Pete
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July/August 2013
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| | >>2013 Le Mans Test & 24 Coverage<< | | 8.27.13
>>With 2014 on the horizon and no official release of the 2014 regulations by the ACO, here's the latest draft version. Note they say "final." |  >>Toyota released this image, with accompanying press release,
yesterday. It shows some of the updates to expect on the TS030 as
the WEC heads to Brazil this weekend. Of interest to me, of
course, are the new dive planes, with their interesting serrated
trailing edge, and the modified front fenders (less broad leading edge,
"laid back...with my mind on my money and my money on my mind...").
The press release also mentions changes to the engine cover and
rear wing. |  >>Busy day with press releases and the like. Porsche released additional images (click "Current Highlights" for the images) of their 2014 LMP1, as well as a new video.
From
these images and video we now get our first glimpes of the rear of the
car. Not much to see, that Dazzleship paint scheme still
counfounds to an extent. But I did note what appears to be a
single exhaust exit. I also note that it isn't on car centerline.
That could to speak towards an inline engine arrangement, with
the exhaust being justified to one side of the car CL (if it were a V
or flat config you'd have some expectations of a 2 to 1 and everything
meeting in the middle). Yes,
you can "force" the exhaust to go wherever you like I suppose.
But given a turbo wants to be as close to the exhaust as possible
and then you want that to plumb the turbo exhaust out of the car as
well, it starts to make some sense we're looking at a I-4 turbo for the
Porsche LMP1 motor.
Also note Porsche has gone with inside
mandatory openings on the rear fenders (1). Recall a constructuor
has a choice in 2014 for these mandatory openings; top of the fender or
inside face. | | >>I've
been informed by David Legangneux that Le Mans Racing magazine is now
in English and that the Le Mans edition is available for free online. | 
|  7.27.13
>>Jaguar XJR-14 chassis #591 takes to the track in anger at this weekend's Silverstone Classic, for the first time in a long while.
Nic Minassian subsequently put the Jag on pole yesterday with a
lap time 5 seconds ahead of the next competitor (Garth Evans and Bob
Berridge in the Sauber C11) with a 1:46.425 lap. For the time
being I'm unsure if the Classic racers are on the same circuit as the
WEC ran back in April, but the times are close enough to suggest they
are (WEC "average" pole time, remember the WEC went to a average
formate this season, was a 1:48.021 for the Toyota TS030 with a best
time of 1:43.281). According to my man on the scene, Bob
Berridge, "Nic reckons Copse flat in top (gear) on new rubber..."
Chassis
#591 first debuted at Round 1 of the World Sportscar Championship at
Suzuka on April 14, 1991 and sat on Pole. She would go on to win
at Monza, and posted a second at Autopolis, as well as a third at
Silverstone, during the 1991 WSC season.
591 was then shipped to
the U.S. for the 1992 IMSA GTP series and placed 6th at Miami on her
U.S. debut, followed by a phenomenal Pole and win at Road Atlanta.
Next came Lime Rock. But while leading the race 591, with
Davy Jones at the wheel, speared off the track at the Downhill
following a wheel failure. The damage to 591 was extensive, the
front left corner of the monocoque, in the area of primary loading
where the front suspension and torsion bar is located, took the brunt
of the impact.
Given the frantic nature of the IMSA GTP
season, the team sat 591 aside and TWR-Kidlington shipped chassis 691
to the U.S. 691 was race prepped in less than week and the team
was off to Mid-Ohio, with the rewards being a race win (even after
missing Friday practice). 691, and eventually 791, would see out
TWR's IMSA GTP season (with 691 crashing at Road America, again a
victim of wheel failure). 591
was eventually sent back to England and repaired but sat out the rest
of the 1992 season as a show car and was even over looked for the
TWR-Porsche WSC program a few years later (a brief XJR-14 history here). 591 never raced competitively again.
And
over the years questions remained over the structural integrity of 591,
and there was ample evidence to back these concerns up. But for
the past 6 months chassis #591 has undergone an extensive structural
analysis and repair to its monocoque, and this weekend marks her
re-emergence.
Full story here soon. |
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