• chevron_right

      The return of GTP racing to IMSA gets a big thumbs-up from fans

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 21 November - 12:00 · 1 minute

    #59: Proton Competition, Porsche 963, GTP: Harry Tincknell, Gianmaria Bruni, Neel Jani races through Turn 12 during the 26th Annual Petit Le Mans race on October 14, 2023 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.

    Enlarge / A Porsche 963, one of the four different kinds of hybrid prototype racing cars built to the LMDh rules, running in IMSA's GTP class at the 2023 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in October. (credit: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

    IMSA provided flights from Washington, DC, to Atlanta and four nights in a hotel so we could attend Petit Le Mans. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

    The crowd streamed onto the track before the race, seizing their last chance to see the brightly liveried cars up close. Daytona had been busy in January, but the crowd at Road Atlanta seemed even larger. To be honest, though, the race the fans were here to see would not be one for the ages. A 52-car grid packed into just 2.8 miles of race track promised potential trouble, and the 10-hour race saw 14 interruptions by the safety car, never getting into a rhythm. But I’m not sure that mattered much; the main draw for many in attendance that Saturday was simply seeing this new era of hybrid prototypes in person, and on that score, everyone left with smiles.

    We’ve spilled plenty of pixels over the past 18 months or so delving into some of the minutiae of this new class of racing car, variously known as LMDh or GTP . Briefly, these are purpose-built racing cars, which start with a carbon-fiber spine from one of four racecar constructors and then add an engine, bodywork, and software from one of the four OEMs that participate, and then the same Xtrac gearbox, Williams Advanced Engineering lithium-ion battery, and Bosch electric motor as a way to keep development costs reasonable.

    The rules purposely limit the amount of aerodynamic downforce a car can generate relative to the amount of drag it creates, and they positively encourage each car maker to give these race cars styling that calls out to their road-going products.

    Read 29 remaining paragraphs | Comments

    • chevron_right

      Here’s how Ferrari designed a car that won Le Mans on its first attempt

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 21 June, 2023 - 14:59 · 1 minute

    A red Ferrari prototype drives past the pit wall at Le Mans as the team celebrates

    Enlarge / Ferrari last won Le Mans overall in 1965 and hasn't competed at the top level since 1973. This year it returned and won with the hybrid 499P hypercar. (credit: Ferrari)

    On Tuesday morning, a triumphant Ferrari celebrated its latest race win. Not this past weekend's F1 race in Montreal, though; 2023 is still looking rough for Scuderia Ferrari's open-wheel racing program. Instead, the glory was brought back to Maranello by its new endurance racing effort, which just won the 24 Hours of Le Mans after an absence of 50 years. It did it with an all-new car, against tough opposition, and the enormity of that result has taken a little time to sink in, according to Ferdinando Cannizzo, technical director of Ferrari Competitzione GT and technical director for the Ferrari 499P program.

    "What I can tell you is that it is clear for us that the challenge that we accepted was very ambitious, that we finally achieved a very historical result," Cannizzo told Ars. "We are aware that the company achieved an historic results, and I think everything will mature in the days that will come; we can probably realize the value of what we have done all together."

    Endurance racing is flat-out now

    The nature of the Le Mans race has changed a lot since Ferrari last won overall in 1965. Then, as now, overall victory was usually up for grabs for one of the cars in the prototype class—cars designed just to go racing rather than the converted road cars that contest the GT class. And the race still takes place for 24 hours on a circuit that still includes some public roads. But in the 1960s, endurance racing was not a flat-out sport; cars were fragile, and making it to the end meant leaving plenty in reserve and being kind to the machinery.

    Read 14 remaining paragraphs | Comments

    • chevron_right

      The 499P: Meet Ferrari’s beautiful new Le Mans hybrid prototype

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Saturday, 29 October, 2022 - 20:10 · 1 minute

    The nose of a Ferrari 499P prototype

    Enlarge / After 50 years away, Ferrari is building a works endurance prototype again. (credit: Ferrari)

    Ferrari provided flights from DC to Bologna and back, plus three nights in a hotel so we could meet the 499P and drive the 296 GTS. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

    IMOLA, ITALY—After a break of 50 years, Ferrari is returning to top-level endurance racing with a new hybrid prototype race car. It's called the 499P, and in 2023 Ferrari will campaign a pair of cars in the World Endurance Championship, a series with the 24 Hours of Le Mans as its crown jewel.

    As I've written before , 2023 is going to be an exciting time for fans of prototype racing. After the cubic megabucks-era of LMP1h collapsed under the weight of unsustainable budgets , the top class of the World Endurance Championship has spent a few years in the doldrums as Toyota faced minimal opposition from much smaller teams. But the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (which runs the Le Mans race) has a new ruleset now, called LMH (Le Mans Hypercar), designed to attract the interest of automakers by keeping costs sane—€30 million versus the €80-200 million that LMP1h cost—and, with less reliance on aerodynamic downforce , allowing for a closer visual link to their road-going products.

    And so far, it's working. Toyota was first to LMH with its GR010 , followed by boutique manufacturer Glickenhaus, then this year saw Peugeot ease its way back into to endurance racing with its new 9X8 —still not sporting a rear wing—ahead of a full campaign in 2023. But none of those brands have quite the same magic as Ferrari. Even though it last won Le Mans outright in 1965, it still has more of those overall wins (nine) than Toyota (five) and Peugeot (three) combined, trailing just Audi (13) and Porsche (19).

    Read 19 remaining paragraphs | Comments

    • chevron_right

      Here’s what it’s like to drive the new Porsche 963 prototype

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 6 July, 2022 - 17:33 · 1 minute

    A Porsche 963 race car preparing to drive up the hill at Goodwood

    Enlarge / The new Porsche 963 sports prototype made its world debut at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed in England. (credit: Porsche)

    Last month, Porsche used the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK to formally debut its newest model. It's not another 911, nor a new SUV; it's a hybrid sports prototype designed to win on track here in the US and at Le Mans. You can tell the car has big shoes to fill just by looking at its name—Porsche is calling the new racing car the 963 because it's the spiritual successor to the legendary 962 that dominated sports car racing in the 1980s.

    Unfortunately, Goodwood took place at the same time as my vacation at Watkins Glen in New York for IMSA's six-hour race, so Ars wasn't able to see the 963 run in person. But I was able to sit down with a pair of Porsche's factory racing drivers to find out a bit more about the new car.

    Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell are currently contesting the IMSA WeatherTech championship in a GT car—a Porsche 911 GT3R that started life on the same production line as the road-going 911s. But next year, the pair will be among the Porsche factory drivers who have been chosen to campaign the faster, more complex 963 here in the US or in the World Endurance Championship (WEC).

    Read 16 remaining paragraphs | Comments