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To send off its three-time Le Mans-winning LMP1 car, Porsche has built the 919 Hybrid Evo, a high-downforce machine designed to break lap records. And it's already broken its first. With factory driver Neel Jani at the wheel, the 919 Evo ran a 1:41.7 around Spa Francorchamps this morning, breaking Lewis Hamilton's pole-setting 1:42.553 lap record from last year.
The 919 Evo started off as the car that won Le Mans last year, but it's been freed from the technical regulations of the World Endurance Championship in which it competed. Its turbocharged V4 gas engine now makes 720 hp, up from 500 before, and its electric boost has been upped from 400 hp to 440. Aero was upgraded significantly too, with the 919 Evo making 53 percent more downforce than before. That's more downforce than an F1 car, by the way.
Weight was reduced by 86 pounds, so the 919 Evo weighs just under a ton with Jani on board. The suspension was upgraded to handle all the extra downforce, and Michelin provided a new tire too.
On the track, Jani hit a top speed of 216.8 mph and averaged 152.6 mph. His time of 1:41.7 was an astonishing 12 seconds faster than the 919's pole-setting lap at the circuit last year.
And the best part? Porsche isn't done. It's going to do a demo lap on the Nürburgring Nordshliefe next month. We don't know what Porsche has planned, but perhaps it has a certain 6:11.13 lap set in 1983 in its sights.
Why not unleash this monster on the old LeMans circuit without the chicanes!!!
Ground effect, it's important.
Compare those side skirts and diffuser on the record car and the regular car. Not to mention the dual plane rear wing and massive end plates.
Love to see Porsche unleash their engineers just for the fun of it, unshackled from the restrictions of any given sanctioning body-- just because! Obviously, the 919 has more downforce than an F1 car because it doesn't have open wheels and given the pace of F1 cars this year, the 919 record will be beaten come September.
Part of me thinks this is really cool, but the other part wishes they were spending this effort actually racing and competing, same goes for the electric video game Audi thing they are doing demonstrations with. Better than nothing I guess...
Part of me thinks this is really cool, but the other part wishes they were spending this effort actually racing and competing, same goes for the electric video game Audi thing they are doing demonstrations with. Better than nothing I guess...
I have similar thought with such publicity stunts. Instead of spending big $$$ showing what an unlimited race car can do, how about working on the classic division getting fuel lines for vintage Porsche's back on the market.....
But, I'm sure there is very valuable R&D gained from these tests and it is just damn cool to see "***** out" once and a while.
Certainly the drivers appreciate doing it. There is a lot of b.s.talk out there in racing with BOP, Sanctioning Bodies, and Formulas, but a lap record is a lap record. No further discussion required. I like it.
Love to see Porsche unleash their engineers just for the fun of it, unshackled from the restrictions of any given sanctioning body-- just because! Obviously, the 919 has more downforce than an F1 car because it doesn't have open wheels and given the pace of F1 cars this year, the 919 record will be beaten come September.
Three cars beat the 919 time this Saturday as I predicted. The times would have come down even further in Q3, but it rained. Remember the tires used in Q2 are what you use to start the race on Sunday, so the driver's aren't going 10/10ths.
Three cars beat the 919 time this Saturday as I predicted. The times would have come down even further in Q3, but it rained. Remember the tires used in Q2 are what you use to start the race on Sunday, so the driver's aren't going 10/10ths.
I'm sure Porsche noted this and is considering turning the engine dial to "11" for another go around.
I've read a couple of stories about this......at first, Porsche didn't want to do it as they thought it would be a insult to Bellof's feat and memory, but they rationalized it by figuring if they didn't do it, someone else will. They also went to Bellof's family to get their blessing to proceed.
It's impressive, but the car is a total one-off designed solely for this purpose (as are all the other cars breaking the record on a seemingly monthly basis ). I'm more impressed by what the driver went through both physically and mentally in preparing for and then achieving success.
04-09-2018, 12:49 PM
Porsche 919 Evo breaks Lewis Hamilton's record at Spa by 0.783 seconds.
). I'm more impressed by what the driver went through both physically and mentally in preparing for and then achieving success.