What is Aston Martin up to?

[gustavobamba]

David Richards is speaking too much IMO, is triyng to justified what has no justification.

Only justified, who has no reason!!!

I allways support Aston Martin effort, but this year was a disaster.

The solution is to go ahead with the I6 and see what happen (to risky) or chose another engine config.( risky in terms of publicity).

I deeply regret this situation, and i miss the aston martin Coupé...

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by gustavobamba

David Richards is speaking too much IMO, is triyng to justified what has no justification.

I think it's worth pointing out DR isn't saying this now. It was months ago. That's the only bit of defence I can offer to them.

You can 'push the button' on the project as late as you want but if the idea is technically sound it should at least run more than six laps. They didn't even get a lap per month the project has been running.

[Audi Racer]

Originally Posted by Simmi

I think it's worth pointing out DR isn't saying this now. It was months ago. That's the only bit of defence I can offer to them.

You can 'push the button' on the project as late as you want but if the idea is technically sound it should at least run more than six laps. They didn't even get a lap per month the project has been running.

Exactly. Look at the Lotus Evora. Went the distance at Lemans.


I wonder how David Richards sleeps at night. He probably dreams about an AMR-One about to run him over but then the engine explodes and it grinds to a halt.

[wewantourdarbyback]

Originally Posted by Audi Racer

I wonder how David Richards sleeps at night. He probably dreams about an AMR-One about to run him over but then the engine explodes and it grinds to a halt.

Listening to the sound of utter devastation in his voice on RLM late in the race I think you might be right.

[haribo]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

Richards was on RLM during the race. He said that they would decide this week whether they would go to Imola or skip it, focus on testing and return in the Silverstone race.

It seems as if they will skip Imola. Not surprising really

[tux]

Quite ironic really that the new parts fitted on the Friday designed to fix a problem that they had during Wednesday and Thursday actually caused a new problem.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by Audi Racer

David richards can say whataver he wants but right now the facts don't lie. His inline six isn't even making 500hp.

It's down on power because it's underdeveloped, 2.0T's were putting out 550bhp+ in endurance racing during the P675 era.

[Audi Racer]

Originally Posted by JAG

It's down on power because it's underdeveloped, 2.0T's were putting out 550bhp+ in endurance racing during the P675 era.

Regardless. They have a dyno don't they. They should have been able to run the engine at full power on the dyno and from what we've seen on the track they can't even dyno test it. im not saying the engine wont ever make 550+ bhp but clearly all of these teething issues are related to the difficulty of the I6 design in a racecar.



Crankflex wil be an issue as well.

[arakis]

what aston martin should have done insted of trying to attack AUDI and PEUGEUT, that have tons of times more cash, attack gte in full, develop the car a lot more and invest in the future development of it, they could have build a sports car program that could well have improved their road cars.....but alas they went into gte half ass, and into lmp1 half ass, and they didnt get a whole thats for sure.

[Audi Racer]

Originally Posted by arakis

what aston martin should have doen insted of trying to attack AUDI and PEUGEUT, that have tons of times more cash, attack gte in full, develop the car a lot more and invest in the future development of it, they could have build a sports car program that could well have improved their road cars.....but alas they went into gte half ass, and into lmp1 half ass, and they didnt get a whole thats for sure.

EXACTLY you are absolutely right. Thats what i would have like to see to. Aston Martin should have went and took GTE seriously. What is is with Prodrive and unfinished projects like the subarus, the vatage, the AMR-One

[skycafe]

agree with arakis, and now Audi Racer.

[gwyllion]

Sam Collins wrote a technical report of Le Mans: http://www.racecar-engineering.com/a...al-report-lmp/

The AMR-One engine was running so rich that it smoked like a diesel leaving the pits:

[JAG]

Originally Posted by Audi Racer

EXACTLY you are absolutely right. Thats what i would have like to see to. Aston Martin should have went and took GTE seriously. What is is with Prodrive and unfinished projects like the subarus, the vatage, the AMR-One

Prodrive were multiple WRC champions with Subaru, multiple BTCC champions, multiple Le Mans GT1 winners with the 550/DBR9 and the standard bearer for petrol P1's with the V12 powered Lola.

Now they are embarking on a WRC program with Mini, going up against PSA, VAG and Ford, and look on the pace after a suitable development period. Being winners they'll also sort the AMR-One, make it a competitive proposition, and push on with their factory and customer programs.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by arakis

what aston martin should have done insted of trying to attack AUDI and PEUGEUT, that have tons of times more cash, attack gte in full, develop the car a lot more and invest in the future development of it, they could have build a sports car program that could well have improved their road cars.....but alas they went into gte half ass, and into lmp1 half ass, and they didnt get a whole thats for sure.

I partially agree. Right now they have a very poor LMP1 effort and a GTE effort that, although miles ahead in development compared to the LMP1, still needs improvement compared to their competitors. Still, AMR had arguably the best petrol LMP1 last year. The car will win a lot of races in the ALMS this year and probably would have won LMS races had they raced it there this year. I don't think they have to quit LMP1, but I just wish they would live up to their past. Maybe they will do so in the future with the AMR-One or another car, but things aren't looking too promising right now.

Originally Posted by gwyllion

The AMR-One engine was running so rich that it smoked like a diesel leaving the pits:

That's nothing new, it was doing the same at Ricard.

Originally Posted by JAG

Prodrive were multiple WRC champions with Subaru, multiple BTCC champions, multiple Le Mans GT1 winners with the 550/DBR9 and the standard bearer for petrol P1's with the V12 powered Lola.

So what? Their current LMP1 product stinks worse than the lowest budget and most amateur efforts on the grid. It's shameful that they got entries when other more prepared teams (including one of their customers) had to watch from the sidelines. Ok, nothing can be done about that now, but they must improve their efforts significantly before they bring the AMR-One back to the track. It's a double shame that we aren't seeing one more year of the Lola V12 in factory colors when it still has one year of eligibility left. That was a glorious car that could be very fast given how fast the grandfathered Pescarolo is.

[Great Dane]

Adrian Fernandez in lenghty and deep conversation with Dr Mario Thysen from BMW ...... AF saying that the engine is 'bad' on RLM

Has he bought a chassis of AMR One?

[AGD]

Originally Posted by Great Dane

Adrian Fernandez in lenghty and deep conversation with Dr Mario Thysen from BMW ...... AF saying that the engine is 'bad' on RLM

Has he bought a chassis of AMR One?

I don't think he is one of their customers. He has been driving for the factory team, but I don't know what his plans are for next year and beyond. Adrian has done a lot of things over the years, CART, IRL, Grand-Am, NASCAR, ALMS, Le Mans. It's hard to say what is next for him. Lowe's doesn't seem to be particularly picky about where he races their logo.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by AGD

I partially agree. Right now they have a very poor LMP1 effort and a GTE effort that, although miles ahead in development compared to the LMP1, still needs improvement compared to their competitors. Still, AMR had arguably the best petrol LMP1 last year. The car will win a lot of races in the ALMS this year and probably would have won LMS races had they raced it there this year. I don't think they have to quit LMP1, but I just wish they would live up to their past. Maybe they will do so in the future with the AMR-One or another car, but things aren't looking too promising right now.



That's nothing new, it was doing the same at Ricard.



So what? Their current LMP1 product stinks worse than the lowest budget and most amateur efforts on the grid. It's shameful that they got entries when other more prepared teams (including one of their customers) had to watch from the sidelines. Ok, nothing can be done about that now, but they must improve their efforts significantly before they bring the AMR-One back to the track. It's a double shame that we aren't seeing one more year of the Lola V12 in factory colors when it still has one year of eligibility left. That was a glorious car that could be very fast given how fast the grandfathered Pescarolo is.

Im sick and tired of hearing excuses for Prodrive. The car was an embarrassment for a so called *professional* racing organization. Not only is the AMR One a disaster in every aspect, but their GTE program is a joke as well. Give Oreca or Pescarolo the same time and resources to develop the car and I guarantee the car would have been both faster and more reliable, even the Jetalliance people managed it. Cannot believe Adrian, Harold and Andy dump their money into this sham.

Im suprised DR hasnt put out a press release complaining that every other LMP car in the field is illegal, perhaps the car could race alongside the touring cars in BTCC, judging by horespower and reliability it could probably race competitvely there, although I doubt it could last for 20 minutes.

[carsten66]

Originally Posted by JAG

Prodrive were multiple WRC champions with Subaru, multiple BTCC champions, multiple Le Mans GT1 winners with the 550/DBR9 and the standard bearer for petrol P1's with the V12 powered Lola.

Now they are embarking on a WRC program with Mini, going up against PSA, VAG and Ford, and look on the pace after a suitable development period. Being winners they'll also sort the AMR-One, make it a competitive proposition, and push on with their factory and customer programs.

Sure, but meanwhile most of the championships are a long tÃ*me ago. And thinking of the F1 excursion or the reliability of the Vantage (JMW... was the only and last team to get the problems sorted out of the Vantage but opt to switch back to Ferrari...) ? And regarding the budget I think it wasn't a very good idea going to run the P1 program by itself... Maybe they to want to have one's cake and eat it...

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Give Oreca or Pescarolo the same time and resources to develop the car and I guarantee the car would have been both faster and more reliable

I believe you are in error there sir....

On what basis are you making this assumption ?

You cant compare the Lotus GT effort to the AMR P1 effort ..... chalk and cheese .

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by The Badger

I believe you are in error there sir....

On what basis are you making this assumption ?

You cant compare the Lotus GT effort to the AMR P1 effort ..... chalk and cheese .

Well, for starters, they probably wouldnt have come up with the *brilliant engine choice that they did. Plus, judging by the 01 Oreca, 01 Pesca, and the 03 LMP2 car they probably would have made sure the side bodywork wasnt stuck in the LMP900 days and resembled one of the worst LMP cars ever.

[Acid09]

Originally Posted by The Badger

I believe you are in error there sir....

Not really. If you see what Henri can make happen with the shoestring budget of his, one has to assume that he would build a cracking car with AMR's resources.

It's not really hard to be better than their effort though, certainly one of the most pathetic showings in Le Mans history.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by The Badger

I believe you are in error there sir....

On what basis are you making this assumption ?

You cant compare the Lotus GT effort to the AMR P1 effort ..... chalk and cheese .

Well, you are right, the Jetalliance guys probably had less time, resources and money. Question? What do you think the budget difference is between Extrême Limite AM Paris with its Norma and Prodrive with Aston Martin Racing??? One of those cars did more than 200 laps and the other did a combine six. But let me guess, chalk and cheese.

[höller]

Also note that the apprentice Level 5 squad with the new Lola Coupe and a V6 were showing a mind-blowing performance with a 10th place overall and the 3rd in LMP2!

[carsten66]

Fact is that the AMR One is a complete disaster, a nightmare-come-true for the corporate image. The car is poorly conceived and simply doesn't work apart from running just a few laps if at all shows up at a racetrack... I have no idea why Aston Martin do that to themselves... to try something new or different is fine - but why the hurry? AMR could have race the predecessor and launch the AMR One in 2012...

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

But let me guess, chalk and cheese

If you want to win ..... you need something differant than an off the shelf chassis , off the shelf gearbox and off the shelf engine .

So , apples and pears ..... yes , i am right !!!