By akademiotoelektronik, 29/11/2022

24 hours of Le Mans. Porsche clarifies its technical choices on its LMDh

She rode for the first time two weeks ago, and now reveals her technical choices. The Porsche LMDh, which is expected to debut at Daytona in 2023, is now entering its development phase.

West-France Guillaume NEDELEC. Published on

There will be a traffic jam of competitors in the WEC in 2023. Between Porsche and Peugeot, which are now testing their Hypercars, Audi which will do the same from February, Ferrari in June, not forgetting BMW, Acura or Cadillac, which must specify their schedules, the next few months promise to be busy.

On the side of Porsche, we took a little lead, by rolling the car from January, i.e. imsa in the premier category of Endurance. In Weissach, on the in-house test track, the prototype whose hull is built by Multimatic, and which will be entrusted to Penske Motorsport, experienced its first track debut, without encountering any major problems.

"To be honest, it was a very positive first run," said Frenchman Frédéric Makowiecki, driver in charge of the LMDh's first laps. We were able to do a few laps and found the car to run as expected. We now have a good starting point to move forward. »

Under the hood, a twin-turbo V8 will take place, associated with the standard gearbox-hybrid system-batteries set built by X-Trac, Williams Advanced Engineering and Bosch: "We were spoiled for choice choice with the engine of our LMDh prototype, as the product range offers several promising base units,” says Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President of Porsche Motorsport.

The range of standard Porsche engines thus includes a V8, a V6 (seen on the Cayenne and the Panamera), a six-cylinder flat (the traditional architecture of the 911) and even a small four-cylinder (on the Boxster). “We opted for the twin-turbo V8, which we believe offers the best combination of performance, weight and cost. The launch of the active test program was an important milestone for the project. »

"The engine impressed us"

Technical constraints are quite free, with the new LMDh regulations. Thus, if the number of cylinders or the displacement are to be decided by the manufacturer, the complete engine assembly must weigh at least 180 kg, offer a maximum speed of 10,000 rpm, while not exceeding a volume of noise of 110 decibels. The power, it must be between 653 and 707 horsepower. This is to provide a margin for the famous balance of performance. “During these first days of testing in Weissach, the V8 biturbo impressed us in every way. We are convinced that we have chosen precisely the right unit,” says Urs Kuratle, LMDh Global Project Manager at Porsche Motorsport. A not insignificant sentence, when we know that Audi will start on the same technical basis, and that Lamborghini should do the same, soon.

He also mentions having started the collaboration with Penske: “The deployment of the LMDh was also the first outing on the track for Porsche Penske Motorsport. The team worked well from the start. This demonstrates a high level of professionalism in all areas. After all, the operational requirements for the safe operation of a hybrid vehicle are very high. »

And to consider, from now on, to consider the following: “In the next releases, we will focus on deepening the required processes and procedures. In short, already anticipate work on performance. This promises for 2023.

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