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#263556
[youtube]ZhOsDzSJ0bk[/youtube]

Soooooo excited for that. I thought VW didn't want its branches competing in the same category, but whatever. Maybe by then Aston Martin will have its crap straightened out and we'll have a 4-manufacturer race on our hands.
#263576
good to hear Porsche giving it a go again, need someone up there with Audi and Peugeot. Wonder if Porsche will go Diesel or Petrol power, but it does seem Diesel is the way to go these days.

Were the Aston Martins still Petrol power cars in the last running of the 24??
#263585
scuttlebut says they're looking into hybrid power. could be a very interesting field. By 2014, the R18 and current 908 will be ending their life cycle, so maybe they'll be playing with hybrid tech then as well.

yeah, aston was petrol. at least for the 6 laps they were actually running. I think Peugot and Audi were the only diesel-powered cars in LMP1 this year.

I also wonder if this is the final nail-in-the-coffin for the idea of a VW team getting into F1 any time soon...
#270813
Potentially going to be the best endurance era since group C. I have heard Jaguar and Toyota are looking at LMP1 too, which would only increase the levels of epic. :D:D
#323264
Just thought I'd stroll through a little bit of Le MansLMP1 nostalgia. :cloud9: Fanstatic video, do yourself a favor, watch it full resolution, full screen and volume up! :yes:

[youtube]PZxC-knQmkM[/youtube]
#323709
Norbert Singer is a legend.

On a different note something odd strikes me about this Porsche return, and why they are going up against Audi despite being under the same parent company. Wonder what the logic behind that is.
#323738
Norbert Singer is a legend.

On a different note something odd strikes me about this Porsche return, and why they are going up against Audi despite being under the same parent company. Wonder what the logic behind that is.

I loved his attitude in the interview. You could tell that they lived and breathed nothing but making that car go fast and understanding how to maximize every bit of performance out of the car.

That's one of the things I miss in F1 today. There's just no room for hand crafting, everything is exacting everything is precise everything looks finished as if they've made thousands of that part before. It's the reason why there's so much reliability in the sport, but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for pop rivets on a race car of the 70's and 80's.
#323794
I know exactly what you mean. Everything now is too clinical and computer driven. While the end results are amazing, i do think it would have been so much more fun to be an engineer in the 70's and 80's where you could just try to figure things out and try to wing it a bit (if that makes sense) rather than just having simulations dictate everything.
#323800
I know exactly what you mean. Everything now is too clinical and computer driven. While the end results are amazing, i do think it would have been so much more fun to be an engineer in the 70's and 80's where you could just try to figure things out and try to wing it a bit (if that makes sense) rather than just having simulations dictate everything.

I know, I love the part when he's talking about the gurney flap and the amazement as to how it affected the front axle, you could see his face light up.

I had an opportunity to view some very high resolution photographs a guy took of the Martini liveried Porsche 935 from the late 70s, and it was put together with seams that looked like they'd slice your finger if you touched them, it was rough, and ugly and things felt like and afterthought and worked and reworked, but ultimately it coalesced into something that overpowered the Le Mans straights.
#323890
Love that 935 (750hp out of a 3.2l engine in the 70's?!?!!)... and yeah, gotta like people like Singer, who clearly just love to talk cars! :thumbup:

Still trying to figure out exactly how that gurney trick actually worked out in theory/practice, pretty amazing really.

Wonder if Porsche will have him onboard this project as a consultant, or perhaps more simply a good luck charm (i believe he was involved in all of their 16 previous wins). :hehe:
#339159
Porsche will revive its in-house factory team for its return to the prototype ranks in 2014.

The German manufacturer's forthcoming LMP1 hybrid will be run by a full works team based at its Weissach research and development headquarters.

This facility near Stuttgart is where Porsche's first outright contender for Le Mans 24 Hours honours since 1998 is being designed, developed and built.

Porsche R&D boss Wolfgang Hatz made the announcement at Porsche's Night of Champions awards ceremony on Saturday evening.

"The car will be run by our own works team based here at Weissach," he said. "The first rollout of our new LMP1 car is planned for mid-2013."

Porsche has upgraded its motorsport facility since its last major programme with the RS Spyder LMP2, which was run by the works Penske team in the US and by customer teams in Europe.

It is understood that approximately 200 people are working on the P1 project.

The only other news on the project was the confirmation of a restructuring of Porsche Motorsport, with former BMW man Fritz Enzinger taking control of the P1 project and head of motorsport Hartmut Kristen retaining control of the manufacturer's 911-based programmes.

The majority of Porsche's 16 Le Mans wins have come with teams run direct from the factory. That number includes its final victory with the 911 GT1-98 more than 14 years ago.

Porsche will run a factory team for the first time since 1998 in next year's FIA World Endurance Championship as it develops its new 991-shape 911 RSR GTE contender. The car will be run in conjunction with Manthey Racing under the Porsche AG Team Manthey banner.


Really can't wait to see this car for the first time.

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