Sports car racings ultimate technology test

Le Mans 2014
Leading-Edge Motorsport Technology Since 1990
CONTENTS
5 NEWS
The latest on Porsches rear bodywork, plus Strakkas withdrawal
8 RACE ANALYSIS
An analysis of the opening races of the WEC
12 AUDI R18 2014
The latest on Audis Le Mans challenger
18 TOYOTA TS040
Could this be Toyotas year?
24 PORSCHE 919 HYBRID
WThe return of a legend, but will it be
33 PORSCHE 991 RSR
Porsche heavily updated its GT challenger at Bahrain in 2013
36 CORVETTE C7R
American muscle car makes Le Mans debut
42 FERRARI 458
Revisiting the moment Ferraris new car was frst unveiled
51 ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE
Astons update kit was introduced at Sebring, 2013
52 EQUIVALENCE OF TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED
Ricardo Divila takes us through the complexities of EoT
56 NISSAN ZEOD
Peter Wrights analysis of this revolutionary carv
60 40KG POWERPLANT
RML developed a lightweight engine to produce 400bhp
66 DATABYTES
Cosworth on dealing with the data at Le Mans, 2014
EDITED BY: Andrew Cotton, Sam Collins and Kevin Younger
DESIGN: Dave Oswald
I
The manufacturer LMP1 cars have stolen the limelight at
Le Mans this year, and rightly so as the technology, the
budget and the risk that each is taking is unprecedented
at the endurance classic. While the power unit technology
is the over-riding focus, teams have also been playing around
with aerodynamics (see Porsches rear bodywork, Audis front
splitter and Toyotas rear wing) and with braking systems.
While this supplement brings you up to date with the latest
developments in this fast-changing world, the undercurrent of
privateer racing is also positive. The Rebellion Racing team was
8.6s of the fastest times at the test day, and the ACO and FIA
responded with a weight break and a change to the fuel limits,
which it ran at the test day already.
In LMP2, alongside the new Ligier featured in the latest
edition of Racecar Engineering, there are new cars coming,
including the Dome, the Wirth (HPD), Pilbeam, Adess, Tiga
and Welter. The ACO has taken a great deal of care to get
the LMP1 regulations correct, and has spent two years on
the GT convergence talks, which abruptly stopped in May.
Now, however, it will turn its attention to the privateer LMP2
category and again, must take care. Porsche and Toyota are
both known to be carefully considering programmes that will
allow them to compete in the US against these new designs.
The WEC and the TUSCC are both struggling for entries in the
class this year. The LMP2 class, and the LMGT-Am are both
crucial categories to the success of endurance racing. There will
be changes, but for teams, and drivers, value of racing needs to
be maintained.
ANDREW COTTON Editor
CONTENTS/COMMENT
LE MANS 2014 3
LE MANS NEWSDESK
4 LE MANS 2014
Flexible bodywork sees Porsche
legality questioned
Legality of the new Porsche 919 has been
questioned following the Le Mans test day.
Rival teams noticed that at high speed the
engine cover of the car was visibly defecting,
probably causing a reduction in drag. This
could be in breach of article 3.4 of the technical
regs which states that Movable bodywork
parts/elements are forbidden when the car is
in motion and also that the rear bodywork
viewed from above should have a continuous
unbroken surface without cut-outs.
Additionally the rear bodywork extends a
few millimetres beyond the rear of the difuser,
something that may contravene article 3.5.2 of
the technical regulations which states that No
part of the difuser must be more than 200mm
above the reference surface and its rear end
must be plumb (Flush) with the perimeter of the
bodywork (rear wing removed).
Shortly before the teams arrived at Le Mans
for the start of testing, the FIA warned that it was
aware that all three teams were experimenting
with fexible bodywork and that at Spa, Audi,
Porsche and Toyota were all strictly speaking
illegal. We have observed during scrutineering
that each of your cars had some fexibility in order
to prevent any damaging of the underside of
cockpit in case of unwanted passage out of track
or on kerbs, a message sent to all teams by the
governing body stated. Formally speaking, this
contravenes article 3.4 of the LMP1 regulations.
However as it seems indispensable and used
by all of you, we agree not to apply strictly this
article for this specifc part. In order to be fair
to everybody, we will accept a fexibility in that
point of: 10mm under 500 daN. To be absolutely
clear, we make it mandatory to have a stop
efect and that this defection cannot under no
circumstances be more than 15mm. Moreover
we remind you that the FIA reserves the right to
introduce load/defection tests on any part of the
bodywork which appears to be (or is suspected
of ), moving whilst the car is in motion.
Porsche claimed that when the bodywork was
attached to the cover in the centre of the car, the
continuous line was maintained and therefore
was legal. No protest was lodged.
Flexing body panels or movable aero? All the LMP1 teams may be in breach of regs, but the Porsches are the most noticeable
FOR FULL ANALYSIS CLICK HERE
LE MANS 2014 5
The race debut of the brand new Strakka-DOME S103 has again
been delayed, this time due to a heavy crash. In the week leading
up to the Le Mans test day the Strakka team was conducting
performance tests to validate its low drag aerodynamic
confguration when a crash at the notorious Eau Rouge corner
curtailed running. The resulting damage was too severe for the
team to prepare for the Le Mans 24 Hours this year. The car will
make its WEC debut later in the season.
The car has been designed by Japanese frm DOME and is
thought to be one of the most aerodynamically advanced LMP2
spec cars ever built. Construction of the car is handled by the
English Strakka team at their Silverstone base.
TESTING CRASH FORCES STRAKKA TO PULL OUT
Deltawing promotes road car concept
DeltaWing Technologies has revealed how its
concept could look as a street-legal, four-
passenger car. Using Ben Bowlbys general
concept of half the weight, half the power,
half the drag the Deltawing road car has
many of the benefts of the competition
version used at Le Mans and in the TUSCC.
Intended as a solution for manufacturers
facing more stringent fuel economy
and emissions standards, the platform
ofers efciency benefts whether using
new generation smaller and lighter high
efciency petrol or diesel powertrains,
alternative fuels such as compressed
natural gas (CNG), or hybrid and all-
electric powerplants. DeltaWing has released
the concept in order to promote its intention
to partner with mass-market auto companies
that share its vision rather than manufacture
independently, thus ofering cars with the
DeltaWings lightweight architecture to a
broad global audience and signifcantly
expanding the designs efciency and
environmental benefts.
Company executives have been meeting
with car makers that support the goal of bringing
the DeltaWing vehicle architecture and its
lightweight and efciency technologies to road
cars to help meet the CAFE (Corporate Average
Fuel Economy) standard of 54.5 mpg by model
year 2025.
Many of the aerodynamic, lightweight and
handling benefts of the race car can translate
to the street, said Don Panoz, chairman of
DeltaWing Technologies Inc. We are competing
at the highest levels of road racing with half
the weight, half the horsepower, and nearly
half of the fuel consumption. We believe we
can deliver similar results on the street without
compromising safety, comfort and performance.
We have a formula thats highly efcient and still
fun to drive.
One fy in the ointment may be increasing
pedestrian safety regulations that could be tricky
to adopt to the front of the vehicle. Meanwhile
some people will perhaps struggle with the
aesthetics of such an unconventional looking car.
LE MANS NEWSDESK
6 LE MANS 2014
Frazer Nash Prototype project stalls
The Frazer Nash brand has evaluated a 2015 Le Mans
return as the Garage 56 entry. Designs were at an
advanced stage for the Le Mans Prototype before
the project apparently stalled. It had been hoped
that the programme could have been announced
at the ACO press conference ahead of the 2014 Le
Mans 24 Hours, but for reasons that are not clear the
announcement appears to have been cancelled.
Racecar Engineering understands that the project
had been granted the Garage 56 innovative technology
entry into the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours ahead of a full
2016 LMP1 programme. Sergio Rinlands Astauto design
consultancy had been commissioned by Frazer Nash to
develop the early designs of the car which featured a
highly innovative powertrain.
Frazer-Nash frst contested the Le Mans 24 Hours in
1935 when it failed to fnish but in 1949 it fnished third
overall. The last time the brand contested the race was in
1957 when the company ceased car production, it was
later absorbed by Porsche Cars GB.
Today the Frazer-Nash Group, which also
incorporates Bristol Cars, is owned by technology
entrepreneur Kamal Siddiqi. It is currently focussed on
developing powertrain technology, with range extended
hybrids a particular speciality.
In 2009 Frazer Nash built and tested a concept
supercar called the Namir (pictured), which was set to
lend its technology to a new Bristol Sportscar. This gives
some hints to what the LMP1 power train may have
been. The car was to be ftted with four separate electric
motors, each driving one of the cars wheels, whilst an
800cc rotary engine would act as a generator powering
a bank of Lithium ion battery cells. It was to feature a
signifcant amount of torque vectoring via a bespoke
digital diferential.
The much-delayed Lotus T129 LMP1 car has
been revealed at Le Mans. Originally designed
to accept the NBE built Audi DTM V8, the
rear of the car has had to be extensively
reworked to accept the new AER P60 twin
turbo V6 engine. The car could be seen as part
of the HRT family line with the Holzer Group
in Germany playing a key role. A solitary
example of the T129 will contest some of the
remaining World Endurance Championship
races in 2014.
Toyota brake legality challenged at Le Mans
The legality of Toyotas braking system has
been challenged at Le Mans. Whilst there
is no suggestion of cheating or underhand
behaviour there has been some debate about
the way its brakes are managed. A clarifcation
from the FIA was issued and that shows the
others that our system is fully legal argues
Pascal Vasselon.
The brake by wire layout on the TS040 has an
automatic brake migration system that sends
the bias forwards or rearwards as the car travels
deeper into the corner. In essence it is a form of
active brake bias, as the electronic management
system on the car manages it automatically.
If a driver hits the pedal and feels signifcant
rear locking, the next time he arrives at that
corner he would adjust the brake bias forwards to
prevent it on a standard racing car. But sometimes
as he starts to turn into the corner front locking
can result as the wheels are unloaded. The Toyota
system, which is in essence identical to those used
in F1, mitigates this by using a brake migration
tool to automatically send the bias rearwards
again as the braking event continues. The drivers
have control of how extreme this efect is by using
rotary thumb switches on the steering wheel.
The technology is not unique to Toyota
and features on most, if not all, Formula 1
cars. Toyota did not feel that the concept was
especially confdential or indeed illegal as its
implementation seems rather obvious on a
hybrid competition car. However once rival
manufacturers became aware of the system they
complained to the FIA about its use, claiming that
it breaches two parts of the 2014 LMP1 technical
regulations.
Article 14.1 states that:
The only connection allowed between the two
circuits is a mechanical system for adjusting brake
force balance between the front and rear axles.
Article 14.7 states that For vehicles with a
Kinetic ERS, a specifc braking system is allowed.

Its function is to ensure the braking of the car

strictly in conformity with the order given by
the driver.

Its function cannot be, in any circumstances, to

provide the driver with any additional support.
The system may be active, but must:

Ensure balanced and stable braking, whatever

the amount of energy recovered. It must
ensure a constant front / rear braking load
distribution (sum of the electrical and
hydraulic eforts) which can be adjusted only
manually by the driver.
Following the requests for clarifcation from
Toyotas rivals the governing body issued a
technical directive regarding brake bias control:
Following some questions about the ERS
specifc brake system, we feel important to clarify
that in reference to articles 14.7.1 and 14.7.2:
1) A system that complies with LMP1 regulations
cannot:

Have any sort of balance adjustment to

compensate automatically disc/pad wear or
wheel locking.
2) A system that complies with LMP1 regulations
can:

Have a possibility of selection by the driver of

the value of a nominal brake balance (by an
HMI like a button/potentiometer, for example)

Have a brake balance related to the brake

pressure applied by the driver through a
pre-defnite law (which avoids any possibility
of electronic anti-lock system), provided the
relation pedal-pressure / brake balance is
monotone and without any infexion point
(curvature always the same sign), like could be
got from mechanical devices.

Have a possibility of selection by the driver

of the law defned above (relation pedal
pressure/brake balance. Selection made by
another HMI like a button, for example)
This guarantees that brake balance is under
the direct control of the driver through its
selection and the pedal pressure he applies. For a
defnite set-up chosen by the driver, and a defnite
pedal pressure, the brake balance remains at a
constant value, independently of the level of
energy recovered or lock of the wheel.
Toyota has been very open about the use of
the system on its cars and does not believe it to be
illegal, indeed the layout has even been detailed
in Racecar Engineering in the past!
Indeed the Toyota team seemed surprised that
its rivals were not doing the same as they were!
Toyota technical boss Pascal Vasselon insists that
the system is fully compliant with the regulations
and that it has not changed its operation.
LOTUS T129 LMP1
REVEALED AT LE MANS
POWER STREAM FP JUL14.indd 1 22/05/2014 09:49
RACE ANALYSIS
The plot thickens
In the build up to Le Mans, a place that has a knack for
delivering unexpected twists, we examine the contenders
By PAUL TRUSWELL
W
ith two rounds of the 2014
World Endurance Championship
gone, there have been plenty
of clues as to what this years
Le Mans 24-hour race might have in store.
However, such has been the impact of the
changes to the regulations this year, that the
indications of the frst races might turn out to
be as misleading as the red herrings in the best
Agatha Christie novel.
Like the opening chapters of all the best
whodunnits, the opening round at Silverstone
served to introduce the characters, and gave us
some fascinating glimpses of what we might
expect, but without giving very much away. The
weather saw to that.
It is worth looking at the frst 20 laps
though, which were as breathtaking a period
of motor-racing as seasoned campaigners have
seen for many a year. Bearing in mind that not
only was this the frst time that a works Porsche
prototype had raced in anger for 15 years, and
that Audi and Toyota had started the season
with completely new designs, this was no gentle
rolling out and building up to speed: these were
the opening salvoes of what looks like being a
brutal war of a season ahead.
In the circumstances, it is hardly surprising
that the Porsches were left behind a little, but
nevertheless, the following table is interesting,
showing the best and average lap times for
those frst twenty laps.
The astonishing thing is that, if one
compares this to the opening 20 laps of
last years Silverstone 6-hours, which was of
course the opening round in the 2013 World
Endurance Championship, the times are not
that diferent. Such a small change in lap
times an improvement for Toyota, and a small
deterioration for Audi does not do justice to
the fundamental changes of the regulations.
In those same 20 laps, in 2013, the Toyotas
would have used approximately 62 litres of
petrol, the Audis 51 litres of diesel. This year,
the regulations dictated that the cars used a
maximum of 45 litres diesel and in Toyotas case
54 litres of petrol. Maybe not the 30% reduction
that has been mentioned in some quarters, but
Motive and opportunity Toyota TS040 and Porsche 919
go head to head in the rain at Silverstone
8 LE MANS 2014
nevertheless a substantial reduction (12-15%),
and, in Toyotas case, an improvement of lap
times as well.
When the rain came down at Silverstone on
Easter Sunday this year, Toyota hedged its bets,
putting one car (the no 7) on to intermediate
tyres and the other on to a full wet, while Audi
left both cars out on slicks, hoping to bring
them in at the end of the fuel window, by
which time, they hoped, the intentions of the
weather might be clearer. It was a bad call, both
cars proving undriveable in the conditions,
and falling further and further back (or of the
circuit) as the race progressed.
Developments at Spa
When the heavens opened with less than an
hour of the race remaining, the decision was
taken to halt the race, but as an exercise in
establishing the pecking order in terms of
Audi, Toyota and Porsche, changing weather
conditions made it all rather fruitless. To
return to the theatrical, whodunnit theme: the
audience was left, as the interval curtain fell,
knowing the characters but in a state of mild
confusion about who had done what.
So we settled into our seats for a spell-
binding six hours in the Ardennes; run without
interruption, not from rain, the safety car, or
even any signifcant retirements. And as the
chequered fag fell, it was fairly clear to the
TABLE HEADLINE
No. Car Driver Best Average
1 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro Di Grassi 1m 44.656s 1m 46.104s
2 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro Lotterer 1m 44.217s 1m 45.903s
7 Toyota TS040 Hybrid Wurz 1m 44.326s 1m 45.933s
8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid Buemi 1m 44.708s 1m 46.304s
14 Porsche 919 Hybrid Jani 1m 45.452s 1m 47.223s
20 Porsche 919 Hybrid Bernhard 1m 45.245s 1m 46.733s
TABLE HEADLINE
No. Car Driver Best Average
1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Trluyer 1m 43.995s 1m 45.691s
2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro McNish 1m 43.710s 1m 45.326s
7 Toyota TS040 Hybrid Wurz 1m 44.296s 1m 47.711s
8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid Davidson 1m 44.047s 1m 46.681s
AVERAGE OF BEST 100 LAPS COMPLETED:
Spa Silverstone
Toyota 8 2m 03.289s 1m 46.981s
Porsche 14 / 20 2m 03.602s 1m 48.414s
Toyota 7 2m 03.774s 1m 46.733s
Audi 1 2m 04.153s
TABLE HEADLINE
Manufacturer Tyre change (average) Fuelling time (average)
Audi 21.9s 33.0s
Toyota 21.6s 33.5s
Porsche 25.5s 33.2s
Such a small change in lap times an
improvement for Toyota, and a small deterioration
for Audi does not do justice to the fundamental
nature of change in the regulations
LE MANS 2014 9
TEST REPORT
10 LE MANS 2014
audience that Toyota had done the best job
over the winter (and before that), of building
a car to extract the maximum from the 2014
regulations. Putting on my Miss Marple hat, lets
look at the evidence.
First of all, Porsche. The 919 Hybrid has
certainly not disappointed in its frst two races.
One pole position (by more than half a second),
one podium and only one retirement out of four
starts is a good solid start of which the whole
team can be proud, particularly bearing in mind
that the team has focussed solely on its Le Mans
aero-confguration car.
It is interesting to note that the team made
a positive step forward between Silverstone
and Spa Francorchamps, a testament to the
companys rate of development with the new
car. At Spa, the no 14 car was just 0.25 per cent
slower than the winning Toyota, taking the
average of the fastest 100 laps of both cars.
This compares with a whopping 1.6 per cent
diference at Silverstone. Had it not been for the
two slow laps that Romain Dumas was forced to
complete at Spa, then Porsche would certainly
have improved on its third place at Silverstone.
The car is undeniably quick though. At Spa,
taking the average of the best 50 times in each
sector, Porsche no 14 was fastest in both sector
1 and sector 3. This is the clearest indication that
its hybrid power is usable wherever it wants it.
Toyota is likely very envious.
Porsche has to address two issues before Le
Mans. The frst is reliability. Although, as I have
already stated, the cars have performed well in
both races up to now, they have yet to manage
a six hour race without an unscheduled pit stop.
Second, the team is losing time in the pits.
Using the data from Spa, I have calculated the
average time spent in the pits changing wheels.
The pit lane is a known length, (386.6m) so the
time spent driving the length of it at 60kph can
easily be worked out. Similarly, the time spent
refuelling can also be subtracted from the total
time spent in the pits. The results (said Miss
Marple) are clear to see:
At Le Mans, I expect Porsche to change
the wheels on each car around ffteen times.
That means they will have to catch up nearly a
minute, unless they can sharpen up the pit
stop procedures!
SPA FIRST-SECOND HALF AVERAGES
Spa Best 50 laps in frst half Best 50 laps in second half
Audi 1 2m 04.181s 2m 04.111s
2 2m 04.702s 2m 04.588s
3 2m 04.859s 2m 04.865s
Toyota 7 2m 03.621s 2m 03.930s
8 2m 03.282s 2m 03.329s
Porsche 14 2m 03.338s 2m 03.928s
20 2m 04.360s 2m 04.622s
SPA 100 LAP AVERAGES
Spa 100 lap straight average
Audi 1 2m 04.153.s 0.70%
2 2m 04.644s 1.10%
3 2m 04.861s 1.28%
Toyota 7 2m 03.774s 0.39%
8 2m 03.289s 0.00%
Porsche 14 2m 03.602s 0.25%
20 2m 04.490s 0.97%
SPA SECTORT TIMES
Spa 50 lap averages Sector 1 Sector 2 Sector 3
SF to Les Combes Les Combes to Stavelot Stavelot to SF
Audi 1 35.180s 56.271s 31.846s
2 35.373s 56.360s 32.017s
3 34.616s 57.913s 31.491s
Toyota 7 34.309s 57.398s 31.105s
8 34.165s 57.180s 31.016s
Porsche 14 34.148s 57.751s 30.749s
20 34.163s 58.249s 31.013s
Had it not been for the two slow laps that Romain Dumas
was forced to complete at Spa, Porsche would certainly
have improved on its third place at Silverstone
Now, what about Audi (sitting innocently in
the drawing-room armchair)? There is no question
that two broken chassis at Silverstone was a
disappointment. And the second place at Spa was
somewhat fortuitous, the other two cars fnishing
lap(s) behind in the fnal two LMP1-H class positions.
Sometimes though, it is the seemingly innocent
that have something to hide. Remember that Audi
only ran its Le Mans-spec car at Spa in the hands
of Bonanomi and Albuquerque, the two least
experienced LMP1 hands in the feld. And dont
forget that the 2014 Le Mans confguration is much
more diferent to its high-downforce cousin than last
years two confgurations of car.
It is worth mentioning that two of the Audis (nos.
1 and 3) were the only two cars to complete the
race at Spa without an unscheduled stop. Also,
the no. 3 completed the race with just six stops
the only LMP1 car to do so. Interestingly, the
no. 3 car was not able to or at least chose not
to double stint its tyres. By contrast, the no. 1
high-downforce car changed tyres only three times
during the race.
I may be reading more into this that I should,
but it does occur to me that Audi will have been
gathering data on fuel consumption, tyre wear and
lap times. The fact that the no 1 Audi was quickest
in sector 2, along with Lotterers performance in the
early laps at Silverstone shows that there isnt much
wrong with the power being developed from the
In the Spa sunshine the Porsche 919s power was
evident, but reliability is still a problem
LE MANS 2014 11
(less fuel-efcient) low-power hybrid option.
It is also interesting to note that if you split
the race into two halves, and compare the
average fastest 50 lap times in the frst half
of the race with the average 50 lap times in
the second half of the race, Audi is the only
manufacturer whose lap times improve.
Audi may not go to Le Mans as favourites,
but they have made a speciality of winning
with the slower car in the past. The diference is
manageable, and it would be a brave man who
bet against them doing so again.
Toyota on target
Toyota? Well, theyre holding the smoking gun,
arent they? Two wins out of two races and four
podium fnishes from four starts is about as good
as it can get. And at the third time of asking,
surely a win at Le Mans is on the cards this year?
Well, yes it is, but those with long memories in
Tokyo will look back at 1998 and 1999 when
GT-Ones led the race having started on the front
row in both those years. A Toyota victory looked
likely in 1994, too, until gearbox trouble stranded
Jef Krosnof with around an hour and a half
remaining.
If Toyota is to win Le Mans this year, they will
have to be perfect. The cars have been plainly
faster at both Silverstone and Spa. The pit stop
times from Spa demonstrate that they are
quicker than Audi in the pits. The win is theirs for
the taking. The super-capacitor may deliver the
power less uniformly than the Porsche, but the
car can negotiate trafc with astonishing agility.
Hidden clues
There is something that doesnt quite ft, though.
And just before the curtain falls on this particular
piece of drama, let me say this. The diference
in lap times between the two Toyotas, both at
Silverstone and Spa is substantial. I cant believe
that there is that much diferential in the drivers,
and the team has stated that the cars were in
the same confguration high downforce at
Silverstone and low downforce at Spa. So it must
be down to car set up. And if car set up can make
that much of a diference, then it must be an
incredibly sensitive thing to set up.
Technically, just getting the hybrid to work
efciently is complex, so I wonder if there is
a danger that the car might just drop of a
performance line somewhere. It is something
that the team needs to understand, to maintain
its position as favourite.
In some ways, this years regulations have
removed a good deal of the opportunities
for technical cleverness. The rules decree a
maximum instantaneous fuel usage, as well as
a limit on the amount of energy (i.e. fuel) used
per lap (worked out over a three lap average).
Therefore, there is no point in running the
engine lean to get a better range, unless you are
right on the edge of being able to go another
lap, or you can actually go faster, leaner. For
Porsche, it is possible that they will be able to
achieve 14 laps at Le Mans, but calculations
show that Audi and Toyota will need poor
weather or slow-zones to be able to achieve
that distance between refuelling.
Thereafter it is all about the drivers ability
to adapt to the driving technique required
to optimise performance within the fuel
consumption constraints, his ability to conserve
tyres, and the teams ability to turn the car
around in the pits. Although Toyota has to start
the race as favourite to win on previous form, it
is by no means certain that it will do so..
There is no point in running the
engine lean to get better range,
unless you are right on the edge
of being able to do another lap
or you can go faster, leaner
2014 AUDI R18
Generation H
Audi has launched its brand new R18, which couples
the rms tried-and-tested diesel engine with
an electro-magnetic ywheel.
By ANDREW COTTON
The biggest challenge is that the diesel will
always be heavier than gasoline, so we made the
biggest effort to use the rules in a proper way
12 LE MANS 2014
LE MANS 2014 13
A
udis all-new R18 TDI was given its
frst public appearance shortly before
Christmas in 2013, but pre-season
testing highlighted problems with the
technology in the car coupled with the weight of
the diesel engine. During the opening races of 2014
it has shown that, despite running tried and tested
Kinetic Energy Recovery systems, it lags behind the
opposition in both pace and, by regulation, in fuel
economy. The German company did not manage to
make use of its MGU-H, dropping the technology
which would have used the exhaust gasses to
power a small electric motor, as the technology
was unproven, and the weight up high meant that
it compromised weight distribution. Audi chose
to run in the 2MJ category using KERS only (the
MGU-H was never going to be included in this
total but was only designed to reduce turbo lag),
but a change in the regulations, the now-famous
Appendix B, means that the Audi will start Le Mans
at a disadvantage to the Toyota and Porsche (see
Peter Wrights feature in Racecar Engineering V24N7
for full details). Yet, the German manufacturer races
well, and given the unreliability of the Porsche 919
Hybrid in the opening two races, can realistically
challenge for the podium at least at Le Mans, and
for overall honours if it can push Toyota into making
a mistake. Those who write of Audi do so at their
peril the team always races well at Le Mans.
Drama in KERS
The kinetic energy recovery system is completely
new, but will continue to drive the front axles,
with the result that the car will still retain its
four-wheel drive characteristics. Audi expects the
new car to use 30 per cent less fuel than the 2013
version, although in the frst two races, fuel savings
were signifcantly less than those targeted by the
ACO in its innovative regulations.
The chassis is completely new, to meet with new
regulations that require a higher cockpit, raised
2014 AUDI R18
14 LE MANS 2014
20mm compared to the 2013 car, while the
car is narrower by 100mm. The front wheels
are narrower, meaning that the bodywork
can be too, helping to improve aerodynamic
efciency. The weight has also been reduced by
regulation, from 915kg in 2013 to 850kg for a
non-hybrid car, and 870kg for a hybrid car.
Aerodynamic development has been a
feature of this years Le Mans 24 hours, but
common to all manufacturer cars was fexibility
built into the foor to protect the monocoque
in the event of hitting a kerb. While this was
strictly against the regulations, due to a
potential performance advantage that could
be gained by the teams using such systems,
the FIA Endurance Committee elected to allow
teams to continue using such foors.
Regarding the front part skid-block, we
have observed during scrutineering that each
of your cars had some fexibility in order to
prevent any damaging of the underside of
cockpit in case of unwanted passage out of
track or on kerbs, read the document issued by
the Enduranc Committee on May 20, 2014.
Formally speaking this contravenes article
3.4 of the LMP1 regulations. However as it
seems indispensable and used by all of you, we
agree not to apply strictly this article for this
specifc part. In order to be fair to everybody,
we will accept a fexibility in that point of: 10
mm under 500 daN. To be absolutely clear,
we make it mandatory to have a stop efect
and that this defection cannot under no
circumstances be more than 15 mm.
Weighty issues
New cockpit regulations, narrower chassis and
an all-new set of side-intrusion safety elements
required all manufacturers to build new cars,
but the reduction in base weight, coupled
with the extra weight of the safety structures,
caused Audi to have to revisit every part of
the car in a bid to get the package down
below the minimum total weight and still
have ballast to play with.
The switch from Dallara as the chassis
maker to another Italian frm Ycom was
just part of an overall review of the complete
car. We reviewed the possibilities and kept
the core technology of layout and packaging
with the chassis, and the consortium of how
to manufacture has always been a puzzle
Audi expects the new car to use 30 per cent less fuel,
returning to economy over power in the 2014 car
LE MANS 2014 15
organised by Dallara, says Christopher Reinke,
head of LMP1 at Audi. We look at who is best,
because we guide the process and we felt
that there was a more optimum possibility for
us. For sure the new weight regulation is
very challenging, as we try to put more
technology in the car, with a dual hybrid
system. It goes in hand with what the road
car tries to achieve, trying to lower the weight
spiral while increasing the hybrid performance.
The car is 100mm narrower and we have
smaller wheels. After that it starts to get
tricky. We had to apply the same theory
when we created the ultra and e-tron. You
have to look at everything, and to question
every single thing. What might make sense
from a technical point of view we always have
to question for the weight.
Audi engineers went through the chassis,
the engine, gearbox, and all structures in a bid
to save weight, and achieved it, although the
MGU-H was sacrifced before the season started.
We had to ft another system in, and we
had to get the weight out of the car, said
Audis leader of electric technology, Thomas
Laudenbach. The biggest challenge is that the
diesel will always be heavier than gasoline, so
we made the biggest efort to use the rules
in a proper way. Last year we had to gain
weight, but before I came here they worked
on every little bit. Last years car there wasnt
enough ballast to just take it out of the car,
we had to look at everything the engine,
the gearbox, the structured parts, the
monocoque, everywhere.
At the Geneva Show in March, Audi
announced that it would not run the MGU-H
on the grounds of weight distribution.
Engineers estimate that the diesel engine
is up to 50kg heavier than petrol and, while
this is compensated in the regulations, it still
prevented them from debuting the MGU-H. It
is the right way to go, but it is a tough way to
go, said Laudenbach of the technology.
If you have an MGU in the exhaust system,
you will always be in the situation to use it as
energy recovery as a boost, but it costs you
energy. You can use it for an anti-lag if you have
a problem with it, because it is not the most
efcient way of using it. As a frst step, you would
be happy if you dont need it.
The most important thing about the engine is that
it has to last. Car people hate me for that
2014 AUDI R18
16 LE MANS 2014
Power Unit
Each of the manufacturers has arrived with a
completely diferent engine concept. Porsche
has a 2-litre V4 engine, Toyota a 3.7-litre V8
gasoline, while Audi has increased capacity to a
4-litre V6 diesel engine, which is all new to cope
with the new fuel fow regulations that force
manufacturers to run their engines lean on fuel
while still delivering high power.
It is a brand new engine, says head of
engine technology Ulrich Baretzky. It is a brand
new rulebook the conception is completely
new. We could never do for next year what
we did from 2012-2013 that would be the
wrong way to go. The engine has a 120 degree
V-angle, has four valves per cylinder and has
retained the Garrett VTG turbo. It is a direct
injection TDI with a fully stressed aluminium
crank case. The now dropped MGU-H was to
work with the turbo to reduce lag. The MGU-H
is less of an infuence in the design of the
engine it is more complex in terms of overall
T
homas Laudenbach left his position at
Porsches head of powertrain and took up the
job of heading up a new department within
Audi to develop the hybrid system and its efciency.
His arrival was welcomed by the head of Audis
engine programme, Ulrich Baretzky.
Laudenbach was appointed to his post early
in 2013, and believes that the regulations have
been formed in such a way that the development
of the new generation R18 will beneft the
production car team. It is understood that one area
in which the team has learned valuable lessons is
writing its own software codes.
In general, we are always looking at the road cars,
says Laudenbach. That is where it starts, so the road
cars we have the issue with CO2, that is not a new
story and manufacturers are working
on all sorts of solutions, and a very big
area is electricity in a road car.
Were coming from a plug-in
hybrid to an electric range, and
racing has taken that challenge on,
promoting technology. A racecar
is used in a diferent way to a road
car, but you still have a conjunction
between the two. Then you look
at the rules, and there is a clear tendency towards
everything becoming too expensive, so we have to
restrict. Not in the new technologies, but we restrict
a lot of other things that weve had in the cars for
many years, because the steps are not that big, and
in general they leave it open for all sorts of hybrid
systems. This is an area that is growing, and the
opportunities are great.
If you look at the R18, it is integrated. For nearly
100 years, the driver was used to one source of
power the internal combustion engine. Now they
have two or even more, but you still have one pedal
so someone else has to take over the coordination of
the power sources in an efcient way. The driver cant
do it, or they would need two or three pedals. Since
we have more than one power source in the car, you
have to use it in the most intelligent and efcient
way. Before it was more intelligent in power density
and from 2014 on it is intelligent in efciency and
there you need a lot of electronic control systems.
Now the work powertrain becomes a complete
new defnition because it is extremely complex
system of various components, ICE, gearbox and
some power sources, and obviously the units where
the energy that they recuperate is stored. That makes
it complex. It needs to be efcient and lightweight,
and its more complex than we had. Compared to
other technologies, this is relatively new. The electric
motor is new in the automotive application, so
hopefully the steps will be great and that is the whole
story. That is where you have to make efciency.
An efcient race powertrain is going to be a
complex feature, as not only will it have to deliver
precisely the correct amount of fuel per lap under
normal racing conditions, it will also have to cope
with such variables as weather and safety car periods.
You have got a playground of strategy and
you have to use the fuel in the most efcient
way, says Laudenbach. We all know that the ICE
has losses the efciency is below 50 per cent,
and the hybrid is more. The efciency of a hybrid
system doesnt matter because you cannot release
more energy than the regulations allow.
With the energy release, there are certain
megajoule classes and you choose which one you
want to be in, because that infuences the amount of
fuel that you can put in. You can harvest as much as
you want, but you cannot release it.
Software is a main area of development
because the various electric motors in the car
cannot be controlled by a single pedal. You have
so many diferent situations, like when it is raining
for example.
It will have to be a very intelligent system
onboard. You have a certain amount of energy
per lap, and we want to use that amount of energy
spot on. We dont want to be fve per
cent down, because then you will
lose a lot of lap time. To make sure
that on every lap you use the right
amount of fuel, a diference of one or
two per cent will cost you tenths of a
second in lap time.
As the feet production car CO2
emissions fall towards 2020, when
the average needs to be less than
95g/km, efciency is key. Why, then, does the new
R18 continue to feature a fywheel rather than the
batteries that are sold in the production hybrids?
Something that relates to the road car, you have the
intelligent handling of energy, says Laudenbach.
First of all the car has be good at the races.
We chose the best possibility for the race, and not
that much in terms of components that can be
transferred to the road car. Software, strategy, and
certain efciencies, they can be transferred to the
road car. The storage system is diferent, but there is
still a lot of synergy.
HYBRID DEVELOPMENT
For nearly 100 years, the driver
was used to one source of power
the internal combustion engine.
Now they have two, or even more
Larger crash structures are needed in the new regulations, and in the case of the new R18, this extends beyond the end of the rear bodywork
LE MANS 2014 17
energy management in the car, says Baretzky.
You have an amount of energy then you have
to use it, and if you waste it you are lost. You
have to have the management to do this, part
of it by the driver, and some by the electronics.
The engine design methodology has not
changed at all because it was always part of
our job to run the engine efciently. The only
thing that has changed is the proportion
only economy or only power and it has
moved more towards economy. You have less
quantities of pure performance in the lap than
before to take the efciency and to use the
energy, because the energy is still used by the
combustion engine, and nothing else.
Each of the engines runs with the Gill
Fuel Flow meter. Audi has three sensors per
car one to measure the fow, another as
a back up as with every LMP1 on the grid.
Uniquely, the diesel carries a third to measure
the return fow. While Audi, along with
every other manufacturer, has encountered
problems achieving the accuracy level of 0.5
per cent set by the FIA, it is not necessarily
down to the meter. Drift can occur for many
reasons, including the sensor coping in a harsh
environment, and all manufacturers have
been careful not to be overly critical of
the young technology. What Audi will say,
categorically, is that the sensor should have
been delivered much earlier, although
commercial issues within Gill Sensors
prevented this from happening.
Energy recovery
Audi continues with the fywheel system
that was built for them by Williams Hybrid
Power, but WHP was sold in February to
British company GKN, which plans to use the
technology for commercial transport solutions,
including buses and trains. Audis problem
is that, should GKN elect not to continue its
racing programme beyond 2014, the company
will be unable to change the fywheel storage
system and will be unable to compete in a
much higher class than the 2MJ already chosen
this year. Building a fywheel capable of more
storage with another company is not a viable
option, according to Audi, nor is switching
technology altogether and using batteries,
although this option is under constant
review. There is no doubt that Audi must try
for a larger storage system, although how it
achieves it has yet to be established.
If you go to battery, you have far more
energy there, says Laudenbach. A fywheel is
very good at power, but the amount of energy
is less, and in terms of the solution for what we
need, this is the lightest one. I am not saying
that the fywheel is the best solution, but for
what we need and what we know so far, it is
the lightest. Nobody would build one into a
road car it has diferent demands. We are
looking at it, and at other solutions, but for
what we need now it is the best solution,
from a technical point of view.
Diferent manufacturers have diferent solutions to the shape of the cockpit, as per the new regulations heres Audis
A
udi has had another stab at improving its light
system on the new generation R18 and has
introduced a laser light system in addition to the
LEDs that have come to be an iconic feature of the car.
A blue laser beam backlights a yellow phosphorous
crystal lens through which the light beam is then
emitted. This new light source then provides even more
homogenous lighting of the road.
The last time Audi introduced its super-bright lighting
system, it blinded the GTE drivers and could have been
a contributory factor in Mike Rockenfellers accident in 2011.
By using this new lighting technology, Audi is
setting yet another milestone at Le Mans, said Dr Ulrich
Hackenberg, member of the management Board for
technical development of Audi AG. Laser light will also
open up completely new possibilities for our production
models in the future.
The new laser light is just one of numerous technical
innovations featured by our new R18, said head of Audi
Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. Were not going to reveal
any more than that at this early stage, as in 2014 were
facing an extremely tough competition and a year full of
challenges for Audi Sport.
LASER LIGHTS
TOYOTA TSO40 HYBRID
Agent K
Toyota is the only manufacturer to race with
a double KERS in its Le Mans prototype,
which boasts almost 1000bhp
By ANDREW COTTON
The most efcient way to use energy is the fastest.
Our system is 6MJ, but our motor power is huge it
is more efcient and more strong than Porsches
18 LE MANS 2014
LE MANS 2014 19
T
he battle for supremacy at Le Mans
began at the end of March as all
the major LMP1 manufacturers
announced which hybrid category
they would run in. It was in France, at the
World Endurance Championship pre-season
test held at the Paul Ricard circuit, that the
fnal pieces of the jigsaw came together and
Toyota announced that it would run in the 6
megajoule (6MJ) category with a double KERS,
front and rear. Immediately, Porsche scaled back
its ambition and also entered the 6MJ category
in its frst year, while Audi made the decision
back in November 2012 that it would run in the
2MJ category, and has stuck rigidly to that plan
despite apparent faws and the disadvantages
imposed by the technical regulations.
It was something of a shock to realise that
Toyota will not race with the maximum hybrid
performance this season, although there are
competitive advantages to running a larger
system and there are aspects that could be
upgraded next season. Using super-capacitors, a
fast charge/recharge characteristic means it is
more than capable of meeting the demands
needed to run in the 8MJ class, and with front
and rear KERS already built and tested in 2012
and refned in 2013, it seemed obvious.
However, the size of the battery and the
weight distribution compromise that would
need to be reached meant that Toyota dropped
to 6MJ to cope with the decreased weight limit
imposed on LMP1s this year.
The minimum weight was decreased from
915 to 870kg, so that impacted a lot, says team
president Yoshiaki Kinoshita. We designed our
car to the same minimum weight. From 6MJ
to 8MJ is a huge beneft because of the fuel
allocation, but you cannot do the race with an
overweighted car. Last years hybrid assistance
was already 100kg, and this year we added a
front motor. With the philosophy behind the
regulations, a big hybrid system should have an
incentive. It is a bit sad for us.
For Hisatake Murata, Toyotas hybrid project
leader, the decision not to go for the full 8MJ
category is not a disaster, and he considers
that Audis system could also pose problems in
race conditions this year. It is an amateur point
of view that 8MJ volume is huge, he says. The
8MJ system is very good, but the 2MJ is also a
good system.
We have already calculated that the most
efcient way to use energy is the fastest. Our
system is 6MJ, but our motor power is huge.
We have a lot of options to use the energy, so
that means we can use the energy in the most
efcient way. The fnal conclusion is this years
Le Mans, but I think our system is more efcient,
more strong than Porsches system.
2MJ is the lightest way, and 8MJ of kinetic
is a huge weight. But there are so many factors
to consider, from the point of view of assisting
the result, a system weight point of view, car
weight point of view, from engine system weight
point of view, engine thermal efciency point
of view, hybrid system point of view, hybrid
assist performance point of view there are
many diferent systems, and the system design
is very complicated. How to use the hybrid
system is very complicated. It is a very
complicated car, but from an engineers point
of view it is very interesting.
Although the super-capacitors could charge
and discharge fast enough, the battery weight
and overall system weight prevented Toyota
from running in the 8MJ class.
The company did look at alternative plans,
and even considered a turbocharged engine,
but essentially carried over the normally
aspirated engine from 2013 with increased
capacity. Given that the rumoured budgets
between Toyota and Porsche are four-to-one in
Porsches favour, this was a predictable decision.
TOYOTA TSO40 HYBRID
20 LE MANS 2014
A turbocharged petrol engine is not so
efcient, says Murata. We have to separate the
diesel engine and petrol engine, and a petrol
turbo engine is not so good.
We dont use an MGU-H because my opinion
is that if the engine drives the motor, it means
that due to the engine back-pressure from the
exhaust, the engine efciency is sometimes
down. We started to analyse such a system, but
our conclusion was that the system efciency
was not so good, so we concentrated on MGU-K
front and back. Our fnal conclusion is this
years system. Two years ago we had already
completed this years system, but the regulations
didnt allow us to run it, so we dropped of the
front system. The DI engine needed a starter
motor, but if we installed the rear motor, we
could drop of the starter motor, and from the
car design point of view, the front bulkhead is a
very sensitive area for the aero guys.
Toyota announced that the complete system
could produce 1000PS almost 1000bhp for
up to fve seconds per release. This is spread
between the engine, at 520PS, and the MGUs
produce 480PS.
However, the delivery of this power is across
all four wheels, which reduces the dependency
of a specialist tyre to cope with the necessary
forces and reduces rear tyre consumption for the
TS040 despite the reduction in size this year.
Compared to last year, we are burning 25-30
per cent less fuel, so to achieve this there is a big
step forward in efciency, says technical director
Pascal Vasselon. At the moment we have smaller
tyres, but we have no concern of consistency.
We are not going to do two stints at Le Mans
Le Mans will be three or four stints. We dont
expect issues. We dont expect a big change in
terms of consistency.
Watching the cars deliver power out of slow
corners, Porsche appears to deliver its power
progressively, while the Toyota waits until it is
straight, and then delivers all the power. For
drivers, this is all part of the new driving style
the coasting into the corners, late and deep
braking areas, and the fast change from brake to
throttle which still favours the left foot braker.
Mapping it out
First test sessions this year are going to be taken
up with calibrating the driver systems which will
enable the drivers to save fuel, and in Toyotas
case the adjustable balance of power delivery
from rear to front could also help them to drive
the car.
Power delivery depends on corner condition,
weather conditions or whatever, says Murata.
The driver can choose a map, very similar to the
way he can choose the brake balance. Currently
we are searching for the solution circuit by circuit
and by road condition, and we are analysing.
One of the major problems that comes with
KERS is that it is brake specifc. In 2013 at Spa, a
hybrid failure saw the car pit moments later with
overheating rear brakes. The car has run brake-
by-wire for two years now to help the drivers to
modulate the brakes between recuperation and
braking events, but the small brakes would still
overheat massively should the hybrid system
fail. At Le Mans, Toyota was forced to change its
braking system (see news story).
Our hybrid system, and our motor power is
very big, so it means that if our motor stops, the
brake disc temperatures increase, says Murata.
If we have a motor stop, we cannot continue
to run. We have very intelligent failsafe system
and motor reliability is very tough. If we have a
system failure, it depends on the drivers driving
style, but using the same driving style they
cannot continue for half a lap. One hard braking
they can stop, but two or three hard braking? Its
very difcult to continue.
Setting up the hybrid system for each circuit
is not a small task, and the team is going to
Compared to last year, we are burning 25-30% less fuel, so to
achieve this weve had to have a big step forward in efciency
Intellectually it is nice to do a full carbon gearbox,
but in the end the weight saving is not that big
The Toyota hybrid system features a Nisshinbo capacitator, and delivers 354kW/480PS
The foor of the Toyota TS040 does not ofer up too many secrets.
Regulations around the front wheel area are more free than in 2013
LE MANS 2014 21
have to work hard during free practice one at
every race to make sure it has the most efcient
system possible. Testing alone on track produces
one set of fuel consumption fgures (although
even these change dramatically between the
driving styles), but running in trafc, at diferent
temperatures and altitudes, is going to produce
even more diferent results. The computer needs
to be programmed specifcally at every race.
We have many diferent types of actuator:
engine, front motor, rear motor, front brake, rear
brake so a fve part actuator, says Murata.
What is the best way? It is very difcult to tell.
We calculate many parameters through a lot
of simulation and tuning. Five actuators, high
middle and low it means a huge number of
buttons. It is very complicated, but if a cars
condition is oversteer, we can easily change
that to more oversteer or more understeer
we can choose.
Power Unit
The rest of the power unit was also developed
from the 2013 TS030, with the stroke increased
slightly to give the normally aspirated engine
a capacity of 3.7-litres. This was done to reduce
revs and increase efciency, although Toyota
also toyed with the idea of going further, and
producing a four-litre engine.
Ultimately, the Brake Specifc Fuel
Consumption the exact amount of fuel in
grams to produce horsepower led them to the
smaller of the two solutions. We mainly changed
the stroke, because of the length of the engine,
confrmed Kinoshita. We needed to keep the
space for the hybrid system.
Luckily for Toyota, the systems had already
been extensively tested. Back in 2012, when
the team was planning a full test season before
Peugeot withdrew from racing, Toyota evaluated
a front and rear Kinetic Energy Recovery System
to see which was best. It was only allowed one
at the time, and thanks to more freedom for the
aerodynamicists, coupled with the ability to be
able to harvest all the energy from the rear only,
that was the system that was adopted.
Now, with a greater amount of energy
that can be stored, and with Porsche and Audi
running efectively four-wheel drive systems
(the regulation limiting four-wheel drive to
above 120km/h is now rescinded), Toyota had
all the necessary data. This year we are forced
to have one motor [on the front axle] we cant
have two because the FIA doesnt want torque
vectoring, says technical director Pascal Vasselon.
It is nothing special. The control system to
handle it is more sophisticated, but it is just a
good lightweight design. It is very similar to the
one that we tested it is smaller, lighter, and is
one integrated unit.
Toyota elected not to go for a carbon
gearbox, having experimented with the
technology in Formula 1 in 2009 and found its
value to be limited. It doesnt make any sense
to do a carbon gearbox because you have so
much local loading introduction that you need
a lot of inserts, says Vasselon. Intellectually it is
a nice exercise to do a full carbon gearbox, but
in the end the weight saving is not that big. We
went through that in F1 in 2009, when 80 per
cent of our gearbox casing was carbon. It was
not a bad choice at the time because we had a
long bell housing. Carbon is very good with well
distributed loads, but as soon as you have local
introduction points like pick-up points then
you have to put inserts, and you end up in a
complex exercise and the weight saving is not
that big. We have some carbon, but only where it
makes sense to have carbon.
In testing
Toyotas test programme has been extensive and
has covered more than 25,000km with the two
cars before the start of the season, but much
of the development work had already been
completed in simulation before the car hit the
track. Using TMGs extensive facilities in Cologne,
the car was then extensively wind tunnel tested.
This year, the cars are narrower and lighter
as teams battle to save 30 per cent of fuel
compared to 2013, while still maintaining
the fastest lap times. Porsches simulation has
shown that the new cars should be capable of
producing sub-3m20s laps, although Toyota
believes that it will be comfortably in the 3m20s.
The narrow layout creates engineering
issues, although much of the width reduction
comes from the tyres, leaving the aerodynamic
principles much the same as in 2013. It is a clean
sheet of paper design, says chief aerodynamicist
John Litjens. With the new powertrain data that
you have, you still have to establish the track
efciency that you need to achieve, so with the
simulations we had to start from scratch. The
good thing is that the narrowing of the car is
taken from the tyre width, so the fow through
the monocoque doesnt change that much.
The cockpit at the rear stays high for longer but
there is not much more than that.
The TS040 with one of two aero confgurations in testing at Paul Ricard at the start of the season
TOYOTA TSO40 HYBRID
22 LE MANS 2014
Back in 2006, Toyota frst embarked on the
development of a racing hybrid system. Production
hybrid cars run most efciently in the city, where the
cars stop and go repeatedly, but the fuel efciency
drops during the high speed running. During a race,
cars constantly undergo hard braking, which would
create a large amount of energy for hybrid cars. So,
gaining expertise in racing would eventually lead to
developing a mass production hybrid system which is
highly efcient at any speed range.
In 2006, Toyota participated in the Tokachi 24
Hours using a new hybrid road car, the Lexus GS450h,
which featured experimental capacitor technology.
That was an early test for this potentially useful
energy storage system, which can quickly recover
and release energy. During the race, in the northern
part of Japan, the team collected various data,
focusing on understanding how a hybrid system
behaves in race conditions. They tried diferent
driving modes and confrmed a 5-10 per cent
improvement on fuel efciency.
The development team was back in the Tokachi
24 Hours again in 2007. The previous years car had a
system that was based on a mass production hybrid
system, but this years hybrid system was specially
made for the event.
The base car was a Supra that was competing
in SUPER GT GT500. A Motor Generator Unit (MGU)
and a capacitor were installed to assist the Supras
naturally-aspirated V8 4.5-litre engine.
The predominant feature of the car was a four-
wheel regenerative system, with additional high
power MGU at the rear and in-wheel motors at the
front. The extra MGU on the rear was to regenerate
the energy efciently under braking. The Supra HV-R
proved a 10 per cent energy efciency improvement,
compared to the car without the hybrid system,
during the 3136km 24-hour race in which it achieved
overall victory.
The victory confrmed that development of
the racing hybrid system was moving in the right
direction. But at Le Mans, Audi was winning with
a diesel engine. To beat the champion at Le Mans,
Toyota had to fll the energy efciency gap between
diesel engine and petrol engine frst. And then it was
necessary to reduce the weight of the hybrid system
to improve the performance of the car. According to
Toyotas initial calculations, a hybrid system capable
of delivering the performance to win Le Mans would
be likely to weigh around 600kg, but to actually have
a realistic chance, the system needed to weigh less
than 100kg.
THS-R DEVELOPMENT
When Toyota introduced the TS030 HYBRID in WEC,
the team had developed a hybrid system called
THS-R (Toyota Hybrid System - Racing), which had
TOYOTAS HYBRID HISTORY
The front motor has long since been developed the original plan was to run it during the 2012 season
Toyotas racing hybrid programme stepped up in 2007 with the Supra HVR GT. Yoshiaki Kinoshita started the project,
development was handled by Hisatake Murata
LE MANS 2014 23
The big changes come at the front, where
the front system requires driveshafts to the
wheels, the bulkhead needs to be changed
to accommodate the single MGU, and the
regulations around the front wheels at the foor
have also changed. Where the air attaches to the
front of the car, there have been some big areas
of development, although Litjens was coy about
the detail.
If you look back to 2012, you would have
only one system, and one reason why we went
for the rear only system was the aerodynamic
decision, he says. Now, we have diferent rules,
we can use more MJ, and you have to adapt the
kinematics slightly. If you start at the front, the
air starts to fow on the car and is disturbed as
little as possible by the driveshafts, and we try
to condition the fow. There was quite a lot of
work from aero to minimise the losses. The air
continues further and around the wheel wake.
In that time, the foors were quite restricted,
so we could do the front difuser, a Le Mans
splitter, and the high downforce splitter which
extends into the chassis. Now you have a lot
more freedom, so there are changes there. In
the front, if you compare the new regulations
around the wheel area it is more open.
The introduction of a winglet, similar
to that used by Audi on the R15 and which
was successfully appealed by Peugeot
leading to the R15 Plus is back on all three
manufacturers. The target for each is to maintain
downforce while shedding drag, particularly
with the new driving style that requires drivers
to coast down the second half of the straights,
and into corners. It is more to do with efciency
than downforce, adds Litjens. You cannot
work on one area of the car because you might
make a change and what happens behind it is
important. You have to look from front to back
the complete package. You cannot work on one
area, because you dont know what happens
behind it.
Toyota will therefore go to Le Mans with
an already tested package. From the moment
that the car hit the track for the frst time in
January 2014 it was reliable enough to begin
meaningful testing immediately. More than
100 laps were completed with the car on day
one, and since then the company has tested for
more than 18,000km even before the frst race
at Silverstone. You are always in between this
year it was difcult to carry over parts, because
the regulations changed, and we had to change
the weight, says Vasselon. So carry over was
not so much, but then you never throw away
what you have done it is always carry over
and white sheet of paper. The engine is a base
of last year. The way to do it, Porsche has a
4-cylinder which is the 8-cylinder of the Spyder
cut in two.
This is actually year two of Toyotas planned
racing programme. It stepped up from a test
programme in 2012 after Peugeot withdrew.
The 2013 season was supposed to be a one-car
entry, although the team ran two for much of
the season. This year, a full two-car team was
planned, and on previous form, this is Toyotas
best chance of beating Audi at Le Mans.
TOYOTAS HYBRID HISTORY
220kW Denso MGU in between the engine and
gearbox. The electric energy regenerated during
braking by the MGU was stored in a Nisshinbo
super-capacitor installed on the passenger-side
of the car. The capacitor was kept at operating
temperature by a water-cooling system and
controlled by a Denso inverter system mounted
on top of the capacitor.
The weight of the hybrid system was less
than Toyota had targeted. They were able to
reduce the size and weight of the rear MGU
without compromising on power, thanks to a
reworking of the rotor magnet arrangement. This
technology is expected to also downsize mass-
production hybrid system without losing power.
At the start of development, Toyota was
building a four-wheel regeneration system
with an Aisin AW MGU installed at the front.
But a regulation change meant that four-wheel
regeneration was no longer permitted and
the power released in between two braking
points was limited to 0.5MJ, down from the
original 1MJ. Therefore, Toyota decided to focus
on the rear MGU, which delivered the biggest
performance gain.
A hybrid system is not all about electrical
parts, as the engine is an integral part that can
contribute to system downsizing and energy
efciency improvement. For example, of the
energy required for driving a lap in the Le Mans
24 Hours, 95 per cent of the 13.629km at Circuit
de la Sarthe is powered by the engine, with the
MGU responsible for the remaining 5 per cent.
LIGHTER WEIGHT
The normally-aspirated 3.4-litre V8 petrol
engine developed specially for the TS030 Hybrid
weighed less than 100kg, like an F1 engine.
WEC prototypes use various materials to
complete the installation of a powertrain. To
reduce the weight of these items, the TS030
Hybrid adopted a full stress-mount structure,
which received the input from rear suspension
directly. The increased stress means more
strain on the parts, but Toyota was able to add
10,000km to the systems durability through
careful tests and development.
Regenerative cooperation brake
technology is essential to a hybrid system,
which efciently retrieves kinetic energy by
managing conventional pneumatic braking and
regenerative braking, depending on the driving
situation. In a racing environment, high precision
is required from the system. Improving the
precision to match 0.01-second gear changes,
Toyota was able to achieve both efciency
and drivability.
THS-R for the 2013 TS030 Hybrid was
basically the same as the 2012 system the
concept remained the same. The energy
regenerated by the hybrid system is transformed
into power performance. The concept of the
development was to increase the power for a
long period without interruption. Compared to
the 2012 specifcation, precision of control as
well as efciency was improved to achieve
better vehicle dynamics.
Toyota TS040
Category: Le Mans Prototype (LMP1)
Gearbox: transverse with seven gears sequential
Gearbox casing: aluminium
Clutch: ZF-supplied Multidisc differential viscous
mechanical locking differential
Suspension: independent front and rear double wishbone,
pushrod-system
Springs torsion bars
Anti-roll bars front and rear
Brakes: dual circuit hydraulic braking system, mono-block
light-alloy brake calipers front and rear
Discs: ventilated front and rear
in carbon
Wheel rims: magnesium
forged wheels
Tyres: Michelin radial
Front Tyre: size 31/71-18
Rear Tyre: size 31/71-18
Dimensions:
Length: 4650mm
Width: 1900mm
Height: 1050mm
Powertrain: Toyota Hybrid
System: racing (THS-R)
Engine: 90-deg V8 normally aspirated engine
Valves: 4
Engine capacity: 3.7 litre
Fuel: petrol
Max power: 382kW/520ps,
Lubricants: Total
Hybrid power: front and rear 354kW/480ps
Capacitor: Nisshinbo
Front hybrid motor: Aisin AW
Rear hybrid motor: Denso
Front Inverter: Aisin AWRear Inverter: Denso Overall
TECH SPEC
At the front, if you compare the new regulations around
the wheel area it is more open than before
PORSCHE 919 HYBRID
Porsche
Stuttgart manufacturer unveils the technical details behind its
ambitious 919 Hybrid, and explains what went wrong in testing
By ANDREW COTTON
24 LE MANS 2014
back to the big time
LE MANS 2014 25
P
orsches 919 Hybrid started testing in
June 2013, but from the moment the
car hit the track, it was hindered by an
engine vibration problem that, due
to the long lead-time of the replacement parts,
delayed performance and endurance testing
until the new year.
It was a setback that has caused problems
for a team that hasnt raced in the top class
since 1998. From the moment that Porsche frst
decided that it would return to Le Mans with
its own team, excitement has been growing.
More than 145 engineers are now installed at
the Weissach facility near Stuttgart, work on a
brand new wind tunnel is almost complete, and
the learning process surrounding performance
hybrids, started with the 918 hybrid road car
and continued in the 919 racecar, is well under
way. In fact, the team say, the hybrid element is
the least troublesome bit of the new car.
The drive system of the new LMP1 racecar
is based on a four-cylinder petrol engine that
is as compact as it is lightweight. It is a 2.0-litre,
V4 confguration with direct injection and a
single turbo. Powering the battery is an electric
motor, which is powered by the exhaust gas
stream, and a kinetic energy recovery system
that is linked to a similar system used on the
918 road car. Energy is stored in water-cooled
lithium-ion battery packs.
First steps
The monocoque was fnalised at the end of 2012
to meet with the companys schedule of rolling
out the car in June, announced just before the
Le Mans 24 hours. This meant that the front
suspension concept was designed early, and
although the team initially claimed to have
opted for coil springs, it has now admitted mis-
information was responsible for that. Instead,
it has an hydraulic interlinked suspension front
and rear, which it tried to patent in Korea but
the patent was rejected. Porsches Technical
Director Alex Hitzinger says now that this was
probably an old design, although this could be
further misinformation.
The suspension linkage is not a major piece
of news other than it was the link between
front and back that was susceptible to the
vibration caused by the engine difculties in
the early part of testing.
The car has been designed to be as efcient
as possible, with a low frontal area, but still
meeting the new visibility requirements of the
regulations. The huge blind spots in the 2013
cars have been reduced signifcantly this year,
just as teams are seeking to reduce drag. The
Porsche therefore features a raised section in
the roof, designed to give the drivers more
height in the cockpit. The bubble in the roof
was not an afterthought, that was the result of
being very aggressive in terms of frontal area,
says Hitzinger. You have clear templates which
you have to respect in terms of cockpit internal
PORSCHE 919 HYBRID
26 LE MANS 2014
volume and visibility templates, and you want
to wrap around these templates. It is purely
aerodynamic driven.
In testing, the car ran an interim aero
package and contests the World Endurance
Championship in a completely diferent
confguration. At the Le Mans test, the team
ran fexible rear bodywork, but the team
claimed that this was resolved for the race. The
changes are in aerodynamics and a little bit of
the suspension, and after this it is fnished, says
project leader Fritz Enzinger. It is important that
we have more kilometres and more mileage.
It is a normal step-by-step change, targeting
more downforce. We then have a freeze in
specifcation for Le Mans. At Le Mans, where
efciency is the key to success, the kit is low
dowforce, and at the opening races of the WEC
at Silverstone and Spa races, Porsche paid for
having a single kit.
Bad vibes
Almost from the frst shakedown test at the
Weissach facility, Porsche realised that there
was a signifcant vibration problem with the V4
layout, and Hitzinger immediately demanded
an extensive revision, which took almost six
months to put into place and deliver. The
new engine was installed into the car in time
for a test late in December, at Portimo in
Portugal, and new driver Mark Webber put
600km on to the car frst time out. The team
later moved to Bahrain, and started putting
race distances on to the engine.
We had vibration issue caused by the engine
confguration, says Hitzinger. We changed
the engine confguration and reduced the
vibration level a lot by changing the fring order.
Changing the fring order means a
new crankshaft and camshafts, and new
calibration because of the gas exchange
changes. It was a big thing. We discovered
the problem at the rollout. For me it was quite
clear at the beginning that this was going to
be a problem that would otherwise be very
difcult to solve. I decided very quickly because
it is such a big change that it takes a long time
to implement it, but if you let it drag on before
Top: highlighting the MGU-K (front) and MGU-H (rear) on the 919 Hybrid, and how they connect to the li-ion battery. The front generator is operated as
a single electric motor and drives the front wheels via a diferential. This gives the car a temporary all-wheel drive system
Above: the aggressive aerodynamic solutions at the front led to a bulge in the roof to meet with new cockpit regulations
LE MANS 2014 27
you try to solve it, you could be in trouble
later on. We saw the problem, and we
acted decisively.
The vibration issue caused major
problems, not only for the interlinked
suspension, but for components that were
shaken of, and it led to drivers registering false
readings too! The driver uses certain inputs
from the car in terms of feeling, through the
steering for example, and through that gets
the feeling for the car, says Hitzinger. The
vibrations clearly masked a lot of the input
into the body. The feeling for the drivers was
very diferent than what it would normally be.
We felt that there were issues on the suspension
side in terms of yaw behaviour and so on.
The driver feels a lot, and if he doesnt have
that, and relies on the steering, the car feels
totally diferent.
While Audi and Toyota have increased
capacity for their engines, Porsche has opted
for a small two-litre, four cylinder engine
which helps with structural rigidity and ofers
the packaging and capacity that Porsche
needs to ft around the large batteries. From
a thermodynamic point of view, you want a
certain ratio between air and volume in the
combustion chamber and that leads you
towards a smaller number of cylinders at a given
capacity, adds Hitzinger. With a four cylinder V
confguration, you can nicely install it in the car
as a structural component.
Such a short engine has left the team
with a transmission casing on which the rear
suspension hangs that is almost a third of the
cars length. Although this is not ideal, the team
says that it is almost as stif as a longer engine.
Economy drive
Fuel is like gold dust now, and you need to
showcase the best way to conserve it, said
Porsche driver Mark Webber at the launch of the
919 Hybrid in March. The 30 per cent reduction
in fuel consumption while retaining the speeds
and distances covered last year, can only be
achieved by re-using the energy otherwise
wasted through exhaust gases, or kinetic energy
expended under braking.
Above: Porsche targeted the full 8MJ of
energy recovery through its batteries,
provided by A123 and delivered through
the KERS on the front axle, but will race in
2014 with 6MJ
Left: vibration problems with the V4
engine were identifed early, but a
long lead time for replacement parts
including an all-new crankshaft
meant a six month delay before
performance testing could begin
PORSCHE 919 HYBRID
28 LE MANS 2014
Porsche targeted the full 8MJ of energy
recovery through its batteries, provided by A123
Systems and delivered through the KERS on the
front axle, and the electric motor that is linked
to the exhaust gas stream. However, cooling
issues meant that achieving the full capacity
was a tall order, and once Toyota decided on
6MJ, Porsche followed suit.
We have a lot of simulation and we have
decided on this, but maybe in one month it will
be diferent, he says. Everything is new, we have
a lot of information, but technical decisions
regarding what we can do, are due to be
evaluated at the Sebring test [in March], and then
we will have more information to work with.
The decision to go for batteries as a storage
system was a relatively simple one, says
Hitzinger. While the Nissan ZEOD will require
its batteries to power the car throughout the
lap on a single charge, Porsches requirements
are very diferent. I think it was the smallest
compromise to go with batteries, says Hitzinger.
It is the best compromise between energy and
power density. It gives you more fexibility in
terms of strategy and A123 technology is, in my
opinion the best out there, and we are lucky
to have them. We are exclusive in LMP1 and
it is a very good thing for us. I think it is a
lighter solution than the others. You size it
according to how much power and energy
you need, and how safe you want to be. You
cannot compare like for like [with Audi and
Toyota] because you dont know what the
others have done. Our investigations concluded
that this would be the lightest solution for our
application and our assumptions.
For the rear ERS, the electric energy is not
used as an anti-turbo-lag as, says Hitzinger,
that is not as efcient as using it totally for
charging the battery between braking phases.
Its another turbine which drives an electric
generator, so as soon as there is more exhaust
energy than required for the turbocharger,
then that surplus exhaust gas fows through
the additional turbine. Its nothing to do
with anti-lag. Flowing electric energy from
the exhaust energy recovery system to the
front is possible, or direct it to the battery.
With a tightly-packaged engine sitting low
in the chassis, and with the exhaust, turbo and
ERS above it, cooling is an issue. It is clearly a
big challenge to cool everything down, but you
just have to sort it out, says Hitzinger.
Brake system
Porsche was coy about its braking system,
refusing to confrm or deny that it was a
brake-by-wire system, although this seems
DRIVERS VIEW
P
orsche asked Mark Webber to
join the testing programme
in 2013, but the Australian
felt that he wanted one more year in
Formula 1 before making the switch
back to sportscar racing.
When he did, at the end of the
2013 season, he brought with him
14 years of Formula 1 experience,
and a return to the type of racing
in which he efectively made his
name with Mercedes. First of all it
is a massive programme, a serious
efort from Porsche, said Webber at
the launch of the car at the Geneva
Show in March. The car is massively
complex. It is very advanced in lots of
areas, but we need to gain experience.
It is early days for us.
I particularly enjoy being
back in the endurance element, I
always enjoyed that when I was
with Mercedes. I like driving at night,
and the driver changes. The four-
wheel drive is quite cool, so thats
a nice feeling.
The development of energy
recovery systems is a new way of
going racing, one that will require a
new style of driving, and for drivers to
actually accept orders from the pit wall
to manage the amount of energy that
they have available to them.
We are on the curve at the
moment where manufacturers are
learning, says Webber. They know
that there is lots of fruit on the trees
in the distance, but you cant get
there in a couple of months. You
have to go through the super-
advanced technology, the packaging,
and it is how big your balls are,
how big do you want to go with
certain things, knowing that it will
beneft you in the future.
These guys we know are world-
class in the way that they will
tackle things, but we have to get
the balancing act right in terms of
how much ambition you have, what
we will learn in the future and how
much we run learn now.
In terms of driving style, it is
good that it is so far away from what
I had. I havent used my right foot
for braking for 14 years, and I am
using it again. The car is a bit heavier,
has less downforce than an F1 car,
but there are sections where the
power is very good.
With the development pace, what
I get used to in February is not what
we are going to have at Le Mans. The
stuf is coming through quite quickly.
We know that it is in our best interests
to stick to the regs in terms of the fuel
burn. That is the way all motorsport
is going at the top end. This category
and Formula 1 is in the slot for new
automotive technology. Fuel is like
gold dust now, and you need to
showcase the best way to conserve
it and the driver has to be in the loop
for that. You cant have the driver out
of the loop in terms of understanding
that philosophy.
The braking system eliminated the effects of energy recuperation so
the driver doesnt get disturbed through the inuence of the front KERS
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PORSCHE 919 HYBRID
likely as Formula 1 teams are deploying similar
technology due to the heat rejection in critical
areas around the wheels.
The front brake system is a basic Kinetic
Energy Recovery system and was a logical
choice for energy recovery due to the amount
of force on the front axle under braking. The
front axle has the most potential for recouping
kinetic energy and it has traction advantages
too, says Hitzinger. If you have the choice,
you will always go for the front axle. Basically,
you have an MGU, and the energy has to go
through a diferential to the front axle to drive
the two wheels. It is an MGU and a gearbox,
which changes the speeds and split it through a
dif. They are fxed ratios in the gearbox.
The braking system basically eliminates the
efects of the recuperation so that the driver
doesnt get disturbed through the infuence
of the front KERS. It is a development with
the drivers because some infuences are more
disturbing than others.
To deliver 8MJ over the course of a lap
sounds relatively simple, but this is more than
double what was permitted in 2013, and
management systems needed to make
both work together are complicated enough,
without the need to strictly regulate the
amount of fuel a car may be able to use over
each lap. At Le Mans, the engine is driven at
full load for 75 per cent of the 13.65km lap.
The amount of fuel that a car may use
over an average of three laps is closely
governed, and monitored by a fuel fow
sensor that is now accurate to 0.2 per cent,
although the recent problems highlighted
by Red Bull and Renault have cast doubts on
the system. Porsche has practised changing
the sensors in the pit stop as required, as in
sports car racing the sensors are mounted
externally to the fuel tank. Teams have
experienced drift in the readings, although
these are not necessarily the fault of the sensor.
At this stage, no one has run a car for 24
hours, said the ACO general manager Vincent
Beaumesnil ahead of the frst race of the
season, and months before the Le Mans 24
hours. You can change it in a short time in a pit
stop, and there are two fuel fow meters on the
car, and three on the diesel. If one is starting
Porsche 919 Hybrid
Class: Le Mans Prototype (LMP) 1
Monocoque: composite bre construction made of
carbon bres with a honeycomb aluminium core
Engine: V4 engine with turbocharging
Engine management: Bosch MS5.6
Engine lubrication: dry-sump lubrication
Displacement: 2.0 litre
Power: >370 kW (>500hp)
Hybrid system
Accumulator type: lithium-ion battery,
EGU on front axle
EGU power: >250hp
On-board system battery: Lithium-ion
Drive and power transmission
Drive type: rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive via
KERS on the front axle
Clutch: CFR
Transmission: sequential, hydraulically activated
seven-speed racing transmission
Differential: rear differential lock
Transmission housing: hybrid construction in CFRP
with titanium inserts and cast aluminium housing
Drive shafts: constant velocity sliding tripod
universal joints
Chassis, steering and brakes
Chassis: front and rear multi-link pushrod independent
wheel suspension with adjustable shock absorbers
Steering: hydraulically-assisted rack-and-pinion
steering system
Brakes: hydraulic dual-circuit brake system, light-alloy
monobloc brake calipers, internally ventilated carbon
bre rear and front brake discs
Rims: forged magnesium wheels
Tyres: Michelin radial, front and rear: 360/710-18
Dimensions and weight
Height: 1050mm
Width: 1900mm
Length: 4650mm
Minimum weight: 870kg
Tank capacity: 66.9 litres
TECH SPEC
Porsches new LMP1 entry marks a welcome return to the class after a 16-year absence, following victory in 1998
The car is massively
complex. It is very advanced
in lots of areas, but we
need to gain experience.
It is early days for us
to go, we have another one, and we can
ask them to change at the next pit stop. If
the sensor doesnt work, we discussed the
possibility some months ago, but now I have
no more issue with that. Even if the telemetry
doesnt work, you can collect the data through
the transponders.
However, Porsche does not believe that the
system will work properly. It hasnt held us back
because we did not make our development
dependent on it, but there is still no robust
solution in place, says Hitzinger. The FIA is still
very hopeful that the latest spec will work and
will be reliable, but that is not proven yet. We
optimise how they are mounted to give them
the easiest possible life, but right now we dont
know if it is all going to be robust. We should
know at the end of March.
The management of fuel allowance over
an average of three laps is difcult enough
when a car is running alone on the test track,
but in race trafc, behind a safety car, and in
diferent weather conditions, temperatures and
altitudes, it will all be a completely diferent
set of calculations.
30 LE MANS 2014
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BRCS4620 Mussett Composites Half Page artwork_Layout 1 16/04/2013 16:39 Page 1
PORSCHE 991 UPDATE
Old dog, new tricks
Porsche turned a swan into an ugly duckling
with its 991 in 2013. But, for their 2014 programme,
it now boasts a comprehensive update kit
By ANDREW COTTON
LE MANS 2014 33
P
orsches 991 may have won at Le
Mans in 2013, but it struggled
everywhere else. So, for 2014, the
manufacturer introduced an upgrade
kit with a diference. The story of Porsches GTE
has been an interesting one. From the frst test
at Sebring in March, 2013, to the frst race, at
Silverstone in April, it turned from a swan into
an ugly duckling.
Fuelled by optimism following that test
in Florida, Silverstone was something of a
shock for the team and drivers. At Spa, it got
even worse as high rear tyre wear compared
unfavourably to the Aston Martin, which
double stinted its tyres and was still fast.
Something happened to the car, and team
members were coy about discussing it. That
was our test car, and for the racecar there were
some minor changes for homologation. We
think that was the problem, says lead driver,
and engineer Marc Lieb. There were some
small issues, changes from departments that
we thought wouldnt be a big infuence on the
car, but obviously they were.
It was a surprise for us because we were
optimistic in the winter. At the end of last year
we had some good tests, we were happy with
the consistency of the car, we had one really
good test at Sebring where we thought this
was the way to go, but it wasnt.
Amid rumours of sandbagging and
short-flling the tanks during the Silverstone
6-hours and at Spa, Porsche was given a
larger air restrictor for Le Mans, and was
able to keep pace with, although not beat
on speed alone, the Aston Martin Vantage.
Rivals claimed that this highlighted the
sandbagging, but for the rest of the year,
the Porsches struggled, up to the point of
the introduction of the new car at the fnal
round in Bahrain.
There, the update kit was introduced, and
it caught Porsches rivals by surprise. It was not
the speed that caught them of-guard the
two 991s qualifed frst and second more the
pace of development.
Questions asked
Under the regulations, a manufacturer may
update a new car once within the frst two
years, but has to race that update during the
cars frst season. The fnal round of the World
Endurance Championship in Bahrain saw
Porsche turn up with a host of changes that
led some to question whether or not this was
a completely new car.
We changed the aerodynamics for next
years car, with the aero balance more to the
rear, and that hopefully helps the drivers
to be not always just on the edge and have
good lap times for one hour or one-and-a-half
hours, said Marco Ujhasi, project leader for
the 991 RSR. For the low speed stuf there are
also some changes. We increased the chassis
stifness and changed the kinematics, so the
car is more driveable than the 2013 cars.
Porsche has made the car stifer from
front to back, and has made changes to
the roll cage, reducing the diameter of the
tubes, and the fxing to the chassis. Porsche
has also changed the fuelling system, the
aero balance including a wider rear wing
and a wider rear wheel both of which were
on extra waivers agreed by all other GTE
competitors and a slight modifcation to the
engine cooling system.
The chassis was changed for the
stifness, says Ujhasi. We wanted to have a
more consistent stifness from front to rear
and also we wanted to improve the durability.
For the aero balance, we have a shape on
the front bumper that can compare to the Le
Mans aero, so theres less downforce at the
front, more at the rear due to the wider wing.
The aero package is more aligned
with that raced at Le Mans, but the balance
suits the car much better, and takes the
handling and tyre degradation back to levels
previously seen on the test car.
PORSCHE 991 UPDATE
34 LE MANS 2014
It wasnt working with the aerodynamics,
says Porsches motorsport director Hartmut
Kristen of the old 991. You have to get
everything properly in balance, not just in
theory but in reality to make it work. These are
the main points that we had to address to run
the weight balance as it was supposed to be.
We slightly changed the aero balance in
a way that didnt work properly for the early
2013 car as it was raced. We got one more
waiver for the width of the rear wing because
we had the smallest rear wing compared to
the other cars and the still existing technical
regulations the rear wing is linked to a
percentage of the standard car. This is crazy
when you compare that to the racecar that
is within a few centimetres, so we got an
additional waiver there.
We made a change to the fuel cell,
because there we had some problems with
the refuelling from time to time, so that had
to be homologated. But that is mainly it.
The more parts you homologate, the more
parts you have to change. There are a few
suspension parts with modifcations, but
nothing completely new, a new concept or
anything like that just adjustments.
We still use the 997 engine, but in the
engine there are a few details optimised,
a small change to the air intake and the
flters. The engine, taken from the 997,
lacks the direct injection option enjoyed
by Ferrari, and even by the 991 road car.
As detailed in RCE V23N7, there is no
appetite to develop a new engine with
new regulations that were supposed
to come into force in 2016, although a
breakdown in the convergence talks late in
May have negated the need to wait. Chassis
convergence is still an option, but engines are
likely to run as they are today in 2016.
The 991 has a new, stifer chassis, a new roll
cage, a wider rear wing and wider rear rims
(although not wider rear tyres), modifcations
to the suspension and a change to the fuel cell.
This was a huge efort by the company, which
was able to sell the cars to customers in time
to compete in the 2014 season.
This year, for the frst time, Porsche is
felding two factory teams in the same
championship. This is an exciting
time for the companys racing department,
and clearly there is huge commitment to
on-track success.
We increased the chassis stiffness and changed
the kinematics, so the car is more driveable
The front bumper more closely resembles the aero kit that the manufacturer
raced at Le Mans last June, as Porsche sought better aero balance
The cars new aero balance meant a change to the front and rear suspension kinematics,
although Porsche has denied that the 2014 model has a new rear axle
New air intakes for the engine may have slightly increased power, but
certainly not enough for engineers to start boasting
Wider wing and wider rims were crucial to managing the rear tyre wear with the 991.
Porsche required waivers in both cases
CORVETTE C7R
Corvette Racing used the 2014 Daytona 24 hours to debut
the lighter and stiffer follow-up to the award-winning C6R
By ANDREW COTTON
They started with an aluminium
chassis. It is 90lbs lighter, and 40
per cent stiffer.
36 LE MANS 2014
Stingrays
big brother
LE MANS 2014 37
J
ust about every new car that is
launched emerges with fanfares
boasting the words lighter, stifer
or more efcient, but in the case
of Corvettes new C7R which debuted at
the Daytona 24 hours at the end of January
the new chassis design has led to renewed
optimism in the camp.
Designed and built by Pratt & Miller Racing,
with close links to the production C7 Stingray,
the car is the latest in a line that has delivered
nine Manufacturers and Teams titles, seven
wins at Le Mans from 10 starts, and eight
drivers championships in the categories in
which it has run. The drivers say that the car
is even better than the C6R, and were able
to monitor the diference as soon as they
jumped behind the wheel.
What they have done is incorporate
high pressure castings in the critical bends
rather than hydroform rail, says programme
manager Doug Fehan. Then they bond the
hydroform rail to the high-pressure casting. It
is lighter and way stronger. They started with
an aluminium chassis.
In fact, it is 90lbs lighter, and 40 per cent
stifer, as Fehan explains. The beauty of
hydroforming is that you take a tube, you
bend it into a shape, insert it into a dye, plug
the end of it and then load it with water
pressure that expands the tube into the
shape of the dye. That is how the frame rail
was made. At the time, the chassis was the
largest hydroform rail in the world. Rather
than forming a bend, it maintained uniform
thickness because you were blowing it up. You
didnt have thin spots, thick spots, heavy spots
or weak spots, and the strength is incredible.
When you want to address the high stress
areas, the bends, the team said that there was
new technology in this high pressure casting
which is a super-thin wall that can be webbed.
And it is amazing stuf. Each one of those
bends is a high pressure casting. Then the
rocker rail is still the hydroform rail it is just
welded to that upright. Each of these critical
areas has the high pressure casting in it. That
is where the weight is saved, and the increase
in strength occurred. When the drivers got in
they recognised it straight away.
Drivers reported that the ride over the
kerbs was markedly improved over the C6R
following back-to-back testing. There were
problems in qualifying at Daytona associated
with a new car, but race pace was much better.
The team targeted a 1-1.5 per cent increase in
overall performance compared to the C6R.
CORVETTE C7R
38 LE MANS 2014
The production Stingray has a 6.2-litre V8
engine and features variable valve timing (VVT)
and direct injection. Working to reduce the
capacity and take away the VVT technology
was deemed to be too time consuming, too
expensive and something that would raise the
cost of the customer engine beyond acceptable
limits, and so the team successfully sought to
have the 5.5-litre engine of the C6R accepted
into the new car, although it is upgraded to have
direct injection.
The new technology on the production
engine aside from direct injection is the
variable valve timing, which is an amazing
performance advantage, says Fehan. It is not
allowed in our series, so when you equated the
cost of taking a brand new engine, developing
it in a 5.5-litre confguration, and the elimination
of VVT, you had a huge escalation in costs for
no increase in performance. Youre spending
money and wasting time for essentially what
we have here.
And, by the way, the sanctioning body
is fully familiar and comfortable with this
powerplant, and should any additional
competitors want to come along and use it, we
have this engine extended to almost 60 hours of
running at about $120,000 initial cost, including
DI, which is something that they implored
the manufacturers to do, but no one paid any
attention to it but us. There was no sense in
rebuilding and retuning this thing, and that was
the philosophy on both sides of the pond. This
is an identical C6 engine, with the exception of
the added DI.
The team already had experience running
direct injection on its GT1 in 2009. The
production engine already had a DI port and so
it was an easy introduction into the race unit.
Clear correlation
There is a time-worn mantra at GM racing that
a better racecar leads to a better road car, and
that a better road car in turn leads to a better
racecar. In the case of the C7R, the correlation
between production and race models is clear.
The front splitter, the side skirts and the air
intakes are clearly taken from the road car
and developed for racing, while the racecar
infuence on airfow through the production
car has led to a tilted front radiator and air
extracted through the engine cover.
When you look at the cooling ahead of the
rear wheels, it is the same on both cars, says
Fehan. The intake in the racecar splits the air
and directs half towards cooling the rear brakes,
and half towards the cooling of the diferential.
The rules control the bottom of the car so
there is nothing diferent there. The production
car is two inches wider at the front and three
inches wider at the rear than the standard
production Stingray, but in doing so, it gives
them a wider area to take the air out. That is
something that we learned in the wind tunnel
and CFD and that works with the side skirts.
The aluminum frame structure of the Stingray, with greater torsional rigidity to improve ride and handling
The production Stingray features a 6.2-litre V8 engine, while the C7R has the 5.5-litre which ran in the C6R
The C7R features a new cradle at the front and the rear for the engine and the gearbox. They are more robust
A
t the Sebring 12 hours in 2013,
the Corvette team revealed
a new device that is capable
of informing the drivers of a car that is
closing, at what rate it is closing, and
which side the faster car will pass.
The system runs on a custom Linux
machine with an Intel Core i3 CPU and
uses a rear-facing radar sensor that is
capable of tracking up to 32 objects
while working in tandem with the
camera. Diferent colours and symbols
are displayed on the rear view screen,
which allows the driver to easily see
racecars that are behind, how close
they are, their closing speeds, and even
the approaching vehicles racing class.
It was developed in conjunction
with the drivers, and the team admits
that it still needs refnement. Driver
Oliver Gavin admitted that there are so
many fashing lights it the cockpit that
the driver learns to tune out many of
them, but that this system is one of
the most useful.
Blind spot
There have been times that we have
been very close to an LMP car and
not been sure exactly where it is, says
Gavin. This system allows us to look
very quickly at a screen and see exactly
where it has gone, as it will be in our
blind spot. You can tell on the screen
people gaining on you. In the rain and
at night, you have lights behind you
and you dont know how far back they
are, so this can give you an idea, and
help you to work out if they are going
to get you before the next corner.
There are lots of diferent systems,
and it does get to be an overload,
but it is good. It needs refning, but it
works for us, and I think you will see a
lot of teams going in this direction. It
keeps us safer on the track particularly
at a place like Le Mans which is so big
that you cannot get enough spotters,
cameras and so on. For that reason I
think it allows the driver to be a little
more self-sufcient.
It works on the screen but we are
talking about how it will communicate
with us. Were talking about having a
buzzer in the helmet to work with the
lights, and we will keep developing it.
The system was inspired by the
accidents that hit the Audi team at
Le Mans in 2011, which were clearly
directly caused by a lack of visibility.
Allan McNish came from two cars
behind and was hit by a Ferrari, which
was unaware that he was there, while
Mike Rockenfeller fashed another
Ferrari at night. One of the criticisms of
the Audi light system was that it was
so bright, there was no depth of feld,
and so the driver did not know how far
back, or how close, the Audi R18 was.
When we watched the Audi
incidents that occurred we just
thought there might be a better
way, said programme manager
Doug Fehan. We were fascinated by
developments in the industry that lent
themselves to developing something
that has not been developed before.
The aviation industry has used this
technology forever, and if you look at
the advancements in GPS and things
like that, we said, wouldnt it be great
if we had a screen and the guy could
see what was going on around him?
Radar and camera
What was really important was
identifying the speed of the cars
around him. We did a couple of runs
at that several years ago, and it was
something of a success. So three
years ago we dedicated ourselves to
fnding something that could track
multiple cars, allow you to determine
speed diferential, would allow you to
determine positioning right or left, and
closing distance so that the drivers at
a glance can see exactly what is going
on. It can discriminate cars that are
closing on you, that you are pulling
away from and those that are travelling
at the same speed.
It was designed by Pratt & Miller. It
uses a Bosch base radar and we write
all the algorithms around that sensor
that the driver sees. We did some
testing with it, and the frst application
was at Sebring.
We worked with the drivers
to accomplish what we needed to
accomplish without the drivers getting
distracted. It is another set of eyes.
With the rear view camera you can
see what is coming up and they were
accustomed to using that, and this
just gives more data with that same
glance. You programme your brain to
see that. If you see something green,
you dont need to worry. If it is yellow
you see where you are on the racetrack
and if it is red, you know you are going
to get passed, and which side. You can
adjust to it very quickly, and become
dependent on it.
LE MANS 2014 39
The rear wing is wider than the C6R, and
the team found that airfow to the wing is
disturbed by the intakes behind the doors that
feed air to the dif on the production car. The
racecar therefore has lost the intakes, and has a
new lip on the rear deck, replacing the full wing
on the production car.
When we add the rear wing, the air intake
disturbs the air over it, says Fehan. We run a
diferent spoiler because it is a drag issue, so we
have a waiver for it.
Packaging under the skin has been
improved following the change to the chassis
and the weight saving that came with it. The
team was able to design a new cradle for the
engine and at the rear of the car that is stronger,
and slightly heavier than its predecessor.
The philosophy of the suspension is carried
over from the C6R, the mounting points are
from the C6R, and they all have a little bit of a
diferent construction and confguration, both
in weight and in terms of performance, says
Fehan. There are changes in geometry at both
the front and rear. The gearbox is essentially a
carry over gearbox, although we have worked
with Xtrac in developing pneumatically
controlled adjustments to reduce the amount
of time necessary to make changes in the way
the drive operates, so that will be good.
It is the same paddle shift as we ran last
year, but aside from the engine and gearbox
there is not really a common part with the old
car. We have new uprights that are lighter, run
cooler and are stronger.
The team added paddle shifting to the C6R,
and carried over the same system to the C7R, so
from the 90lbs saving brought on the chassis,
the overall weight of the car is only 25lbs
lighter than its predecessor.
The new Corvette system features a Bosch radar sensor that can track up to 32 objects while working in tandem with a camera
DRIVERS VIEW
CORVETTE C7R
40 LE MANS 2014
There are always things that you want to
do things that are going to add weight, so you
are easily able to absorb that, says Fehan. They
were the production numbers. You do all your
FEA on it, and are tempted to put in that extra
bar in the roll cage that will increase stifness
just a little bit, but you hate to add the weight
because it is high up. Here we didnt have to
do that.
By regulation the GT cars have to run an
air conditioning system, and the Pratt & Miller
team have taken the compressor from the
Chevrolet Volt, which takes less than 1bhp to
drive it, and mounted the whole system at the
rear of the car. We have developed a system
that has a tremendous amount of absorption in
it, says Fehan. We are working to improve the
condenser unit that is the biggest struggle. If
you look at the compressor as the heart of an
AC unit, it is the condensing coil that is where
the temperature drop occurs that is where
you have to make the transfer.
The team has used production parts to build the air con system at the rear, largely taken from the Chevrolet Volt
The C7R has a new side impact protection system, made from carbon Kevlar with an expanded honeycomb interior
The philosphy of the suspension is carried over from the C6R, but
aside from the engine and gearbox, there arent any common parts
We have a new system coming that uses
something a little bit diferent to this, and I am
hoping that we have it tested and ready before
Le Mans. The team also runs the latest Ole Buhl
powerbox in the car.
The team has taken a pragmatic approach
to safety in the C7R, refusing to run the narrow
seat belts, or the adjustable seat that some of
their competitors feature, but the biggest step
in safety is the side impact protection system
that was developed in conjunction with the
Wayne State University, a premier research
institution in Detroit, Michigan.
The system is basically a box made out
of carbon Kevlar with an expanded honeycomb
interior that absorbs impact from foreign
objects. We built a roll cage, and the
honeycomb aluminium is a purchasable
material and has diferent crush rates,
says Fehan. We went through a major
programme of crush testing to determine
which would provide protection and
absorption, without being rigid like a NASCAR
bar, or just nothing.
We had an incident last year with Johnny
OConnell in the Cadillac, where something
punctured the door. We dont know what, but
it went into the box. The Kevlar stopped it from
penetrating. That is an added advantage. I have
been through some tragedies with drivers
and couldnt do without it.
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GEMS Advert Dec 13.pdf 28/11/2013 18:07:57
FERRARI F458 GT2
Fewer horses
more prancing
Ferrari introduced the F458 for the 2011 season and it has
proven to be phenomenally successful against established
opposition. First run in REV21N6, Racecar Engineering talked
to Michelotto about the development
By MARSHALL PRUETT
42 LE MANS 2014
The 458 is a very good road
car, so our job was easy
LE MANS 2014 43
W
ith two class wins at Le Mans
and numerous championships
in Europe and North America,
Ferraris F430 racer took the
fght for supremacy in the hotly contested GT2
category to its nemesis, Porsche.
Except for the brief period during the 1990s
when Ferraris F40 GT-LM was considered a
worthy contender on the GT racing scene,
Porsches various production-based racecars
owned the lower tiers of GT competition. That
changed when the F430 moved to the forefront
in 2008 and 2009.
The brief taste of glory was parried back
by Weissach in 2010, with 997 RSRs winning
their class at Le Mans, while championships in
the ALMS and LMS drove the fnal nails into
the F430s cofn.
Ferrari had its nose bloodied, and had to
respond with something special. Luigi Dindo,
chief engineer for the F458 GTC programme
at the factory racecar engineering concern
Michelotto, says that with the F430 at the end
of its development cycle, sweeping changes
were saved for the new-for-2011 F458. Rather
than carry over proven elements of the F430,
every section of the F458 was treated with a
brand new approach.
First of all, the 458 is a very good road car,
so our job was easy, says Dindo. The target
was to improve each aspect of the 430. First,
the V8 engine, which, because it is production-
based, uses direct injection to improve fuel
consumption. And we tried to improve power
and torque, because the new motor is 4.5-litres
instead of the 4.0-litres of the 430. Also, at the
end the target was to make everything lighter.
FERRARI F458
So we tried as much as possible on the engine
to reduce weight without making crazy things,
because it is a GT class for customers, not a
works team.
Less power
The ACOs move to slow the GT2 class for
2011 resulted in the F458s bigger engine
producing almost 100bhp less than its road-
going counterpart approximately 470bhp
at 6250rpm, thanks to dual 28.3mm air
restrictors. Utilising four chain-driven cams
and four valves per cylinder, the engine, code
named F142, generates roughly 520Nm of
torque at 5750rpm. Cast from aluminium,
the dry-sumped F142 uses the lightweight
metal almost exclusively, except for its steel
connecting rods and forged steel crankshaft.
Dindo says the 4.5-litre motor has seen
as much as a two per cent improvement in
fuel economy with the use of direct injection,
and that the 90-degree V8, fed from a 90-litre
fuel cell, was designed with the capability to
swap between a variety of fuels, including E85
ethanol and E10, depending on the series the
F458 competes in.
[Direct-injection] is not a big step because
the primary goal at higher revs with the
high-pressure pumps is to give some extra
power, so it is between a 1.5 and two per cent
improvement in race conditions, says Dindo.
Where you have open throttle, when you have
a partial load, the diference is higher but also
it depends on the circuit and how much the
driver is on or of the throttle.
While the F458 produces more power than
the F430 it replaces, it carries extra weight
compared to early versions of its predecessor,
tipping the scales at the ACOs 2011-mandated
1245kg which allows it to run larger tyres.
The need to shed weight and to optimise
weight distribution led to the F458s six-speed
sequential Hewland gearbox receiving a lot of
attention, as Dindo explains:
A heavier engine meant weight had to be saved in other areas to redress
the balance. Hewland came up with a lighter six-speed sequential box
with the added bonus of a lower centre of mass
44 LE MANS 2014
LE MANS 2014 45
For the gearbox, we wanted a quicker shift
mechanism, and Hewland was able to give us
a lighter gearbox case and gear cluster. We also
wanted a lower centre of mass on the gearbox,
and we have been able to get it. It was also
made stronger because of the increased torque
of the engine.
Looks familiar
The F458 looks similar in some ways to the
F430 but, barring the cabins interior, the
majority of the chassis, major systems and
placement of the ancillaries have been
re-worked. It would be a stretch to call the mid-
engined two seater a completely new design,
but the majority of the underpinnings and the
body panels are diferent enough to stand out
in a direct comparison.
We wanted to improve the suspension
design with the same philosophy. Now there
is a race suspension on the car with fabricated
uprights and control arms, we no longer use
the production control arms of the road car. For
the rest of the car, we did not try to change the
major concepts, only to put the weight as far at
the bottom and to make the car very light.
Beyond the change in construction
methods, the F458s multi-link suspension
underwent possibly the most radical re-design
of any aspect on the car, with revised geometry
and optimised c of g and polar moment of
inertia. The move to wider 12.5 x 18in front
wheels, adopted by most contenders in the
category, also helped alter the F458s balance,
while the rear wheels are slightly wider too,
at 13 x 18in. Both Michelin and Dunlop ofer
tyre options for the car and, while tyre sizes
vary slightly between the French and British
rubber up front, with Michelins 300/650-18
units ofering a shorter sidewall than Dunlops
300/660-18 provide, both make a 310/710-18
for the rear. Controlling the wider fronts is
aided by the F458s electro-hydraulic power
steering system.
Brembo brakes are used, with six-piston
calipers and 380 x 35mm steel front discs,
with four-piston, 332 x 32mm units at the
rear leading to very diferent handling
characteristics for the new car compared to its
predecessor.
Aero changes
Aerodynamically, the F458 is considerably
diferent to the F430. The latter manifested
a number of aerodynamic add ons over the
years, with a variety of ficks, dive planes and
foor revisions used to keep pace with class
development, but the cars overall downforce
levels was always a question mark. With the
F458, many of the F430s sleek and fowing
lines have been replaced with more abrupt,
rakish transitions, designed to produce more
downforce from nose to tail. We concentrated
very much on the aerodynamics, trying to
improve the already very good parameters
of efciency of the 430, says Dindo. At the
moment its a little bit more resistant than the
430 and so is slower on the straight, but were
working on that side to match the speed of the
Gone are the production suspension components of the 430, in their place
a purpose -designed race set up, with fabricated uprights and control
arms
The whole suspension and chassis has been re-engineered, and attention
has been paid to keeping weight as low as possible in the chassis
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Dynamic Engineering
Racecar Eng 190x135_Layout 1 08/10/2012 09:10 Page 1
FERRARI F458
LE MANS 2014 47
430 at least. However, it has a little bit more
downforce, which should make the car
quicker in the slow and medium-speed circuits.
[The reason] why, at the moment, we are
sufering in the high-speed circuits is being
investigated, but we are working to get a new
kit for Le Mans.
Asked if Michelotto had quantifed top
speed issues as being more downforce or
drag-related, Dindo confrmed his team will
be looking for ways to carve as many excess
pounds of drag of the F458 as possible: I think
the downforce is a little bit more than the
430, but its not the problem. The car is wider
because of the bigger tyres, so we needed to
get back some drag to compensate the wider
front surface. So we work not to reduce the
downforce but reducing the Cd.
Engine cooling philosophies also changed
radically between the F430 and F458, with
the new car utilising much larger openings
in the nose and an articulated radiator venting
system designed into the bonnet. The F430s
wide, boxy front chassis section prevented
the use of a large, central radiator, so two
smaller units were adopted at the outer edges
of the nose in front of the wheels, while an
even smaller oil cooler was somewhat clumsily
plumbed through the limited space under
the bonnet.
With the F458, the front of the chassis was
designed from the outset to reverse this trend,
and makes use of a large, steeply inclined water
radiator, while there are two smaller coolers in
front of the wheels.
As well as presenting possibly the least
appealing visual aspect of the F458, these
various openings also likely contribute to the
excessive aerodynamic drag the car currently
sufers from.
While most manufacturers go to great
lengths to ensure bonnet venting directs
as much air as possible around the cabin
sides, the F458 sends a large volume of hot
air from the water radiator straight over the
greenhouse, adding to its drag issues.
The F458 follows the trend for 2011 of
exposing as much of the outer portions of the
front and rear wheels as the rules allow. After
pushing the boundaries in this area last year
the new car exploits the fow-through benefts
as much as possible, helping to extract air from
the difuser.
Electronic switch
After years of patronising Italys famed racing
electronics frm, Magnetti Marelli, the F458
has made the move to Bosch. We made the
biggest step forward compared to the 430,
aside from the suspension, when we changed
the electronics from Magnetti Marelli to Bosch
Motorsport, because they had better software
and better electronics. And also the electrical
wiring has a power box, so it is a multiplexing
system, which is common on racecars now. We
wanted that on the 458.
The Bosch MS5.1 system also provides
a robust traction control system. Based on
Corvette Racings similar switch for 2011, it has
become the package of choice in GT racing.
The one limiting factor in the F458s
performances at the 12 Hours of Sebring
stemmed from the late delivery of the initial
batch of cars. Jaime Melo qualifed ffth at
Sebring for Risi Competizione, but in the race,
mechanical and electrical gremlins plagued
both the Risi team and the Extreme Speed
Motorsports entries. Gianmaria Bruni set pole
at the European LMS race at Paul Ricard, but
the development has a long way to go.
The problem is the car arrived very late. If
it arrived two months earlier, we would be in
better shape, said Dindo, who oversaw the frst
test of the car at the end of November. In this
condition, we are producing the car, we are
racing and we are testing to improve reliability
at the same time. For sure, the car is young
and should be looked at like a young driver or
young man starting his frst days on the job.
Driving impressions
With all of the work that has been put into
the F458 and the 20 cars Michelotto will build
this year, and despite the car being at the very
beginning of its development curve, British
driver Rob Bell says the diferences hes found
from a driving standpoint are night and day.
The frst time I drove the 458 was the test car
at Vallelunga in early March. My frst impression
was that the car is defnitely a more stable
platform to work with. At times the 430 was
The 458s multi-link suspension underwent the most radical re-design of all, with revised geometry and optimised c of g and polar moment of inertia, making the new car an entirely diferent handling
racecar to the 430 it replaces
The car should be
looked at like a young
driver starting his rst
days on the job
quite edgy. And that was because they made
a suspension change in 2008 based around
the American scene because they didnt use
tyre warmers there. The 430 then changed
suspension to work the tyres harder to get heat
into them because they were losing out over
the frst three or four laps in the ALMS. So when
they did that it made the 430 a lively car at the
rear. But then what it also meant was halfway
through the stint the tyres would be reacting
and working harder and not necessarily being
able to keep up with the suspension.
So you had a situation where a lot of the
time when cornering the 430, the front would
work into the corner but the rear would be
coming round. But straight away, driving the
458, that issue seems to have disappeared
altogether. It felt very, very stable on brakes
and turning at the rear, which was our biggest
concern when we fnished with the 430. The
car is a fatter car to drive, which is great in the
high-speed stuf, really nice. The 458 is a case
of, wow, you can really attack the corner now
and get turned in and be aggressive and not
worry about the rear losing grip. Its a big step
forward, for sure.
Comparing the cornering attributes
of the F430s and F458s at the 12 Hours of
Sebring revealed how much Michelotto has
accomplished by altering the ride quality of the
new car. Where the F430s always used a bit of
extra roll and dive to load the tyres and transfer
weight, the F458 moves visibly less while
cornering and under hard braking. Simply
put, the normally demonstrative moves of the
Prancing Horse have been muted.
After listening in to a number of
conversations in the pit lane amongst F458
drivers, perhaps too much anti-dive geometry
has been used, leading to the rather numb
handling sensation some drivers reported,
so it is believed the frst batch of updates for
the F458 will include geometry revisions to
mitigate this.
Bell, who took the F458s frst major
international win at the Paul Ricard in April,
F
or Le Mans 2014, Ferrari prepared a new
aerodynamic kit that would allow it to compete
with the Corvette C7R, the Aston Martin
Vantage and the Porsche 991 RSR on a more equal
footing. The Italian company had its fgures verifed
by the FIA following the 2013 race, that it was slower
by up to a second per lap around the Le Mans circuit.
A new front splitter and rear difuser were designed
to change the aero balance and give an estimated 6-8
per cent more downforce, allowing the teams running
the car to run a less extreme rear wing angle. Lead
driver Gianmaria Bruni explained that the car ran with
a -7% rear wing in 2013, which made the car difcult
to drive, particularly in the Porsche Curves.
T
he aero kit was tested at Michelins Ladoux
test facility in France at the end of May before
teams were allowed to run it at the Le Mans
test day, and in Le Mans. We are very happy that the
Ladoux test is going ahead, said Bruni at Spa in May.
Others are coming with big rear wings, and splitters,
and say that they have less downforce than us. The
Ladoux test will tell us all the truth. Following the
test, at which the Corvette C7R was measured for the
frst time, the only change was to the Aston Martin
Vantage, which received an extra fve litres for its fuel
allocation. Subsequent to that, following the Le Mans
test, all cars were given an extra fve litres (increasing
Aston Martins allowance by 10 litres overall).
TYRE CHOICE
The Italian AF Corse team ran Ferraris new bodykit at the
Le Mans test day following the balance of performance
testing at Ladoux, France
says his JMW team worked through a number
of changes at the French circuit to try and
improve the cars straight-line limitations. First,
weve all got a new, taller Gurney on the rear
now, and its quite obvious when you get up to
a certain speed that its doing its job. Its been
put there to slow us down, and it does. You
defnitely feel like you get into top gear and
not a lot really happens. So I would say thats
been true with most of the cars. Having said
that, in the past with the Ferrari, when youve
taken aero out of it, its responded very well.
But I think the truth will be known at Le Mans,
when we start taking aero of. We took a little
bit of at Paul Ricard and played with bits and
bobs, and didnt really fnd a huge amount,
to be honest. Its little stuf were looking to
improve, and Michelotto will get it sorted
quickly, like they always do.
Bell also reported that the change to the
Bosch MS5.1 system has been seamless so far:
For a completely new system its been a very
smooth transition. And certainly everything
that weve had so far has worked perfectly.
Youd expect electronic glitches for the frst six
months, but we havent really had any on the
cars Ive driven. And I think its a step forward
because, for example, the traction control
system is more advanced. Its a nicer system
to work with as a driver, and that can only be
good we dont necessarily rely on traction
control but, if its there and you dont feel its
working, its going to be looking after the tyres
better than we humanly can. I think that will be
seen in long durations, as it does seem to be
doing its job. The Marelli system was fne, but
for example its traction control felt a bit basic.
Theres no doubt the F458 has a long way
to go to catch and surpass the F430s record
in competition but, if its early potential is
anything to go by, it looks like Munich and
Detroit might have another fve years of
hellish fghting ahead.
Length: 4518mm
Width: 2036mm
Height: 1160mm
Wheelbase: 2650mm
Front track: 1720mm
Rear track: 1688mm
Dry weight: 1245kg
Tyres: front 325/650-18 Pirelli or 300/650-18
Michelin or 300/660-18 Dunlop;
rear 325/705-18 Pirelli or 310/710-18 Michelin or
310/710-18 Dunlop
Engine: naturally aspirated, 90-degree V8; 4498cc;
direct injection
Block: aluminium
Bore: 94mm
Stroke: 81mm
Maximum power: 346.75Kw (465bhp) at 6250rpm
Maximum torque: 520Nm at 5750rpm
Transmission: Hewland six- speed sequential
TECH SPEC
48 LE MANS 2014
GETECN.indd 1 3/12/09 12:36:06
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Hi gh Tech | Hi gh Speed | Hi gh Qual i ty
ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE V8
Ad-Vantage Aston
Aston Martin introduced an impressive update to its GTE entry in 2013
LE MANS 2014 51
T
he upgraded GTE challenger from
Aston Martin launched in London in
February, 2013, and the car raced for
the frst time in the opening round
of the American Le Mans Series at Sebring in
March that year and was impressive.
Under managing director and team
principal at Aston Martin Racing, John Gaw,
the team changed upwards of 30 per cent of
the car to make it more driveable, and faster,
and it was cited by the Porsche drivers as the
car they most fear.
One of the main issues with the car in 2012
was the speed at which it reached its V-max on
the long straights of Le Mans, Shanghai and
Fuji. It was allowed to run at Le Mans without
a Gurney fap, had a larger fuel tank and less
weight than its rivals, all measures that the
new car has been allowed to keep. For 2014,
the ride height had to be raised in keeping
with the other cars in the class, leading the
team to be concerned about tyre wear.
Yet it still is a draggy car, despite a new rear
wing that was introduced throughout the GTE
feld. in 2013. The Aston runs at Le Mans in
2014 with a minimum weight of 1195kg,
50kg lighter than the Corvette and 40kg
lighter than Ferrari and Porsche. It has a larger
air restrictor, at 29.4mm, smaller than in 2013,
runs without a Gurney at Le Mans, and carries
10 litres more fuel than the Ferrari, fve more
than the rest of the contenders in the GTE
feld, with a 95-litre tank.
Fast and reliable
The Prodrive team has modifed the
suspension, and taken weight out of the car,
making the car more driveable in the corners.
It is not a good aero car, which is why the
air restrictor is bigger, and then we use more
fuel, says Gaw. It is a torquey engine so we are
good out of the corners.
The side sills are new, due to the problems
of running the exhaust down the side of the
car and having a body made from aluminium,
a metal that is very good at conducting heat. A
consequence of this is that the car has a large
foor area, which is an advantage.
[In 2012] we proved how fast and reliable
the car was, and our two GTE Am entries will
pick up where the Pro car fnished with victory
in Shanghai last year, added Gaw. Overall,
around 30 per cent of all components on the
2013-spec Pro cars are new, which makes for a
signifcant improvement.
We looked at specifc areas where
we could take weight out of the car and
redistribute it to a better location. We revised
the suspension, which has not only improved
the handling but, when combined with the
new fy-by-wire throttle allowed under these
regulations, makes the car easier to drive.
Our aim is to win at Le Mans and in the WEC,
and we are particularly pleased to welcome such
a professional driver lineup to Aston Martin
Racing this year.
The new GTE model features brand new side sills,
added to counter the problem of having the exhaust
running down the side of the car
EQUIVALENCE OF TECHNOLOGY
Among the huge raft of new regulation changes this year, the FIA-ACO
has come up an interesting method of regulating fuel consumption
By RICARDO DIVILA
52 LE MANS 2014
T
his year has brought a series of
changes to LMP1 regulations, be it in
chassis dimensions and specifcation
of permitted aero, but the most
interesting one involves the engine specs and
most interestingly fuel consumption. Not by
limiting fuel available, as in F1, by having a fxed
total for the whole race (it ultimately does this),
but rather by litres used each lap, and also using
the F1 method of limiting maximum fow.
The stated intention of the FIA-ACO was to
maintain the spectacle, performance, safety,
relevance to road use, sustainable development
and also to keep privateer teams competitive.
Having a goal of a 30 per cent reduction in
fuel consumption this year without materially
changing performance pushes all the
manufacturers to work on something pertinent
to the road car. And this is a big challenge,
considering the gain over the last 20 years was a
20 per cent reduction.
It is a welcome move, levelling the playing feld
between diferent fuel types, but most importantly
providing a set of rules that spurs development
in alternate propulsion systems, plus making
efciency in fuel consumption essential.
This has two related efects: one, encouraging
manufacturers to have a pertinent reason
to engage in competition to develop these
technologies, directly relevant to their production
models; and two, being able to showcase it in a
very public environment.
In short, the air restrictor that limited power
by controlling the amount of oxidiser the engine
had available, and as a corollary spawned the
huge table giving sizes for diferent engine
confgurations, induction systems (turbo/NA) and
cubic capacitythats gone, the fow meter now
being the limiting factor.
Previous attempts at reducing fuel
consumption by giving a fxed amount of fuel
for the whole race in the Group C days were not
Fuelling the revolution
EQUIVALENCE OF TECHNOLOGY
BY RICARDO DIVILA
Fuelling
Among the huge raft of new regulation changes this year, the FIA-ACO
has come up an interesting method of regulating fuel consumption
www.racecar-engineering.com April 2014 72
T
his year has brought
a series of changes to
LMP1 regulations, be it
in chassis dimensions
and specication of permitted
aero, but the most interesting one
changes the engine specs and
most interestingly consumption.
Not by limiting fuel available, as
in F1, by having a xed total for
the whole race (it ultimately does
this), but rather by litres used each
lap, and also using the F1 method
of limiting maximum fuel ow.
The stated intention of the
FIA-ACO was to maintain the
spectacle, performance, safety,
relevance to road use, sustainable
development and also to keep
privateer teams competitive.
Having a goal of 30 per cent
reduction in fuel consumption
this year without materially
changing performance pushes
all the manufacturers to work
on something pertinent to
the road car. And this is a big
challenge, considering the gain
over the last 20 years was a
20 per cent reduction.
It is a welcome move, levelling
the playing eld between
different fuel types, but most
importantly providing a set of
rules that spurs development in
alternate propulsion systems,
plus making efciency in fuel
consumption primordial.
This has two related effects:
one, encouraging manufacturers to
have a pertinent reason to engage
in competition to develop these
technologies, directly relevant to
their production models; and two:
being able to showcase it in a very
public environment.
Concisely, the air restrictor
that limited power by controlling
the amount of oxidiser the
engine had available, and as a
corollary spawned the huge table
giving sizes for different engine
congurations, induction systems
(turbo/NA) and cubic capacity
that's now gone, the ow meter
now being the limiting factor.
Previous attempts at reducing
fuel consumption by giving a xed
amount of fuel for the whole
race in the Group C days were
not satisfactory. Going at out at
the start of the race would bring
1 Denition
FTF balances gasoline and fuel engine efciencies. FTF is computed
in two different ways, whether it is used for allocated energy
computation (FTF average) or maximum ow computation (FTF max):
With:
BSFCAverage is the 'Best-in-Class' average brake specic fuel
consumption on one single lap [g/kWh].
'Best-in-Class' average BSFC is the best average BSFC on one lap
whatever the appendix B column considered.
BSFC@Pmax is the brake-specic fuel consumption at maximum
power [g/kwh]
ED is the energy density [MJ/kg]
BSFCAverage is computed this way:
P Corr(t) is the corrected power [kW]
C(t) is the instantaneous fuel consumption given by the
fuel ow meter [g/s]
Both integrals will be computed when P Corr(t) is positive and
outside braking zones
LT is lap time(s)
Page 3 /7
D. Torque Meter Management Process
The torque metering is compulsory for manufacturer's cars and must be able to be fitted on any other car. The
document below explains how FIA will manage the torque meter installation, measurement and calibration.
FIA Torque Meter
Control Process V03

E. Fuel Technology Factor (FTF)
1. Definition
FTF balances gasoline and fuel engine efficiencies. FTF is computed in 2 different ways whet her it is used for
allocated energy computation (FTF average) or maximum flow computation (FTF max):

With :
BSFC Average i s t he Best-in-Class Average Brake Specific Fuel Consumption on one single lap [g/kWh].
Best-in-Class Average BSFC is the best average BSFC on one lap whatever the appendix B column
considered.
BSFC@Pmax is the Brake Specific Fuel Consumption at maximum power [g/kwh]
ED is the Energy Density [MJ/kg]

BSFC Average is computed this way:

()

()

P Corr(t) is the corrected power [kW]
C(t) is the instantaneous Fuel Consumption given by the fuel flow meter [g/s]
Both integrals will be computed when P Corr(t) is positive and outside braking zones
LT is lap time [s]
2. Measurement
To check and compare average Power and average Consumption during events, FIA uses:
Fuel flow meter delivering the C(t) signal (instantaneous fuel flow)
Torque meter delivering the T(t) signal (instantaneous ICE torque)
Engine rotational speed w(t)
Corrected torque

() : Torque meter signal corrected by the effect of EGERS (see paragraph c.)
Instantaneous corrected Power is computed this way:

()

() ()

Page 3 /7
D. Torque Meter Management Process
The torque metering is compulsory for manufacturer's cars and must be able to be fitted on any other car. The
document below explains how FIA will manage the torque meter installation, measurement and calibration.
FIA Torque Meter
Control Process V03

E. Fuel Technology Factor (FTF)
1. Definition
FTF balances gasoline and fuel engine efficiencies. FTF is computed in 2 different ways whet her it is used for
allocated energy computation (FTF average) or maximum flow computation (FTF max):

With :
BSFC Average i s t he Best-in-Class Average Brake Specific Fuel Consumption on one single lap [g/kWh].
Best-in-Class Average BSFC is the best average BSFC on one lap whatever the appendix B column
considered.
BSFC@Pmax is the Brake Specific Fuel Consumption at maximum power [g/kwh]
ED is the Energy Density [MJ/kg]

BSFC Average is computed this way:

()

()

P Corr(t) is the corrected power [kW]
C(t) is the instantaneous Fuel Consumption given by the fuel flow meter [g/s]
Both integrals will be computed when P Corr(t) is positive and outside braking zones
LT is lap time [s]
2. Measurement
To check and compare average Power and average Consumption during events, FIA uses:
Fuel flow meter delivering the C(t) signal (instantaneous fuel flow)
Torque meter delivering the T(t) signal (instantaneous ICE torque)
Engine rotational speed w(t)
Corrected torque

() : Torque meter signal corrected by the effect of EGERS (see paragraph c.)
Instantaneous corrected Power is computed this way:

()

() ()

revolution
3 Effect of exhaust gas recovery system
Measurement of average true BSFC can be altered by exhaust
gas recovery systems which increase counter pressure at
exhaust and therefore decrease the efciency of the engine.
This phenomenon is taken into account by FIA by computing an
instantaneous corrected torque.
With :
Tcorr(t ) = corrected instantaneous torque
T(t ) = torque meter signal
Tloss(t ) = estimated torque loss from recovery.
Torque loss model to be dened
Page 4 /7
3. Effect of Exhaust Gas Recovery System:
Measurement of average true BSFC can be altered by Exhaust Gas Recovery Systems which increase counter
pressure at exhaust and thus decrease the efficiency of the engine. This phenomenon is taken into account by FIA by
computing an instantaneous corrected torque (see paragraph b.)

() ()

()

With :

() = Corrected instantaneous torque

() = Torque meter signal

() = estimated torque loss from recovery. Torque loss model to be defined.

F. K Technology Factor (KTF)
1. Definition
KTF balances fuel and gasoline engine weights. The heaviest technology is handicapped because it does not allow
embedding the same amount of ERS as the lightest technology.

if

if





With

is the allocated Gasoline Energy in Appendix B [MJ]

FTF the fuel Technology Factor defined in paragraph 1 [-]

is the additional allocated Diesel Energy due to technology differences. It can be negative [MJ]



is the weight of the Diesel ICE with the best average BSFC whatever the appendix B column
considered [kg]


is the weight of the Gasoline ICE with the best average BSFC whatever the appendix B column
considered [kg]

is the best-in-class ERS density among diesel cars only [s/kg]

is the best-in-class ERS density among gasoline cars only [s/kg]

is the effect of additional Fuel on lap time [s/MJ]

Note that KTF can vary from one Appendix B column to another.
2. Measurement and computation
Each engine and ERS component will be weighed through the process defined in the file below:
2 Measurement
To check and compare average power and average consumption
during events, the FIA uses:
Fuel ow meter delivering the C(t) signal (instantaneous
fuel ow)
Torque meter delivering the T(t) signal (instantaneous ICE torque)
Engine rotational speed w(t)
Corrected torque Tcorr(t). Torque meter signal is corrected by the
effect of EGERS
Instantaneous corrected power is computed this way:
Page 3 /7
D. Torque Meter Management Process
The torque metering is compulsory for manufacturer's cars and must be able to be fitted on any other car. The
document below explains how FIA will manage the torque meter installation, measurement and calibration.
FIA Torque Meter
Control Process V03

E. Fuel Technology Factor (FTF)
1. Definition
FTF balances gasoline and fuel engine efficiencies. FTF is computed in 2 different ways whet her it is used for
allocated energy computation (FTF average) or maximum flow computation (FTF max):

With :
BSFC Average i s t he Best-in-Class Average Brake Specific Fuel Consumption on one single lap [g/kWh].
Best-in-Class Average BSFC is the best average BSFC on one lap whatever the appendix B column
considered.
BSFC@Pmax is the Brake Specific Fuel Consumption at maximum power [g/kwh]
ED is the Energy Density [MJ/kg]

BSFC Average is computed this way:

()

()

P Corr(t) is the corrected power [kW]
C(t) is the instantaneous Fuel Consumption given by the fuel flow meter [g/s]
Both integrals will be computed when P Corr(t) is positive and outside braking zones
LT is lap time [s]
2. Measurement
To check and compare average Power and average Consumption during events, FIA uses:
Fuel flow meter delivering the C(t) signal (instantaneous fuel flow)
Torque meter delivering the T(t) signal (instantaneous ICE torque)
Engine rotational speed w(t)
Corrected torque

() : Torque meter signal corrected by the effect of EGERS (see paragraph c.)
Instantaneous corrected Power is computed this way:

()

() ()

THE FUEL TECHNOLOGY FACTOR (FTF)
EOT-SGAC.indd 72 24/02/2014 15:18
LE MANS 2014 53
satisfactory. Going fat out at the start of the
race would bring strategists to their knees when
the teams realised that the fuel left in their
budget mid-race would not bring the car to the
end at that pace, hobbling the spectacle.
I cant complain, as that gave me my frst win
albeit in C2 class at Le Mans in 1985, when
the paleo computer program I was using doled
out a strict consumption/lap time strategy that
left us behind during the opening hours, but
when reality struck, the competing teams let us
romp away to a fve-lap lead by the end.
Clear goals
Use whatever air intake method and engine
layout you want. You only get so much fuel
per lap, and it cannot exceed a given rate for
both petrol and diesel respectively and more
interestingly by the hybrid power level used.
Such intricacies may be a long way
from the reasons the fans follow racing
being there to see drivers competing but
the good thing about the way it is being
presented to the public is by the clear
presentation of the goals, in the statement that
the cars will be 30 per cent more fuel efcient
with the same performance, and that this
goalpost will be moved each year.
Unlike other championships where the
Balance of Performance (BoP) is used to
equalise disparate production cars to provide
a level feld in the interest of competition, the
FIA-ACO rules have introduced the concept of
Equivalence of Technology (EoT) that provides
incentives to introduce or use a large diversity
of technologies, but at the same time maintain
an equilibrium in the case of faster or slower
development cycles.
The challenge for the teams is to develop
their cars inside the rules. And this must be
monitored by the FIA-ACO, giving them an
equally interesting challenge.
I have spoken before about the unintended
consequences of regulations for road cars,
including the bizarre old French equation that
specifed fnal drive ratio for taxation purposes.
The French CV (in its fscal power incarnation)
was originally specifed in 1956 as a tax to top
up the retirees fund, and was calculated by
using the bore, stroke, number of cylinders, RPM
and a coefcient V (respectively for diesel and
petrol). It could be defned by the cubic capacity
multiplied by the fuel type, acknowledging
diferent energetic capacities. Interestingly, the V
coefcient at the time was 5.7294 for petrol and
4.0106 for diesel, giving a ratio of 1.4285643.
The input of gear ratios and fnal drive
came in 1977, when using the cubic capacity,
with the coefcient for petrol at 1 and diesel
0.7, and the factor K derived from the averaged
mean speed at 1000rpm at each ratio expressed
in kph that the car could theoretically achieve.
So if you ever wondered why the ratios of
French cars of that period were a bit strange, it
did have a reason.
By 1998, sanity (of sorts) prevailed and the
calculation was simply expressed by taking the
maximum power of the engine in kW divided by
40, then having this value raised to the power
of 1.6 and adding the emission of CO2 in g/km
divided by 45, giving the fscal power, rounded
of to the nearest integer.
This approach seems to have inspired
the equations that will control the cars
this year, and will be a bit of a headache to
enforce, both in the design and the race
strategies to use, but it does allow engine
designers to concentrate on energy efciency
rather than the continual and expensive
evolutionary war between the regulation
makers and engineers.
As the engines can now be designed for
the confguration preferred by each
manufacturer in line with their production
priorities, this will bring in a wide variety
of methods that will depend on additional
instrumentation that is now enforced on the
cars to normalise the performance.
Torque sensors on the lay shaft a known
and validated technology will measure the
horsepower delivered to the gearbox. Second
is the measurement of the engine RPM,
easily obtained from the ECU, both together
then giving the power in kW; thirdly, the fuel
fow meter in g/s. All of these factors are the
parameters entered to calculate the Brake
Specifc Fuel Consumption (BSFC).
The fuel fow meter is a new system in
endurance racing and poses several demands
on the race teams, one being the necessity of
having a receptacle in the chassis to lodge the
sensors: you need two when there is no return
line to the tank, three when there is.
They are confgured much as the F1
fuel fow sensors and in fact use the same
suppliers. They measure ultrasonically at
2kHz nominally with an accuracy of max
+/- 0.25 per cent error, theoretically well
within the specifed 2 per cent margin of error
demanded by the regulations.
The aim is to maintain the spectacle, the safety,
relevance to road use and sustainable development
strategists to their knees when
the teams realised that the fuel
left in their budget mid-race would
not bring the car to the end at
that pace, hobbling the spectacle.
One can not carp as that gave
me my rst win albeit in C2
class at Le Mans in 1985, when
the paleo computer program
I was using doled out a strict
consumption/lap time strategy that
left us behind during the opening
hours, but when reality struck, the
competing teams let us romp away
to a ve-lap lead by the end.
Use whatever air intake method
and engine layout you want. You
only get so much fuel per lap, and
it cannot exceed a given rate for
both petrol and diesel respectively
and more interestingly by the
hybrid power level used.
Such intricacies may be a
long way from the reasons the
fans follow racing being there
to see drivers competing but the
good thing about the way it is
being presented to the public is
by the clear presentation of the
goals, in the statement that the
cars will be 30 per cent more
fuel efcient with the same
performance, and that this
goalpost will be moved each year.
Differently from other
championships where the Balance
of Performance (BoP) is used to
equalise disparate production
cars to provide a level eld in
the interest of competition, the
FIA-ACO rules have introduced
the concept of Equivalence of
Technology (EoT) that provides
incentives to introduce or use a
large diversity of technologies,
but at the same time maintain an
equilibrium in the case of faster or
slower development cycles.
The challenge for the teams
is to develop their cars inside the
rules. And this must be monitored
by the FIA-ACO, giving them an
equally interesting challenge.
I have spoken before about
the unintended consequences of
regulations for road cars, including
the bizarre old French equation
that specied nal drive ratio for
taxation purposes. The French CV
(in its scal power incarnation) was
originally specied in 1956 as a
tax to top up the retirees fund, and
was calculated by using the bore,
stroke, number of cylinders, RPM
and a coefcient V (respectively
for diesel and petrol). It could be
dened by the cubic capacity
multiplied by the fuel type,
acknowledging different energetic
capacities. Interestingly, the V
coefcient at the time was 5.7294
for petrol and 4.0106 for diesel,
giving a ratio of 1.4285643.
The input of gear ratios and
nal drive came in 1977, when
using the cubic capacity, with
the coefcient for petrol at 1
and diesel 0.7, and the factor K
derived from the averaged mean
EQUIVALENCE OF TECHNOLOGY
73
73 April 2014 www.racecar-engineering.com
speed at 1000rpm at each ratio
expressed in kph that the car could
theoretically achieve. So if you
ever wondered why the ratios of
French cars of that period were a
bit strange, it did have a reason.
By 1998, sanity (of sorts)
prevailed and the calculation was
simply expressed by taking the
maximum power of the engine in
kW divided by 40, then having this
value raised to the power of 1.6
and adding the emission of CO2
in g/km divided by 45, giving the
scal power, rounded off to the
nearest integer.
This approach seems to have
inspired the equations that will
control the cars this year, and will
be a bit of a headache to enforce,
both in the design and the race
strategies to use, but it does allow
engine designers to concentrate
on energy efciency rather than
the continual and expensive
evolutionary war between the
regulation makers and engineers.
As the engines can now be
designed for the conguration
preferred by each manufacturer in
line with their production priorities,
this will bring in a wide variety
of methods that will depend on
additional instrumentation that
is now enforced on the cars to
normalise the performance.
Torque sensors on the lay
shaft a known and validated
technology will measure
the horsepower delivered to
the gearbox. Secondly is the
measurement of the engine RPM,
easily obtained from the ECU,
both together then giving the
power in kW; thirdly, the fuel ow
meter in g/s. All of these factors
are the parameters entered to
calculate the Brake Specic Fuel
Consumption (BSFC).
The fuel ow meter is a new
system in endurance racing and
poses several demands on the
race teams, one being the
necessity of having a receptacle
in the chassis to lodge the two
sensors in the case of no return
to the tank, and three if there is
a return line there.
They are congured much
as the F1 fuel ow sensors and
in fact use the same suppliers
(which measures ultrasonically at
2kHz nominally with an accuracy
of max +/- 0.25 per cent error,
theoretically well within the
specied 2 per cent margin of error
demanded by the regulations).
The EOT is dened as an
equivalence of BSFC, controlled
by three factors. These are: the
Fuel Technology Factor (FTF),
K Technology Factor (KTF) and
the ERS Incentive.
So the average BSFC is the
ratio of two integrals. These will
be computed when P Corr (t) is
positive and outside braking zones,
not otherwise. Braking zones
are dened as the longitudinal
The aim is to maintain the spectacle,
the safety, relevance to road use
and sustainable development
KTF balances fuel and gasoline engine weights. The heaviest technology is handicapped because it does not allow embedding the same
amount of ERS as the lightest technology
EGasoline is the allocated gasoline energy in Appendix B [MJ]
FTF the fuel technology factor dened in paragraph 1
EAdditional is the additional allocated Diesel Energy due to technology differences. It can be negative [MJ]
WBest Diesel is the weight of the Diesel ICE with the best average BSFC whatever the appendix B column considered [kg]
WBest Gasoline is the weight of the Gasoline ICE with the best average BSFC whatever the appendix B column considered [kg]
ERS-Diesel is the best-in-class ERS density among diesel cars only [s/kg]
ERS-Gasoline is the best-in-class ERS density among gasoline cars only [s/kg]
XFuel on lap time is the effect of additional Fuel on lap time [s/MJ]
THE K TECHNOLOGY FACTOR (KTF)
Page 4 /7
3. Effect of Exhaust Gas Recovery System:
Measurement of average true BSFC can be altered by Exhaust Gas Recovery Systems which increase counter
pressure at exhaust and thus decrease the efficiency of the engine. This phenomenon is taken into account by FIA by
computing an instantaneous corrected torque (see paragraph b.)

() ()

()

With :

() = Corrected instantaneous torque

() = Torque meter signal

() = estimated torque loss from recovery. Torque loss model to be defined.

F. K Technology Factor (KTF)
1. Definition
KTF balances fuel and gasoline engine weights. The heaviest technology is handicapped because it does not allow
embedding the same amount of ERS as the lightest technology.

if

if





With

is the allocated Gasoline Energy in Appendix B [MJ]

FTF the fuel Technology Factor defined in paragraph 1 [-]

is the additional allocated Diesel Energy due to technology differences. It can be negative [MJ]



is the weight of the Diesel ICE with the best average BSFC whatever the appendix B column
considered [kg]


is the weight of the Gasoline ICE with the best average BSFC whatever the appendix B column
considered [kg]

is the best-in-class ERS density among diesel cars only [s/kg]

is the best-in-class ERS density among gasoline cars only [s/kg]

is the effect of additional Fuel on lap time [s/MJ]

Note that KTF can vary from one Appendix B column to another.
2. Measurement and computation
Each engine and ERS component will be weighed through the process defined in the file below:
EOT-SGAC.indd 73 24/02/2014 09:38
The EOT is defned as an equivalence of
BSFC, controlled by three factors. These are:
the Fuel Technology Factor (FTF), K Technology
Factor (KTF) and the ERS Incentive.
So, the average BSFC is the ratio of two
integrals. These will be computed when Pcorr
(t) is positive and outside braking zones, not
otherwise. Braking zones are defned as the
longitudinal acceleration being lower than -1.0g
and last until the acceleration becomes positive
and greater than +0.1g (these factors being
calibrated by vehicle speed on the GPS system).
Pcorr uses the approved torque meter, and
is considered negative as soon as it becomes
lower than 0kW. It lasts until Pcorr becomes
positive and greater than +10kW.
The frequency of all of the acquisition
channels used for this computation is 100Hz.
The Exhaust Gas Recovery Systems can
increase counter pressure at the exhaust,
decreasing the efciency of the engine, so
altering the measure of the true average BSFC,
and then the FIA corrects the computation of
the instantaneous torque by using the formula
shown in the FTF calculations box.
Furthermore, KTF balances fuel and gasoline
engine weights. The heaviest technology is
handicapped because it does not allow the
same amount of ERS as the lightest technology.
The balance equation is also in the FTF box.
The use of energy recuperation systems
will be essential in extending the range of
the fuel allotted, and the amount harvested
can be used in various options. These range
from none the probable case for privateers
as it would reduce development costs but allow
150.8MJ/lap of petrol energy or 142.1MJ/lap of
diesel at a max petrol fow of 95.6kg/h, 83.4kg/h
for diesels to the manufacturers, who must run
hybrids from 2MJ all the way to 8MJ/lap with
accordingly reduced petrol (134.9MJ/lap) or
diesel energy (127.1MJ/lap) and fow.
An additional 20kg reduction in car mass is
given to a no-ERS car, while ERS car weight is
now 870kg, 45kg less than the previous rules.
The energy values of the ERS is detailed in
two tables, one for Le Mans, and a correction
factor for the other circuits, the amount
of releasable energy being limited by the
proportion of the length of the circuit
relative to the length of the Le Mans circuit
multiplied by a factor of 1.55, and the amount
of fuel likewise, but multiplied by a factor
of 1.11, as detailed in the Annexe B of the
LMP1 Technical Regulations.
There will be an increase in lap time,
and the cars will still be fast, but now the
engines will not be run on a maximum
power mode. Instead of developing engines
that run in a maximum power state, they
will be run in a state that has much more
relevance for our daily driving. Reducing
drag will still be important, but the narrower
body width will reduce frontal area, despite
having to raise the driver for the new
visibility template. The emphasis will shift
from aero development to fuel efciency,
but downforce will be afected. We should
expect to see L/Ds touching 5, compared
to the 4.2 to 4.3 today in LM trim.
Checks and balances
There will be an increased interest in
how this will be used in the race strategy
and qualifying tactics, and raises several
interesting scenarios. This is also controlled
by the rules, and specifcally by the fuel
fow monitoring. Sandbagging in the initial
data supplied or in running the two races
before Le Mans was pre-empted for the
frst year of application of new LMP1
regulations (ie two frst races of 2014 plus
Le Mans 2014), for the EoT was defned as based
on data delivered to FIA by manufacturers
last December, reviewed in January, and
then the fnal set of data was sent by
manufacturers to FIA in February.
The values of BSFC (and weights
necessary for KTF and ERS) were confdential
but disclosed to the other manufacturers,
and a dissuasive penalty is to be applied at
Le Mans in case one of the manufacturers has
declared data too far from reality.
The temptation to run a higher power
for a qualifying lap is now deterred by the
penalties defned in the regulations, and
likewise in the race, as cross-checking of the
FIAs data against that of the manufacturers will
be carried out during the frst two events and
ofcial testing sessions before Le Mans 2014.
If the results are considered to be correct,
they will be maintained until Le Mans. In
the event of abnormal results from data
measurement or expertise of FIA, an
emergency meeting can be held with the
manufacturers concerned.
W
e dont care if you have
turbo, or normally
aspirated, KERS, whatever, says
the ACOs sporting director,
Vincent Beaumesnil. We just
want to make sure that fuel and
diesel have the same chance to
win. For that, the fgure we are
considering is the Brake Specifc
Fuel Consumption, the ratio
between fuel consumption and
performance. The manufacturers
have declared their fgures, and
from there we defne how much
fuel they will have.
If we see at Le Mans that
their BSFC is not the one that
they have declared, they will
have a sanction. If they lie they will
have no chance to win the race
because we will stop them.
We have a frst set of fgures
received at the end of January,
and a second set of fgures
adjusted just before the frst race,
and that will be the fnal fgure.
Equivalence of Technology is
only this year to balance fuel
and diesel. After Le Mans, every
year, we will look at what has
been the BSFC. If we have to
adjust we will do so.
You are allowed to use a certain
amount of fuel per lap. If you
exceed this amount, there are two
possibilities. If the excess is within
2 per cent, then you have the two
following laps to make an average.
As long as you make an average on
three laps that is OK, you will have
no stop and go. We monitor this live.
There is no way for a
manufacturer to hide anything. No
sandbagging, we will just have the
truth and balance it correctly.
EQUIVALENCE OF TECHNOLOGY
54 LE MANS 2014
THE ACO PERSPECTIVE
www.racecar-engineering.com April 2014 74
EQUIVALENCE OF TECHNOLOGY
acceleration being lower than
-1.0g and last until the acceleration
becomes positive and greater than
+0.1g (these factors being by
vehicle speed calibrated on GPS
system). Pcorr uses the approved
torque meter, and is considered
negative as soon as it becomes
lower than 0kW. It lasts until
Pcorr becomes positive and greater
than +10kW.
The frequency of all of the
acquisition channels used for this
computation is 100Hz.
The Exhaust Gas Recovery
Systems can increase counter
pressure at the exhaust,
decreasing the efciency of
the engine, so altering the
measure of the true average BSFC,
and then the FIA corrects the
computation of the instantaneous
torque by using the formula
shown on p72.
Furthermore, KTF balances
fuel and gasoline engine weights.
The heaviest technology is
handicapped because it does not
allow the same amount of ERS
as the lightest technology. The
balance equation is also on p72.
The use of energy recuperation
systems will be essential in
extending the range of the fuel
allotted, and the amount harvested
can be used in various options.
These range from none, the
probable case for privateers as it
would reduce development costs
but allow 150.8 MJ/lap of petrol
energy or 142.1MJ/lap of diesel
at a max petrol ow of 95.6kg/h,
83.4kg/h for diesels, and for the
manufacturers, who must run
hybrids from two all the way to
8MJ/lap with accordingly reduced
petrol (134.9MJ/lap) or diesel
energy (127.1MJ/lap) and ow.
An additional 20kg reduction in
car mass is given to a no ERS
car, down from the 870kg for ERS,
30kg less than the previous rules.
The energy values of the ERS
is detailed in two tables, one for Le
Mans, and a correction factor for
the other circuits, the amount of
releasable energy being limited
by the proportion of the length of
the circuit relative to the length of
the Le Mans circuit multiplied by
a factor of 1.55, and the amount
of fuel likewise, but multiplied
by a factor of 1.11, as detailed
in the Annexe B of the LMP1
Technical Regulations.
There will be an increase in lap
time, and the cars will still be fast,
but now the engines will not be
run on a maximum power mode.
Instead of developing engines
that run in a maximum power
state, they will be run in a state
that has much more relevance for
our daily driving. Reducing drag
will still be important, but the
narrower body width will reduce
frontal area, despite having
to raise the driver for the new
visibility template. The emphasis
will shift from aero development
to fuel efciency, but downforce
will be affected. We should expect
to see L/Ds touching 5, compared
to the 4.2 to 4.3 today in LM trim.
There will be an increased
interest in how this will be
used in the race strategy and
qualifying tactics, and raises
several interesting scenarios. This
is also controlled by the rules,
and specically by the fuel ow
monitoring. Sandbagging in the
initial data supplied or in running
the two races before Le Mans
was pre-empted for the rst
year of application of new LMP1
regulations (ie two rst races of
2014 plus Le Mans 2014), for the
EoT was dened as based on data
delivered to FIA by manufacturers
last December, reviewed in
January, and then the nal set of
data was sent by manufacturers
to FIA in February.
Appendix B has been computed based on the Endurance Committee recommendations, in order to conserve
an incentive for big ERS system. Simulated theoretical incentive in Appendix B is:
~-0.5s/lap/MJ hybrid
Appendix B is currently based on Manufacturers data given in 2012, but theoretical hierarchy between
columns could be wrong in case of discrepancies between 2012 and 2014 data (eg signicant increase of
chassis weight without ICE). In 2014, after having weighed every car, system and component, Commission
will decide or not to change the Appendix B in order to conserve the hierarchy.
The Committee decision will be based on comparison of the optimum Hybrid LMP1 car weight and the
minimum regulatory LMP1-H weight (870kg).
The optimum Hybrid LMP1 car weight will be estimated by FIA this way:
Where:
WOptimum is the optimum Hybrid LMP1 car weight
WBest Chassis is the weight of the lightest chassis whatever the column or the technology (Diesel or
Gasoline) considered[kg]
WBest ICE is the weight of the lightest ICE whatever the column or the technology (Diesel or Gasoline)
considered [kg]
W8 Best MJ ERS is the weight of 8MJ system computed with the best ERS density [MJ/kg] whatever
the column or the technology (Diesel or Gasoline) considered [kg]
THE ERS INCENTIVE
Page 5 /7
LMP1_PTrain_ERS_W
eight_Perimeter_iss4


Amount of energy boosted by ERS system will be measured thanks to official FIA sensors.
ERS Weight, amount of energy and simulations will give the ERS density
Effect of fuel on lap time will be computed thanks to simulation with a standard FIA LMP1 car
Effect of energy boosted and energy boosted strategy on lap time will be computed with simulation by
applying the ERS system and strategy on a standard FIA LMP1 car :
EoT- ERS Density
V03

G. ERS incentive
1. Definition
Appendix B has been computed based on the Committee recommendations, in order to conserve an incentive for
big ERS system. Simulated theoretical incentive in Appendix B is:
~-0.5s/lap/MJ hybrid

Appendix B is currently based on Manufacturers data given in 2012, but theoretical hierarchy between columns
could be wrong in case of discrepancies between 2012 and 2014 data (e.g. significant increase of chassis weight
without ICE). In 2014, after having weighed every car, system and component, Commission will decide or not to
change the Appendix B in order to conserve the hierarchy.

The Committee decision will be based on comparison of the optimum Hybrid LMP1 car weight and the minimum
regulatory LMP1-H weight (870kg).
The optimum Hybrid LMP1 car weight will be estimated by FIA this way:

Where:

is the optimum Hybrid LMP1 car weight

is the weight of the lightest chassis whatever the column or the technology (Diesel or Gasoline)
considered[kg]


is the weight of the lightest ICE whatever the column or the technology (Diesel or Gasoline)
considered [kg]


is the weight of 8MJ system computed with the best ERS density [MJ/kg] whatever the column
or the technology (Diesel or Gasoline) considered [kg]

2. Process
In case Commission would decide to change Appendix B to conserve incentive, FIA/ACO will proceed this way:
Theoretical Gap between columns would be computed thanks to simulation.
This gap defined by the commission would be defined for Le Mans only.
Columns could be adjusted with: Allowed Fossil Energy and/or Maximum Fuel Flow and/or Fuel Capacity
carried on board.
The values of BSFC (and
weights necessary for KTF and ERS)
were condential but disclosed
to the other manufacturers, and a
dissuasive penalty is to be applied
at Le Mans in case one of the
manufacturers has declared data
too far from reality.
The temptation to run a higher
power for a qualifying lap is now
deterred by the penalties dened
in the regulations, and likewise
in the race, as cross-checking of
the FIA's data against that of
the manufacturers will be carried
out during the rst two events
and ofcial testing sessions
before Le Mans 2014.
If the results are considered to
be correct, they will be maintained
until Le Mans. In the event of
abnormal results from data
measurement or expertise of FIA,
an emergency meeting can be held
with the manufacturers concerned.
The good point in this
approach will be that the EoT will
be a transparent process. This is
described by the rules:
'Models used [are] described
with disclosed formulas.
Accelerations sectors information
[will be] made ofcially available
for competitors.
A list of engine, ERS and
chassis parameters are asked to
manufacturers in order to:
Compute FTF and KTF
Rescale torque meter
Post-process race data'
There are, however, a lot of
clever people out there juggling the
what-ifs, and to close the loopholes
there will be 'dissuasive penalties':
'If the FIA notices during the
race that a car has an average
or instantaneous (P max) BSFC
exceeding what was announced
in February by more than 2 per
cent (estimation of the maximum
error of the sensors), and to the
advantage of this car, the technical
delegate shall inform the stewards,
after which there will be an open
debate with the competitor in
order to propose to him a minimum
stop and go penalty of 60
seconds (which can be extended
at the discretion of the stewards
according to the duration of the
infringement noted, ie the time
during which the competitor ran
while exceeding the authorised
values). The duration will be
The use of energy recuperation
systems will be essential to extend
the range of the fuel allotted
EOT-SGAC.indd 74 24/02/2014 09:39
LE MANS 2014 55
The good thing about this approach is that it
will ensure that EoT will be a transparent process.
This is described by the rules:
The models used are described with
disclosed formulas. Acceleration sectors
information [will be] made ofcially available
for competitors.
A list of engine, ERS and chassis parameters
are asked to manufacturers in order to:
Compute FTF and KTF
Rescale torque meter
Post-process race data
There are, however, clever people out there
juggling the what-ifs, and to close the loopholes
there will be dissuasive penalties: If the FIA
notices during the race that a car has an average or
instantaneous (P max) BSFC exceeding what was
announced in February by more than 2 per cent
(estimation of the maximum error of the sensors),
and to the advantage of this car, the technical
delegate shall inform the stewards, after which
there will be an open debate with the competitor
in order to propose to him a minimum stop and
go penalty of 60 seconds (which can be extended
at the discretion of the stewards according to the
duration of the infringement noted, ie the time
during which the competitor ran while exceeding
the authorised values). The duration will be
recorded on the basis of the on-board sensors
(fuel fow meter and torque meter), information
which will be available to the competitor.
If the competitor accepts the penalty, ofcial
notifcation will be issued to the competitor
and penalty will be applied. If the competitor
then returns, until the end of the race, to the
BSFC/KTF that he had announced, there will be
no exclusion penalty; however, a fne could be
imposed after the race on a manufacturer who
has intentionally provided incorrect values in
order to bias the EoT process.
Furthermore, the detailed post-race analysis
could involve tests and inspections with the
competitor or elsewhere (calibration sensor check),
and will include an analysis of the other data at the
disposal of the FIA (reverse engineering).
One interesting inclusion is the following:
For the frst two races of the season and the
preliminary tests at Le Mans, we propose to
monitor the BSFC and to streamline our
methods, but without applying penalties
(except in the case of a signifcant breach
of the values established beforehand). Our
results will be communicated to the competitors
for joint recalibration.
If this hints at well make it up as we
go along, as an engineer I at least applaud
the facing up to the reality of continuously
changing technical knowledge and that it
will attain the main objective of pushing
development in fuel efciency without losing
the spectacle. The con, however, is that
spectators might end up being a bit confused
if not kept informed as to the breach of
limitations. Good communication could also
spice up the perceived competition.
The backup plan of changing precision
to 3 per cent on fuel metering for instantaneous
BSFC computation gives a logical plan B,
and acknowledges that the sensor might
not be up to speed yet.
As an executive brief, we can certainly say
that exciting times are ahead and heading in the
right direction.
www.racecar-engineering.com April 2014
recorded on the basis of the on-
board sensors (fuel ow meter and
torque meter), information which
will be available to the competitor.
'If the competitor accepts the
penalty, ofcial notication will
be issued to the competitor and
penalty will be applied. If the
competitor then returns, until the
end of the race, to the BSFC/KTF
that he had announced, there
will be no exclusion penalty;
however, a ne could be imposed
after the race on a manufacturer
who has intentionally provided
incorrect values in order to bias
the EoT process.'
Furthermore, 'the detailed
post-race analysis could involve
tests and inspections with
the competitor or elsewhere
(calibration sensor check), and will
include an analysis of the other
data at the disposal of the FIA
(reverse engineering).'
One interesting inclusion is
the following:
'For the rst two races of
the season and the preliminary
tests at Le Mans, we propose
to monitor the BSFC and to
streamline our methods, but
without applying penalties
(except in the case of a signicant
breach of the values established
beforehand). Our results will be
communicated to the competitors
for joint recalibration.'
If this hints at 'We'll make it up
as we go along', as an engineer I
applaud the facing up to the reality
of continuously changing technical
knowledge and that it will attain
the main objective of pushing
development in fuel efciency
without losing the spectacle. The
con, however, is that spectators
might end up being a bit confused
if not kept informed as to the
breach of limitations. Good
communication could also spice up
the perceived competition.
The backup plan of changing
precision to 3 per cent on fuel
metering for instantaneous BSFC
computation gives a logical plan B,
and acknowledges that the sensor
might not be up to speed yet.
As an executive brief we can
say exciting times are ahead and
heading in the right direction.
76
EQUIVALENCE OF TECHNOLOGY
W
e dont care if you
have turbo, or
normally aspirated,
KERS, whatever, says the
ACOs sporting director, Vincent
Beaumesnil. We just want to
make sure that fuel and diesel
have the same chance to win.
For that, the gure we are
considering is the Brake Specic
Fuel Consumption, the ratio
between fuel consumption and
performance. The manufacturers
have declared their gures, and
from there we dene how much
fuel they will have.
If we see at Le Mans
that their BSFC is not the one
that they have declared, they
will have a sanction. If they
lie they will have no chance
to win the race because we
will stop them.
We have a rst set of
gures received at the end of
January, and a second set of
gures adjusted just before
the rst race, and that will be
the nal gure. Equivalence of
Technology is only this year to
balance fuel and diesel. After Le
Mans, every year, we will look at
what has been the BSFC. If we
have to adjust we will do so.
'You are allowed to use a
certain amount of fuel per lap. If
you exceed this amount, there are
two possibilities. If the excess is
within 2 per cent, then you have
the two following laps to make an
average. As long as you make an
average on three laps that is OK,
you will have no stop and go. We
monitor this live.
There is no way for a
manufacturer to hide anything.
No sandbagging, we will just have
the truth and balance it correctly.
THE ACO PERSPECTIVE
ARCHITECTURE OF WEC 2014
FIA Flow Meter 1 FIA Flow Meter 2
ECU/Datalogger
TEAM
Data Logger
FIA/ACO
HV Intensity
and Voltage
(if FIA recommended
sensor)
Torquemeter
(Also connected on
analog input)
FIA/ACO Leader
light module
Analog sensors:
Bost pressure
Airbox pressure
Oil Tank level
Cockpit Temp
MGUs current
MGUs voltage
Torquemeter
Beacon
Fuel pressure censor
Analog sensors for
EGERS System:
Manufacturers Spec with FIA approved
(compatability with FIA logger)
Exhaust pressure censor
EGERS intensity
EGERS voltage (if not on the same
DC bus as MGU)
Analog sensors FFM backup:
Manufacturer spec with FIA-approved
(compatability with FIA logger)
Engine revs
Intake manifold temp
Fuel temp
FIA Telemetry GPS Module
Marshalling
Display
FIA/ACO
Transponder
FIA ADR
FIA/ACO Compact
Card Reader
CAN Lambda
Module
(if backup FFM)
Lambda
sensor
Telem
antenna
GPS
antenna
CAN 2/FIA ACO Private

CAN 1/Public

To comment on this story click here

EOT-SGAC.indd 76 24/02/2014 11:06
There are people out there
juggling the what-ifs, so
to close the loopholes there
will be dissuasive penalties
NISSAN ZEOD
Nissan
With his latest project, the British-born
engineer has landed his second Garage 56
slot in three years. And heres why
By PETER WRIGHT
56 LE MANS 2014
Ben Bowlby
and the
ZEOD
Bowlby is a racing car
engineer who relishes
conceiving and designing
cars unconstrained
by regulations
LE MANS 2014 57
I
f there is a visionary engineer in motorsport today, it
is surely Ben Bowlby who qualifes for the title. Having
conceived the DeltaWing as a sustainable, 300hp solution
for IRL, been rejected in favour of sticking with the 600hp
dinosaurs of the ovals, he successfully wooed the ACO to
consider the car in two-seater form for their forward-thinking
Garage 56 slot in the 2012 Le Mans. The boldness of the
concept not only attracted key partners Nissan and Michelin,
but also caught the imagination of young people potential
fans that are missing from so much of motorsport. Why? The
car was cool and ticked many of the sustainability boxes that
matter to this generation.
The DeltaWing went on to deliver most of what it
promised and proved that current racing car design is twice
as heavy, twice as powerful and twice as consuming of fuel
and emitting of CO2 as it needs to be. Nissan, like the rest of
the automotive industry, is right in the middle of trying to
establish what confguration of cars consumers are going to
buy in the future. You can talk about technology, create show
cars and prototypes, customer-test limited numbers of new
concepts, but until you ofer consumers production versions
with actual performance, actual range and actual costs, you
dont fnd out if you are right or wrong.
Nissan is at the forefront of EVs, with its pioneering Leaf.
However, as with other similar EVs, it is not achieving sales
targets as consumers are put of by cost and range limitation.
The whole EV experiment is beginning to confrm that these
vehicles have a real application in cities and in commuting
from the suburbs, but really only for people who either use
a car for nothing else, or are well-of enough to aford other
vehicles for long distance and family motoring. The potential
best compromise is the plug-in hybrid: battery power for city
use, and efcient IC engine for intercity and rural journeys.
Motorsport is a great demonstrator of the status of new and
emerging technologies, and it is for this that Nissan has taken
Bowlbys efcient racing vehicle technologies and is wedding
them to their hybrid technology in the Nissan ZEOD for
Garage 56 at the 2014 Le Mans race.
EV racing cars have already demonstrated performance
at the Nrburgring Nordschleife (Toyota), and Pikes Peak
(Nobuhiro Monster Tajima), as well as showing their outright
speed potential (Drayson Lola), but they run out of puf after
around 15-20km at racing speeds, and none of the venues
have anything like the cachet of Le Mans. Achieving a lap
of Le Mans at racing speed on battery/electric power alone
is obviously feasible, but would be all over in under four
minutes, leaving 23 hours and 56 minutes during which
the achievement might be forgotten. Racing for the full
24-hours, with one lap in each 12 lap stint in ZE mode
under electric power alone, and the other 11 laps in series-
hybrid mode, using a tiny efcient IC engine, is feasible.
This cycle would emulate a potential cycle for such a
hybrid road car and would be noticed and that is what
the ZEOD hopes to achieve.
Bowlby is a racing car engineer who relishes conceiving
and designing cars unconstrained by regulations, a situation
that is rare outside land speed record attempts, and leads to
frustration in many in F1 design today. In the ACOs Garage
56, he has found the freedom to exploit his vision although
the ACO does impose certain some constraints and it is a
partnership unique in motorsport. The car must of course
meet the highest LMP1 and FIA standards of safety and
crucially must not be faster than the Audis, Porsches, or
Toyotas. One further condition the ACO has imposed on
Nissan is that, to justify their second occupancy of Garage 56
in three years, the ZEOD must be a step to a full Nissan LMP1
challenge at Le Mans and in the WEC.
The performance the ZEOD is targeting is:
In ZE, pure EV mode faster than the GTs
In hybrid IC engine mode LMP2 performance
Ben Bowlby
and the
NISSAN ZEOD
58 LE MANS 2014
It is planned that the frst 11 laps of the stint
will be in the latter mode and then, with the fuel
tank empty and battery fully charged, it will do
one lap as an EV. The fact that this last lap of a
stint will end up in the pits means that it will not
be timed as a fying lap, but no doubt Nissan will
arrange for a fying ZE lap for the record.
Bowlby is contracted as a consultant to
Nismo Nissans motorsports division. Nismo
have contracted Ray Mallocks RML Group
to design and build the car, while Nissan
provides the full hybrid powertrain, IC engine,
electric motors, batteries and all the associated
controllers, and Michelin returning as the
chosen tyre partner. RML then sub-contracted
Bowlby to carry out the aerodynamic design
over an intense three month period, and he
supplied full body design and cooling data to
RML. The aerodynamics are all-new, and the
closed car is signifcantly diferent from the
open DeltaWing. All downforce is generated by
the underbody and Bowlby has taken great care
once again with the aerodynamic stability of the
car. Further developing his unique technique
as applied to the DeltaWing of testing the
stability of an 1/18th scale model (for equivalent
Reynolds number in water) by dropping it down
the side of a swimming pool both forwards,
sideways, and backwards. He found a pool with
concave walls and the model stuck to the wall
under all conditions. These results, combined
with FIA LMP1 standard crash tests adapted for
the lower weight of the car, met the second item
of Nissans brief to the RML designers:
Design and build it:
Fast enough
Safe enough
Reliable enough to fnish the Le Mans 24-
hour race
Without the constraint of regulation, there
might be a temptation to include all sorts
of trick stuf on the car. However, it is novel
enough in so many areas that the rest is really
pretty conventional, giving it the best chance of
achieving the third item on his list in the limited
development time available.
The frst item faster is a bit more complex
and considerably more difcult. To accomplish
its demonstration of ZEOD [Zero Emissions on
Demand], it starts with a disadvantage. In ZE
mode, it has to carry around, unused, the IC
engine and all its ancillaries and cooling system,
and including the fuel tank, albeit empty for the
demonstration lap. In hybrid mode it has the
burden of the excess batteries over and above
the energy storage needs of KERS operation.
Lets look at the ZE mode frst, as this sizes
the batteries and motors. The ZEOD is ftted with
two 110kW continuously-rated motors giving
291hp in total, mounted alongside the fve-
speed transmission and driving the input shaft
of the gearbox. The transmission is there
by necessity for the IC engine. What is gained
is that the motors can work within a narrow,
optimised RPM range and as a result the
batteries can be smaller and lighter. What is
lost is the ability to drive each rear wheel
individually, providing diferential action and
subject to agreement with the ACO torque
vectoring. The batteries are the same chemistry
as the Nissan Leafs cells, and provide 12kWh
(43MJ) of usable energy storage, weighing in
at 120kg.
There is no way the ZEOD which tips the
scales at 700kg with driver and 50 litres of fuel,
with just under 300hp, equivalent to 2.33kg/hp
could ever be as light as the DeltaWings 570kg
in the same condition. With just about the
same electric power as the four-cylinder Nissan
engine in the latter car (1.9kg/hp), the ZEOD
must be slower under electric power alone.
On top of that, the extra weight requires more
downforce, and hence inevitably more drag. Put
As with the DeltaWing,
Bowlby tested the ZEODs
stability by dropping a
scale model down the side
of a swimming pool with
concave walls
The ZEOD weighs 700kg with driver and
50 litres of fuel, considerably heavier than
the DeltaWing
LE MANS 2014 59
in more electric power to compensate and the
battery weight goes up: a vicious upward spiral.
Reversing the direction of the spiral, which is
the Ben Bowlby doctrine, and reducing size,
weight, downforce, drag, power, and energy
storage is limited by the need to accommodate
a driver plus the space for a passenger, and to
provide safety protection for the former.
It is worth noting here that SuperKarts, with
their 60-90hp and 200kg are just as fast around
a circuit as a Radical SR3, with 220hp and 650kg,
so this philosophy does work right on down to
very low mass if you can race such a vehicle to
the appropriate regulations.
The ZE range is one lap of Le Mans, the
other 11 laps of a stint being in hybrid mode.
Power for this will come from a specially
designed Nissan, three-cylinder, 1.5-litre, turbo
GDI engine, producing 260kW (350hp). It will
not be a true series-hybrid, with the engine
running at constant speed to generate electrical
energy stored in the batteries because that
transmission path is just too inefcient. Like the
Chevrolet Volt, the engine will transmit power
directly and mechanically to the rear axle as
well as driving the generators. While the Volt
only does this in top gear, the ZEOD will use a
fve-speed conventional gearbox allowing the
engine to operate between 60007200rpm. As
mentioned earlier, the motor/generators and
battery also beneft from this arrangement.
This motorcycle-sized IC engine is AV-
mounted behind the rearmost part of the
monocoque, which forms the 50-litre fuel
tank and also houses the batteries, accessible
from beneath the car. AV mounting gives all
the electronic accessories and other delicate
parts the best possible reliability environment.
Cooling of the various systems is split into two,
with a radiator behind each rear wheel fed
by a small pitot intake above the wheel, and
exhausting into the base region behind the car
for excellent aerodynamic efciency.
One circuit cools the IC engine and motor/
generators using glycol; the other cools the
turbochargers intercooler and the batteries
with a dielectric fuid. When the IC engine is
working hard, the motor/generators are not
on a continuous duty cycle, so can share their
cooling system. When the batteries are working
hard in the ZE mode, the turbocharged intake
air is not needed and so these two can also
share a cooling system. Neat!
Proving the technology
There is no requirement to run a fuel fow-
metering device, as Garage 56 does not
have a fuel fow limit. Nissan may run one of
the LMP devices to gain experience of it for
future application in their LMP1 car. Nissans
objectives for the ZEOD are no walk in the park.
To be able to race competitively at Le Mans
for 11 laps then complete a 12th lap albeit at
slightly reduced speed in ZE mode is quite
a challenge. Nissan want to demonstrate the
status of their technology for a road car cycle of,
by way of example, driving from Birmingham to
the M25 around London at high speeds on the
motorway, switching to ZE, all-electric mode
within the M25, then flling up the fuel tank and
driving back to Birmingham. This is very likely
to become one of the defnitive road car cycles
for which manufacturers develop mainstream
cars. Simulation shows that Bens ZEOD car with
Nissans powertrain technology can achieve this.
Bowlbys proven philosophy of reducing
the scale of everything to achieve efciency
although not yet widely adopted in motorsport
due to entrenched interests is fascinating to
play the numbers with. If one takes is a ZEOD,
plug-in and fully charge the batteries in the
garage, put say 15 litres of fuel in the tank,
one would end up after a warm-up lap on the IC
engine alone with a 670kg car and a potential
650hp. Thats 1kg/hp, for one lap
Merde! H, Monsieur Bowlby, tiens, tiens!
Merde! away what you have done it is always
carry over and white sheet of paper. The engine
is a base of last year. The way to do it, Porsche
has a 4-cylinder which is the 8-cylinder of the
Spyder cut in two. No one will start from
something completely new.
Top: The powertrain will not be load bearing so a tubular steel structure has to be ftted to the rear of the tub
Above: Here we get a good look at the front suspension of the car, note the design of the upper wishbone.
NISSAN DIG-T R ENGINE
The Nissan ZEOD is all about experimental technology,
and the 1.5-litre, three-cylinder engine weighs just 40kg,
produces 400bhp, and has pushed all the boundaries
By ANDREW COTTON
60 LE MANS 2014
Good things come in
small packages
We tried to dene what best
bore/stroke ratio would allow
us to achieve our power
L
ate in January, Nissan unveiled
the engine that will power the
revolutionary Nissan ZEOD (Zero
Emission on Demand) car at Le
Mans this year. Built at Ray Mallock Limited
(RML) in Wellingborough, UK, the engines
design, weight and power have all been
decided by extreme targets beftting of an
experimental machine.
The engine is a 1.5-litre, three-cylinder direct
injection turbo engine that weighs just 40kg,
although with the turbo and exhaust it is 46kg,
just over half the 90kg weight of the engine that
powered the lightweight DeltaWing engine in
2012. Despite the light weight, the engine is
capable of producing 380Nm of torque
at 7500rpm, or 400bhp, although its operating
range will be closer to 360Nm of torque
for efciency.
The extreme weight saving extends to
all areas of the engine, from the crankshaft,
the block, the confguration and even the
electronics. Electronic suppliers, for example,
were selected by the weight of the product
rather than their applications.
We were given a powertrain target weight,
says RMLs director of powertrain, Arnaud
Martin. Considering that we are carrying two
e-motors, a huge battery, and a gearbox which
is capable of housing all those items, there
wasnt much weight left for the engine. We
needed to design the lightest possible
engine. Secondly, we wanted some efciency
targets, so what would give us the most fuel
efciency? After that, packaging, because
there is hardly any room, so we needed to ft
it under the rear bodywork, and they were
the three driving parameters to defne what
the engine needed to be, which was three
cylinders, 1.5-litre displacement. We defned
that using 1D simulation, trying to defne
what best bore/stroke ratio would allow us
to achieve our power.
RMLs team worked with precision
engineering frm Capricorn to create the mono-
LE MANS 2014 61
Extreme weight saving helped to bring
the ZEOD engine down to an incredible
46kg fully dressed
block engine, which is mounted transversely
and which uses 1.2 bar boost pressure. The
ICE will have to run for 13 laps at Le Mans,
using all the rear braking efect to charge up
the batteries, which will then power the car
for a 14th lap. This means that the internal
combustion engine will therefore have to
switch of for around four minutes, plus a
minute in the pits.
The EV motors and the controllers are still
linked to the cooling system of the engine, says
Martin. The target is to get 50 degrees water
in EV mode, and 80 degrees in ICE mode. You
basically keep your components warm. You
have a cool down and warm up strategy while
you are out on track and then you have switch
over strategies between EV and ICE, which
allows you to go to EV while still cooling down
the ICE until it is cool enough to be switched
of. When you reach the end of the EV lap you
restart it, warm it, and then at the end of the lap
you switch over.
The engine uses just 75 litres per minute
of water for cooling all the systems, and
the water is fed through two radiators. The
right-side radiator cools the battery and the
intercooler, while the left-side radiator is shared
between the electrical motors, controllers,
internal combustion engine, and gearbox.
RML has reached an agreement with French oil
manufacturer Total to develop oils for all aspects
of the car, from grease for the driveshafts to
battery fuids and engine and gearbox oils, to
reduce friction to improve overall efciency.
The packaging of the engine is dictated by
the space available in the engine bay, and even
the design has the same infuences. The engine
is tilted backwards by fve degrees and the
plenum chamber specially crafted to ft around
the bulkhead of the car, and even then it leads
to a 4mm gap between the two.
Weight savings
There is nothing from the DeltaWing engine
because if you took the same concept, you
would not be light enough, says Martin. We
worked at something new, something extreme
to hit the 40kg of weight. As a result, everything
has been re-engineered, and re-thought. The
crank is totally diferent there is no fange at
the end to attach the fywheels. It is all done on
the diameter of the pins, because as soon as you
put on a fange, the weight increases.
There are a lot of things that we have never
thought about using before, and as a result of
this you could bore through the centre of the
crank and remove all the material, and you are
left with a hole, so at that point you do need to
stop the oil coming out. But it can be done with
aluminium or plastic bungs. If you remove those
bungs you can see right through the engine.
The crank, with tungsten balance weight,
is 5.8kg compared to the DeltaWing which
was 8.3kg. It is shorter, but you could take any
engine from four to three, if you cut a middle
cylinder that saves you 17 per cent of weight.
Even with the new crank concept we have saved
30 per cent, and it has been the same for the
entire design.
I
f anyone ever wondered about
the complexity of a hybrid car
leaving the pit lane, they should
be assured that it is a complicated
enough issue.
Within the already tight
engine bay is situated a clutch. As
Arnaud Martin describes, this is no
ordinary clutch application.
The clutch is there to
disconnect the ICE from the EV
and allow us to start things and
stop things, says the Frenchman.
It is not a clutch connected
to a pedal it is connected
to the ECU and it has its own
pneumatic actuator. The way
the car operates, it starts driving
forward on electrical power. It
reaches a calculated speed, and it
releases the clutch to start the ICE.
The clutch closes again, the ICE
continues to run on idle, and you
drive on EV. You let your ICE warm
up, when you reach the end of the
pit lane the ICE has warmed up,
and then you start to switch from
EV to ICE. That is the process on a
normal track. We dont use the ICE
with cylinder cuts to control the
car speed, we just do it on EV.
Control for all that is done
by our own software. The entire
software to run this car has been
written in-house. We had to fnd a
platform because we dont make
our own ECUs and found a partner
in MoTeC. We use their M1.
One lightweight ECU is
controlling the whole car, so that
means DRS, diferential locking,
we have a pneumatic locking
diferential so you can control a
certain amount of slip, the ICE, and
the brake balance.
NISSAN DIG-T R ENGINE
62 LE MANS 2014
LEAVING THE PIT LANE
The engine was designed with packaging in mind the carbon plenum chamber fts around the bulkhead with a 4mm gap
ITS NOT JUST RADIO LE MANS
Radio Le Mans is one of the highlights of
the Le Mans 24 hours. Featuring expert
opinion, analysis, weather reports and pit
lane reporting, thousands of British fans
tune in to follow the action throughout one
of the worlds greatest motor races. Behind
the scenes, however, it is a mammoth eort
to deliver a high-quality service, all year
round. Even if it was just Le Mans, Radio
Show Limited produces over 50 hours of live
broadcasting that in 2013 attracted more
than 11.5 million visits to the website:
www.radiolemans.com
Te truth is; the Le Mans 24 hours is the jewel in
the crown of the endurance racing year but, as far
as RSL is concerned, it is complimented by smaller
but no less sparkling gems throughout the season.
Many Le Mans fans dont realise that the same
team that put together their favourite radio
station at La Sarthe are on duty at other events, all
broadcast live and free at www.radiolemans.comand
on FM at the tracks and often even on TV.
Already in 2014, the same voices you fall asleep
to have covered events in Dubai, Australia, USA,
Italy, Belgium and the UK. Radio Show Limited has
covered two 24 Hours races, two 12 hours races,
two 6 hours races and two 4 hours races plus 22
two-hour weekly shows, adding up to over 150
hours of LIVE broadcasting from 6 countries on 4
continents all BEFORE rolling in to Le Mans for
the test weekend!
So why is the Radio Show Limited team so much
in demand? Clearly the passion, enthusiasm and
knowledge of the presenters are very important.
But beyond that Radio Show Limited are the
world experts in producing integrated broadcast
solutions suitable for use in multiple media outlets.
At the 24-Hour race in Dubai and at the 6 Hours
of Silverstone the team were simultaneously;
International live TV sound, local and global
Internet radio and the track PA. Combined with
signicant cost savings over setting up several
dierent operations, broadcasting this way provides
a continuity of message for the event and sponsors
that cannot be delivered any other way.
Underlining the relevance of this strategy, the FIA
World Endurance Championship has appointed
Radio Show Limited as their ocial English
language broadcaster. Te good news is everyone
wins. Te event and sponsors get access to a
huge global audience on Radiolemans.com, TV
companies get informed commentary originating
trackside and the endurance racing fan thats you
get coverage from people who care and who are
immersed in the sport.
For the thousands of fans that follow the Le Mans
24 hours, tune into 91.2 FM at the circuit, and for
the millions online log on to the website,
www.radiolemans.com. One of the highlights of
the weekend is Racecar Engineerings own deputy
editor Sam Collins, who will be taking part in the
race show on Saturday and Sunday.
Introduction SP1_1
Construction SP1_3
Size SP1_4
Clear Space SP1_5
Shapes SP1_6
Colour SP1_7
Backgrounds SP1_8
Application: Print SP1_9
Application: Giveaways SP1_10
Usage: Athlete / Category Lockups SP1_11
Usage: Technology Logos SP1_12
Usage: Event Partners SP1_13
Usage: Retail Accounts SP1_1415
Usage Matrix SP1_16
Use in Text SP1_17
Trademark and Copyright SP1_18
Violations SP1_1921
CONSUMER COMMUNICATION
SPORT PERFORMANCE DIVISION
SPORT PERFORMANCE
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SP1_sportperformance 12/11/03 2:44 PM Page 1
Sponsored by
NISSAN DIG-T R ENGINE
64 LE MANS 2014
The detail in which we have examined
ways to remove weight is mad. I had an
engineer spend three days trying to remove a
golf ball size of material from the cylinder head,
just to be able to hit the target of 7kg.
We have implemented a way of removing
lots of material from the side of the head and
then we literally have 1mm of carbon covering
it all and keeping the oil in. The plenum is as
light as possible, so is mainly carbon. It is small
in volume just to be able to ft it in the car, and it
has a weird shape to be able to put it in the car.
There was no other place to put it, which is why
the throttle body is above everything. You have
to be uncompromising, and you fnish up with
nothing unnecessary!
One of the key problems with the three-
cylinder engine is the vibration. By the nature
of its design, the engine vibrates from side to
side and, with its light weight, the efect of the
vibrating force is felt all the more. It is quite
violent, because the heavier the part, the less
you feel the vibration as it is absorbed by the
momentum of the powertrain, says Martin. It
is vibrating rather a lot. It doesnt seem to be
such an issue. So far, it seems
to have withstood the test. The
battery is vibration insulated, so
it is not rigidly mounted in the
chassis it is able to isolate itself
from the vibration.
The engine is mounted
transversely due to the packaging
issue. In a confned space, we managed to ft
the engine, gear cluster, diferential, throttle
body, clutch and two e-motors are housed, adds
Martin. The turbo sits between the diferential
and the e-motors, creating an extremely hot
environment. RML has created its own heat
shielding which it believes works well.
The electronics for the entire car are serviced
by a single ECU, provided by MoTeC but with
software written in-house at RML by a code-
writing specialist brought in for the project. This
single ECU controls the DRS system, diferential
locking, the engine, and the automatic brake
balance as well as the EV systems (e-motor
controller and battery).
While brake-by-wire systems, used in
Formula 1 this year, are not allowed, there is an
electronic element to the braking system.
By regulation, there has to be a hard link
between the pedal and the brakes themselves,
but with such a large amount of regeneration
possible in the entire car, braking is proving
to be a particular problem. When you do
regenerative braking, there is a point where you
cannot recover any more energy, says Martin.
This is because the battery is full or you need to
reduce the pressure because of a driver request
in these conditions, you need to be able to shift
the brake balance. We do that by a brake-by-wire
system, which allows you to reduce the pressure
on the rear brake without changing the pedal
feel for the driver.
There is also the issue of running the car on
EV alone throughout the lap. The test car ran
in EV mode alone for parts of the lap during
the Le Mans test, while the race car, with more
appropriate batteries, was being prepared
for competition. Read about RMLs journey of
discovery into electric racing in the next edition
of Racecar Engineering.
I had an engineer spend three days
trying to remove a golf ball size of
material to hit the target 7kg
Top: the three-cylinder engine has undergone extensive testing and the team is confdent that it will produce the magic 400bhp required
Above: hollow centre crankshaft weighs in at 5.8kg 2.5kg lighter than that used in the DeltaWing engine
Right: a complete engine would ft into an overhead locker in an aircraft, such is its size. The team is confdent of reliability
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Engineering anytime, anywhere.
All the breaking news, technical
developments, race results and
rule changes as they happen.
S
crutineering at the top level of
motorsport can be an extremely
challenging exercise regulations
for race series demand a lot, and
with diferent manufacturers and engine
suppliers to contend with, theres a great deal
to keep tabs on.
Looking at mechanical parts, aerodynamics
and engines is difcult enough, but with
advances in computer control and systems, its
increasingly difcult to monitor the electronic
side of things. In some series, this has become
so impractical that a single-make electronic
system is the only way to make sure everything
is according to the regulations.
The World Endurance Championship is
a series where technical freedom is a big
deal fundamentally diferent technologies
are allowed to compete on the same track at
the same time, with excellent Equivalence of
Technology. In order to monitor all competitors,
each vehicle is ftted with a scrutineering
data logging solution that consists of a main
data logging and processing unit, data card
reader and two distinct wireless telemetry
solutions. Inputs to the main processor are
from CAN devices and direct sensor inputs. The
scrutineering system for each vehicle is checked
before every race to make sure all the systems
are working as expected. As well as having the
ability to send data wirelessly to the pits, the
teams are expected to upload data from their
systems throughout each race weekend. This
applies to practice sessions, qualifying and race.
CAN-do attitude
The direct sensors are used to independently
monitor drivetrain parameters as well as the
conditions inside the cockpit. Strict regulations
apply related to how hot it can be inside the
cars, so teams must run efcient air conditioning
systems, especially for races in warmer climates.
The sensors are all controlled, so that
each team has an identical set of them. CAN
buses are used extensively in the scrutineering
TECHNOLOGY DATABYTES
The World Endurance Championship relies
on a mountain of data being analysed quickly
and automated systems can help to decipher it
66 LE MANS 2014
How to deal
with all the data
Databytes provides
engineerswith essential
insights to help you to
improve your data analysis
skills, as Cosworths
electronics experts share
useful tips and tweaks
learned from years of
experience with data systems
Produced in association with Cosworth
Tel: +44 (0)1954 253600
Email: ceenquiries@cosworth.com
Website: www.cosworth.com
LE MANS 2014 67
How to deal
with all the data
The data is not only looked at
by individuals, but is also
processed automatically to provide
scrutineers with a quick overview
Figure 1: a simplifed schematic of the scrutineering system CAN bus layout
system. There are two diferent buses, one
is strictly for the race organiser to use and
a second one connects the scrutineering
solution to the vehicle control systems. A vast
amount of channel data is passed on from the
engine control unit on each car as well as other
systems. Systems included on the CAN buses
include torque sensor, fuel fow meters as well
as GPS and the leader light controller.
The data gathered during each session
is not only recorded in internal memory
and on a removable card there are also
two wireless solutions for transmitting data.
One is a conventional telemetry system that
continuously streams channel data back to the
pits and there is also an innovative solution
which provides small data packages through
the tracks timing system.
In the latter case, each time the car passes a
timing loop on the track, a short burst of data
is triggered and data is sent back through the
timing system transponder. This data is then
presented on a live readout showing maximum
and minimum values calculated by the main
scrutineering logger.
Drowning in data
As you might have gathered, there is an
awful lot of data presented by a system such
as this, and it would take an army of people to
trawl through all of it. However, the data here
is not only looked at by individuals but also
processed automatically to produce a trafc
light system which allows the scrutineers a
quick overview of all the cars in order to decide
which ones need a closer look.
This scrutineering solution has been in use
for several years now, and has proved its value
throughout its course. The above is more an
introduction of its main functions and does
not open the lid on many of the other
very clever bits that are used to detect any
anomalies. The system has grown extensively
since its incarnation, but is still nowhere near
reaching its technical limits.
Figure 2: example of how the main data logger calculates and then stores the maximum value of the cockpit temperature,
which can then be sent to the timing system at the appropriate moment
Figure 3: overview of a single class of cars red, yellow and green indicate the status of each car. Green indicates that there is
no issue or violation detected, yellow is when data is awaited, while red says a problem has been found
Audis V6 engine
Open-source data of the
R18Le Mans powerplant
Aston Martin
Hydrogen-powered Rapide
completes Nrburgring 24
Fuels of the future
A sustainable solution to
the fossil fuel dilemma?
Porsche 911 RSR
tackles the GT world
Leading-Edge Motorsport Technology Since 1990
July 2013 Vol 23 No7 www.racecar-engineering.com UK 5.50 US $13.50
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