Aston Martin Confirms the Valkyrie Will Race at Le Mans

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

This article was published by Andrew Evans (@Famine) on June 14th, 2019 in the Automotive News category.

 

Toyota Gazoo also confirmed it

i simply can't wait for le mans 2020 and get to know the full grid!
Aston Martin using a V12? this is going to be good.

 

wait!! don't forget glickenhaus!

 

Well, at least it keeps you off the streets and getting up to no good doesn’t it?

 

This is getting very exciting!!

 

Aston Martin - or their investors/ Red Bull - just saved WEC. But the season 2019/2020 will be painfull. I always liked the Hypercar idea, but the lack of investment from the manufacturers almost killed it. Lets see if Ferrari and Mclaren will follow in the future.

 

I really haven't been following LeMans too much recently. Wasn't really a fan of the space-age racing specific prototypes that were being raced in the recent years. This sort of stuff that they're attempting for the 2021 season really reminds me of the late 90s. I'm very excited to see the rest of the competitors!

Makes me wonder if Bugatti will enter with a Chiron VERY similar to the VGT?

 

I would expect to hear something from Mclaren soon as well. Rumours of a couple more showing keen interest, maybe some confirmations over the course of the race weekend?

 

Same. This will bring be back in for sure.

 

of course de gustibus but back in the day, porsche toyota and audi gave quite the show during the races.
With this change of regulation and cars i hope to see new rivalries and duels.
Seeing how glickenhaus and bykolles are interested in this new category, my guess is that we're going to see the end of the "high end" racing cars competing in top class, giving way to new "independent" car makers anxious to make their own legacy. We'll see

 

We know Porsche and McLaren will probably be a given and make announcements to join soon too. Ideally it would be nice to see Ferrari, lambo, koenigsegg, Bugatti, pagani and at least 1 American manufacturer jump on board too. Would be a good time for saleen to bounce back from the ashes.

 

One thing for the more informed people, it is said that they are aiming for 3:30s lap times at LeMans, but then what about LMP2s? Are they going to “nerf” them or scrap the class and bring in LMP3s?

 

Wow. With the looks of that car, i really hope Koenigsegg will join in

 

Toyota have been developing the TS060 (I assume what it will be called) for a few months but at a basic level. They will be full-on now since the regulations are set and the TS050 will see virtually no evolution.

A McLaren project is a given I'd say but not until 2021/2022. I am really interested in seeing what the Volkswagen Group does. Lamborghini is the most likely I think, as they held off on GTE in order to see what these new regulations brought. I don't think Audi will return before 2024 when the hydrogen class arrives. H-tron time.

I would hope to see an American OEM join the party too. Hopefully Ford isn't away from sportscars too long.

The next iteration of LMP2 regulations are due in 2021 I think. Presumably for the 2020/2021 they will reduce the power output.

 

Ok, now I cannot wait for 2020's season! GT1 is back baby!!

Hopefully other brands can release their racers this early too... I'm watching you Bugatti lol

Spoiler

I know they will have to nerf it, but still

 

Is the Akula official yet?

 

Actually they'd have to buff the Bugatti (and everything else) quite a lot to compete with the Valkyrie. After they normalize power, that is.

The problem is the Valkyrie is closer to the Red Bull X2010 than it is to a road car with aero. Sure its lost the fan, but the airflow management is so hilariously different to the other things (which are, at best GT cars) I don't know how you'd eve go about trying to balance them.

Front Wing + Tunnels =/= Splitter + Diffuser.

Some of the main points - cockpit frontal area is about half what it is on the Chiron, or any McLaren / Porsche / Ferrari we've seen. Closest thing we've seen is the TSO20 Gt-One road car, or maaaaayyyyyybe the SCG Glickenhaus. So straight away that's a huge chunk of drag gone.

Then you've got the high nose and hanging front wing, significantly more powerful than the front diffusers of anything else.

Then you've got good airflow out of and around the front wheel-wells, massively reducing drag and lift at the front axle.

Then you've got the sidepod intakes widening out to the rear wheels, again cutting drag.

Then you've got those giant tunnels under the car making stupid amounts of downforce and very little drag.

Then you've got the low rear deck and wing/spoiler that works closely with said tunnels to increase their effectiveness, and to help exhaust air from the radiator exits.


It's like comparing a SUV or dual-cab pickup to a CLK-GTR. It's just not something that's going to BOP nicely.


OK MAYBE the TSO60 could be in a similar level, but not the way it's shown (artist impression, fair enough I guess).


Oh, and there's no way they'd run a rear wing that big on the Valkyrie, that's just dumb. If forced to, it'd almost be faster to not screw it on, let it fall off immediately, and take 300 extra mechanical black flag pit stops to 'repair' it.

 

*EDIT*

 

Let the Hypercar class arms race begin!!!

It seems like GT1 will be revived while LMP1 will be retired.

 

they probably will go back to their old 2016 specs i guess

 

Really excited for the Hyper Car regs. LMP has been stale these past few years with Toyota being the only major manufacturer competing in it. Hopefully a few more will get onboard now.

 

It's more like GT1 and LMP1 will be BoP'ed into the same class

 

Man I hope Ferrari participates in this!!

 

I think Ferrari and Ford are done, at least for now. I mean 2020 and onward, im pretty sure this is fords last year

 

Ferrari needs motorsport success. Since F1 is not going really good I believe they should try their chances in LeMans

 

I honestly think IMO, Le Mans is dead. Back in the 60s all the big names wanted to win to prove themselves. Whats there to prove now, Ferrari won Le Mans, so what. Move onto next year. Thats how i feel it is now. Its time for another race or series. The electric car series they got now, its new. Lots to learn about with these cars and to use in everyday life
I mean, if we win something all the time, we get bored and tired of it and want something new right?
Just my personal opinion. Im from the east coast of usa so im not over there to experience le mans and have the feelings for it as we do daytona 500 and indy 500.
The manufactures want to prove themselves in other ways
IMO Ferrari is not going to gain anything with success at Le mans or even with F1, because they have already had so much

 

Le Mans 2020 is gonna be good.

 

Those are race average times and the organisers expect them to be quicker. I’d expect qualifying in the mid 3.20’s and race laps around 3.27-28.


LMP2 will likely get a 50bhp cut and more weight.

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2019/...more-than-two-manufacturers-for-hypercar.html

 

It's good to hear manufacturers are keen for Le Mans 2020
In regards to speculation, I watched the Bathurst 12 hr back in February when prior to the race, David Brabham showcased the BT-62 and talked of their ambitions to race in Le Mans. Whether or not it happens we'll see...