Pescarolo and a car maker?

[DanJR1]

i reakon honda/acura. n e 1 else?

[The Badger]

Nissan !!

[GT6]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Nissan !!

? Isn't that owned by Renault now

[Speed-King]

Where is the info about Pesca and a car maker from? There's nothing at DSC, EI or Project Lemans...

[DanJR1]

autosport this week. pescarolo said that they would only commit if the diesel vs. petrol issue was sorted but both parties were interested in each other. Honda/acura (just for the way they are working in the ALMS at the mo), Mazda, maybe even toyota? especially with the competition between honda and themselves

[Speed-King]

Very interesting. There's the rumor about another factory team coming to LMS after Le Mans, and I guess it's not Audi. Maybe these two puzzel pieces fit together?

[gwyllion]

This surely give Henri Pescarolo more lobbying power to change the rules after Le Mans (or at the end of this year).

[brielga]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Very interesting. There's the rumor about another factory team coming to LMS after Le Mans, and I guess it's not Audi. Maybe these two puzzel pieces fit together?

I saw ACO people saying that that "new"manufacturer was Audi in Motors TV Endurance mag some weeks ago... guess they are betting in the Joest car with Luhr-Rockenfeller probably. The Pesca thing sounds interesting and moreover he deserves such an opportunity!!

[DanJR1]

any informed guesses on pescarolo's potential partner?

[TheNewBob]

Doubt very much it would be Acura/Honda, as mentioned earlier. They seem to be pretty well attached to Courage, it afterall being the base of their LMP2 efforts (and, unless I'm mistaken, they said they'd make their own car if they went P1).

[Ranald]

I thought that Acura made it pretty clear that they were using the Courage and Lolas as a basis to learn and develop. They would then go onto P1 with their OWN chassis.

[Truckosaurus]

So, how come the Courage chassis is now listed as an Acura chassis, not the Lola isn't? (Or is it just that Courage don't care about the re-naming and Lola do).

[The359]

The Lola hasn't been extensivly modified like the Courage because Fernandez is concentrating on engine development I believe.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Truckosaurus

So, how come the Courage chassis is now listed as an Acura chassis, not the Lola isn't? (Or is it just that Courage don't care about the re-naming and Lola do).

The Courages are Acura's chassis developement program and have already been heavily modified and re-homologated as Acura ARX-01A's.

The Lola is the engine mule and will not be modified in the chassis, to compare the engine to other engines running in the Lola chassis.

L.P.

[isynge]

Left field thought on Pescarolo's potential partner - Porsche.

Pescarolo's a slick outfit that can develop and race a car - much like Penske have been able to do in the ALMS, Collard and Dumas are Porsche factory drivers, and Henri's comments about something having to be done about the diesel equivalency fit very well with Porsche's approach.

[The359]

Henri Pescarolo's also been a long time Porsche runner.

[Aysedasi]

I like the sound of that!

[Mirage M6]

I don´t like all those stories...I think Pescarolo is a great team, with very professional people. They did incredible things since 2000: 2 LMS championships, 2º Le Mans 05 and 06, and the most important thing: Pescarolo is the only team -a small team- that has called Audi supremacy into question. And their new car promise a lot, I sure we'II see in the future.

I know, the team needs more money, and the rules have to change for have the possibility to win Le Mans (and maybe LMS 07), but in my opinion it isn´t a good idea to lose Pescarolo's identity.

[The359]

Originally Posted by Mirage M6

and the most important thing: Pescarolo is the only team -a small team- that has called Audi supremacy into question.

Zytek might debate that

[dj choc ice]

Originally Posted by The359

Zytek might debate that

indeed, as could dyson's MG's at certain tracks as well like mosport in terms of speed.

also i think creation autosportif and team jota may have something to say as well.

[brielga]

Pesca-Porsche....hummmm..sounds very good. Same deal as Penske but on LMP1?

[isynge]

I think the issue here isn't so much whether Pescarolo have been the only challenge to Audi over the last few years, but rather Mirage M6's worry that we'll lose a small team that can humble manufacturers.

I'm ambivalent about this. I've a real fondness for Henri as a driver and as a team owner, and as I've posted elsewhere, I'd love to see him win through as a privateer, and Joest lost a lot of their appeal when they became a factory outfit. That said, teams come and go - just look at the "favourite Porsche team" to see that sadly, in sportscars, the half life of teams really isn't that long (Kremer, Brun, RLR, etc) and if, rather than petering out, we saw a Pescarolo-Porsche competing seriously with works Audis, Peugeots, and Acura/Hondas then I think we could be in for a real spectacle.

That said, if it's a Pescarolo-Hyundai then to be honest I'm not going be sorry either. The very fact that we're now getting this level of manufacturer interest makes me confident we're going to have the pleasure of watching long-distance sportscar racing on a professional level for a while to come, and that doesn't make me grumble.

[Félix]

I think it's more likely to be a Creation-AIM type of deal, especially if it can happen that rapidly. Pescarolo is developping new parts for its car and I don't see that fitting at all with an hypothetical Porsche P1 program that already has another very different good P2 chassis to start from. The Cosworth engine is still out there, very ready and certainly a lot more "manufacturer badgeable" than anything out there... and even there, it means completely retuning the Pescarolo chassis for turbo power.

An all new unit could also happen from some manufacturer... I don't know what politics are like at Renault-Nissan but Le Mans is a different bang-for-the-buck compared to F1, and Peugeot must tease them a littlle... Audi could keep on giving away FSI V8s, maybe badging them differently... BMW Motorsport would have to find some place for a Le Mans engine program alongside their numerous other activities... Mercedes is already very hot in F1 and DTM... the American manufacturers are alll deeply not profitable and don't quite fit with Pescarolo or Le Mans... Toyota has giant pockets, some interesting French motorsport projects (Ice Racing with Prost/Oreca) and could want to mount a Le Mans assault using Henri's experience... Honda is already on its own way with the Acura project but that's only Honda North America money and R&D for now; maybe the P1 unit could be used in a parallel European project too... and Hyundai/Kia is growing very rapidly and has a rumored development program that supposedly was getting them to F1 around 2000 and could be developping some unexpected Le Mans engine somehow... Aston Martin or Ferrari could be the answer if someone very rich wants a big V12 developped to win Le Mans and needs a fast proven chassis...

I surely hope it happens, but it could all be some rumor with not much truth behind it...

[TheNewBob]

I think one thing we do have to remember, upon reading the initial article, is that none of this will happen unless diesels and petrols are made equal. Maybe Henri's pessimism that diesels still hold the huge advantage is prompting him to point out that not everyone wants a diesel, and some manufacturers are being put off by the lack of equality.

[Speed-King]

As Felix mentioned Mercedes and DTM: Would it be possible to put a DTM engine into an LMP and be competitive? I think with the restrictors off they are at 500hp and them being 4L engines one could also add a turbo. They are also quite reliable as they have to last IIRC a whole DTM-season, that's like 12 hrs of racing plus a lot more for practise.