Club Arnage

What do people think of the new Aston Martin LMP1
 http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89690 (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89690)

No, don't like it.

It doesn't look anything like the artists impression we saw ages ago which actually had some Aston design influences to it, this has nothing that could even remotely make you think it was an Aston. Don't like the black on the colour scheme either and in general I think the car looks ugly.

Also, its not going to Sebring !!!!!!! :( Who am I going to support now. No Drayson Racing as they are going electric racing and now no works Aston team either.

540 bhp from a 2 litre turbo?

Holy smokes!

The car's not as pleasing on the eye as the Lola Aston Martin, but I for one don't really mind about the looks just as long as it's able to compete with the tractor-powered cars.

interesting that audi go closed cockpit and aston go open.

hhhmmmm, yes, it has lost some of the Aston influences shown on the original design which is a shame,  but lets not forget that it's designed to go racing!  Can't see many Audi or Pug roadcar influences in the R18 or 908....  Ugly? Pretty?  I'll make up my mind when I see it in the flesh or on the track.

Shame about the name though, AMR One just brings to mind the Group C car from the late 80's,  if it was to have a number then it should have been AMR Three of course.

Should be good to have a different engine note from that straight 6.

Let's hope they sign a decent driver for the vacant seat in 007, one Jonny Cocker seems to be free at the moment.....

Roll on June ;D

I prefer open top LMP's, looks good and different from the closed entries from Pug and Audi, lets hope it goes better than them.

You can't see the peugeot or audi design influences??  Have you SEEN the most recent ranges of each company!?!?!  :o

I am of the same opinion though - That car is dog ugly - I really hope they revise that front end, sooner rather than later!!

Ginetta Zytek anyone?  :)

Chris, there's loads more photos on pistonheads, the rear lights are distinctively Aston. And David Richards (or "Dave mate" as he's known to you and I ;)) reckons it sounds better than it has any right to. Personally, I didn't like the previous car in Gulf colours, BRG rules on Astons.

Anyhow I don't care as long as it's competitive!

Aston Racing Green - very different to the colour used on Jags.

I don't think it is too bad looking but the paint job does it no favours. The black carbon looks like it has had a shunt and has been gaffer taped together.
 The reasoning is that its the part that gets dirty in a race and it 'will look as good when it returns to the pits as it did at the start'. I think that should be rephrased as 'looks as bad as'. I like my endurance cars to look dirty, they look like they have endured.
It also looks very long. i suspect that it will need several sets of front and rear bodywork over the 24hours as the drivers will be knocking chunks of it off at regular intervals, thus negating the 'Keep it clean' idea.

I'll reserve judgement till I see it hammering around Tetre Rouge.

Doesn't look brill in the photos, but on the track?  We will see.

I think it looks very ugly. However, cleverer people than me have no doubt designed it in a wind tunnel to within a gnats of it's life.
I don't know, it's just not very Aston looking, the same way that the Pugs and Audis aren't very Pug and Audi looking.
If it wins or leads the race we'll all be behind it no doubt but I do prefer closed top cars in LMP1 - that's just my hangover from group C.
Thing is, and you may or may not agree.......Aston? 2 litre? Doesn't compute!

Aston's have V8s or V12s.

They'll be running electric / diesel / hydrogen / solar scalextric cars next. It's all getting very silly and I don't like it.

2 litre turbocharged, which is the equivalent of 3.4 litres normally aspirated.

Last time (the only time) Aston Martin won LM outright was with a straight 6.

Higher stressed 2.0 turbos have often suffered with reliability over 24 hours lets pray they have ironed this one out.  Good luck

Yes, I'm not expecting great things this year,  I just hope they have the funding available for a multi-year project, and that the full six cars get built and see plenty of track action in Europe and the US.

Not all LM Astons Steve! Ignorring the '59 winning car, they've a fine history and could have done well if Johnny Frog hadn't cancelled the race due to industrial action! See the link, it would be serendipitous indeed if a 2 litre Aston finally won the race.

http://www.astonmartins.com/prewar/2litre_lm2223_team_1936.htm

(http://imcdb.org/images/046/423.jpg)

was really looking forward to this car  :D
was excited they were on the Sebring entry  ;D

Now we have a car (at least photos) but they drop out of Sebring.   ???

piss-off Prodrive.  >:(

-Lee

I stand corrected!

I only know this, Steve, because the '36 cars were sponsored by Monster Munch (Beef flavour).

Is this really an LMP1 car?  LMP2 regs allow for a 2000cc capacity and a maximum of 6 cylinders with a single turbo for petrol cars, yet LMP1 allows for 4000cc capcity for turbo petrol cars.  I know there's a weight, balance fuel capacity thing, but why would you give away half of the capacity allowed and race in LMP1 instead of LMP2? Other to run a trial year before further rgs changes perhaps?  At least a straight six is half of a V12, but Iwill miss that V12 wail.....

MG Mark

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

Hi Mark,

Engine regs have changed significantly for 2011 - In an effort to cut lap times the Diesels have been downsized and basically last years LMP2 petrol engines are now LMP1 petrol engines. In LMP2 you are supposed to use production-based units in 2011. So the Aston engine makes perfect sense and uses regs to the max with a 2000 cc turbo.

There is of course a transition phase for the old 2010 cars/engines - but with massive restrictions, e.g. for air intake, so they won't be really competitive any more.

BTW: Could someone please update the reg section in the CA Guide?  8)

Our head of procurement has a confirmed source of said tasty snack for your delectation and delight.

Excellent!  :D
(http://www.truffleshuffle.co.uk/store/images/thumb_cache/mens_monster_munch_t_shirt_220_220_180_76.jpg)


Please see to it he gets the OLD size, as illustrated below. They are now available from reputable purveyors of fine foods.

(http://i37.tinypic.com/2j18wep.jpg)

my dutch neighbours footprint look like the new size.weird.

So, the AMR One has moved under its own steam this week. Two short tests inc 20 laps at Snetterton at the weekend, plus a run up the hill at Goodwood. I have to say it looks pretty ugly outside of the studio. It looks long, very slab sided and the nose looks very unfortunate. Paint scheme looks bad too.
 Car was said to be very unfinished and seriously lacked power.

Oh well, never mind.

Anyway, a sixth driver has been announced... Christian Klien will join Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke in#007 whilst Adrian Fernandez, Andy Meyrick and Harold Primat will drive #008.

First race at Ricard in a few weeks. I think its going to be a dissapointment sadly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHYEmKhEf4E (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHYEmKhEf4E)

Where's this link supposed to take us?  There's nothing Aston Martin when I click on it.

link fixed ;)

Well I went out and purchased a packed of said flavoursome snack this lunchtime and ahhh the memories of childhood came flooding back. I'm off to the supermarket to stock up tonight. ;D

Nice to see Chester's very own Andy Meyrick joining Aston for 2011. ;D

Oh dear, did Bangle help design it?
It looks like it's been beaten into submission with the ugly stick.

Without the shark fin structure, it would look pretty half decent ???

No, but I'd like to see who styled the new Panos that raced at Sebring. Now that is an ugly car!

Difficult to say...

Third place out of the box is pretty good. But five laps down in eight hours is pretty off the race pace.

It was pretty poor really. 6 seconds a lap slower than the class pole sitter on a short circuit is not a good omen. It was on the same pace as a FLM car all weekend. it looked slow on outright pace and the handling looked really bad all weekend.

much to do in the next 9 weeks then.

Maybe they should have stuck the the Lola chassis rather than going it alone with an in house design ::)

Fingers crossed prodrive can turn it around, otherwise I can see them pulling the plug on it rather than do a rocketsports.

The car is very new and had hardly turned a wheel before sunday.

And so was Highcrofts car before Sebring. It finished second. A new car is always going to be a few seconds off the pace when its box fresh, until the team hones it into shape, but I feel that even with lots of work its still going to be way off the pace. Thats if they get it reliable, but I also have a bad feeling about that little engine too.

I really want this new Aston to do well, but from the first glimpse a few weeks I thought oh-oh. It just doesn't look right in the flesh or on paper. I know it has some radical thinking behind it but its just too ambitious for such an inexperienced team.

There was talk at the weekend of the new Pug being 3 seconds per lap faster in the middle section alone than the fastest petrol car. I'm affraid our ugly Aston is going to get slaughtered come june. My gut feeling is that they will both be out by quarter distance at Le Mans.

Hardly true comparison, in reality the HPD was a development of the cars that have been raced in LMP1 or 2 for a number of years, whilst the Aston is a ground up new build.

But...  they do need to do some serious testing before Spa, let alone LM.  At least they have two cars built, I hope they have plenty of engines too! Maybe they have bit off more than they can chew for the moment.

Precisely.  I couldn't have put it better myself.  Although Highcroft, Peugeot and Audi have developments of new cars, they seem to be somewhere near the pace immediately, whereas Aston are a long way behind - further than we might expect even with a brand new car.

I just hope they stick with it.  2011 will probably turn out to be part of a learning curve, leading, I hope, to a successful 2012.

Having heard George Howard-Chappell speak on Radio Le Mans twice recently it sounds like 2011 is development year so that they get a decent run against the tractor-boys in 2012.

And i'm sure they said they had to turn the engine boost down for reliability :o

Which is worrying as even with the wick turned right up they were nowhere near the 550bhp+ they were hoping for. That car has pretty clever aero but its going to need some serious oomph to make good use of it.

Prehaps they ought to stick a V12 in the back.  ;)

It doesn't feel right does it.

You win next year by having a dam good go at this this year and seeing what breaks, not by pussyfooting around