Acura/HPD's future plans

[HORNDAWG]

In an interview with G.Kirby, Robert Clarke has shed some more light on the plans of Acura as it pertains to "LMP" racing and other aspects as well, including possible GT program.

Via Mariantic Part 1 and Part 2

L.P.

[SebringMG]

Very interesting Hope they continue along the route they have taken!

Also very damning of the Courage chassis

[JAG]

Wow, let's hope Oreca make similar gains with Courage!

Honda Motor has a strong interest in Le Mans but they only want to go if we can showcase some unique Honda technology and our initial effort in P1 will be pretty conventional

.

[minimangler]

Showcase Honda tech... They want to bring hybrids, perhaps? Would they get a rules break like diesels do? A hybrid would be great news for LM24, IMO.

Or maybe they'll make another one of those humanoid robots and run round for 24 hours...

[Zytek_Fan]

Zytek is supposed to be working on a gas (natural gas) electric hybrid...

[minimangler]

Originally Posted by Zytek_Fan

Zytek is supposed to be working on a gas (natural gas) electric hybrid...

ooohhh....that'd be weird...ive heard electirc usually is used at slow speeds; so a hybrid engine might make sense in a Lucchini (sorry, couldn't miss out) but there seems little point now i think about it. Would mash batteries pretty fast.

[zac510]

Originally Posted by SebringMG

Also very damning of the Courage chassis

Indeed. I wonder why they didn't switch their attention to the Lola chassis after realising the Courage shortcomings so early?

[minimangler]

Well courage haven't been ridiculously crap with it...

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by minimangler

Well courage haven't been ridiculously crap with it...

11th and 12th, out of 13, for the season is not even average so .......

L.P.

[TWK]

Originally Posted by zac510

Indeed. I wonder why they didn't switch their attention to the Lola chassis after realising the Courage shortcomings so early?

Because they have no interest in running anyone's chassis other than their own? Any chassis is a short term development "lab." In fact the Lola is dropped for 2008.

The Courage worked as well as anything for a development/learning platform. (Perhaps even better, since there is more to be learned making massive improvements to something than running and making small improvements to something else that's already pretty good.)

The Lola provided a "baseline" for their engine development, they had no plan to mess with it.

[zac510]

Fair call.

[knighty]

so Acuras LMP2 motor IS based on an IRL motor.......I bleedin new it!

"The naturally-aspirated Acura V-8 engine is based on an old IRL design and is the first engine developed entirely by HPD. "The engine was really the strength of the program this year," Clarke observed. "We were pleasantly surprised. We had zero engine problems through the season which is quite remarkable, particularly with three teams. So because we had such good reliability I think you'll see us be a bit more risky this year and crank up the performance a bit. At the same time, we're trying to get weight out of the engine and the chassis."

[SebringMG]

Originally Posted by minimangler

ooohhh....that'd be weird...ive heard electirc usually is used at slow speeds; so a hybrid engine might make sense in a Lucchini (sorry, couldn't miss out) but there seems little point now i think about it. Would mash batteries pretty fast.

Err no! The electric motors are used to assist the petrol motor during acceleration - instant torque from an electric motor so you could see a massive increase in acceleration compared to a normal petrol car - should have more torque than the diesels too

As regards the batteries they are recharged during braking...

Potentially a great little system - bit heavy possibly atm

[gwyllion]

As studies from F1 teams have shown flywheel solutions are more suitable. See latest Racecar Engineering on Flybrid

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by SebringMG

Err no! The electric motors are used to assist the petrol motor during acceleration - instant torque from an electric motor so you could see a massive increase in acceleration compared to a normal petrol car - should have more torque than the diesels too

As regards the batteries they are recharged during braking...

Potentially a great little system - bit heavy possibly atm

The technology sounds very very intesting. The more technology, the more parts and the more moving parts, more to go wrong or break.

time will tell with this technology. It will be interesting . . .

[dj choc ice]

Originally Posted by AU N EGL

The technology sounds very very intesting. The more technology, the more parts and the more moving parts, more to go wrong or break.

time will tell with this technology. It will be interesting . . .

the best thing about a hybrid is that hopefully paired with a petrol engine it will still have a ear shredding and heavenly exhaust note unlike the diesels, if the hybrid project is done by honda imo it probably wont go wrong, its been implemented in the civic in japan and america for a while i believe?

[knighty]

I think the chances of an electric-hybrid being sucessfully raced in and LMP are very slim, they are too heavy and bulky.......other technologies are now available that store more energy for less weight......which in racing is the holy grail, it will be either Hydraulic or Flywheel .......I know the Flywheel system looks fancy, but I strongly suspect everyone will soon go Hydraulic, McLaren did it about 6 years ago, and the FIA soon banned it!........ my spies at .......oops, cant tell you .......tell me Hydraulic is the way........the hydraulic system is very simple compared to the flywheel system.

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by knighty

I think the chances of an electric-hybrid being sucessfully raced in and LMP are very slim, they are too heavy and bulky......

That is what I was thinking too.

[minimangler]

I like how a completely ungrounded suggestion by an 18 year old with no experience gathered such pace...

but i think it's honda's kinda thing, and could work very much for them.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by SebringMG

instant torque from an electric motor should have more torque than the diesels too

So they would need one hell of a gearbox and possibily traction control too ?

[The Badger]

I cant see how Acura can slag off the LC75 chassis that much..... Jean Marc Gounon proved its speed several times this year , but reliability was another issue altogether .

So , its obviously a quick car already .

[Hugewally]

Maybe its in relation to the competition it was 'proved' against?

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by Hugewally

Maybe its in relation to the competition it was 'proved' against?

What ..... Porsche !!!

If their judgeing it against the Spyder , i reckon they did very well indeed . What did they expect to do , beat it in their first year ?

[Hugewally]

lol

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally Posted by The Badger

What ..... Porsche !!!

If their judgeing it against the Spyder , i reckon they did very well indeed . What did they expect to do , beat it in their first year ?

Perhaps they didnt expect it to beat the Spyder's but they could certainly have expected it to be competitve and it was for the most part, personally though I think the Lola was the better car.