HPD LMP1
that went over 5000kms, and that the small amount of fuel used was unbelievable.’ Accommodations were
Packaging the wider P1 tyres and wheels, and the associated cooling ducts, presented some issues, but lessons learnt from the P2 project paid off
made at the front of the 01e to fit the larger wheels but, once again, knowledge of packaging wider wheels and tyres and the placement of the larger brake cooling system were drawn directly from the 02a. Wirth’s team is also said to have recovered most of the aerodynamic losses caused by the increased frontal area. Mechanically, with the
exception of the wide front tyre fitment, the 01e looks no different than the 01d. Its bodywork was re-crafted for P1, but the rest of the car is pure P2, with the uprated, 3.4-litre V8 engine drawing from the ALMS’ golden era of furious Acura vs Porsche battles. ‘From a performance
Elements of the 02a-to-01d aero kit have been carried over to the 01e, including the flow conditioners used at the outer edges of the front wings
the reliability and dependability side of things, but then it’s been upgraded and evolved to now be able to compete in the top class.’
AERODYNAMICS Looking at the 01e’s aerodynamics, the lineage is easy to trace. Designed as a low drag ‘Le Mans’ aero kit for the 02a that was never pressed into service, HPD and Wirth adapted the 02a’s LM configuration to the 01d for
tall, protruding sections are in stark contrast to the low, minimal treatment found on the 01a through 01d. Gone are the large dive planes, replaced with an intricate single plane and turning vane arrangement, while in addition to changeable louvres atop the wheelarches, new, smaller louvres have been added on the vertical face of the nose’s wheel inset. ‘We took all the work and effort
the small amount of fuel used was unbelievable
its class-winning run at Le Mans in 2010.
Elements of the 02a-to-01d
aero kit carried over to the 01e, including the flow conditioners used at the outer edges of the front wings (fenders). The only major change to the 01d’s aerodynamics is found with the complete front wheelarch re-design that was necessary to accommodate the now standard wide Michelin front tyres. The
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that had already been invested in the 02a investigation and applied it to our successful 01d chassis. That became the Le Mans-spec, low-downforce configuration, and the aerodynamics that were incorporated in that car allowed us to really unleash the efficiency of the engine to get some phenomenal fuel economy at Le Mans. Some of the stuff we’ve heard from the ACO is that the bar we set is unprecedented for a car
standpoint, essentially, when you look at the restrictor size, what we did is we went back to 2008,’ Eriksen explained. ‘So what we dug up was our Porsche battle-era, 2008-spec engine configurations, and brought those performance ideas forward to 2011. But then we also took into account the reliability improvements that we’d made over the period since then. Combine them together and that’s the spec we ran at Sebring.’
VALUABLE LESSONS HPD learned a number of valuable lessons at Le Mans last year – specifically in improving ancillary engine components such as braces, belts and other vibration- prone items. The merging of HPD’s 02a project, the proven ARX-01 platform and the endurance lessons gained at Le Mans all fed into the 01e, making an incredible run to second overall at the 2011 12 Hours of Sebring. The decision to work from
known components and concepts allowed HPD and Wirth to bring the car to market in just over four months, after final approval was given in November 2010. The brutally tight deadline saw the 01e delivered just days before the week of activities began at the gruelling central Florida track and, with almost zero miles on the car,
TECH SPEC Class: LMP1 (2010/2011)
Chassis: Courage LC75 carbon fibre monocoque
Engine: Honda Performance Development LM-V8 N/A, fuel-injected, aluminum alloy cylinder block, Dual overhead camshaft, 4 valves per cylinder
Capacity: 3,397cc Bore: 93mm Stroke: 62.5mm
Transmission: Hewland six speed sequential gearbox
Clutch: Carbon, pull type triple plate
Brakes: Carbon/Carbon
Suspension: Double wishbone with push rod actuated dampers front and rear
Dampers: Dynamic DSSV
Steering: Power assisted rack-and-pinion
Dimensions: Length: 4620mm Width: 2000mm Height: 1020mm Wheelbase: 2870mm
Highcroft Racing managed not only to compete with, but pass Peugeot’s new 908 and Audi’s R15+.
The potential shown with the 01e has everyone at HPD, Wirth and Highcroft salivating at the thought of bringing the car to Le Mans for a proper 24-hour battle with the diesel titans. How the chassis will fare on the long straights – just the place Wirth’s aerodynamics are meant to pay off – will be fascinating to watch, if the budget to ship and race the car can be found. ‘I have every hope it will reach
Le Mans, and we are pulling out all the stops with everybody that we can think of to try to find a way to get there,’ says Eriksen, ‘because this car was designed for Le Mans. ‘Highcroft has been given
an invitation, so that’s the first hurdle, and we’ve got a car that is fast and reliable. We stayed after the Sebring race and did a further 12-hour run, so got up to our 24-hour race distance without a hitch, despite the car being only a week old. ‘So we’ve now taken that first
step so I’m very hopeful. I think it’ll be a really fun opportunity to get that car out there and mix it up again.’
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