Sportscar Engineering

After some time to mull over the race (and recover from sleep deprivation!) I’d like to go over a few points from the event. A lot has been covered elsewhere, so I’ll try to keep it brief. LMP1 The top class consisted of waiting: waiting to see if Toyota could complete the 24 hours without significant issues, and if the privateers could be nearby ready to take the lead should the Toyotas spent time in the garage or expire out on track. The front of the race was on a knife edge due to reliability and not from track action. Toyota ran an almost perfect race, only marred by several 60 second stop and hold penalties due to speeding in slow-zones. The #7 car also had a problem by missing the pit entry at the end of a stint, resulting in Kamui Kobayashi taking a slow lap (at 80kph) to save fuel and going over the mandated stint length earning another penalty (10s) on top of a penalty for exceeding allowable fuel on a stint. These penalties were insignificant in-terms of t...

With just over a week until the on-track action starts at Le Mans for the race week, the official test has been completed providing new drivers and new car updates to be put through their paces. This article will have a look at anything new the teams have brought to the table and the standout performances of man and machine from the day.  Before I go any further I will offer the disclaimer that this is testing and is not necessarily representative of what we will see during qualifying/the race. The teams historically keep their cards close to their chests. I like to look at the best sector times set per car as it is a marker for what the car has proven it is capable of doing, even though it may not have completed that lap as a personal best - for example it got held up by traffic later on in the lap. That said, the setup may change after personal best sector times are set as time may be lost more significantly elsewhere through the lap. This personal best sector time in pr...