Le Mans Talk

Although Aston Martin seem to have some difficulty in the development of the new AMR-One, the withdrawal of the Honda of Highcroft Racing will allow the Lola-Aston Martin coupé to appear in La Sarthe on the 11th and 12th June. It carved out a remarkable series of successes under the legendary blue and orange colours of Gulf Oil in 2009 and 2010.

In 2009, it won in its first season in the Le Mans Series., with two victories in five races. Aston Martin Racing Team won the LM P1 classification with Tomas Enge, Stefan Mücke and Jan Charouz driving. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the same trio had a superb fourth place that year behind two Peugeot 908 HDi FAP and an Audi R15. In 2010, Stefan Mücke, this time with Harold Primat and Adrian Fernandez, took sixth place.

To view the Le Mans models, please click on the following link - Le Mans Models

Disappointed by the poor results of the 917 in 1969, and facing new competition, Porsche concluded an agreement with John Wyer and his JWA Gulf Team, which became the official Porsche team, and also the official development partner. During tests at Zeltweg, where the car had won its only race at that time, Wyer's engineer John Horsmann had the idea to increase downforce at the expense of drag. A new wedge-shaped tail was molded with aluminium sheets taped together. This new short tail gave the 917 much needed stability. The plastic engine intake cover had already been removed. The new version was called 917K (Kurzheck).
In addition to the 917, the lightweight and compact Porsche 908/3 were developed for the slow and twisty tracks of Nürburgring and Targa Florio, providing wins while the factory-backed 917 remained in the garages. The 908/3 was built to the FIA's 3 litre Group 6 Prototype regulations whereas the 917 was now officially a Group 5 Sports Car following another FIA review of its racing classes, applicable from 1970.
Wyer was surprised to discover that another team was carefully preparing for the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans with close support from Porsche. As in 1969, the Porsche Salzburg team was a de facto second works team under control of members of the Porsche family. The Martini Racing team also gained some support from Porsche AG; obviously Porsche made efforts to win the race by supporting more than one team.
Also, a new low drag version of the 917 was developed for Le Mans with support from the external consultant Robert Choulet. The 917LH (Langheck) featured a spectacular new "Long Tail" body including partially covered rear wheel arches which had very low drag, yet better stability than the 1969 version. A few 4.9 litre engines, introduced at 1000km Monza, were available for some cars, but these proved to put too much strain on the gearboxes.

To view diecast model 1:18 Porsche 917K #23 Le Mans 1970 Sieger by Autoart please click on the following link - 1:18 Porsche 917K #23 Le Mans 1970 Sieger Autoart

Spyker Squadron, the works team of Dutch car manufacturer Spyker, will not be competing in 2011. Instead of racing the Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R for another season, Spyker Squadron will shift its focus to the development of its next generation GT car, the “Aileron GT”.

When the Le Mans Series entry list was published by the Le Mans Endurance Organisation this week the first question that came up when seeing the LM GTE entries was “Where is Spyker Squadron?”. The team has been racing at Le Mans since 2002 (with the exception of 2004) and in the Le Mans Series for many years.

To view the 1:43 Spyker C8 Laviolette #85 Le Mans 2010 click on the following link - 1:43 Spyker C8 Laviolette #85 Le Mans 2010