What is Aston Martin up to?

[anthonyvop]

A photo of the engine out of the chassis.



From the team

Aston Martin AMR-One Development Update - Le Mans

La Sarthe, 8 June 2011. Aston Martin Racing, alongside customer teams Kronos Racing, Jota Sport and Gulf AMR Middle East, continued their preparations for the Le Mans 24 Hours in the first free-practice and night-time qualifying session at the Circuit de la Sarthe today.

During the two sessions, the two Aston Martin Racing petrol-powered LMP1 prototypes continued their extremely ambitious development programme as the team builds towards its first 24-hour race with the open-cockpit AMR-One.

With the project signed off in September last year, the team was fully aware of the daunting task ahead, but it was deemed important to run in front of the thousands of fans from all over the world who support the marque.

Both cars were run conservatively in order to evaluate their continued development. Christian Klien, (A) Stefan Mücke (D) and Darren Turner (GB), in the 007 car, reported very positively on AMR-One’s handling and balance. The data-gathering exercise in what is the first year of the AMR-One programme included aerodynamic set-up work, as well as fuel-consumption and tyre-pressure testing. Towards the end of the night session, 007 incurred an engine problem which is being investigated overnight.
The sister 009 car, driven by Adrian Fernandez (MX), Andy Meyrick (GB) and Harold Primat (CH), experienced a minor oil-system problem, but the car was ready again for the start of the first night-time qualifying session between 22:00 and midnight.

The two-hour session gave the team further time to evaluate the cars and the set-up for the race.
Aston Martin Racing Chairman David Richards said: “We always knew this weekend was going to be challenging given the limited testing to date. We are learning something every lap we put on the cars and we hope that things become a little easier as the weekend progresses. But, knowing Le Mans, that is somewhat unlikely!”

Official partner team Kronos/MarcVDS Racing, with their aim of finishing the gruelling 24 hours, had a successful session, placing 13th in class and 18th overall. Jota Sport in the GTE-Pro category, with their V8-powered Vantage, ran faultlessly and finished 10th in class, just 2.3 seconds off the provisional polesitter. Gulf AMR Middle East was 3rd quickest in the GTE-Am class, only nine-tenths off the provisional pacesetter, but sustained damage from a P1 runner that put it out of the session.

[Acid09]

If a race horse is no good, they put it to sleep.

I think it's time to shoot the AMR One in the face...seriously, this thing will never be competitive (as in "able to compete with Pescacrolo and their tiny budget)

And please, don't start with "it needs development time", what race car has ever made up ten seconds of speed difference with development?

The effort they put in to improve this embarrasment is wasted money, they´d be better of scrapping it and starting from scratch.

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by Acid09

If a race horse is no good, they put it to sleep.

You don't shoot a newborn little horsey, do you?

I say that lap time is very impressive considering a truly pedestrian straight line speed of 288km/h. If the project was indeed hopeless they'd shelve it by now. But we don't know the cars expected performance once it's sorted and runs at full swing.

What's really disappointing is the pace of Kronos-VDS car.

[reef1234]

Think you will find the car was one of the fastest through Porsche Curves. Chassis side is good just needs time on the engine front.....

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Originally Posted by Pandamasque

You don't shoot a newborn little horsey, do you?

I say that lap time is very impressive considering a truly pedestrian straight line speed of 288km/h. If the project was indeed hopeless they'd shelve it by now. But we don't know the cars expected performance once it's sorted and runs at full swing.

What's really disappointing is the pace of Kronos-VDS car.

You don't, but you hardly take him to the races either.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by reef1234

Think you will find the car was one of the fastest through Porsche Curves. Chassis side is good just needs time on the engine front.....

So by how much then is it down on power (estimate?).

[NightStalk3r]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

So by how much then is it down on power (estimate?).

must be only putting out 100hp if the car is that quick in the corners.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Why is the Kronos Lola Aston Martin so damn slow? The Muscle Milk Aston was on Audi and Peugeot pace at Sebring when Luhr and Graf were in the car, and Lucas said he was even able to keep up with the Audi on the straights. Not to mention stretching out to over a minute lead at Long Beach.

[NightStalk3r]

because bas, max and vanina are not luhr of graf?

[BRG]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

So by how much then is it down on power (estimate?).

Last night i guess they had about 420-450bhp
Other petrol cars about 550bhp

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

because bas, max and vanina are not luhr of graf?

Vanina obviously isnt and while Bas and Maxime are not anywhere near as good as Luhr or Graf they are still pretty good and it doesnt explain why the car is almost 10 seconds off the fastest petrol car, slower than some of the LMP2 cars and guys like Miguel Amaral are able to put in much faster laps than Bas or Maxime.

[NightStalk3r]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Vanina obviously isnt and while Bas and Maxime are not anywhere near as good as Luhr or Graf they are still pretty good and it doesnt explain why the car is almost 10 seconds off the fastest petrol car, slower than some of the LMP2 cars and guys like Miguel Amaral are able to put in much faster laps than Bas or Maxime.

Amaral has had a lot of experience in the Zytek, Bas and Max are new to LMP1 and the team are new to the Aston.

[tux]

I dont understand the moaning about the Kronos car? It spent about an hour in the pits replacing a drive shaft, when it came out they just wanted every driver to do 3 laps in the dark. As you can see today they are on the petrol pace.

As for the AMR One it must be really really down on power to be 40km/h down on the straight.

[Victor_RO]

And now the old Lola-Aston is in 8th place on the grid, just a few tenths off the old Pescarolo. And far ahead of the works Astons.

[BRG]

will they turn up the boost for qualifying 3, before they put the race engines in

[Rodger Davies]

just out of interest, is this the end of the Young Driver Vantage GTE project then? Seems cruel that two fantastic looking GT efforts have been kept out of the race by the insistence on keeping these two P1 test-beds (that's being kind) in the field for the first few laps, the Robertsons deserve better.

[Asa]

The AMR-One is hopeless. It is not like it is at Le Mans straight out of the box, it has run at Paul Ricard and tested at Monza, yet it is something like 20 seconds off the pace. How it can ever crawl back the huge difference I have no idea.

Clearly a case of marketing leading engineering in the design of a race car.

[Porsche917K]

Originally Posted by Rodger Davies

just out of interest, is this the end of the Young Driver Vantage GTE project then? Seems cruel that two fantastic looking GT efforts have been kept out of the race by the insistence on keeping these two P1 test-beds (that's being kind) in the field for the first few laps, the Robertsons deserve better.

I completely agree, and am very sad to see the pro robertson racing car sitting this out. I really think it could be competitive with the straight line power that it has, and a strong driver line up.

[reef1234]

So the fact AMR has produced some great cars since 2004 and produced some great racing against the likes of Corvette and more recently in LMP1 they aren't allowed any grace with the new car... Get really the whole concept is so new it will take time.

[Accident]

Originally Posted by reef1234

So the fact AMR has produced some great cars since 2004 and produced some great racing against the likes of Corvette and more recently in LMP1 they aren't allowed any grace with the new car... Get really the whole concept is so new it will take time.

I sorta agree with them...

Yeah, it is a new car and it needs time, but it should get that time in testing, not using a race with a limited number of entries as a glorified test session... especially when the teams that are being denied are "ready" for the race, having done proper testing and preparation and have cars that are capable of going the distance (or at least a hell of a lot further than the Astons most likely will).

Not meaning to knock the Aston guys too hard, but the car isn't ready yet.

[MitchZ06]

I think alot of people will dry up the worlds supply of humble pie if Aston finishes decently.

[Thin Green]

Not meaning to knock the Aston guys too hard, but the car isn't ready yet.[/QUOTE]


If it ain't ready, don't race it. In the 2007-2009 period, Pesca, Oreca, Zytek, Creation, Embassy, Radical, Epsilon all designed and built cars in the off season. And they were quick out of the box and they probably had less resources.

This car is as close as one can get to a big mistake. Apart from looking awful, it is slow. All these excuses about power etc are simply that--excuses for building an awful car. It is an embarrassment and the sooner it is parked in a dark garage, the better. Then through away the keys.

It is 4.5% slower than the Rebellion Toyota through the Porsche curves. That would only make it 10 seconds of the Rebellion over a lap! Good handling???

I guess there is room for development--keep the steering wheel and build a new car around it.

These cars get my vote for the first two retirees.

[haribo]

If they did spectacularly bad at Le Mans this year, would they be in danger of not even getting an invite next year?

[Thin Green]

Originally Posted by haribo

If they did spectacularly bad at Le Mans this year, would they be in danger of not even getting an invite next year?

I hope so.

They set up their stall as a top flight manufacturer.

As such, they should have scratched--and let others play.

They now risk destroying their reputation and that of the Aston Martin Brand

The Lavaggi was better in its day and probably would be faster than the AMR-One is now

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by Thin Green

It is 4.5% slower than the Rebellion Toyota through the Porsche curves. That would only make it 10 seconds of the Rebellion over a lap! Good handling???

Please, buy a new calculator. The difference is a difference of a bit more than 3%. Mucke did the Porsche curves in 17.340 sec (practice) and Bleekemolen in 16.800 sec (qualifying 3).

To put this into perspective the best Porsche curves times for some other LMP1 petrol cars:

• #13 Rebellion: 17.080 (qualifying 3)
• #16 Pescarolo: 17.010 (qualifying 2)
• #20 Zytek: 17.536 (qualifying 2)
• #22 Lola-Aston Martin: 17.875 (qualifying 2)

The AMR-One is not bad in the Porsche curves. The Aston Martin drivers have said in interviews that they are happy with the balance and handling of the car.

They loose everything on the straights. They have a top speed of only 290 km/h while the other LMP1 petrols reach 315-320 km/h. They don't have the power to overtake the GTE cars