Le Mans prototypes to get a roof
The organizers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans have announced that the race's premier class, the LMP1 prototypes, will be restricted to coupe-style cars starting in 2010. The Automobile Club d'Ouest (ACO) announced the change in the run-up to this weekend's running of the endurance racing classic.
Although the current regulations allow for both coupe and roadster body styles, different specifications for the two body types have given the roadsters the performance edge. The Bentley EXP Speed 8 shown above was the last hardtop to win the race, in 2003.
The rule change is intended to make the cars in the headline class look more similar to road cars. (You see lots of waist-high winged coupes on your morning commute, right?) Rules for the smaller LMP2 prototypes will be unchanged, allowing open-top cars.
The change will also affect the American Le Mans Series in the U.S. and the Le Mans Endurance Series in Europe, both of which run to ACO rules.
[Source: SpeedTV.com Photo courtesy Bentley]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
moody 12:05AM (6/18/2006)
But the roadsters are ever so much more fun in racing games!
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Tired Watcher 6:49AM (6/18/2006)
I love the looks of roof prototypes. Porsche GT1 98, Toyota GT1, Mazda 787B, Peugeot 905B, Bentley Speed 8 (of course), Ford GT40, etc. Heat won't be that much of a problem now that air conditioners can be used later on. The C5-R in the LMGT1 is experimenting with an air conditioner in the race right now.
However, the thrill of driving an open cockpit is amazing. So from a driver's point of view, they would see this as a 'bad thing'.
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Mag 7:49AM (6/18/2006)
Did they mention anything about safety enhancements? After all that what really matters in my opinion.
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chewy 1:58PM (6/18/2006)
I don't think that Audi will be to happy about this, they have just made a brand new car. The new Pegout is supposed to be with a roof. I think the "spyders" don't look bad at all. But anyways, the Audi R10 won Le Mans anyways.
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Raoul Duke 6:06PM (6/18/2006)
Audi wins Le Mans
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torcik 6:11PM (6/18/2006)
Isn't the Bentley just an Audi R8-10 with a roof?
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Tired Watcher 6:41PM (6/18/2006)
Yeah pretty much the Bentley was an R8 with a roof and green paint.
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Martel Shepley 7:20PM (6/18/2006)
I don't think it should make a difference if the car has a top or not. You have hardtops and convertables being sold to the community. But whom I do agree with is MAG, with his comment about about safety enhancement. There is one reason I could see a team wanting a hartop is for added safety and structural integrity. But what I really would like to see added to the Lemans is a class that has the exact drivetrain that the manufacturer would have for the next year. This would promote LeMans even more so than it is already. I think people do want to see how realiable their car's drivetrain would be and which team won this race in this class. In fact you could break this into another class; by having a class that has cars that have over the counter modifications that you could purchase at the dealer to make your car into this class of racer by having strictly bolt on technology including on board computer technology.But what I do see now now are cars that are highly modified for advancements in road technology of tomorrow that may not even make it this far. That are equiped with engines that have an immense amount of horsepower and gear ratios that the production car will never have.
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Michael Moulton 2:55PM (6/20/2006)
Audi has become so dominant at Le Mans that they had to invent their own challenge this year... rather than letting the R8 win again (and it would have), they chose to go diesel just because they could.
I'm sure this change is mainly to force Audi to design a new car from scratch and reintroduce some competition into LMP1.
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