Autoblog

When it comes to racing, diversity is key. Who doesn't love to root for their favorite brand to win against its fiercest rivals? We hope that BMW gets its latest M3 certified by the FIA in time for a showdown against with the Corvette and others in Le Mans GT racing, which will institute a new set of rules for the 2010 season. There's more than one way to get horsepower from a V8 engine, as clearly demonstrated by these two diametrically opposed class competitors. Team Corvette's brute strength and low-down grunt would go up against finesse and high-strung reviness from BMW. Kinda reminds us of the classic Ford versus Ferrari feuds of the '60s. In any case, BMW now needs to work with the FIA to get its racer properly sanctioned and approved, as it has already done for the American Le Mans racing series. Git 'r done, folks.


[Source: AutoWeek]

The latest in a string of reports on Le Mans Series rule changes could stand to really shake things up in the prototype classes in a few years. ACO, the French racing organizers which coordinate the European Le Mans Series and its headline event, are reportedly planning on banning V10s and V12s from the top-tier LMP1 class by 2011.

In their place, LMP1 would adopt the rules currently in place for LMP2, which means 3.4-liter V8s and 2.0-liter turbos. LMP2, meanwhile, would switch exclusively to production-based engines. Both Audi and Peugeot, who have dominated the series with their 12-cylinder turbodiesels, are reportedly in favor of the change in formula despite the need to send their engine development programs back to the drawing board.

[Source: AutoWeek]

The reborn Venturi Automobiles may have changed the historic automaker's focus from performance cars to green technology, but back in the day – conceived, as it was, as a French rival to Ferrari – Venturi pulled off some noteworthy performances at Le Mans. Following that tradition, Venturi has now announced that it will establish a new factory in the French town of La Sarthe, home to the famous 24 hour race.

The plant will shift the company's center out of Monaco where it is currently based, and be used to build a new electric city vehicle to be unveiled next week together with Michelin at the Paris motor show, as well, presumably, as the Fetish supercar which is now nearing production. Follow the jump for the press release.

[Source: Venturi]

GT1-class racing is one of the most hotly contested in Europe, with cars like the Aston Martin DBR9 and Maserati MC12 competing among others for top honors in the Le Mans Series and FIA GT Championship. Here in the American Le Mans Series, however, officials are considering the possibility that they'll have to shut down the class altogether.

This season, the Corvettes have had the category all to themselves, which has made the class uninteresting, with predictable outcomes. Bell Motorsports announced their intention to run Aston Martins to compete with the Corvettes for GT1 victory, but that may be another case of too little too late. Itching for a good fight, GM is reportedly dropping down to the paradoxically more competitive GT2 series. Not anxious to run another season of an empty GT1 roster, ALMS could very well cut the class out altogether.

[Source: AutoWeek]

Diesel power has emerged as the dominating fuel in Le Mans series endurance racing, with Audi and Peugeot competing neck-and-neck for top honors. But that's about to change, if the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) has anything to say about it. ACO, the body that organizes the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the LMS championships in Europe and North America, has announced new rules aimed at reducing the performance of the diesel racers to level the playing field with the gasoline-fueled competitors.

The new regulations would include air restrictors reduced in diameter by 10% and a decrease in allowable turbo boost on the oil-burners. The move is also aimed at impeding laps times in the name of safety, with a 3 minute 30 second La Sarthe lap time as the target, where the Peugeot 908s lapped the circuit in the low 3:08s this year.

Additional rule-book amendments include the banning of tire warmers, a reduction in the permissible size of rear wings and the allowance of only one wheel gun for each pit crew, all in an effort to reduce costs and raise lap times.

[Source: Autosport]

Jaguar XJR-9

Ratan Tata would like to see Jaguar return to Le Mans someday, and seeing as he owns the British marque's new parent company, he probably has a lot of say in the matter. Tata expressed his wishes at his company's annual meeting at the end of July, but jag aficionados shouldn't get their hopes up just yet. There's no timetable attached, and when asked for further clarification, a Tata rep told Endurance-Info.com that nothing has been finalized. Jaguar and Le Mans were synonymous in the 50s, when it won the race outright 5 times between 1951 and '57 with its C- and D-Type racers. It later returned to the top of the podium in 1988 and 1990 with the XJR-9LM and XJR-12, respectively. It would be great to see the cat return with a factory effort in one of the prototype classes.

[Sources: Business Standard, Endurance-Info]

This year's exciting 24 Hours of Le Mans ended a short time ago. In deference to those of you who might have recorded the race, we'll do the rundown after the jump. So be advised: Spoilers follow.

[Source: LeMans.org]

As many of you are well aware, the 24 Hours of Le Mans kicked off during the last hour. American viewers can catch the action on SPEED TV. Unfortunately, unlike the old Speedvision days, there isn't full 24-hour coverage.

Here is the SPEED TV schedule:

All times Eastern

• Saturday, June 14: 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM: Live Coverage
  
• Saturday, June 14, 9:00 PM - Sunday, June 15, 9:30 AM: Live Coverage

SPEED airs assorted NASCAR and other (summarily unwatchable) assorted programming between Noon and 9:00 PM today.

Web Coverage:

• RadioLeMans.com has excellent live streaming audio. Just go to their homepage and click the Listen Live link. It dovetails nicely with the SPEED TV coverage (when it's on).
• The official Le Lans site has standings, photos, and info. You can also get web video of the race there at Club24Web, but you will need to open your wallet to do so.

If you have any other good web destinations to suggest with regard to Le Mans coverage, leave a comment below.

Le Mans has seen its fair share of spectacular crashes, perhaps most notably the Mercedes CLR-GTR that caught air and did several flips before landing outside the guard rail back in 1999. While not as outrageous as the Mercedes, Peugeot caught some air as well this past weekend at the 24 Hours of Le Mans test when Marc Gene lost control of his 908 Hdi and hit the wall at over 120 mph. Luckily, Gene was able to walk away from the crash and will be able to drive in the race in less than two weeks. Footage from the crash can be seen after the jump.

Thanks for the tip, Mark!

[Source: YouTube via LeMans.org]

One of Steve McQueen's co-stars in the 1971 documentary-style film Le Mans, a Porsche racing car, is up for action this August in Carmel Valley, California. The car is a 1969-1970 Porsche 908/2 Spyder. It features a 3.0-liter air/oil-cooled flat-8 engine rated at 350 hp @ 8500 rpm. While many of today's production cars are making that type of power, with a fiberglass body on a tubular aluminum spaceframe, the Porsche 908/2 tips the scales at just under 1,322 pounds. Power is sent to the rear wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox giving the racer a top speed of 200 mph. This particular vehicle was mounted with two cameras and raced in the French city of Le Mans to create footage for the racing film (the car is said to have competed in the event five times). The classic Porsche sounds like a ton of fun to toss around a track, but the winning bidder may have second thoughts if the car fetches anywhere near its pre-auction estimate of $2 million -- not entirely unlikely as another one of McQueen's cars, a Ferrari Lusso, grabbed $2.31 million at an auction last year.

[Source: Bloomberg]