First tests for the Toyota TS030 hybrid LeMans racer at Circuit Paul Ricard.
What's certainly striking is the car sounding like a electric go-kart from hell while in pit lane.
I'm not sure what the point of all that is but certainly Toyota Motorsport's experience with the Nürburgring record holder Alpha1/EV P001 must have come in handy.
Rolling starts are done, ostensibly, because they are safer than standing ones but witness this cluster-start at today's Le Mans Series 6 hour race at Le Castellet, inaugural event of the season.
Green, green, green.... one slight problem, the pace car never pulled off the track so the guys in front need to get on the brakes hard with predictable consequences at the back of the field.
I'm guessing ALMS officials are having a bit of a chuckle at this one.
UPDATE: Porsche is protesting the start procedure, see Porsche's statement after the jump
Press Release 03/04/2011
Le Mans Series, round 1 in Le Castellet, France
Early retirement for Porsche teams as victims of start crash
Stuttgart. At the season-opener of the Le Mans Series, four of the five Porsche 911 GT3 RSR were caught up in a start crash that was not their fault. For all three professional Porsche teams contesting the GTE-Pro class, this marked an early end in Le Castellet after their vehicles suffered too much damage. After the formation lap, the safety car stayed out on the track with lights off while the start lights for the race were turned to green. This led to an unfortunate chain reaction: The back-markers in the field were still accelerating while those at the front were braking hard. The starter field was pushed together over the entire width of the track, leading to a collision. Luckily, the Porsche drivers remained largely uninjured.
After six hours of racing, the sole, unaffected Porsche 911 GT3 RSR brought home victory in the newly-created GTE-Am sports car class. In this class, only one professional driver is permitted per vehicle. The second 911 in the GTE-Am class received the flag in sixth, after the vehicle underwent extensive repairs due to the start crash.
“Well, that was the shortest race of my life,” said Porsche works driver Richard Lietz (Austria) laconically. “After the formation lap, the lights were already green, but because of the packed field it wasn’t possible to register that the safety car hadn’t yet left the track. Suddenly I was torpedoed from the left and pushed into the wall. I had no chance to avoid the accident.” Lietz’s teammate Marc Lieb (Germany) summed up: “This is a nightmare for us. All three GTE-Pro 911 have been shunted out of the race through no fault of our own. Richard and I had a great race set-up. Maybe we could have managed a podium result. For the next race in Spa, this means we have to go hard out.” Last year, the Felbermayr-Proton duo, Lieb and Lietz, claimed victory at Le Castellet which laid the foundation for their title win in the sports car class.
The start driver for ProSpeed Competition, Porsche works driver Marco Holzer (Germany), was relieved he could get out of his demolished 911 GT3 RSR without serious injury. “After the start lights turned green everyone accelerated,” said Holzer. “Then suddenly they slammed on the brakes at the front. I was hit hard from the rear and slid sideways over the circuit, nudging another vehicle in the process.” Holzer contests his second season for the Belgian squad in the LMS. His teammate in the 2011-version 911 is race professional Marc Goossens (Belgium).
Factory pilots Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Patrick Pilet (France) were also caught up in the crash. The mechanics from IMSA Performance Matmut even attempted to repair the badly damaged 911 GT3 RSR, but the damage was too severe to repair at the track in time.
With this, the pleasure of winning the GTE-Am class with Felbermayr-Proton’s 2010-spec 911 was somewhat dampened. The performance of the team was particularly astounding considering that the blue Porsche 911 GT3 RSR was manned by three ambitious gentlemen drivers. Team owner Christian Ried (Germany) shares the cockpit with two Austrians Horst Felbermayr Junior and Horst Felbermayr Senior. The French duo Nicolas Armindo and Raymond Narac achieved sixth in the GTE-Am class after their 911 GT3 RSR underwent 75 minutes of repairs. The disappointment was particularly bitter because Armindo, as LMS new-comer, had built up the hopes of his IMSA Performance Matmut squad for a class win after posting the best time in qualifying.
Statistics: 1st race LMS in Le Castellet, F
Result class GTE Am*
1. Ried/Felbermayr Jr./Felbermayr Sen. (D/A/A), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 167 laps
2. Perazzini/Cioco/Lerneret (I/I/B), Ferrari F430, 167
3. Broniszewski/Peter (PL/A), Ferrari F430, 167
4. Christodoulou/Hummel/Quaife (GB/NL/GB), Ferrari F430, 166
6. Armindo/Narac (F/F), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 137
* The result is preliminary, as a protest against the start procedure and hence the race classification has been made.
There are many, many intimidating numbers associated with this car: 2600 lbs, 800 hp, 664 "torques", 0-62 in 3.2 seconds, 2 turbos, $400,000 base price, 360kph/223mph top speed.
Yet, as I was making my way between the black and the orange ones, past the white "hybrid" twin fuel model with the WWII fighter ace hash marks next to the names of the world's top contenders, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Koenigsegg, Pagani, it was another set of numbers that got to me.
They were right there, on the nasty looking green and silver car, right behind to the driver's door I was about to get in:
Top Gear 1:17.1 Record Holder EVO 1:19.4 Record Holder Nordschleife 7:11.57 Record Holder
Holy crap, this was going to be the tracktard equivalent of going to bed with Megan Fox!... READ ON
The Circuit Paul Ricard is as impressive a facility as you are likely to ever see, it's hosts 300 events per year it has an immaculate surface, manicured plantings and all the high tech conveniences you would imagine its High Tech Test Track monicker implies.
I was there for my first European track day. I had been looking forward to it having watched with envy the freewheeling videos from some of our worldwide track day community. This particular one was extremely well run and organized by Challenges-events.com. As with many events in non lawsuit-challenged parts of the world, at the usual briefing the essential rule it all boiled down to was very simple: if you act like an ass we'll send you home. There was no waiver, there were no passing zones, no two spins and you're out, no passing signals... you get the picture. The closest I've come in the US is with the always great Group52 days at the Glen. Our Italian tracktard friend Zampa was right, having none of these artificial systems actually forces people to be more aware on track and the whole day there was not one single incident, people simply moved out of the way when appropriate. Beautiful.
It helps that at Paul Ricard there is only one place where you might possibly have a spin that might result in contact with a wall and that was by itself something really special. A track day with the less potential for damage than an autocross.
That of course makes it the ideal place to test the fastest (ok Ultima GTR fans... we know, we know) road legal car of the moment. Yes, because in today's world the Top Gear Power Board, the EVO test track and the Nürburgring are the triple crown and the Gumpert Apollo is the current champ.
So back to Megan Fox... I was to have 30 minutes with her... turned out to be more like 18 minutes because of a balky gearbox that needed some attention by the full pit crew, but hey...it was still Megan Fox I'm not complaining.
I really don't need to go into any technical descriptions of the car, that's all over the internet. You've seen the Top Gear video and no, it does not in any way look like a "boil on a baboon's butt". You've seen Tiff Needell drive it and yes, its a tricky car but perhaps it's better sorted now than when he drove it. You've seen the Nürburgring record lap and yes, it is scary fast like that.
I was taken out for a couple of laps by one of the Gumpert drivers first. At that point I had just one 30 minute session on the track so I was glad to get a couple of extra laps before we switched places. The car, I was told, was detuned for the day to "around 670hp" and was wearing thread-less Michelin Sport Cups.
Imagine an Exige but with a much tighter driving position, the seats are essentially the carbon fiber tub with padding with the detachable steering wheel and the pedals adjustable for rake. This is NOT an everyday supercar, even with the optional height adjustment for speed bumps. It does however have built in airjacks!
So you drop in and find a very close racing position steering wheel and a sequential shifter which needs a decisive pull and a clutch to operate. Once you are strapped in, unless you in fact are a baboon, someone has to close the gullwing doors for you. If you close the doors first, you'll never get your harness on...like I said, this is not an everyday supercar.
So how was it? It was amazing even driven at 8/10ths and with the traction control dialed way up. The acceleration was brutal in any gear at any speed, there is some turbo lag but it was not that much worse than CG's GT2 for example. Grip was, as shown by the Traqmate I had installed, a sustained 1.2 to 1.4G without trying. Coming out of tight corners, the car overpowered the 345/35/19 rear Sport Cups with ease and the TC made the car buck violently even with prudent throttle application.
I was expecting massive understeer in slow corners but the car had just a little bit of skating on one turn, that's it. That was impressive. The chassis is extremely balanced under braking and quite easy to catch when the rear steps out.
The shifter would take some getting used to, it has to be shoved and it was hard to heel toe, not sure if it was pedal placement or just getting used to a new rhythm that's needed, in any case I had no time to worry about that. In the in car video you will see me having trouble at the beginning trying to find second gear.
As it turns out the session was like going to bed with Megan Fox but with her mother present. Just as I was starting to get some confidence, pushing a little and sliding just a tad, mom scolded me and told me to slow down... I guess it's understandable and the all too short session still unforgettable. Even though my lap times were relatively slow, I got a little satisfaction turning a lap faster than the demo-mom did when I was in the passenger seat (I know, I know...but let me live a little).
Does the Gumpert make sense? I guess it depends. You want to win the Track Day World Championship and save a lot of money in the process? the Gumpert is half the price of the other hypercars and faster. It is probably the most hardcore hypercar save for the FXX and that's not road legal... But then again even at that "bargain" price, if you are that hardcore why are you not racing? Why ask why, just drive it if you ever get the chance!
If you have any specific questions I have not addressed post in the comments, Here is the onboard video and you can download the Traqmate file HERE.
Tomorrow I'm off to Paul Ricard with friends, my Traqmate and my cameras. We'll be flogging a 2010 Cayman S and another fun car....that one you'll have to tune in to find out.
Follow on Twitter, I'll try to post updates from the track if I can on Saturday.
is what I would do, what we all would do, if we had access to a track like Paul Ricard. Taking the theory of paved runoffs to the logical extreme, it's not wonder that Bernie Ecclestone's circuit in southern France is a favourite of car companies that have to hand over their supercars to ham fisted journalists.
Explore the map below to see how it it would be essentially impossible to do any damage to anything even remotely street legal on such a track. Of course one might argue that the vast expanse of asphalt makes the track devoid of any character and charm. True, but I would trade that for a chance at experience impunity!
Below is a video courtesy of "Dr.Stringfella" from Track4fun.com in Italy. He is driving his Flying Carrot Westfield Xtr2 which he used to own. I'm not 100% sure what he's driving now, maybe he'll drop by and set the record straight. Notice the quirky track day mix: an F3000 and Alfa TZ and a bunch of spec Caterhams all on the track at the same time!
