New year of sportscars has begun. Acura has launched their new LMP1 car and testing has begun at Sebring.

The Acura is looking really nice. i like the nose on it. it's all very F1-esque

http://www.planetlemans.com/20 ... w-arx-02a-lmp1-contender/

Sebring winter test with BMW, not so good. porsche domination, although theres no Ferrari's there

http://www.planetlemans.com/20 ... winter-test-day-2-report/

Rear wing supports on the Acura are quite odd, but they did a good job of making sure they aren't a giant eyesore.

The rear wing supports on the Acura are a perfect example of why I love LeMans sportscar racing. That's the sort of out-of-the-box thinking and innovation that I find to be the most interesting part of racing - and it is exactly what F1 is missing. I'm lovin the new Acura, and I'm keen to see how she performs on track.

[EDIT] I recall reading somewhere that Dyson had switched to the new Lola closed-cockpit chassis for this season. Is that a P1 or P2 effort?

Pardon my lack of knowledge, but is that intake (?) piece some sort of standardized part as the Aston has exactly similar one?

Quote from MAGGOT :

[EDIT] I recall reading somewhere that Dyson had switched to the new Lola closed-cockpit chassis for this season. Is that a P1 or P2 effort?

P2 unfortunately

I'm sure it's amazing from engineering point of view but the joke about "single seaters with fenders" is becoming little bit too apparent with this kind of noses. Of course Peugoet pioneered this but this again another step. Then again the new Aston LMP looks extremely primitive compared to this... thing.

Interesting about the new car is that it has "four rear tyres", meaning front tyres are exactly same size. Engine is 4.0L V8, maybe derivative from the 3.4L P2 engine they used. So called official figure is "620 plus".

Details: http://www.autoweek.com/apps/p ... 90126/FREE/901269971/1566

The new short rear wing does not look so bad than I thought. If the endplates were minimal it wouldn't look bad at all. ALMS adopted the new rear wing rule for P1 but P2 teams have option to use '08 wings with weight penalty. Imho ACO should have widthdrawn the whole rule change, there was plenty of time to do that when it was obvious economy got bad.

Quote from deggis :

P2 unfortunately

Damn.

Quote :

I'm sure it's amazing from engineering point of view but the joke about "single seaters with fenders" is becoming little bit too apparent with this kind of noses. Of course Peugoet pioneered this but this again another step.

I think that trophy goes to the Allard J2X, actually I actually like the new direction - I don't think they look as much like open wheel cars with fenders as people say they do, but I guess I just look at them in a totally different way.

Quote :

Then again the new Aston LMP looks extremely primitive compared to this... thing.

Remember the new Aston shots released are purely conceptual at this point - recall the Peugeot 908 concept? The real deal looks nothing like it. I'd bet my life savings (all $105.91 of it) that the same will happen with the Aston. I kinda doubt it'll wind up with the flat nose even; I'd expect the competition car to have a more F1-esque nose as it is just simply aerodynamically superior.

i for one quite like the pointed noses. i find it very agressive and nice for that.

Panoz on top of the GT2 class? :cry:

Quote from MAGGOT :

I think that trophy goes to the Allard J2X, actually

or 905 "Supercopter":
http://images.forum-auto.com/m ... 21/1992MagnyCoursev23.jpg

After looking at that for a while, the Acura starts to look very beatiful

Quote :

Remember the new Aston shots released are purely conceptual at this point - recall the Peugeot 908 concept? The real deal looks nothing like it. I'd bet my life savings (all $105.91 of it) that the same will happen with the Aston. I kinda doubt it'll wind up with the flat nose even; I'd expect the competition car to have a more F1-esque nose as it is just simply aerodynamically superior.

You mean this 908 concept? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Peugeot_908.jpg

That's a real model though, but press photos of that were released somewhere in 2006 when Peugeot announced their plans. Several months before it hit track in public first time. The Aston is supposed to be making it's first public appearance in Paul Ricard tests in early March...

Last summer there was article in Top Gear Magazine (link): "...the still-secret prototype has been designed by Marek Reichman, the same suave Brit who designs Aston's road cars. His prototype is currently residing with the race team, which is now testing whether the car can be simultaneously pretty and aerodynamically efficient."

When I read that first time I thought that was wishful speculation, but now that the rumours (about the whole LMP program) turned out to be true... And the renders look somewhat detailed just to be some early illustrations. I'm not saying the render has all the bits and pieces either, of course not.

Maybe I'm just stupid optimist

HDI FAP... hehehehehehehe

Quote from deggis :

or 905 "Supercopter":
http://images.forum-auto.com/m ... 21/1992MagnyCoursev23.jpg

After looking at that for a while, the Acura starts to look very beatiful

I liked the 905 EVO

Quote :

You mean this 908 concept? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Peugeot_908.jpg

That's a real model though, but press photos of that were released somewhere in 2006 when Peugeot announced their plans. Several months before it hit track in public first time. The Aston is supposed to be making it's first public appearance in Paul Ricard tests in early March...

I know it's an official model, but like the Aston, it is a conceptual model and does not represent the actual car. I highly doubt the Aston will look like the released renders.

Quote from BlueFlame :

HDI FAP... hehehehehehehe

Gets me every time.

A closeup image of Acura's rear wing mount (www.johnthawley.com)


Note that this isn't the same mount used in pre-Sebring testing


Any thoughts on the aero advantage the new setup provides? Wouldn't placing the supports ahead of the wing spoil the air hitting it?...unless you purposefully want to reduce the load in the center of the car. Actually, looking at the second pic above, you see that the middle section of the lower element on the rear wing is much flatter compared to the edges.

Well, i'm guessing the second pic it's flat becase the mounts have to attach to a flat area maybe? So since the top of the wing is flat(ter) they swapped it over and if designed well enough it wouldn't affect airflow too much, but could maybe even proovide an aid by directing the airflow.

Having the supports in front of the rear wing provides a less turbulent airflow across the bottom surface of the wing, increasing the speed of the air, and by association, the effectiveness of the wing. There is a slight trade-off, though - the air passing over the top surface of the wing may suffer from increased turbulence and drag as it passes the support twice.

That is speculation on my part with my understanding of aerodynamics, anyways.

Quote from MAGGOT :

Having the supports in front of the rear wing provides a less turbulent airflow across the bottom surface of the wing, increasing the speed of the air, and by association, the effectiveness of the wing. There is a slight trade-off, though - the air passing over the top surface of the wing may suffer from increased turbulence and drag as it passes the support twice.

That is speculation on my part with my understanding of aerodynamics, anyways.

I discussed this with a fluid dynamics professor today, and what you're saying is basically right. The underside of the (inverted) airfoil is more important than the top side when generating downforce, so keeping it free of supports should increase the wing's effectiveness. Hower, the better solution would probably be to place these "swan necks" behind the wing to reduce the turbulence. The regs probably don't allow that though.

Does anyone know if FIA GT and ACO regulations for GT1 and GT2 cars are the same?

They are almost the same. I think there's some difference with wheelbase or sumn, which is why the maserati can't do le mans.

Quote from Speedy Pro :

Does anyone know if FIA GT and ACO regulations for GT1 and GT2 cars are the same?

Not quite, but that being said most FIA GT1 cars are built to ACO regs which correspond with FIA regs. They have a few more allowances, though, which allows a larger number of cars in the field for the sake of competition. The Maserati MC12, as I recall, didn't technically fit into either regulation standards but the FIA allowed it whereas the ACO remained firm on their regulations.

Great pics: http://www.speedtv.com/gallery ... ;height=750&width=844

video: http://xracerx.blip.tv/file/1711651/

Great links, deggis, thanks. Is there a chance we will see the P1 Acura at 24hrs of LeMans? Apparently they already have 82 entries for 55 spots with 44 prototypes. But it would be interesting to watch the Acura go against Audis, Pugs, Astons, etc.

Officially Acura has no plan to race at Le Mans... but they have "a dream" or "aspiration" to do it, like HPD's Erik Berkman has put it often and now they're saying they have to prove the car first. That would be awesome (2010 maybe?) but big obstacle might be the fact that Acura is not sold in Europe.

But Radio Le Mans interviewed Duncan Dayton (Highcroft's) at Sebring tests (mp3 link) and he gave somewhat contradictory answer when he was asked about Le Mans... interviewer even specifically asked "THIS year?" and then he said "I'm not saying we would not go this year".

ps. Good reading about ARX-02: http://www.gordonkirby.com/cat ... /the_way_it_is_no169.html

-

Quote from deggis :

but big obstacle might be the fact that Acura is not sold in Europe.

I don't see that as being a problem, try finding a Pescarolo dealership, or a Lola dealership, or a Courage dealership for that matter, or perhaps, a Creation or Zytek dealership...

Basically Acura are weary of entering Le-Mans for fear of not being competitive.

Quote from BlueFlame :

I don't see that as being a problem, try finding a Pescarolo dealership, or a Lola dealership, or a Courage dealership for that matter, or perhaps, a Creation or Zytek dealership...

All of these are race car constructors and as you probably know, teams from both sides of the pond are their potential customers. Acura is a road car manufacturer and it's racing to promote the brand. But there is no [Acura] brand in Europe.

Quote from deggis :

All of these are race car constructors. Acura is a road car manufacturer and it's racing to promote the brand. But there is no [Acura] brand in Europe.

It's true, but if they are racing, race car constructed race cars, what financial benefit do they get from it other than winning and sponsors? Presumably customer teams will want to buy race cars from them, but you could be a road car manufacturer that is selling customer race cars, aswell as customer road cars, because of your race cars success.

And anyway, Acura is, effectively Honda, in the early days of Acura, all the cars were just rebranded Honda's anyway. And Americans like the thought of buying from a brand that has beaten european cars anyway.

http://www.welterracing.fr/

Seems like Welter have a programme running for 2009

Quote from BlueFlame :

It's true, but if they are racing, race car constructed race cars, what financial benefit do they get from it other than winning and sponsors? Presumably customer teams will want to buy race cars from them, but you could be a road car manufacturer that is selling customer race cars, aswell as customer road cars, because of your race cars success.

For car manufacturer motorsport is marketing and it's not directly financially benefiting. It's same of course for Lola, Zytek (I guess hybrid and other automotive technology is actually main business for Zytek) etc. but their business is to build cars and sell them to teams. Acura is not planning only to sell ARX-01/02s but instead race them. Actually neither does Acura have a racing team, but its quite clear that Highcroft and De Ferran are de facto works supported teams.