What is Aston Martin up to?

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by courageous

Can't help but wonder if the no show from the Kronos Lola-Aston (and pull out from the Le mans reserve list it would seem) might have been due to a quiet word.

Not going to Sebring (where the car couldn't have been much worse) of course also allowed them not having to face the old car also

Sorry, my inner cynic gets a hold of me sometimes

Nope - just no budget

[pederb]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

One of the two took a big hit at the start and suffered throughout the race as a result - Hardly Aston's fault

Sorry did not know that, have been able to find a recording of the race yet.

What happen to the other car?

Cheers

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by pederb

Sorry did not know that, have been able to find a recording of the race yet.

What happen to the other car?

Cheers

It led GTE Pro for a while - ran solidly in the top three but then had a engine bay belt mounting shear

[WMUCarGuy]

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

According to the Aston Martin racing site the car is doing better than expected so far. As has been said, its very early stages for the car and it would be foolish to jump to conclusions regarding the cars apparant lack of pace so far. IMO. Here is the article im reffering to if anyone wants to have a read. http://www.astonmartinracing.com/new...4-04a19108266f

Yea, but at the same time, you're not going to announce to the world what a bad state your program is in your own PR...

[rustycrankshaft]

Originally Posted by BRG

I think the fin and front fenders should be pale blue

Exactly my thoughts, I think fundementally the car looks good but it let down by the hideous orange fin. Pale blue would go a long way towards disguising this

[Le Vieux]

Amidst all this talk of expectations, we should remember that, irrespective of what Aston Martin expect, the fans expect - and in some cases have paid - to see a motor race. Aston Martin seem not to have been racing at Ricard last weekend, merely carrying out a test session whilst a race was going on.

We're four weeks away from Spa where I expect to see Peugeot or Audi, for example, at the front of the field, making minor changes to find the odd tenth of a second, not at the back of the P1 field still trying to find whole seconds to get the car up to a competitive speed.

If you were buying any product, you would expect it to be capable of doing the job and that the manufacturer would have refined it by the time it was available to the public. Aston have done themselves no favours by trying to rush the P1 and by prematurely "releasing" it to the public. They should have continued testing behind closed doors until it was deemed capable of lapping in competitive times somewhere near the front.

Having said all that, I hope they sort themselves out quickly and that we soon see them challenging the diesels.

.

[Le Vieux]

Ooops. Double Post.

.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Le Vieux

Amidst all this talk of expectations, we should remember that, irrespective of what Aston Martin expect, the fans expect - and in some cases have paid - to see a motor race. Aston Martin seem not to have been racing at Ricard last weekend, merely carrying out a test session whilst a race was going on.

We're four weeks away from Spa where I expect to see Peugeot or Audi, for example, at the front of the field, making minor changes to find the odd tenth of a second, not at the back of the P1 field still trying to find whole seconds to get the car up to a competitive speed.

If you were buying any product, you would expect it to be capable of doing the job and that the manufacturer would have refined it by the time it was available to the public. Aston have done themselves no favours by trying to rush the P1 and by prematurely "releasing" it to the public. They should have continued testing behind closed doors until it was deemed capable of lapping in competitive times somewhere near the front.

Having said all that, I hope they sort themselves out quickly and that we soon see them challenging the diesels.

.

Not sure I wholly agree here. I'm with you on wanting to see a battle at the front and cars challenging for the win, but if we can't have that I'd rather have a car on the track going round and looking as decent as possible. In the past I've been disappointed in teams that chose to test behind closed doors rather than racing, and I've got to give a bit of credit to Aston Martin for having the courage to expose themselves to this level of scrutiny.

In terms of spectacle at Ricard, I honestly don't think the Aston Martin did anything to detract from the show.

As people said right at the outset of the Peugeot programme in 2007, they had limited chance of winning Le Mans in June, and by not going to Sebring they reduced that chance from slim to nonexistent. I'm not saying the AMR-One is a 905 - but ultimately getting the data from racing will tell them things, especially when it seems to be combined a solid traditional test programme.

[gwyllion]

Andy Meyrick reports that they are testing for a 2nd day at Paul Ricard: http://twitter.com/AndyMeyrick/status/55536487931973632

[Lola T70]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

Andy Meyrick reports that they are testing for a 2nd day at Paul Ricard: http://twitter.com/AndyMeyrick/status/55536487931973632

Like his twitter pictures with Audi everywhere

[gwyllion]

5 Questions With George Howard-Chappell (SPEED.com)

He repeats what he said on Radio Le Mans (see here):

If you look at the restrictor size carried over to this year, there’s a very small shift towards the petrol engine. But if you take account of the 30kg of ballast diesels were carrying last year that’s now wiped out, with the diesels and petrols both at 900kg, that’s more than taken care of. So basically, you’re looking at the same equivalency, slightly worse, than what you saw racing last year.

I think everyone would agree it’s not balanced yet and that Article 19 will need to be applied. The ACO now have the tools to do that; it’s in the regulations. We need to now wait for it to happen.

[gwyllion]

I found this picture of the back of the AMR-One and noticed that they are some minor changes compared to the launch version (see here). The exhaust is covered and the rear brakes got some extra cooling. It is unclear what the small wire mesh on the engine cover is for...

[knighty]

the purpose of the mesh is simple........its to catch the pieces of cylinder block, pistons and con-rods and prevent them causing punctures on other cars.......but I believe it will struggle to catch the oil........sorry I couldnt resist ;-)

[Down F0rce]

A shame to hear the Kronos Lola Aston pulled out. I was hoping it would sneak in, just so we could hear that glorious V12 one more time.

We'll always have the Corvettes.

[Down F0rce]

A shame to hear the Kronos Lola Aston pulled out. I was hoping it would sneak in, just so we could hear that glorious V12 one more time.

We'll always have the Corvettes.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by rustycrankshaft

Exactly my thoughts, I think fundementally the car looks good but it let down by the hideous orange fin. Pale blue would go a long way towards disguising this

I'm glad to hear somebody else say that, because that is what I have been thinking - the black fenders are terrible! And on that note, I don't think the Oak cars in Gulf livery are looking that great this year either.

[BRG]

http://twitter.com/Harold_Primat

"Very good test day today! Much progress made."

[acox93]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

I found this picture of the back of the AMR-One and noticed that they are some minor changes compared to the launch version (see here). The exhaust is covered and the rear brakes got some extra cooling. It is unclear what the small wire mesh on the engine cover is for...

Exactly which bit of mesh are you refering to?

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by acox93

Exactly which bit of mesh are you refering to?

On the right, just behind the roll hoop.

[acox93]

It vents hot air from the exhaust area of the engine bay, the mesh itself is just there to comply with the regulations. Also the exhaust exit has always been covered, the launch photo is just a bit misleading.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by acox93

It vents hot air from the exhaust area of the engine bay, the mesh itself is just there to comply with the regulations.

Isn't this the function of the "coke bottle" under the dorsal fin? I am talking about the very small hole in the engine cover...

Originally Posted by acox93

Also the exhaust exit has always been covered, the launch photo is just a bit misleading.

The first solution (which clearly did not work) was a lot smaller: http://images.pistonheads.com/nimg/23339/AMLM_1-L.jpg

[BRG]

http://twitter.com/andymeyrick

AndyMeyrick

Flying home after 2 great days testing at paul ricard

[acox93]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

Isn't this the function of the "coke bottle" under the dorsal fin? I am talking about the very small hole in the engine cover...
The first solution (which clearly did not work) was a lot smaller: http://images.pistonheads.com/nimg/23339/AMLM_1-L.jpg

Yes the very small hole is an outlet for hot air generated by the exhaust and i can assure you that is the same exhaust outlet as it is even the very same bodywork and the exhaust outlet has not been modified. All we did was put some silver heat reflective tape where the bodywork was burnt.

[MulsanneMike]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

Isn't this the function of the "coke bottle" under the dorsal fin? I am talking about the very small hole in the engine cover...
The first solution (which clearly did not work) was a lot smaller: http://images.pistonheads.com/nimg/23339/AMLM_1-L.jpg

Why do you think this image shows an unsuccessful solution?

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by MulsanneMike

Why do you think this image shows an unsuccessful solution?

The carbon fibre bodywork looks burnt. acox93 explained that this was solved with heat reflective tape.