Lola LMP2 news...

[marcush.]

so with the lola girl sold this would make for a good downpayment for something real.... looking forward to hear the news..good luck to you !!

[FIRE]

On Mulsanne's Corner photo's of a 50% scalemodel.

[JAG]

The cars bodywork is super compact and low slung. They even have boywork buldges to clear the suspension!

[mikmx]

Very nice car but a complete 2005 season including Le Mans will be too soon for this car. They need a good team like tracsport to test it in LMES this year.

[RickP:Clio51]

Sadly LMES is all over for this year Mikmx!
But I appreciate the sentiment...
Of the cars we've looked at, the Lola is by far the most expensive, probably prohibitively so for us.

[marcush.]

oops..I would have thought they would not exceed Courages
asking price.
So who would buy it without knowing it is the car you have to have?
Obviously it is more adventurous then the french car in terms of rule interpretation with respect to the side pontoons,but it remains to be seen if it is that superior.
It looks a bit like the Piper design study in that area i´d say...
So Tracsport will go the courage route I´d think,especially with the carrot of a LM entry dangling in front of it?

[RickP:Clio51]

I'm not involved with the discussions, but given that the Courage is a proven package and is likely to be the most popular choice with the ACO I would imagine that if the funding can be raised that would be the choice. From what I understand the Lola is about 15% more expensive, the Pilbeam about 10% cheaper... and given that we only have 5 (or 6) races next year and are unlikely to have any testing budget, we probably wouldn't be able to afford the time to run an unproven car.

[marcush.]

that´s the point.
you don´t need potentially fast but fragile
you need speedwise there and a proven package.

[RickP:Clio51]

Guys, it looks like the Ingram family have pulled off a miracle once again. I'm told discussions are complete, funding is in place and to imminently expect the conclusion of a deal to acquire a Courage.
I must admit when I ran the numbers last week and we started this topic I thought it might be tough given the expense of these new LMP2 chassis, but these guys are committed to being in LMES next year, and I'm aiming to be there with them!
You heard it here first...

[iucrmh]

Best of luck to you Rick and the guys from TracSport. Your team were a real credit to the LMES series at the autograph signing at the Silverstone round. Good luck with the Courage, lets hope that may mean a trip to Le Mans as well.

[marcush.]

Glad to hear that good news ,Rick!
A courage...Congratulations !Looking forward to see you up the grid then next year!

[tblincoe]

i could see tracsport going the courage route, and i think it is a good fit for the team. it is a proven car and has run well on the LMES tracks so far, what engine would they run in the car though?

[paul-collins]

Originally posted by marcush.
oops..I would have thought they would not exceed Courages
asking price.

Let's not forget the Lola will be a true P2, whilst the Courage is an hybrid. Longer service live to amortize the purchase price over...

[skycafe]

Hey Rick, that is great news! Glad to hear you guys will be back on the grid.

[BSchneiderFan]

Are all of the C65s sold going to end up with AER engines? Bit of variety would be nice. Porsche flat-six, anyone?

[RickP:Clio51]

Courage is a hybrid in that it was built for one set of rules and then rebuilt, but it is fully eligible, it's not like an SR2 that will be obsolete at the end of the year.
Engines, I have no clue yet... the chassis tested had the 4 cylinder turbo AER in it and I'd imagine we'd aim to go the same route.

[paul-collins]

Rick, the Courage should be obsolete at the end of 2006, though, right?

It doesn't conform to the safety regs (passenger rollhoop), and if I'm not mistaken the tub was crash tested as an P675, not P2.

So it's fully eligible as a P2 until the end of '06 under the hybrid rules.

[paul-collins]

ART. 19 . HYBRID CAR
Cars built before 01/01/2004 in compliance with the 2003 ACO technical regulations for LMP and LMGTP cars, may be modified in order to comply completely with the present regulations.

The modifications do not concern article 14.1.5 (cockpit opening and volume), 15.4 (headrest and head protection), 16.1 (rollover structures) and 16.2 (survival cell and frontal protection) of the present regulations.

Modifications to the bodywork must:

• Permit to integrate the secondary rollover structure (article 16.1.2. above) ;
• be exclusively designed and made by the manufacturer of the car, who must register with the ACO a detailed technical dossier describing the whole of these modifications.

These Hybrid cars will be allowed until 31/12/2006

[RickP:Clio51]

You're absolutely right, in theory yes...
I understand we can expect the hybrids to be around quite a bit longer than that given the support the ACO is giving the category. Only the decline of the SR2's is def. for now.

[Pete Fenelon]

Originally posted by PaulSands
Tracsport have been testing a Courage at Le Mans

I'd love to see Tracsport running the Courage, but if the money's too tight to get the best out of their Lola.... isn't a higher-tech car like the Courage going to be even more expensive to run?

[RickP:Clio51]

Well given our performance with the Lola, we have a good chance of a Le Mans entry with a Courage which will give us a more attractive package to offer sponsors... allowing us a better running budget and more track time.
To answer Paul, there is going to be an update for the Courage which will make it fully eligible as opposed to a hybrid at some point in the couple couple of years.
Cheers

[paul-collins]

Well, I suppose if the hybrids' life span is extended, it's only fair. After all, the P900/675 life span was extended over here.

Given that a P2 hybrid is already shown to be faster than the SR2 (witness the Miracle Courage vs the Intersport Lola, and believing that the drivers in the Lola were faster), I don't see why anyone would want to run old grandfathered machinery next year, even if the '04-'05 penalties aren't implemented.

Now if someone could just step up and do the same for P1... Nasamax haven't proven the point yet.

[paul-collins]

The update will have to include a new tub, right?

It seems to me to be a sensible investment path to purchase the car in instalments.

Good luck, Rick. Get your butt in that seat!

[RickP:Clio51]

As I understand no... but I don't have any further details. Don't forget Courage and the ACO are pretty close (spelt really really)...
I imagine the rules won't be set to hurt them.
Instalments? No-one mentioned instalmants. The car will be wholely owned by the team from day 1.

[paul-collins]

By instalments, I meant "this year we buy the hybrid, in '07 we buy the tub..."