Are we sitting comfortably?
Good, because this might be one of my craziest livery ideas yet...
Opel-Vauxhall LMP1
Now, there have been plenty of Opel-branded Formula One concepts before (indeed, I remembered
@ringkurier's
design while making this), but what about a Le Mans Prototype? Imagine this: for the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, the reorganised General Motors has decided to go all-out in their bid to claim their first overall constructor's victory. Rather than
the Corvette C6.R-styled EVO model that was initially planned, an all-new LMP1 prototype is conceived, and in an intriguing twist bears the name of their former European brands Opel and Vauxhall. Tuning house Irmscher also appears to have played a hand in development, and the livery bears a few familiar sponsors from Vauxhall's recently-finished BTCC programme.
My intention for this was to showcase a livery which would work well in promoting the Opel (yellow) and Vauxhall (red) brands on the same car. A black base was chosen to emphasise the stripe/panel decals and make the car stand out against the blue Peugeots, Gulf Astons and silver/red Audis of the 2010 race, along with a white roof to reduce cockpit temperatures. Some elements were inspired by past Opel liveries, the fictional F1 concepts I've seen and contemporary late-2000s/early-2010 road car design features, but otherwise this is a unique identity for the LMP1 machine.
As a nod to Opel/Vauxhall's current owners, the PSA Group, the base car is the Peugeot 908, which was chosen as I had initially thought about putting this in as my LEC #60 entry. After a while, I decided against it as I felt it would be against the spirit of the competition, and instead treated it as its own separate thing. In terms of engines, I can easily imagine this car accommodating a 6.0l V8 developed from the GT2-spec Corvette C6.R, although this would have to be an interim measure with the new LMP1 rules and capacity limits being put into place for 2011. Perhaps a smaller naturally-aspirated engine, or even a turbocharged four-cylinder linked to Opel/Vauxhall's road cars, could form the beating heart of its potential successor?
Link.
