Villeneuve's new toy : Peugeot 908 V12

[G-Rock]

Looks like a military operation Manchild. Nice looking car. I can feel the torque from here.

Being a farmer, I love diesels but they are dirty. It's one of the few things that racing can improve for passenger car technology. North Americas strict emission requirments are also a driving factor in making diesels more environmental and economical. We should start seeing a flood of diesels in 08 but where are the big three? (how about a diesel Nascar?) Pissing around with hybrids and electric cars still!!
The reality is that hybrids, electric cars are just there to improve a auto manufacturers "Green" image but do nothing for the planet in the short term.

If you can build a "Clean" diesel and sell it, right away you can start seeing the benefits of reduced carbon emmisions and reduced foreign energy dependence today. A 20-30% gain, that's huge, as long as Cadillac, BMW etc don't come out with more power, same fuel consumption as a gas version scenerio which we have been seeing since the '70's. Instead they should be looking at same power, LESS fuel consumption on all vehicles in the future.

The last thing we need now is a 500hp Hummer that still manages 18 mpg. How about a 200 hp one that gets over 35mpg for instance.

Kudos to Peugot for taking on the Audi challenge!

[Ranald]

The R10 and 908 diesels are anything but dirty, in fact the regulations fobid any visible emissions. ie exhaust fumes.

[Saribro]

Bitchloads of pics here btw:
http://motorsport.com/photos/select.asp ... =2007&O=12

[allan]

i donno, i still like the audi better...

[Tom]

It looks more like a Daytona car than a Le Mans machine, probably because of the thin closed cockpit. The old closed cars looked much lower and wider, whereas all the modern cars (bar the Aston) have been open top, which I think is banned this year.

[Ranald]

Open top cars absolutely are NOT banned this year in fact the 908 is the only closed cockpit car around at the moment in the prorotype catagories. Regarding the Aston Martin I assume you are referring to the DBR9 which is GT1 car and is built to an entirely different set of regulations to the 908 and R10.

[Tom]

Sorry, I got confused, of course the Astons are GT1 cars, I was refering to the 2001 Bentley EXP Speed 8 (thanks Scarbs for info on that) but I remember reading in Autosport last year that there were plans to make all LMP1s closed cockpit, for safety reasons I think. I assumed that the rule was being enforced this year, which would explain the Pugs comparatively unusual design.

[Ranald]

I can see the point of coinfusion Tom. The P1 class is indeed due to return to an exclusively roofed class from 2010. The Peugeot is built to current GTP regulations rather than the, as yet unwritten, P1 regulations for 2010.

[janus]

and do you know who is driving it pedro lamy a protuguese driver an ex fq driver that had no money to buy is seat and fisichela took it back in lotus time
now look at fisichela and still think pedroy lami in renaul!!! a good dream for the portuguse fans ...but ....we can se him win le mans this year ,

[Iciano]

I wonder how well Jacques will cope with sharing a car with other drivers. He wouldnt exactly strike me as the most co-operative, team orientated driver around.
Like I cant imagine him and someone like Bourdais being best buddies!!
I hope he does well though. In the pictures he looks a bit more enthusiastic or something than when he was in F1, and he's actually wearing overalls that fit him!!

[manchild]

http://www.motorsport.com/photos/series ... LEMANS&Y=0

[vyselegend]

I'm quite disappointed by the look of the actual proto tested by P.Lamy. Of course I new the mock-up presented at the mondial wasn't a realistic design. But the shape of it's nose, actually from the top of the roof to the bottom of the nose, it was drawing a perfect line. I did found that very good looking, and believed there was some strong aerodynamic efficiency there. As it turn out it was just good looking, too bad. Now the proto looks much less original...
From what I've read recently, the Peugeot team is suffuring from the short delays to built the car, and have alredy admitted that they couldn't optimise the car as they wanted. Therefor they are already planning some updates for the car. The way they spoke doesn't make me feel like they believe in win for this year. I think 2007 will be another Audi's victory. Yet I'm happy JV accepted the challenge, adding his name to an already prestigious list.
But that doesn't change the fact that victory was sold to them and Audi for money and not true performance. Those diesel rules are killing Le Mans.

[Ranald]

Killing Lemans?!? Thats a bit of an over reatcion don't you think. Yes, the P1 rules are unbalenced in a diesel engines favour and are spoiling P1 competition but they certqainly aren't killing Le Mans. There are another 40 cars on the grip split into 3 highly competitive classes. There is no way that the ACO would allow there own rules do unreparable damage to the race.

[zac510]

this year will be the biggest year for LeMans this century. Porsche, Peugeot and the modern challenger Audi. Throw in the privateers.. Certainly not dying.

Just because one car is better than the other is not the rule's fault.

[vyselegend]

The problem with biased rules is that it raise some disturbing questions about the rulers integrity, and so it makes me worrying for the future of the sport.

If the rules are made in such a way that they makes some of the contenders feel like they cannot win whatever the effort they put in, in the end they may retire. And in Le Mans ' case,those are precisely the ones making the sport live. Their withdrawal could kill LM.
Big Manufacturers like Audi and Peugeot are there for commercial reasons, their actual LMP1 program is just an operation (which is limited in time) and there are no reasons to believe that they'll stay once it's achieved. Privateers on the other side, are there because they are the very spirit of this event, racers that wich to race others, independantly of brand image and commercial operations.

You're right, the P1 category is just a part of LM, but it is the most prestigious one. It's debacle could harm the whole thing. So in that way I'm not over-reacting that much in saying those rules are killing Le Mans, in the medium to long term it could harm it severly I think.