Innehållsförteckning för July 2023 från Racecar Engineering

Someone once memorably described the British Hillclimb Championship (BHC) as ‘Formula 1 up the garden path’, which was quite close to the truth a few decades ago when F1 and F2 cars and other assorted motorsport exotica would race up the very narrow, country lane-like courses. These days, however, to win in the British Championship you need a machine that is designed, built and developed for the singular purpose of reaching the top as quickly as possible. This means the cars used in the Unlimited class, in particular, are highly specialised. So much so, it’s unlikely a current F1 car would match them in their natural environment. Packing high-level race engines, some derived from IndyCar and LMP1, and using bespoke carbon tubs and elaborate aero packages that generate huge levels…

WEC – 2023 LMH ANALYSIS The record books show that Toyota has won the opening three races of the FIA World Endurance Championship, held at Sebring in March, and Portimão and Spa, both in April. However, this year teams face the challenge not only from the Glickenhaus privateer that beat them in some sessions last year, but also Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac and Peugeot. This is the first year the LMDh cars are running in the FIA WEC and already there are questions over the integration of the cars into the series. The Le Mans Hypercars (LMH) are ground-up designs and include Toyota, Peugeot, Ferrari, Glickenhaus and Vanwall. The LMDh cars, (which confusingly run in the US as GTP) include Porsche and Cadillac. Changes have been made to the regulations as…

La Sarthe will echo to the sound of a pushrod, Detroit V8 in June, as this year’s Garage 56 entry, a NASCAR Next Gen, thunders down the Hunaudières. As result of the IMSA (owned by NASCAR) and the ACO / FIA pact that has seen the LMDH and Le Mans Hypercar classes combine for the 24-hour race, a specially prepared Chevrolet Camaro Cup car will run in the exhibition slot, driven by an all-star line-up of Jimmie Johnson, Mike Rockenfeller and Jenson Button. The car is being prepared by a team lead by Hendrick Motorsport, under the direction of Chad Knauss, with input from GM Racing. Meanwhile, the motor powering the beast has been developed by ECR Engines, the engine building spin-off of fellow GM NASCAR team, Richard Childress Racing.…

TECHNOLOGY – E-FUELS As the appetite for a more environmentally conscious existence grows, so too does the greenwashing terminology. In racing, this has taken the form of sustainable, renewable, eco-friendly, green, synthetic, advanced e-fuels, which are now appearing in almost every championship. Formula 1 is currently running an E10 sustainable fuel that features 10 per cent green ethanol and has committed to a 100 per cent ‘drop-in’ sustainable fuel for 2026. The World Rally Championship introduced a 100 per cent sustainable fuel with synthetic and biofuel components last year, while the 100th anniversary of Le Mans will run on a 100 per cent renewable fuel made from wine residues. Even the likes of Formula Student and truck racing championships are turning to biofuels. Of course, the CO2 emissions exiting the…

‘The driver helps me out, but at the same time they are probably also a limit in the innovation process’ Matthieu Bonardel, head of motorsport at Michelin With the eyes of the world increasingly focusing on sustainability, Michelin has taken a major step into the digital world and developed the Le Mans Hypercar tyres completely in digital format for the first time. Each of the 16 top-class prototypes will run on tyres that have been designed and developed on a simulator based at AOTech in France. There have been several steps taken to allow this to happen. The first is that Michelin has been developing its TAME tyre model since it was involved in Formula 1 in 2005, using finite element analysis of its racing and production tyres to create…

TECHNOLOGY – RACING TRANSMISSIONS Transmissions in the traditional sense may be rapidly disappearing from road cars with the march of electrification, but even EVs often need some form of reduction gearing from motor to wheel. In racing though, the ICE is still king and, as such, multi-speed gearboxes are still very much the norm. Whether EV or ICE, development is relentless, with a current focus on some common themes such as optimising efficiency and cost reduction. In this feature, we will address some of the more interesting advances seen in competition transmissions over the past few years. Minimising transmission losses is nothing new, but with the arrival of ‘energy’-limited formulae, be that F1 or Formula E, big strides have been seen in efficiency since the latter series moved away from…