ANATOMY OF A LE MANS HYPERCAR

Last year, the FIAWEC introduced a new Hypercar class for the world endurance championships. With the dust now settling on the latest round of the championship, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, let’s take a look at what a Hypercar is with the help of Jim Glickenhaus and his SCG007 racer.

French WRC engine builder Pipo Moteurs created a 3.5-litre, twin-turbo V8 for the 007C. Power output is capped at 670hp because of FIAWEC regulations but the road-going car generates 1400hp. “The weight, the horsepower and the aero is set. We’ve built a car within that and one within the stated performance goal, which is a 3min 30sec lap of Le Mans," said Jim Glickenhaus.

According to Glickenhaus, the engine is “relatively low revving, with reliability and linear power delivery a prime consideration”. The engine features a new “artificial intelligence throttle”, which keeps the turbos spooled up regardless of driver input. There’s huge potential for this engine to be carbon neutral in the future, too. “With this engine, we believe we actually could run at zero emissions at Le Mans on hydrogen,” added Glickenhaus.

Motul is a technical partner of Cameron Scuderia Glickenhaus, and the team relies on our proven racing lubricants for success. Motul 300V, which has a 50-year history in motorsport, is the chosen oil for the motor to ensure the perfect blend of power and reliability, while the car also uses our high-performance brake fluids, gearbox oils and other products such as windscreen wash, coolants and cleaners. “Motul lubricants go in everything, from our Le Mans cars to our road cars and trucks and even the one that won in-class at the Baja,” said Glickenhaus. “We use all of Motul’s products in our cars and they've done a great job in promoting us and sponsoring us and we'll just have to see what's possible in the future.”

Podium Advanced Technologies engineered and developed several unique engineering solutions for the 007. These include the design and development of the car’s electronic systems as well as a custom steering wheel and other sub systems such as its innovative carbonfibre composite monocoque chassis. “While we were at Le Mans, we had a very significant positive event,” said Glickenhaus. “We became the first company in the world to pass the moveable deformable crash test without airbags. So we are very close to being able to build sell and deliver customer cars, which would be a wonderful thing.”

New “performance window” rules for the Hypercar class were created by the FIAWEC. It means that the cars have to fall within certain maximum and minimum parameters established at the design process. This includes the car’s aero package, which need to adhere to maximum downforce and minimum drag ratios. Teams are now banned from having multiple aero configurations. Competitors must prove during homologation that their aerodynamics remain stable at different car attitudes, within the limits set by a table of critical speeds. Glickenhaus partnered with Formula One experts Sauber for its aerodynamic research, design and development, which included a full-scale wind tunnel test. The 007 features an innovative front with an undisturbed surface flanked by two large headlights with two horizontal cooling ducts, while at the rear the wing is adjustable and features vertical strakes for high-speed stability.

The 007C features double wishbones with push-rod actuated springs and dampers at each wheel. The suspension is adjustable and, on the road car, you’re able to drive up to the track, do 100 laps and drive home on-road tyres. Once at the track you can lower the suspension, use onboard air jacks to mount track-only wheels and tyres, and access track-only adjustable ABS and traction control (the road car also has electronic stability control).