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.
Porsche has already introduced direct injection on the Cayenne and 911 Carrera, and the Turbo, GT2 and GT3 all stand to benefit from the technology next year. While it's normal for most automakers to take the lessons learned from motorsports and apply them to their road cars, Porsche is doing it the other way around.
The 3.4-liter V8 in the Porsche RS Spyder campaigning in the ALMS LMP2 class will be fitted with direct injection, bringing power levels up while reducing fuel consumption. While the old mill put out 476 hp at 10,000 RPM and 273 lb.-ft. of torque beginning at 7,500 RPM, the new engine gets a 27 hp bump, to bring levels up to 503 hp at 10k RPM and 284 lb.-ft. of twist at 8,500 rpm. That, combined with the decreased in fuel consumption should make the Spyder even more competitive in a class it's continuing to dominate.
Full details are posted in the press release below the fold.
Gil de Ferran hasn't had quite enough of winning just yet. The accomplished former racing driver and team manager announced today that he's coming out of retirement to contest the American Le Mans Series. With Team Penske, de Ferran won back-to-back CART titles in 2000 and 2001, the Indy 500 in 2003 and set the record for the fastest qualifying lap on a closed circuit with a 241.43mph average speed at the California Speedway in 2001. Having retired at the end of 2003, Gil served as sporting director for Honda's F1 team from 2005 until this past season.
To contest the ALMS this season, de Ferran will be driving for his own team in a fourth factory-backed LMP2-class Acura ARX-01b. Although he hasn't yet announced his second driver, he has signed on John Anderson, a veteran crew chief, as general manager.
[Source: gildeferran.com and Autosport, Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty]
First the good news for Audi Sports North America. The No. 7 R10 won the LMP1 class during last weekend's 9th Round of the American LeMans Series race at Mosport. With the win, Audi has clinched the LMP1 championship with three races left to run. Unfortunately, Audi has yet again failed to claim an outright win despite dominating the entire race ahead of those pesky LMP2 cars.
The Audi driven by Alan McNish had inherited the lead late in the race when Timo Bernhard pitted his LMPS Penske Motorsports Porsche RS Spyder. Things were going well, with the McNish building a comfortable 22-second lead. Unfortunately, the R10 then experienced some kind of gearbox malfunction with ten minutes to go that left McNish with only the higher gears. Every tight corner of the track gave Bernhard another opportunity to close the gap. Bernhard caught McNish with about five minutes left to go, and went on to build a 19.575-second lead.
Check out the rest of our recap and VIDEO of the last five minutes of last weekend's race at Mosport after the jump, courtesy of SPEED.
click image for high-res version suitable as desktop wallpaper
The "1" in "LMP1" is supposed to signify that this is the top class in the ALMS. But for a good stretch of this season, the top of the podium has featured LMP2 cars, instead. For Audi, long the top P1 team, it is particularly troublesome that German rival Porsche is the team ahead of them during this P1 slump. And as they head to Road America for the next round of the series, they are saying "enough is enough." Audi is telling anyone who will listen that the Porsches are going down. If that sounds cocky, it shouldn't. Audi should be confident here as they've never lost a race at this familiar course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The fast track should allow that big diesel to run free and show off all of its torque once again.
Since an LMP2 car has outright won the last five races in a row, the governing body of the ALMS has decided to slow the class down for the 2008 season by adding mandatory weight to each car. Now, if that sounds like the ALMS is helping Audi win, it is. But the rules should favor the LMP1 class to win, and five losses in a row for the class means something is amiss, so a little tweaking is understandable.
Full press release with weekend schedule after the jump.
Click for a gallery of 5 additional high-res photos
The 2007 ALMS season is rapidly approaching (the kickoff at Sebring takes place March 17), and new cars are starting to arrive at their homes. In the case of the first customer-ordered '07 Porsche RS Spyder, home is Poughkeepsie, NY, where Dyson Racing is headquartered.
The car depicted above and in the attached gallery will be joined by its stablemate sometime in February, and the pair will take on the competition in the reinvigorated LMP2 class. P2 will also see three teams running Acura's new prototype racer, as well as Roger Penske's factory-backed Spyders in their DHL livery (one of which is visible in the transporter shown above as well -- check the gallery to see it).
For more info on the delivery of Dyson's new ride, check out Porsche's press release after the jump.
That thing got a rotary in it? Nope, not this year. Dashing the hopes of Rotorheads everywhere, Mazda announced that it will be using an AER built conventional engine in its 2007 ALMS cars. Looks like pride and heritage will take a back seat to winning. As MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Manager Steve Sanders explained, the rules just make it too difficult for a rotary to be competitive right now. But this new AER-developed 2.0-liter 4 promises to offer a lot in the way of Zoom-Zoom.
Dyson Racing is moving to the LMP2 class for 2007's American Le Mans Series season, and they'll do so in style as they become the first customer team to run Porsche's RS Spyder racing prototype. You'll recall that Porsche's official development partner, Penske Racing, ran a pair of the DHL-liveried Spyders for the 2006 season.
The cars Rob Dyson's team will run are the new 2007 models, which are more aerodynamic (and dare we say better looking) than last year's 1st gen cars. They will be identical to the cars Penske runs, and they are sure to add even more juice to a very energized LMP2 class that's also welcoming Acura into the fold next year. In fact, LMP2 appears to be the class to watch, as Dyson's departure from the LMP1 class leaves reigning champion Audi Sport and Autocon Motorsport alone to duke it out for the P1 crown. (Danbury, CT-based Highcroft racing left P1 as well and is one of the teams that will field the new Acura racer.)
When you consider that the R10 TDIs went undefeated in P1 last season, it doesn't look like that division will be a source of much drama. Most people will wait for the utter steel cage match that will be Audi vs. Peugeot in a diesel-fueled France vs. Germany duel at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
It should be great fun to watch Chris Dyson and Guy Smith in the #20 car and Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace in the #16 car as they do battle in in what has become a substantial LMP2 team roster. The 12 Hours of Sebring can't arrive soon enough.
(Press releases, #20 car livery after the jump)
[Sources: Dyson Racing, American Le Mans Series, Porsche]
The Southern California RX Club held its annual celebration of all things rotary today at Mazda's HQ in Irvine, California. Every conceivable RX vehicle and rotary powered conversion showed up at the 9th annual SevenStock event. According to the organizers, SevenStock is the largest single day Rotary enthusiast gathering in the world. And it would be very hard to argue with them on that. Some 500 RXes had already turned up this morning by the time we had to leave. Last year's crowd was estimated at 5,000, and it wouldn't be too much of a leap to say that this year looked to be at least that big.
Resembling a typical meet with lots of vendors and special displays, the SevenStock event adds a unique twist for Mazda lovers. Showing how dedicated it is to its zoom-zooming enthusiast owners, Mazda not only invited the group onto its campus, but they also brought out examples of their most historical production models and some of their most significant rotary-powered racecars as well.
We just received word of this video clip showing the new Acura LMP2 ALMS racer. It was filmed at the racecar's unveiling during the 2006 Petit Le Mans. Besides showing off the car, Acura announced the drivers of the Lowe's car, Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz. The video shows the press conference cut in with images of the car. As we've previously reported, this car represents Acura's first foray into motorsports in the company's 20 year history and testing has already begun at Firebird International Raceway in Arizona. The Lowe's Fernandez team has fitted the brand new LM V8 engine into a Lola B05/40 chassis for the test by owner/driver Adrian Fernandez.
The racing debut of the three Acura ALMS teams will come at Sebring in March, with Andretti Green Racing and Highcroft Racing joining Lowe's/Fernandez. Highcroft will run an Acura-Courage LC75, as Honda develops its own chassis for the 2008 season. Andretti Green is also running a Courage, with XM Satellite Radio sponsorship carrying over from their IRL effort. Highcroft Racing is the only one of the three teams currently running in the ALMS, competing in LMP1 with its Lola EX257-AER.
The car looks pretty impressive, but with Porsche being so strong this year in LMP2, it will take a lot of work for Acura to establish itself as a contender. ALMS seems to be getting more attention, as it deserves and it will hopefully continue to grow, attract sponsors and fans. The rumors of a possible Mario/Michael/Marco Andretti driver lineup can only help towards that goal.
That thing got a rotary in it? Nope, not this year. Dashing the hopes of Rotorheads everywhere, Mazda announced that it will be using an AER built conventional engine in its 2007 
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