>>Gabriele Tosi reports from Monza:

The weather is almost the same as last week.  It rained all night and even if the temperature is almost 18°C the track won't be dry completely till the end of the day.

According to John Judd, the XV spec Judd V8  (which is derived from the KV) installed into the Lucchini has more power, completely new mapping, and new cylinder heads.

At 10.00 Francioni is in the cockpit of the car and ready to go, but before he heads out they encounter a problem, yet again electrical gremlin. The dashboard is "completely dead".  Electrical problems will crop up two more times before the day is out prompting Beppe Lucchini, "how beautiful is the time when you had carburetor and when you had problems change the sparks push the car and bum ready to go! Damned progress…and damn electronics!"

The car finally went out, after everything was completely reset, at 11.05 but Francioni did only two laps and came back in to modify the setup.  "The rear is going too low when I put the power down, so the front is too light…and when you brake hard the underneath touch the tarmac."  Back out at again at 11.17 for two more laps and then back in.  A second “mustache” (dive plane) has been attached to the front to make more downforce and the car seems better but the track is still greasy.  Three laps this time and then back in.  The upper mustache is removed and the car seems good for a series of laps.   Filippo indicates, “Engine, gearbox and especially brakes are very good.”

But at 12.00 disaster strikes.  Just at the exit of the first chicane Filippo almost losses the car on acceleration out of the corner thanks to a failure in the lower right rear suspension wishbone.  The car is towed back to the pits for a very fast replacement by the mechanics.  Savoldi is put behind the wheel and the car is out again at 14.05 this time with slicks.  But after just 3 laps, again at the exit of the first chicane the car comes to a halt.  Same problem again; fuse.

Finally Savoldi is able to clock 15 laps in a row a best time of 1:50.87.  But the track is still  “like ice with soap!!!."   At 16.00 the car dies (fuse, again).  At 16.15 Savoldi straightened the first chicane, a very good test of brakes!  Minutes later Mirko straight lines the Roggia and comes back into the pits with lots of sand and stone inside the car.  But just prior he managed to clock a 1:48 low and then a 1:44.6. Just before 17.00 Peroni (with a bad flu) jumps in and puts in 15 laps with 4 consecutive laps in the 1:46.2 bracket.

At the end the usual 50 laps has been covered but for the problems.  But still there was the bad weather which effectively hand ties the test.  Apparently the next three day test will be at the Bahreim circuit next month.  Now the presence of the car at the 6 hours of Vallelunga is not certain as some weeks ago Lucchini said, “If we can race without changing anything is ok, unless we won't race…all the other have to adapt with our car, which is the lonely to the 2005 spec…”

>>Full report over the weekend on yesterday's Lucchini courtesy of Gabriele Tosi.

>>Gabriele Tosi sends us a brief report on Lucchini's testing at Monza. 

"The track was very wet all day and the times did not come down too much, around 3 seconds off the LMP2 pole from the LMES round in May.  Peroni had a minor problem with a stubborn engine (alternator
trouble) and dashboard.

Savoldi jump in with slicks but his times did not improve too much.  Monza is a very strange track when its wet as it seems to dry out quickly but the first chicane actually takes forever to dry.  Add in a couple of spins in the first chicane and a major electrical problem with an hour still to go for the test and you can see testing was frustrating.

Next Thursday will be a full day with all the three drivers present."

Note the new, more pointed nose infill for the brake inlet.

>>Lola has released more detailed images of their 50% B05/40 wind tunnel model (courtesy dailysportscar.com).  The B05/40 naturally bears a visual resemblance to the Lola B01/60 and B2K/40.