BRIEFLY
Toyota secret tests It’s been reported that Toyota
has already started testing its hybrid LMP1 car in secret, and that the car actually hit the track as early as last year. The car, which has been built for Toyota by famed Japanese racecar manufacturer Dome, could race at Le Mans in the next two years, although it’s believed that plans have been hit by the earthquake in Japan. The Japanese car giant is also looking into the possibility of offering a GTE car based on its Lexus LFA, a version of which has been tested at Valencia recently, we understand.
Tank warfare at this year’s Indy 500
Panther Racing has moved to refute accusations it cheated in the Indy 500 this year. Graham Rahal questioned the fuel cell capacity of the second placed car of JR Hildebrand, which almost won the event but crashed on the last turn, in comments published in USA Today. But Panther pointed out that both Hildebrand and Target Chip Ganassi driver Dario Franchitti pitted on lap 164, about the same time as the winner for the previous two years. Panther chief engineer David Cripps worked
out the numbers that would get his driver to the finish from here, and Hildebrand stuck to around 218-219mph laps. Franchitti, who had to stop for a splash and dash on lap 199, was circulating at about 220-222mph. Meanwhile, Panther team manager Chris Mower says that the fuel cell is a component that the IndyCar Series checks regularly before and after races and it would be impossible to get away with such a blatant flaunting of the regulations. Hildebrand limped over the line in second place.
Lola F3 return Lola is evaluating a return
GT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Deadline looms for GT contenders
The future of the FIA GT Championship will be decided this month as series organizer Stephane Ratel has set his teams a deadline of July 18 to pay the entry fee of 60,000 Euros per car. Few of his existing teams are
willing to put forward the full sum of money, though many have offered part-payment by July. Aston Martin says that it can only provide cars to customers if the DBR9 is grand-fathered for a further year, and Corvette has been openly critical of Ratel’s plans to combine GT1 cars with GT2 and GT3, levelling the performance through the complicated balancing system. The GT2 cars will follow the
rules of the FIA set in 2009, the last time the organisation had a category for the cars. If he does not have sufficient entries, the
championship will finish at the end of this year, and Ratel will concentrate on the GT3 European championship and his new Blancpain series. Aston Martin says that it will
support the championship, but says that it does not have time or resources to develop the Vantage. ‘We haven’t got another car for it. We can only do the Vantage for 2013,’ says Aston Martin Racing and Prodrive Chairman David Richards, whose company is also
working on the WRC Mini and the AMR-One Le Mans car. ’We have got a GT3 car, which will be ready in August, so that is a proper programme, with a proper lead time and it will be sorted. It is built to GT3 regulations, and that is all we are going to do with that car. We have had some problems with the GT2 car, and have had to take a step back to the normal cross-plane engines. We would like to resolve that and have it ready by Silverstone [in September], and so we haven’t got the resources to adapt that to new regulations. Our focus is to get that sorted.’ Corvette was similarly critical
of the proposal to performance balance the cars up to GT1 levels, and says that it would prefer to see the GTE class cars, under ACO regulations, form the basis of a GT
to Formula 3 in 2013 with an all-new design that aims to break the stranglehold of Italian constructor Dallara. Formula 3 remains one of the few remaining open single seater formulas. The car will be designed to the new regulations coming in next year. Lola was last in F3 from 2003 until 2007, firstly in partnership with Dome in 2003 – the car then called a Lola-Dome – and then with a wholly Lola-branded car from 2005. The car won races in the Italian, the Japanese and the British championships.
Enduro for DTM? BMW is looking to enter its
DTM car in long distance races, if it can find events that will accept the cars. ‘All of the components have a long life. The engine has to last for the entire season so it would easily do 6,000km – 7,000km, which is a 24 hour race distance, and that is an option for the future,’ explained the firm’s out going motorsport boss Mario Theissen. DTM is introducing all new cars for next season, which will use a spec Dallara carbon tub as their basis.
AC sets it up Lola is evaluating a return
to Formula 3 in 2013 with an all-new design that aims to break the stranglehold of Italian constructor Dallara. Formula 3 remains one of the few remaining open single seater formulas.
10
www.racecarengineering.com • August 2011 89
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100