2011 Le Mans Test Day (April 24)

[Wouter Melissen]

For this year the official Le Mans test day has been reinstated. It will be the first time to see how this new generation of LMP1 cars will face off. A full report will follow early next week.

Here is the entry list:

[Wouter Melissen]

ACO Press Release:


The great strength of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2011 begins coming Sunday. 54 cars will participate in this unique testing day, scheduled a month and a half before the 11th and 12th June. Here's everything you need to know about this Test Day.

What is the aim of the test day?
The aim of this test day is to enable entrants to come and test their cars on the big Le Mans 24-Hours circuit. As many of them that will race on 11-12 June are new following the introduction of the new technical regulations, it was necessary to organize this very special day again, sufficiently early before the race so that the teams can modify their cars afterwards if necessary.

Why so early before the 24 Hours?
The Le Mans test day was not held in 2009 and 2010 for economic reasons. This year it will take place on 24th April. From 2005 to 2008, it was organized shortly before the race week. Not since 2004 has it been held in April. When it was at the end of May, it gave the teams the opportunity to fine-tune the setups shortly before the race itself. Organized in April, it will be very useful for validating the final technical choices.

Who takes part?
The test day is not obligatory except for drivers, teams and cars that have never raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours in the past, or in the case of drivers, those who haven’t taken part in the event for three years. This test session is also open to cars other than those selected for the Le Mans 24 Hours provided they comply with the regulations governing the event, as well as the Formula Le Mans cars, a monotype formula aimed at promoting endurance. Fifty-five cars will take part in the test day including 24 of the 26 entries in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Some of the American entries will not be present on 24th April, as they took part in a round of the American Le Mans Series at Long Beach in California a week before the test day. Please note that the driver line-ups for the test day do not have to be the ones for the Le Mans 24 Hours. Teams must send in the names of the drivers selected to the ACO by 12th May 2011 at the latest.

Which circuit?
The session will be held on the 13,629-km layout. The roads open to normal traffic will be closed at 03 h 30 on Sunday 24th April, and opened immediately after the end of the session. This circuit is not only unique in the world, but it is also difficult for teams to simulate its very special characteristics on other tracks or on computers. Hence, the importance of getting to grips with it before June’s race.

When?
Scrutineering and admin checks will take place on Friday 22nd (09h30-18h00) and Saturday 23rd April (09h00-13h45) inside the Le Mans circuit. On Sunday 24th April, the free session will be split up into two parts: 09h00-13h00 and 14h00-18h00.

Who will be the stars?
As the new regulations have spawned a number of new machines, the manufacturers will run cars at Le Mans, which, if they have been tested elsewhere, have never crossed swords on the track. These include the Audi R18, the Peugeot 908 and the Aston Martin AMR-ONE in the prototype category, as well as the eagerly-awaited Lotus Evora GTE in LM GTE Pro. Peugeot has finally decided against running its 908 Hybrid4, but there will be two hybrid prototypes tackling the Le Mans track on 24th April: the Oreca Swiss HY Tech-Hybrid entered for the 24 Hours, as well as in the ILMC, and the Zytech 09H Hybrid of the Italian team, Mik Corse.

How to see it?
The test day is open to the public.
Price: 10 euros for the test day, free for youth born after April 24th 1995.

[RacingManiac]

Sucks that it seems less and less likely that ARX-01e will run at Le Mans....no budget it seems for Highcroft to run the car..

[Chernaudi]

Oddly enough, writers from DSC say that they should be back in the ALMS post LM....

[henk4]

Oddly enough, writers from DSC say that they should be back in the ALMS post LM....

it is not odd, the first ALMS race being scheduled for July.....

[RacingManiac]

The source I have says if the ARX-01e races again this year, it probably won't be with Highcroft unless they get funding.

[henk4]

The source I have says if the ARX-01e races again this year, it probably won't be with Highcroft unless they get funding.

so that looks like three LMP1s less for the 24 Hours. That means that the fastest Aston of last weekend, the Chronos car, will have a good chance to make it to the grid. It is always a pleasure to take some pictures of Vanina....

[Chernaudi]

According to a post on Ten-Tenths Pieter, an article in L'Equipe (or however it's spelled) seems to back up your assesment of the 908 at the test, that they lacked grip compared to the Audi R18. Nic Minassian admitted in that interview that 908's lacked front grip and that caused understeering issues in the third sector (Porsche Curves and Ford Chicane) and in traffic.

What I'm wondering there, now that this cat is out of the bag, is if it's aero or mechanical grip that the 908 was lacking. If it's aero, that's a consequence of the LM package (though I wouldn't know why--the Pugs are running a single large diveplane on each fender like Audi was unless it's a front/rear balance issue). If it's mechanical, that might not be easy to fix.

It seems that the issues might be similar to what Audi fought with off and on with the R15 last year. And what do the new 908 and the R15 have in common? Zero-keel front suspension like what all current F1 cars us. Zero-keel allows clean air flow from under the front diffuser and under the nose of the tub. Problem is that it can have a higher CG and if the geometry is wrong, can cause more handling and grip issues. The Audi R18 does have zero-keel, but Audi has the experience of the R15's handling and grip being hit or miss to go from, Peugeot does not.

If it's aero, it probably won't show up so much at Spa this weekend. If it's mechanical, it may be a long weekend for Peugeot at Spa as far as trying to dial their cars in.

[RacingManiac]

If we are into mental masturbation about this I can get some guesses in too....the new Michelin for them with the wider tread, they would need corresponding increase in front weight distribution(and downforce) to make them work properly(same reason why the HPD is not using it, since ARX-01e was designed for old spec tires and unlike the old 02a was not biased toward the front, they won't get any benefit front using the new fronts). The wider front also takes away space for the front diffuser as the larger tire means larger packaging foot print so making effective front diffuser packaging difficult. Potentially either one can rob you of proper utilization of the tire. Unlike Audi with the whole R15 chapter, Peugeot have not been playing with really aggressive aero design so they might be ultimately lacking when it comes to squeezing every bit of space to make the front diffuser more effective. And with the V8 Twintubo of the 908-bis, vs the V6 single turbo of the Audi, Peugeot might be ultimately more rearward bias in mass also.

Again though, just mental masturbation....