.6L twin-turbo V10.

Their V10, to date, has only been bench tested, and there’s no data as to whether it’d come close to the Audi or Peugeot.

Those two manufacturers refuse to make their engines available to privateers, so viable solutions to find competitiveness are miniscule.

The last option would be for someone, possibly a Judd, AER, or Zytek, to build a brand new diesel-challenging gasoline powered P1 engine. AER has come closest, as witnessed by the amazing efforts of Intersport at Utah last month, but in reality, a privateer would need an engine superior to a diesel to account for the relative lack of chassis and aerodynamic
development they’d be faced with when using a customer car from Lola, Dome, etc.

So, do we ask for the ACO to make serious changes to bring the petrol privateers into play, do we take Dumas’ off-handed comment and ask that it be seriously considered, or do we keep things status quo and watch valued constructors/entrants like Pescarolo decide to give up when they can’t get the engines they need and the rules won’t be actively adjusted?


Peugeot’s Snorkels and Vortices
The Peugeot 908's turbo air inlet, rear wheel cover, and sidepod height are changed for Le Mans in a bid for increased speed. Based on their testing times, it worked. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos

I’ve had fun comparing photos of the Peugeot 908 from Sebring, the last LMS round from Spa, and from Le Mans this weekend.

Their bodywork is different in a few obvious and subtle ways. To start, for Le Mans, they’ve moved their engine air intake ‘snorkels’ away from the rear wheel covers, moved them up, increased their opening, and tapered them into the bodywork. They also point forward.

All of those noted items are different from Sebring and Spa. If anything, the changes between Sebring and Spa aren’t worth mentioning, so we’ll stick with a Sebring/Le Mans comparo.
The 908 three months ago at Sebring. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos

With the elevated snorkels, the air intakes now fall inline of the mirrors. The 908’s well-tapered mirrors aid in the feeding of the intakes, providing a nice bit of swirling air vortices’ for the snorkels to swallow.

The rear wheel covers have also been shortened; it’s what causes the snorkel to stand out from the wheel cover so distinctly. While the air that now hits the wheel covers has a sharper transition when it hits the front of that bodywork, there's also less air displaced. Just as reducing frontal area is important, reducing 'rearward area' is also an area to be optimized for Le Mans.

Oddly, the sidepods are slightly taller where they now meet the wheel covers—not an expected change for Le Mans where clean aero is the key to fast lap times.
Their mirrors are now inline with their snorkels--a departure from the previously out-turned air intakes. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos

The new height must accommodate for something; I’ve not had a chance to poke around and find out what the boxy new height is covering, but Peugeot certainly wouldn’t make their car bigger if there wasn’t an advantage to be had.

Rumors and Rumblings:

A little birdie tells me Forsythe Championship Racing have decided on an American Le Mans LMP2 entry. The chassis and engine of choice is said to be British—but not the Lola-Cosworth that was originally speculated (the Cosworth is a P1 engine, anyways).

A Zytek-Zytek is meant to be their chosen constructor/power solution for 2008, with their debut at Elkhart Lake. Provided this all happens, one must wonder how long FCR would be interested in fielding a privateer car in a category that’s ruled by manufacturer programs.
If our little birdie is telling the truth, you're looking at what Forsythe will be racing in the ALMS starting at Elkhart Lake. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos

Barring Highcroft, all of Acura’s P2 programs are with current or former ChampCar/IRL open-wheel teams. Forsythe would fit nicely into a 5th Acura program for 2009.

With the confirmation of an Acura LMP1 program, at least in the CAD design stages, by HPD, the state of Acura’s ALMS landscape in 2009 could be open for a new team provided P1 and P2 cars are in action. Acura would be smart to consider FCR for 2009; they’ve lost a lot of talent since ChampCar’s demise, but there are still a number of sharp people at Jerry’s house, and many non FCR ex-ChampCar team members floating about waiting for an opportunity to go back to work.


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