[Perrinn] New privateer constructor LMP1 for Le Mans 2014

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Perrinn Limited - LMP1 2014

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A British motorsport engineering consultancy has completed the design of a LMP1 prototype to the new-for-2014 rulebook with which it aims to enter the Le Mans customer market.

Perrinn Limited is ready to begin building the car as soon as the first customer signs up for the project and believes it can have the first chassis up and running in four months from the first order.

Nicolas Perrin, whose company reworked an Aston Martin AMR-One into last year's Judd-powered Pescarolo 03, said: "The car design is finished and ready to be build. We believe we are quite well advanced compared with the other [customer LMP1] projects out there.

"The market is small, but we believe there is a market. We think we will find a buyer; we are talking to the right people.

"All the suppliers have been lined up and we know who is going to build what. The building blocks are already in place."

The car, known at the moment simply as the Perrinn LMP1, has been designed to accept a variety of engines, as well as one of the off-the-shelf hybrid systems currently available.

"We are trying to be ready for any engine, which will be the customer's choice," said Perrin. whose company is based near Skipton in Yorkshire. "The chassis is also ready for a hybrid system. We have looked at what is out there and have a preferred system."

Perrin described his LMP1 coupe as a "conventional car".

"We haven't tried to reinvent the wheel," he said, "but we have tried to push certain parameters to the limit, hopefully the ones that will make a difference."

The cost will be £1 million for the first chassis delivered to a customer, although subsequent cars delivered to the same buyer would be cheaper.
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Based on 2014 LMP1 rules, privateers can now purchase this LMP1 for a cheaper price than buying a Manufacturers LMP1.
Get ready for 2014! :) 👍​
 
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An AMR-One... damn thats a successful track record.....


Seriously good luck to them.
 
Furinkazen
An AMR-One... damn thats a successful track record.....
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They didn't build the AMR-One, they converted the AMR-One chassis into the Pescarolo 03. They didn't do any miracles, but it's not a project to judge the company on (I imagine it's hard to make a decent car from the awful AMR-One).

Nevertheless, good luck to them, but I'm not holding my breath on any of these cars running in WEC anytime soon. Every once in awhile someone takes the plunge into building prototypes (remember Bailey Cars?), but usually nothing comes of it.
 
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I'd take them up on their offer, but I'm not sure engine I'd get though.
 
With Lola gone, I guess there IS a bit of a gap in the market...

I feel that if Audi and Toyota think it's "Too expensive" to run a customer car, the ACO should at least require them to sell and Engine/Hybrid package based on one year ago's specs. Theres no reason I shouldnt be able to run a 2011 or 2012-spec Audi engine in the back of my Lola/Oreca/Morgan/Radical/Norma. Obviously have some rule about not being able to then subsequently sell those engines back to a rival manufacturer...

But hey, it might work. I'm all for growing this sport. But I also believe that the top teams make it impossible sometimes for privateers to enter the LMP1 mix.
 
Well, the LMP1 field is going to be looking pretty strong next year. The Audi R18 and Toyota TS030 will be returning, whilst Porsche will be joining, Rebellion have contracted ORECA to develop the R-One chassis and Dome have given the green light to the S103. So that's five different cars that could be racing, which could make the Perrin project very appealing to investors.
 
prisonermonkeys
Well, the LMP1 field is going to be looking pretty strong next year. The Audi R18 and Toyota TS030 will be returning, whilst Porsche will be joining, Rebellion have contracted ORECA to develop the R-One chassis and Dome have given the green light to the S103. So that's five different cars that could be racing, which could make the Perrin project very appealing to investors.
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There certainly will be no shortage of cars available for next year, but who will race them? I have no doubts that Perrinn have the capability of building this car, it's just that there's a shortage of LMP1 teams who would be willing to buy the car from them.

These days, there's few privateers who have both the money and desire to race LMP1 and as of next year LMP1 will only be a category in the WEC. And the biggest players already have plans in place: Rebellion have commissioned Oreca to build their car and OAK is also planning to construct their own machine. That leaves few privateers who would be interested in buying from the likes of HPD/Wirth, Dome, Perrinn and Kodewa. From this bunch, HPD/Wirth already have a huge leg up on the competition because of their past successes, relationship with existing teams (Strakka, Pickett) and their ability to bundle an engine with their chassis. I'd say it's not looking too great for LMP1 customer car constructors, especially for newcomers like Perrinn.
 
Caterham might be interested, especially if they want to get straight into the category:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/107850

And depending on the cost, there might be a whole host of privateer teams looking to step up. Especially the teams using the Lola chassis, seeing as how Lola won't be developing any more chassis. The likes of the B12/60 and B12/80 are already five years old, and they'll get outdated quickly.

Heck, they could even get Sebastien Loeb if he's deadly serious about sports car and GT racing.
 
prisonermonkeys
Heck, they could even get Sebastien Loeb if he's deadly serious about sports car and GT racing.
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I hate to sound like a pessimist, but Sebastian Loeb couldn't find the funds for this year's ELMS/Le Mans P2 effort, hard to see his team in P1 after that.

The problem with funding an LMP1 adventure is the cost involved to run a competitive team even among just the privateers. Which is not helped by the fact that you could have a very successful season and never even sniff the class podium because of the factory teams. That isn't attractive to sponsors: no success and little exposure. And P1 isn't gentleman driver friendly, so that funding route isn't ideal either (see how Laventis has been holding back Strakka).

P2 seems to me like a far better proposition for privateers. It's cost capped, every team runs a gentleman driver and any decent team can be in contention for podiums and wins. And you don't even have to run the costly WEC to be at Le Mans, as ELMS, AmLMS and maybe AsLMS are options too. P1 just seems like a money pit with little chance of success. Though there are teams who have run both and keep coming back to P1, so what do I know.
 
Nice list of optons. I'm new to the Prototype scene, could someone tell me who Kodewa is?
I hope Caterham buy the Perrinn and develop it. Nice to see variety.
 
Kodewa is a German(?) team currently run by Colin Kolles. In the past, they've run the Audi R10's as privateers. Currently they run the Lotus LMP2 team, which is a car eligible for next year's LMP1 class.

I dont see Caterham buying a P1 team when they still have an F1 team also.
Perhaps Muscle Milk will step up into the WEC, and take up the Perinn chassis?
 
Given that Formula 1 is their priority, it stands to reason that they wouldn't consider Le Mans if they didn't think they could do it.
 

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