Le Mans Series 2009

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by cmk

That is supposedly the case, yes. On the other hand, Lammers has not been connected to Verschurr in any way and, conversely, has been connected to Horag's hoped-for though far from confirmed 09 program. Thus, if this rumour comes to fruition I doubt the selection of Verstappen will have changed the course of history in any way.

True , but he does have connections to Dome , and I thought any Dome effort in Europe would probably include him .

[Lazy]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Audi and Porsche say that their engines can last 30 hours between scheduled major rebuilds. In the early 80's Porsche had to make their 2.65 Indy boxer-6's last almost as long(as the ACO penalized teams who made engine changes between final practice and the race), and even the Cosworth DFVs lasted almost 30 hours in the backs of Rondeaus-those engines had to last at least 25-26+hours, and in 80 and 81 Porsche and Rondeau had the best finishing record at Le Mans as far as engine problems.

If such engines(one being a future Porsche Group C engine, and the other a slightly detuned F1 engine) could potentially last 30 hours back then, and if Audi and Porsche can make their engines last 30 hours before an overhaul, everyone else(except maybe Peugeot and Zytek-the Pug's engine rebuild schedlule is an unknown, but Famin says that a Pug engine hasn't lasted a 30 hour test without some difficulty, and the Zytek is a 4.5 liter flat-crank V8-maybe pushing relialbility) should last the required distance, even the Pug and Zytek: 2 LMS=3/4 of the 12 Hours of Sebring, and 1/3 of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Thanks. But that doesn't mean teams necessarily use one engine that long?

http://www.gordonkirby.com/categorie...t_is_no45.html

Robert Clarke:

"Obviously, an engine has to live the length of the Sebring race but because of where our program is in its development I think it's likely we'll end up changing engines every race. So you're looking at twelve engines for twelve races. We're not looking at qualifying engines or anything like that, but at least an engine per race per car."

Just like he says, it could have been different last year with the heavy developing.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by The Badger

True , but he does have connections to Dome , and I thought any Dome effort in Europe would probably include him .

For this years Le Mans Dome switched to Belgian JB Motorsport.

[E46]

West-Tec, British team in from Formula 3, could put on track former Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder according www.sportmotores.es. Gavin Wills, West-Tec team manager, was race engineer in Team Essex.

[vorsprung]

Originally Posted by Dead-Eye

http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?...=3175&Itemid=1
Racing Box plans to run two cars next year, stated it would be a british chassis, probably Zyteks.

According to EI Racing Box will get two Lola B08/80 with Judd engines. They've hired Andrea Adamo from N-Technology to engineer the cars. Francioni, Geri and Ceccato will drive one car and Piccini, Bobbi, Gardel and TK-S were testing the Lucchini with them last week.
Sounds to be a serious program compared to this years Lucchini mess.

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

more and more LMPs, so the ACO will push GT teams out !

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Subaru_WRX_STi

more and more LMPs, so the ACO will push GT teams out !

Hmm, some come some go. As of yet I do not see a huge influx of prototypes to displace anything!


L.P.

[The359]

ORECA announces a 2-year engine deal with AIM!

The text indicates this is an exclusive deal however. Have Creation and AIM split?

Also notice the chassis is referred to as an LC70E, I wonder what sort of modifications they're making?

[isynge]

Originally Posted by The359

ORECA announces a 2-year engine deal with AIM!

The text indicates this is an exclusive deal however. Have Creation and AIM split?

Also notice the chassis is referred to as an LC70E, I wonder what sort of modifications they're making?

All sorts of possible permutations here.

I can see that AIM might well be a bit disappointed with what the Creation engagement has delivered so far, and the level of changes within Creation could also make them think about alternative partners.

It's also feasible that ORECA's main sponsor Matmut might be feeling the pinch of the current climate, so making a 'works' like engine deal a bit more appealing.

Will Creation still have the AIM motor? The English translation of the EI article didn't clarify this but my reading of the original French certainly seemed to hint that it was an exclusive deal for ORECA.

The optimist in me hopes that this doesn't signify bad news for Creation and that they're exploring other possible engine routes (Zytek? a production engine? back to Judd?) but in this climate who knows?

[The Real DMN]

Didn't AIM buy a stake in Creation?

[isynge]

According to Daily Sportscar a compromise has been reached with Creation that leaves them in "a very strong position" for next year (no further details).

Which, of course, leaves pretty much everything open for speculation.

[Antho]

Originally Posted by The359

ORECA announces a 2-year engine deal with AIM!

The text indicates this is an exclusive deal however. Have Creation and AIM split?

Also notice the chassis is referred to as an LC70E, I wonder what sort of modifications they're making?

Only ORECA will have the AIM engine.
This is an exclusive partnership.

[NightStalk3r]

Originally Posted by Antho

Only ORECA will have the AIM engine.
This is an exclusive partnership.

And DSC says

a compromise agreement between AIM and Creation has been signed, leaving Creation in a strong position for 2009.

[isynge]

The 'compromise agreement' could, I suppose, be financial in nature, AIM buying themselves out of the Creation relationship in a way that allowed them either to continue using a previous iteration of the AIM powerplant or go to any other engine supplier with some additional cash in hand.

To be honest, if I was looking for an engine now I'm not sure the AIM looks notably better than some of the other racing engine options on the table at the moment.

[JAG]

Creation need to get back to basics and buy an off the shelf chassis, and what better than Oreca's new 2010/11 car, allowing them to get another couple of years use out of the current cars.

And please return to the Blue Rocket colours, thats the Creation brand, what used to be one of the most distinctive and photographed cars on the grid is now lost amongst the Acuras and Zyteks.

[Mal]

Bearing in mind the engine is basically a Judd engine maybe Creations version will be badged as a Judd but be basically similar but with some minor differences so that Oreca's version can be 'exclusively branded'

[Aslak Vind]

Frankly, I cant blame AIM. Creation has been hopeless all year, however much I love this team.

[chernaudi]

Michelins would help-the Dunlop shod cars seem lost in the US. And when one considers how much flak that Goodyear has taken in recent years over their NASCAR tires and the fact that Goodyear also owns 75% of Dunlop, I hope that this is just coincidence.

Even if they had to use LMP675/LMP2 tires, the Creations easily preformed better on Michelin rubber.

[Aslak Vind]

Didnt they run Michelin, the first time they went to the ALMS with LMP1 shoes?

[isynge]

Creation's best results came with Michelin - in 2006 even with the smaller wheel issues they were absolutely mighty - even accepting their PLM and Laguna Seca results might have come about thanks to some of the ALMS weight tweaking that went on.

I strongly suspect that on Michelins we might well have a different view of the Creation package. In 2007 the car, while it took a while to get sorted, was fully capable of winning a podium, and 2008 just felt like a litany of bad luck.

I'm really not so sure that there's anything fundamentally wrong with the Creation basic package - being on the right tyres, and having someone as inspirational as Nic Minassian around would transform their results, but even in the absence of that I can see them being there or thereabout next year.

Put another way, on Dunlops, without good luck, and without a centrepiece driver being around all year, I'm not sure that shifting away from the KWM chassis is going to really be the revelation some are looking for.

[Aslak Vind]

How about the staff issues at Creation?

Many of the frontrunners in the team is history, what do you think?

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Aslak Vind

How about the staff issues at Creation?

Many of the frontrunners in the team is history, what do you think?

I'll grant you that Minassian and Bickerton are gone, but who else?

Mike Jankowski's enthusiasm and commitment can't really be doubted. KWM, as far as I know, are still the consultants on the chassis, and Jamie Campbell-Walter seems to have grown really well into being an anchor for the driving line up.

Others may well know better as to whether there has been a deeper level of reduction in the team's talent pool but as a stable, professional team I'd be surprised if they were scraping the bottom of the barrel.

[Aslak Vind]

Allright, I grant you that!

How about the closed cockpit CA racer, did it go the same way as the sponsor?

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Aslak Vind

Allright, I grant you that!

How about the closed cockpit CA racer, did it go the same way as the sponsor?

I think the question here is more whether given what the ACO is saying for 2010 and beyond is whether a coupe or open top is the better bet to go for?

For me, I think this is still open for debate.

The Audi:Peugeot battle has shown that an older, possibly compromised open design has been able to win titles and big races against a coupe.

In LMP2 the RS Spyder (and Acura) cleaned the Lola coupe's clock - sure it's a first year, and at times it showed great speed but to be honest if I, right now, was buying an LMP2 the most persuasive case of 2008 was made not by Speedy, RML, or BK, but by Saulnier, who showed that a well sorted open car driven by a few young guys could be really fast. On that note, I'd be utterly fascinated by what the relative costs of those chassis were?

And in LMP1 the performance of Pescarolo, Oreca, and yes at times Creation, relative to Epsilon Euskadi, and Charouz with their possibly distorting AM engine showed that maybe the coupe shape wasn't the silver bullet that a lot of us thought it might be.

So - if I was Creation, I'd stick with the chassis I've got and work on it, get a decent tyre package (either go back to Michelin or go really leftfield - a bit like Courage and Advan for example, or my oft sounded thought about Kumnho, although this is probably not the year for big Korean investments), and stability in the pair of cars. Do that and I think we could be looking, if not at a championship (their chance was lost, in my opinion, in the qualifying accident at Spa in 06, but that's a different debate) then a squad that can continue to make life interesting amongst the Pescarolos, Orecas, and Charouzes.

[isynge]

Looks like the Creation-AIM divorce is now official.

http://www.planetlemans.com/2008/10/...e-partnership/

Again it says Creation have a strong engine in place for next year - which keeps us all guessing.

Also mentions Creation's aspiration to do more in the ALMS - does this mean we'll see less of them in the LMS next year?