Some of the biggest names in American motorsports will join forces for the next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. They’ll be showcasing a unique concept: extreme performance with half the weight and horsepower of a traditional racecar.
The Project 56 group brings together the design talents of DeltaWing Racing Cars LLC and the manufacturing capabilities of All-American Racers - the company owned by 1967 Le Mans winner and American racing legend, Dan Gurney. Back-to-back American Le Mans Series championship winning team, Highcroft Racing is also on board. American Le Mans Series founder Dr. Don Panoz has joined the project as a key advisor.
Project 56 has been invited by the Le Mans race organizers, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), to contest the 2012 race as a 56th entry. The 56th place on the grid is reserved for a technologically innovative car to participate “outside the classifications.” It’s reserved for a vehicle showcasing new applications and unique technologies previously unseen in the world’s greatest endurance race.
The new and experimental car’s goal is competitive performance with only half the horsepower of the outright contenders. It does this through halving the amount of aerodynamic drag of traditional racecars as well as a similar reduction in weight. They are in the process of sourcing a 1.6-liter turbocharged powerplant, producing approximately 300 horsepower, for the project.
Looking more like a Land Speed Record (LSR) streamliner than a sports racing car, it will be unlike any previously seen at Le Mans. It will feature a slender nose with extremely narrow front track – minimizing the horsepower required to push the car to speeds of 200 mph around the 8.5-mile circuit. Eliminating the use of traditional wings, downforce for the DeltaWing Le Mans challenger is generated solely beneath the car by the contoured underbody.
Construction of the new machine will begin next month at Gurney’s California facility and Highcroft Racing plans on track testing the new car later this year. Highcroft (2009 & 2010 ALMS Champs, below) competed at Le Mans for the first time in 2010, while Gurney won the race in 1967 aboard a Ford GT40 with AJ Foyt who sprayed champagne on the podium for the first time to start a now world-renowned tradition.
For complete DeltaWing specs, please visit, http://www.highcroftracing.com/deltawing/
For more about Delta Wing Racing, please visit, http://deltawingracing.com/
Check out Dan Gurney’s All American Racers, http://www.allamericanracers.com/home.html