2011 24 Hours of Le Mans, LMS and ALMS news.

[henk4]

Even better if we got back to the late 90's with the GT1 cars and open prototypes.

that is childplay, we need 917s and 512s or even better 375MMs or 412ss with unsynchronised gearboxes. All that humbug that racing should contribute to improve roadcars should be buried forever.

[faksta]

All that humbug that racing should contribute to improve roadcars should be buried forever.

It's often an excuse for racing to exist at all, so we have to live with this...

[henk4]

It's often an excuse for racing to exist at all, so we have to live with this...

I know, but does Ferrer????

[Ferrer]

that is childplay, we need 917s and 512s or even better 375MMs or 412ss with unsynchronised gearboxes. All that humbug that racing should contribute to improve roadcars should be buried forever.

I was refering to the amount of works teams involved, not the the cars themselves.

As for improving road cars, couldn't care. A fan of homologation specials, though.

[Dino Scuderia]

Sebring winter test begins tomorrow.

Entry list:

http://www.americanlemans.com/files/...ter%20Test.pdf

[Dino Scuderia]

RECORD NUMBER OF ENTRIES READY FOR WINTER TEST
Set to hit the track at Sebring starting Wednesday

2011-02-07
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It has been a long four months since the close of the 2010 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. The first real steps toward the 2011 championships come at Sebring for the annual ALMS Winter Test on Wednesday and Thursday. It’s always a great chance to see what’s in store for the coming season, which starts in mid-March with the 59th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida.

More cars than ever will participate in the two-day test – 33 as of Monday. Among the entries that will garner the most attention are Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing’s Lola-Aston Martin coupe – the same car which finished third last year at the 12 Hours – and Ferrari F458 GTs for Risi Competizione and Extreme Speed Motorsports.

West Racing’s Lamborghini Gallardo will get plenty of looks as well as it prepares to makes its ALMS debut next month. JaguarRSR will bring P.J. Jones, Bruno Junqueira and Cristiano da Matta together for the first time to drive two Jaguar XKR GTs. Paul Miller Racing also is stepping up to GT from GTC with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

There are a number of other first-year entrants set to make their Series debuts – CRS Racing in GT with a Ferrari F430 GT, Performance Tech Motorsports and CORE autosport in LMP Challenge, and JDX Racing, NGT Motorsports and Kelly Moss Motorsports in GT Challenge.

Among the other notable entries include three Corvettes – two from Corvette Racing and one from Larbre Competition – and Team LNT with a Radical SR9 in LMP2.

[Dino Scuderia]

Signature secures Nissan engine deal

By Pablo Elizalde Wednesday, February 9th 2011, 11:36 GMT

Signature secures Nissan engine dealNissan has announced a two-year partnership with Signature Racing to supply engines to the team in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The deal will see the Japanese manufacturer provide the team its NISMO-tuned VK45V8 engines for the LMP2 class chassis.

"Nissan is very happy to announce our new partnership with Signature and we look forward to working with such a professional and well respected team," said Vincent Wijnen, Nissan Vice-President, Strategy and Marketing.

"I know our customers, fans and dealers will be following our progress when we start racing in March and will of course be anticipating our return to the Le Mans 24 hours."

The team will race as Signatech Nissan in the opening round of the ILMC on March 19th at Sebring.

"We are delighted to team up with such an innovative car manufacturer," said Philippe Sinault, CEO of the Signature Group.

"Nissan's engine know how will be crucial to the overall performance of the car, and we are sure this partnership will be hugely successful."

Signature is yet to announce its final driver line-up, but team regular Franck Mailleux has been confirmed for the ILMC and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

[henk4]

so what chassis will they use?

[RacingManiac]

Judging from this:
autosport.com - Le Mans News: Le Mans reveals 24 Hours entry list

Oreca 03s?

[Chernaudi]

Endurance-Info is reporting that another of the new Peugeot 908s was severely damaged during a 30 hour endurance test at Paul Ricard. The culprit is believed to be a tub/suspension mount failure very similar to what the old 908 experienced several times late in it's life, namely at Le Mans in 2010.

Could the new 908 have inherited some the older cars flaws. Ironically, Peugeot blamed the older failures on construction techniques used by previous constructor Dassault Systems. If the failures are similar, I think that Peugeot would have to blame their design department.

[RacingManiac]

908 had a suspension failure in 2010 at Le Mans? I thought they all had their engine grenaded....

I remember they cracked a tub in Sebring in 2009 and/or 2010....

[henk4]

908 had a suspension failure in 2010 at Le Mans? I thought they all had their engine grenaded....

I remember they cracked a tub in Sebring in 2009 and/or 2010....

the first one out (with bourdais) had a violent encounter with some kerbstones, the kerbstones won.

[Chernaudi]

It was a forum posting on E-I (get your online translators if you don't know French):

endurance-info.com - Voir le sujet - PEUGEOT 908 2011

And a brief article (also in French) about the accident:

AUTOhebdo.fr | Une Peugeot 908 sort au Paul-Ricard

It seems to be a case where we should be glad that Nic wasn't totaled with the car, just as Marc escaped a fate similar to this 908 in Dec.

This does have to be worrying, though, as it seems that it's a design flaw intrinsic to the 908's design, and that both tubs sport a broadly similar design. What really may hurt Peugeot is that Sebring is 3 weeks away, and with the car at this stage, I fear that there might be no reliable quick fix.

Peugeot even switched from Dassualt Systems to someone else to make the tubs under license. This has to cause some worry, and each day lost now means a day gained by Audi with the R18 that's done less testing so far. Definently a point of concern, as it doesn't seem to be a wholy isolated incident (Gene's massive off in December was caused by a "parts failure").

[henk4]

now first of all you don't know whether Minassisan hit anything so we do not know the reason for the rupture, or whatever it is, second, the first case as in Le Mans, was clearly caused by a violent encounter with a kerbstone. Further cases as far as I know did not take place.
So to start talking about design flaws at this stage is a bit premature, and I am sure you would not come up with such worries if it had concerned an Audi

[RacingManiac]

I thought Audi cracked tubs too with R15 at some point....hmmm..

At any rate most of these cars now are pretty highly stressed that if you take them to the curb it'll probably do some damaged. R8 was a "tank", but it was also 10 sec a lap slower(Le Mans standard) than the the LMP cars now....corresponding forces are also less...