>>Dick Barbour going LMP racing....in a Panoz LMP07! Dick Barbour and Multimatic Racing announced today that they will field two Panoz-Mugen LMP07s in the 2002 ALMS championship as well as at Le Mans. The much maligned LMP07 was yanked mid-season by the Panoz group in favor of their tried and true LMP1. Many reasons were cited (engine vibration, chassis stiffness, etc.) as to the reasons for the LMP07's lack of performance. Barbour's choice of Mugen power for '02 is an indicator of one of the issues behind the laxidasical 07 (though note that the Mugen is also of flat plane crank design, same as the Zytek/Panoz V8 it replaces). Whether or not they can conquer the unruly chassis will be a story to watch for 2002.
12.12.01
>>Bentley's
2002 Le Mans plans are a go with a somewhat more ambitious '03 attempt
hinted at. According to Autosport, Bentley has indicated for 2003
they will run a revised Audi power plant to take advantage of the larger
restrictor and capacity afforded to LMGTPs. Apparently a pure Bentley
power plant is now out of the picture but at least Bentley has confirmed
their plans beyond '02.
12.8.01
>>Dyson chassis
search narrowing. According to Autosport, Rob Dyson has narrowed
his search for a new chassis to two makes; the updated Crawford SSC2K or
a revised R&S MkIII. Apparently talks to run a Dallara fell through
when the Dallara LMP could not be modified to fit the Ford engine in a
timely enough fashion.
12.5.01
>>Courtesy
of Chris Gorne, Senior Race & Development Engineer at Panoz
regarding the 2002 Panoz LMP1--"At the moment we are in the middle of wind
tunnel development. If we can successfully replicate full size the
changes made in the wind tunnel, we will find downforce gains. The
look of car will change, but not significantly. Mechanically there
are no changes planned for the front of the car. We have a re-designed
rear end, new gearbox (transverse, cluster fwd of wheel center line), suspension,
rear wing mounting etc. Time permitting this will make its debut
at Sebring."
>>According to All Race Magazine, Jim Downing is working on a Le Mans deal for 2002. "I'll be at Daytona for the Rolex 24, past that, well, I'm working on a deal to run at Le Mans". Jim indicates he's working on a deal with a French chassis builder (Norma or Courage--ed.) that has a pre-homologated and crash tested chassis. The intent is to run the Mazda 4-rotor.
>>Lola tests MG LMP675 at Sebring. Archangel Motorsports, in conjunction with MG and Lola, conducted a 2-days test with Irish driver Johnny Kane. Kane's fastest time was a 1:48.5 set on the second day. Frank Biela's 2001 pole time, set in the Audi R8, was a 1:48.825. It must be noted that Sebring has recently been repaved so that may have contributed to the time, but, according to Kane, "The EX257 went very quickly, and our best lap - which was quicker than the time one of the Audis set for pole there earlier this year - was done on well-worn tyres and with at least two-thirds of a tank of fuel on board".
>>Courage
begins early Le Mans bid. The 2002 prototype, to be called the Courage
C60 Evo, recently tested with Boris Derichebourg at the wheel. Courage
is gearing up for its first serious attempt at winning Le Mans by embarking
on a 3-year program. Courage recognizes that one of the factors to
winning Le Mans is race experience and in that light expect to see the
C60 Evo at other major sports car endurance events throughout the year.
Image courtesy Daily
Sportscar.com
12.3.01
>>The ACO has released the 2002
LMP/LMGTP
chassis
rules (you need Adobe Acrobat to view). Also note the link to
Appendix
J, Art. 258A, of the FIA sporting code referenced in the 2002 ACO rules.
