Club Arnage

ACO announces LMP category adjustments for '08 
Friday, 28 September 2007 

As announced by Jean-Claude Plassart , the President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest during last June’s press conference before the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours, the ACO has taken advantage of the intervening months to refine its study of the equivalence between petrol and diesel-engined cars in motor racing.

It should be pointed out that the 2007 24-Hours race highlighted the overall balance of the regulations currently in force with breath-taking suspense right the finish, and the presence of 3 different manufacturers on the rostrum (Audi, Peugeot and Pescarolo). This has only happened once in the last 30 years (1999, with BMW, Toyota and Audi).

What’s more the same regulations have led to an amazing final in the Le Mans Series, as the outcome of the last round of the season on 10th November in Brazil will decide the manufacturers’ title.

However, the ACO as the guarantor of this climate of trust and spirit of openness that is crucial for endurance racing has taken the time to consult all the entrants. It appears that now is the right moment to close the gap between the performances of the LM P1 petrol-engines prototypes and those of the diesel-powered cars over a lap, so as to maintain a constant and visible level of suspense throughout the race.

As a result, two technical adjustments will be made for the 2008 season:

The minimum weight of the LM P1 cars is fixed at 900 kgs,
The surface of the air restrictors fitted to petrol-engined cars will benefit from a 3% increase.

These adjustments intervene before the announcement in November of the modifications to the regulations affecting the prototype categories (LM P1 and LM P2), which will remain valid for several years.

(Automobile Club de l'Ouest)

© Planetlemans





Great news me thinks, should make the race at the front of the field more exciting! 8)

I bet Henri still looks tres glum.

Isn't he trying to cadge some customer Peugeots anyway.

They could increase the petrol restrictors by 30% and Audi would still win

The FIA are doing much the same with turbo diesel equivalence for 2008.  In the off-road world, the various classes are determined by engine capacity, with petrol turbo engines having a 1.5 multiplier applied to put them on a more equal capacity footing with non-turbo engines.  Hence, a 3 litre turbo petrol engine would have to run in the top class for >4500cc engines.  Turbo diesels benefitted from having no capacity multiplier and were able to run in the smaller capacity classes, picking up points for class finishes as overall standings. 

However, with diesels now increasingly being used and producing pletny of power as well as torque, from 2008, the capacity multipliers are now going to be applied at 1.75 for petrol turbos and 1.5 for diesel turbos.....should shake things up somewhat, and the ACO are doing pretty much the same thing in their own way via the air restrictors.  At least they're upping the potential power output on the petrol cars rather than strangling the others. 

MG Mark

Well, at the risk of a public stoning, I'm in favour of the diesels racing. I like the fact that they are a 'bit different' from the petrols (in sound as well as engineering) and the fact that the engineers have taken something that was not designed to race and made it do so - that in my eyes is what engineering is all about, making something peform better or in a different environment from that which it was originally intended.

That said, I'd be heartbroken if every car went by with the Peugeot's jet-like whoosh or the almost soundless swoosh of the Audi and fully agree that the balance is not right and something has to be done to bring back the 'racing' (what is the point in all the other P1/P2 teams going to LM and watching Audi and Peugeot show what they can do?).

The ACO statement says that this year's LMS has 'gone down to the wire' with a good possibility that Henri could snatch a series win in Brazil, but they overlook the fact that this has been achieved more by the mechanical failures of the Peugeots (generally one failing so the other took the win) rather than the Pecsa's being up there and challenging the Pugs, so any change which brings the petrol powered vehicles onto an even racing footing with the diesels can only be good for all race fans.

With the changing world it's important that racing embraces new technologies, but not to the detrement of those who are already there and have supported the racing series for years previous, not just manufacturers or fuel companies with hundreds of millions to throw at a fancy 'advertising campaign'.

I wanted to make a point, but forgot. Must have been the Diesel exhaust at le mans en silverstone, it causes Alzheimers :P

hahaha ..... Better than the benzine in other fuels then, that just causes cancer ...  ;)

At least with Alzheimers you forget you've got it.

A bit OT.

(OK, a lot OT) 2 blokes in a pub, one asks the other, what would you rather have, parkinsons or altzheimers?

Second bloke says 'Parkinsons, I'd rather spill half a pint, rather than forget where I left a full one'

And re. diesel exhaust causing Altzheimers, is that why Bob U filled his disco with petrol the other day ;D?

Hey Bob did you happen to fill up at a BP station? you would not believe how many peeps stick the wrong fuel in, you are not alone in doing so.