***Official Le Mans 24 Hours Thread***

I see Peugeot have unveiled a diesel hybrid road car. This is interesting and I think it has to be linked to their Le Mans legacy. I wonder if they actually dropped out for sales reasons? There was quite a risk to lose the race to Audi and it might have hurt their sales? Interesting that they have launched the car before Le Mans and Audi haven't.

But of course I could be reading way too much into this :p
 
Prototype and Formula racing for manufacturers is all about marketing by association. "There race cars are good so their road cars must be too". Being destroyed by Audi would not have looked good, especially if they are trying to push new hybrid technology.
 
Exactly what I thought. They were unlucky to crash and hit something at Paul Ricard, and then even more unlucky for it to be hard enough to damage the car beyond repair. :(
 
Here's a bit more info on the TS030 smash:

http://www.topgear.com/my/?p=5702

Test driver Nicholas Lapierre was apparently driving in heavy rain to test the car’s wet handling conditions, when one of the electronic units let in water and caused the accident. Technical director Pascal Vasselon said the team is working on sealing the electronics, but expressed concern they’ve lost all of April and the chance to test at Spa ahead of the Le Mans 24hrs.
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The front tyres are only 4" wide!

Reading up on it they have had to adjust the steering because, in the words of the team "it was steering too much". So sounds like its got plenty of front end grip.

And how can you not be interested in this? Its ground effects dragged into the 21st centurary. Ground effects are much less susceptible to turbulent air compared to the current 'wing based' aerodynamics used in motorsport. If this thing works we could see changes in all areas of motorsport that creates much closer racing.

Plus, the thing just looks bonkers, you have to give the ACO credit for offering it a spot on the grid in the first place!
 
ng93 said:
A very interesting interview with Ulrich Baretzky (head of engine development at Audi).

1TAhWdVU3M4
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Wow, there's some interesting stuff there. Just as I suspected about Peugeot - they weren't using anything they learned in the racing team to homologate into road cars. Audi on the other hand are using their team to find solutions to current and future problems. As he said, Audi can come to them with a problem and they can provide either a solution or at the least, an idea for a solution. VERY interesting what he said about Peugeot pulling out - he is evidently very irritated about this. It can't be solely financial reasons because, to pull on out in January, most of the money had already been spent on developing four cars and it is just a small cost to then take them to two races.
 
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