Pescarolo's Courage C60s

[isynge]

First post here on Motorsport History - and genuinely hoping I don't come across as someone who's missed something crushingly obvious...

I appreciate this is potentially stretching the accepted boundary of history but as the cars are not racing any more and are, in all likelihood, eligible for a historic series somewhere here probably a better bet than the Sportscar and GT forum.

One thing that's consistently perplexed me is why Pescarolo's C60s ran with a single cockpit position / roll protection at Le Mans but when they appeared in the FIA Sportscar Championship they had full two seater roll hoops.

A couple of photos illustrate the situation quite neatly

At Le Mans in 2003, with the "cleaner" lines
http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-05-04-018.jpg

At Spa 2002 in the FIA series
http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-09-22-016.jpg

Apologies for the photos coming from different years, there's a good illustrative photo of a Pescarolo Courage with the full roll hoop at Donington in 2003 on Daily Sportscar, but as they haven't cast their archives open yet I don't think it's particularly helpful (or smiled upon) to post a link to a subscription site.

I could readily appreciate that this was an FIA regulation thing but the Racing for Holland Domes in particular didn't seem to have to jump through this particular hoop (no pun intended). Given that Henri clearly modified his cars for Le Mans why revert for the FIA series - as surely the aerodynamic efficiency was less with the full-on roll protection, to say nothing of not looking nearly as appealing.

Any insights gratefully received.

[AMICALEMANS]

It is just a matter of reglementation for Le Mans

[John Turner]

isynge, you're absolutely right that this is now history, but since it is so recent, I think that the folks in the Sportscar and GT forum may have a better 'handle' on this, so let's give them first go at this!

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by isynge

One thing that's consistently perplexed me is why Pescarolo's C60s ran with a single cockpit position / roll protection at Le Mans but when they appeared in the FIA Sportscar Championship they had full two seater roll hoops.

I could readily appreciate that this was an FIA regulation thing but the Racing for Holland Domes in particular didn't seem to have to jump through this particular hoop

Any insights gratefully received.

isynge, at risk of ending up with egg on my face (yet again ), I'll have a stab at this one for you.

I believe the disparity you refer to in the specification between the Pescarolo C60 and the Dome S101 was dictated by FIA SCC regulations based upon the year of the car's manufacture. Under FIA SCC regulations at the time, cars built prior to 2002 had to adopt a symmetrical rear rollover structure to either side of the centre line of the cockpit. For cars built in 2002 (and beyond), FIA SCC regulations for the car's rollover structures came into line with ACO regs. If the Dome's were built in 2002, Bob's your uncle and there's your answer, if not............

[isynge]

Cheers Bentley - it does appear to make a degree of sense (the explanation that is!). The regulations appear to be a touch apse over nave, so to speak, but there you go.

Looking at the Spa 1000km in 2003 it looks as though the Goh R8 which won the event didn't have the supplementary rollover structure either - was it given a dispensation or was nobody really caring in the last days of the FIA SCC?

[KA]

You're right about it coming down to the difference in rules. The original Lammers and Nielsen Domes first appeared in 2001, so according to how you describe the rules definitely had to run full-width rollbars in the FIASCC. The Pescarolo C60's were presumably 2001 chassis, as the works C60's in 2002 ran 'ACO' hoops.

Lammers, Spa 2001

http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-05-13-008.jpg


The ORECA Dallara in it's FIA outings did the same- full-width hoop in FIA races, and single-hoop in ACO ones

Examples from Estoril 2002-

Lammers
http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-04-14-008.jpg

works C60
http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-04-14-013.jpg

ORECA
http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-04-14-014.jpg

Pescarolo
http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-04-14-016.jpg

More to follow, as it might not be that straightforward....

[KA]

Originally Posted by isynge

Cheers Bentley - it does appear to make a degree of sense (the explanation that is!). The regulations appear to be a touch apse over nave, so to speak, but there you go.

Looking at the Spa 1000km in 2003 it looks as though the Goh R8 which won the event didn't have the supplementary rollover structure either - was it given a dispensation or was nobody really caring in the last days of the FIA SCC?

The R8 might well have had a dispensation, although you could easily be right about nobody caring, as RfH ran ACO single hoops at Spa, and Pescarolo ran a full hoop,
http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-08-31-016.jpg

despite having apparently run in ACO form at Estoril earlier in the year...

http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-04-13-016.jpg

where conversely, RfH had run in 'FIA' trim at Estoril...

Estoril http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-04-13-001.jpg
Spa http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-08-31-001.jpg

Now I'm puzzled- could it simply be Pescarolo using different chassis on these two occasions, or had the FIA scrutineers just taken an attitude of 'to hell with it' on this issue in 03?

[Félix]

I seem to remember that in 2002, there were provisions in the rules (maybe not printed in the official document) for different restrictor sizes depending on weather they were running single or phony double hoops. I read something where Yves Courage mentionnied it.

BTW the double hoops on all those cars were just carbon "covers" with nothing underneath, installed there to affect the airflow like other cars (-5% rear downforce) The only cars that were ever converted from single to twin structural hoop were the Ascari (2002 season) and the first Dallara chassis (LM201 to Doran)