The Future Of Endurance Racing Technology – This season’s FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) is proving to be an outstanding year for the series, the premier international championship for sports cars.
Racing at distances from six to 24 hours, this year the closed cockpit cars are powered at speeds of 330kph by the fuel that is the French wine industry.
The Future Of Endurance Racing Technology
The introduction of 100% renewable fuel for 2022 – meaning that all energy comes from renewable resources as part of the move away from relying on fossil fuels – is a first for an elite international motorsport series.
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This is the latest innovation from a championship that, since its inception in 2012, has brought major developments to road car design and technology, performance and safety.
“The FIA World Endurance Championship continues to innovate and push what is possible in its tenth season and beyond,” said Frédéric Lequien, WEC CEO.
“We have achieved great things over the past decade and now with the latest Hypercar rules and using 100% renewable fuel in the form of the TotalEnergies Excellium Racing 100, we continue to push the development of technology and highlight the latest technology on the global stage.”
Excellium Racing 100, produced on the basis of bioethanol from grape residues and from ETBE (by-products made from ethanol) produced at the Feyzin TotalEnergies refinery near Lyon in France from feedstock as well as sources from the circular economy. The fuel – which does not contain a single drop of petrol – was developed after 18 months of R&D through the process of fermentation, distillation and dehydration of grape marcs and lees.
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This base is then mixed with ETBE (Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether), itself a 100% renewable component. TotalEngeries says that in line with the methodology provided by the European RED II directive (2018/2001), Excellium Racing 100 can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 65% compared to the fossil equivalent.
The greater awareness of the environmental and social problems of our time means that many have thought about the future of motorsport,” said Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), which organizes the 24 Hours of Le Mans Race.
“With our colleagues at TotalEnergies doing more to develop sustainable solutions, our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility has never been stronger,” he said.
The use of 100% renewable fuel is the latest example of innovation from the WEC, which begins a new era in 2021 with the introduction of the Hypercar for the main class, a step that has caused major global car manufacturers like Peugeot to pull back. to the series.
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The Hypercar class – introduced in 2021 to replace the former LMP1 category – is the highest level category in the FIA World Endurance Championship. It is open to custom prototypes and cars based on road-going vehicles. The car has a total combined output (engine + hybrid system if fitted) of 500 kW and a minimum weight of 1030kg.
Peugeot, the three-time Le Mans champion, will compete in three more rounds of the 2022 WEC season with the Hypercar, starting with the 6 Hours of Monza in Italy from July 8-10.
To return to the top echelon of sports car racing for the first time in more than a decade, the manufacturer has built a brand new hybrid car for the Le Mans Hypercar rules, christened 9X8.
In 2023, Ferrari, Cadillac and Porsche will launch Hypercar entries underscoring the major automakers’ commitment to the future of endurance racing.
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The success of the Hypercar category gives us reason to be proud,” said Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of the FIA, motorsport’s world governing body.
“This platform is proving to be relevant to manufacturers and the number of loyal brands in this category is huge.”
The move from Hypercar to hydrogen is the goal for the next few years with The Mission H24 project, which will bring electric hydrogen fuel technology to endurance racing.
The project – a joint research effort between the ACO and the Swiss company GreenGT – aims to have a hydrogen class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2025.
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The hydrogen-powered prototype has been seen on the race tracks at Imola and Le Mans in the Michelin Le Mans Cup series and during a demonstration lap ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
Diversity has also been a key element of the WEC. In 2021, the Richard Mille Racing Team, supported by the FIA Women’s Commission in Motorsport, fielded an all-female line-up of Tatiana Calderón, Sophia Flörsch and Beitske Visser in the championship.
At Le Mans the year before, the crew had finished an impressive ninth in the category in the legendary endurance race at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
The Iron Dames are also competing in the LMGTE AM category this season with an all-female driver line-up. This unique project was conceived by French racing driver Deborah Mayer, promoter of women in motorsport and president of FIA Women in Motorsport.
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Teenager Josh Pierson also rewrote the WEC record books, at the season opener in Florida, by becoming the youngest winner of the 1000 Miles of Sebring, when he was just 16 years old.
The Oregon-based driver joins veteran British duo Paul di Resta, former F1 driver and Oliver Jarvis for the LMP2 class honors for the United Autosports USA team.
Pierson, who started karting at the age of two, went on to finish sixth at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, and sixth on his debut at Le Mans, where he was also the youngest driver to compete in the 24 Hours classic.
After Monza, the final round of the series – which as a sign of its popularity has seen its greatest this year – is in Fuji in Japan on September 11 and Bahrain where the season reaches its peak on November 12. Aston Martin is set to enter the top class of the World Endurance Championship in 2025 with a Valkyrie model built to Le Mans Hypercar technical regulations
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The British marque’s challenger will be based on a track-only variant of the car known as the Valkyrie AMR Pro, which was originally designed and developed to meet LMH technical regulations.
Unlike all LMH cars currently in WEC competition, the Valkyrie, powered by a Cosworth-sourced 6.5-litre V12 engine, will be based on the road-going version of the car.
Aston Martin Performance Technologies, located at the newly built AMR Technology Campus and co-located with Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One team’s Silverstone headquarters, has been tasked with developing the car, while Aston Martin’s current GT customer team, Heart of Racing, is set to run the programme.
At least one Valkyrie work will be entered by Aston Martin in the top class of the World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championships, allowing the brand to compete, and fight for overall victory, in the trio of the most prestigious endurance races in the world. including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
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“In addition to our presence in the Formula 1 World Championship, Aston Martin’s return to the pinnacle of endurance racing will allow us to create a deeper relationship with our customers and communities, many of whom have found passion for the brand thanks to its past successes. Le Mans,”
“We have been at Le Mans since the beginning of time, and through that noble effort, we succeeded in winning Le Mans in 1959 and our class for the 19th time in the last 95 years. Now we return to the scene of our first victory aiming to write a new history with our prototype racing inspired by the fastest production car Aston Martin has ever built,”
In addition to the announcement of the Hypercar entry, Aston Martin has also committed to extending its presence in GT racing, by outlining plans for a new GT3 and GT4 car based on the Vantage platform. What we have here is Toyota’s GR H2. The Racing Concept, which – if things go according to plan – could bring hydrogen technology to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in just three years.
You see, race organizers are working on a zero-emissions category that originally featured hydrogen fuel cell cars competing for the overall win.
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“The sound and the torque and the dynamics, it’s all there,” explained company chairman Akio Toyoda on race night last weekend. “Personally, my goal is to achieve carbon neutrality in motorsport without sacrificing performance or enjoyment.
“Le Mans is a special place for Toyota, a place where we not only compete in one of the most famous races in the world, but a place where we can push the boundaries of technology. A place where we can realize the future.”
Sounds like our kind of thinking. And it’s a good thing he stuck to the script, because only a few days earlier his team was shocked by a Balance of Performance change that put his car at the disadvantage of the winning Ferrari and the 499P.
So what do we know