Before you get ideas of this turning into a Group B for Le Mans, the cars will be limited to an “energy allotment” per lap. A fuel meter will allow a diesel-powered car 3.99 liters per lap, a gas-powered car would get 4.95 liters per lap, from tanks that are about 12 percent smaller.
All LMP1 cars will be required to have closed cockpits, within which the driver will sit a little further forward and slightly higher to provide more visibility and, it is hoped, cut down on accidents when lapping slower traffic. Weights have been reduced, from the current minimum weight of 900 kilograms to 830 kg for non-hybrids and 850 kg for hybrids, and according to the Speed TV report, “all factory entries will be required to compete with hybrid systems.” The cars will also be thinnner. Another factory handicap (depending on how see it) is that “super-exotic materials” will be banned in order to force carmakers to use materials that apply to their mainstream vehicles and not just their supercars.
The ACO believes these new rules will “encourage the development of powerful and spectacular cars and also the development of technologies that have real meaning for the everyday motorist.” Sounds good to us.
