Just saw on the newstand that Racecar Engineering has a cover story on last years Mazda ALMS car. I did a quick browse through the story but didn't see anything I didn't know from before but exciting to see a cover story regardless. Anybody have any updates on the current car?

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/

 

intresting, I like to know what they say in the article since we all know the reasons

What ever happeng to the courage, did they sell the car?

 

I will try to pick up the magazine tommorow and maybe put up some scans. Did remember them noting that even with the increased inlet size that Mazda was down about 50hp to the other Lmp2 cars. They also mentioned problems with heat and the water pump, also because of the shape of the motor they had to use a Lmp1 rearend and tranny which was heavier than the Lmp2 rear end. (Not sure the specifics but thats off the top of my head) It did have several pictures of the different intake positions they tried on the car.

 

thanks apc monk, those are the reasons that where known here for some time

 

American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix
Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Conn.
Saturday's starting lineup
1. Romain Dumas, France; Timo Bernhard, Germany; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 44.659, 124.141
2. Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 45.176, 122.720
3. Stefan Johansson, Sweden; David Brabham, Australia; Duncan Dayton, North Salem, NY; Acura/ARX-01a (P2), 45.799, 121.051
4. Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Bryan Herta, Valencia, CA; Acura/ARX-01a (P2), 45.829, 120.971
5. Sascha Maassen, Germany; Ryan Briscoe, Australia; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 45.846, 120.927
6. Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Lola/B06-43/Acura (P2), 46.247, 119.878
7. Rinaldo Capello, Italy; Allan McNish, Scotland; Audi AG/R10/TDI (P1), 46.419, 119.434
8. Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Marco Werner, Germany; Audi AG/R10/TDI (P1), 46.644, 118.858
9. Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Andy Wallace, England; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 46.861, 118.307
10. Ben Devlin, England; Jamie Bach, West Palm Beach, FL; Lola/B07-40/Mazda (P2), 47.882, 115.785
11. Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Richard Berry, Evergreen, CO; Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Creation/CA06H/Judd (P1), 48.243, 114.918
12. Gunnar Van der Steur, Chesapeake City, MD; Adam Pecorari, Aston, PA; Radical / SR9/AER (P2), 49.017, 113.104
13. Oliver Gavin, England; Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Corvette C6.R (GT1), 51.411, 107.837
14. Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Johnny O`Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Corvette C6.R (GT1), 51.424, 107.810
15. Michael Lewis, San Diego, CA; Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Creation CA06H-Judd (P1), 52.043, 106.527
16. Tomas Enge, Czech Republic; Darren Turner, England; Ferrari 430GT (GT2), 52.431, 105.739
17. Mika Salo, Finland; Jaime Melo, Brazil; Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta (GT2), 53.138, 104.332
18. Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2), 53.275, 104.064
19. Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Ralf Kelleners, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 53.966, 102.731
20. Eric Helary, France; Nic Jonsson, Sweden; Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta (GT2), 54.064, 102.545
21. Wolf Henzler, Germany; Robin Liddell, Scotland; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 54.084, 102.507
22. Jorg Bergmeister, Germany; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 54.350, 102.006
23. Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 54.424, 101.867
24. Jim Tafel, Alpharetta, GA; Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 54.630, 101.483
25. Tim Pappas, Boston, MA; Terry Borcheller, Gainesville, GA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 56.942, 97.362

 

race complete finish 18th 23 laps begind the leader

A turbo 13b would have done much better

 

Last years car could at least finish most races which is more than I can say of this years car. I see no improvement for the amount of money invested.

 

just seems like this team just does not have the measure of their car or engine. Sad to see

 

I don't recall that team having success regardless of the car entered. As I remember, they ran out of $$ 1/2 thru their last campaign. I think its safe to say that BK Motorsports (or whatever they're called these days) is a 2nd tier team. Perhaps this is a development year & Mazda will step up to a more accomplished group next year.
Or perhaps Mazda is just trying to pull this off on the cheap. I would question that strategy given the high level of competition in LMP2. Regardless, I will root for them when they come to Road America in August.

 

I found and bought the issue of Racecar Engineering. It tells alot of what was done and why. Some of it we all pretty much had figured out such as too many engine builders.

They used the Courage chassis because Jim Downing recommended it. It was the only one available that they could get a rotary mounted in quickly. The back half of the car was basically a C60 Courage which is an LMP1 car. They even had the LMP1 car's brakes. The transmission they had to use wasn't what is normally used. They were 275 lbs overweight and 50 hp down. That's huge.

The chassis didn't have enough cooling area which we all knew. At the end of last season we knew they had a new water pump but the article reveals that it was a water pump from a Champ car and had dual radiators. Interesting. Francesco Ianetti developed special ceramic heat shields for the car. We all know of his wonderful apex seals. I didn't realize that he (along with a few others) designed the heat shielding for the Space Shuttle!

They said that the car could have been setup to use the rotary properly in the first place. In other words they could have gotten things redesigned to get weight down and the adaptation done properly before it ever hit the track but they said it would have taken another 6 months. They just wanted to get the car out on the track now. Maybe they should have started construction of it 6 months earlier! They only built the thing 2 weeks before it's first race! Why is there never enough time and money to do it right the first time but always enough to do it again? I'll never understand that. Especially when you are working on a tight budget.

The goal of their first RFQ (request for quote) for a new engine last year was pretty interesting. The goal was a turbocharged, direct injected 20B using lightweight alloys (all aluminum) with a goal of 550hp and 450 ft lbs of torque. Since the RX-8 didn't have a turbo, they didn't feel the turbo idea would be good from a marketing point of view though. The other option was a 4 rotor but there are no production based 4 rotors (or 3 rotors anymore so go figure?) and parts for them haven't been made in 20 years. The race engine they were running used standard Renesis rotors. The turbo 3 rotor would have been cool.

They had a change of heart at some point though and saw the MZR DISI as a perfect marketing engine that also met their needs on the track so that's what they did. Too bad they barely finish any races with the new car. I'd have liked to have seen them just take the extra 6 months to get the original car done properly and then evolve from there. They half assed the car together in too short of a time and then spent too much money to try to make it all work only to spend far more money in the end on a totally new car. The logic escapes me.

 

good info RG, now the question is why would you use a AER engine when intersport dump them because they knew it was not competitive for this season?


I would love to see a all aluminun turbo DI 20b

 

Well after much pressure on the ACO from Audi, LMP2 cars now have 5% smaller restrictors to cut power to keep them behind the LMP1 cars (which means Audi). This is the way the European regulations have been. There is one exception to this though. Only LMP2 cars powered by turbo AER 2.0L engines can keep their original larger restrictors. Guess which team is the only one to run an AER turbo 4 in LMP2? Mazda! Basically the change is slowing down the Acura and Porsche cars and keeping everyone else the same. If that's not serious outside influence on rules, I don't know what is.

 

you are right, but the problem as I recall from the AER engine package is reliability not speed, maybe my memory is off but I do remember that most of the races the intersport car finish limping with some sort of problem, the only reason the mazda dint win those races is because the intersport car had open a huge lead.

 

well, that AER engine is really jamming in the boost, I recall hearing about 30+ psi

 

I think it was 38 psi

 

The 2 liter engines can run 2500 millibar absoute which is 36.25 absolute or 21.75 psi of boost. Don't get confused with the fact that on a perfect day, the air outside is at 1 bar. Their ratings are absolute which doesn't start at 1 bar as we know it but at 0. They almost run 22 psi of boost.

 

Found some additional information on the new restrictor rules. Found at http://www.mulsannescorner.com/news.html

">>IMSA Bulletin 07-15 was released the week of Le Mans. The American Le Mans Series, under pressure from the Audi and the ACO, has put the 2007 restrictor regulations into effect for LMP2 competitors, reducing engine restrictors by 5% for all cars with one exception, those powered by 2.0 liter turbo engines (AER). So basically this amounts to a 5% reduction on the Porsche RS Spyder and Acura powered LMP 2 cars. We noted back in September of last year following the State of the Series address, Tim Mayer commented that the ACO was behind the American Le Mans Series recognizing that regulations derived for one event didn't necessarily make for regulations that were equitable for an entire series and that this was a, (our quote) "noted change in the ACO's tone inasmuch as they weren't necessarily on the same page until recently." Clearly the prospects of interesting racing up at the front was too much for Audi and the ACO. Somewhere it was commented that, "Now Audi can be competitive." Whatever, Audi has been sitting on their hands racing with one arm tied behind their back and pointing and crying about how the regulations were making the LMP2s more competitive than they should have been. This isn't my observation, this is the observation on pitman from the LMP2 competitors and people better positioned than I am to make such an opinion.

Additionally, as first reported back on April 8, Bulletin 07-15 has given Mazda the ok to continue to run their electronic throttle mechanism for the rest of the ALMS season."

Interesting comment about the electronic throttle. Are there any advantages to Mazda for running it? Also the new issue of Grassroots Motorsports has a 2 page Kumho ad featuring as nice pic of the BK Mazda car.

 

I have increasingly found myself not interested in ALMS. I can't even tell you when i last watched a race. The mojo is gone for me.

 

I still love watching ALMS. I just don't do it to watch Mazda anymore. They're just another car. And a non competitive one at that.

 

I lost most of my intrest too, I just got tire of seeing mazda DNF in every race

 

I'm a huge ALMS fan, and I do always cheer for the BK boys...

Sadly, another mechanical DNF today, though I didn't catch the reason on the broadcast. Can't wait to watch the broadcast tomorrow!

 

another DNF

BK really needs some help

 

They ran 18 laps total...

ALMS - Mid-Ohio - Race (provisional)

1. #7 Penske Racing - Porsche RS Spyder - 134 laps
2. #6 Penske Racing - Porsche RS Spyder - 0:02.360
3. #2 Audi Sport North America - Audi R10 - 0:15.073
4. #15 Fernandez Racing - Lola B06/43 - 0:39.352
5. #1 Audi Sport North America - Audi R10 - 1:04.633
6. #16 Dyson Racing - Porsche RS Spyder - 133 laps
7. #20 Dyson Racing - Porsche RS Spyder - 133 laps
8. #9 Highcroft Racing - Acura ARX-01A - 132 laps
9. #06 Team Cytosport - Lola B06/14 - 128 laps
10. #26 Andretti Green Racing - Acura ARX-01A - 126 laps
11. #4 Corvette Racing - Corvette C6.R - 125 laps
12. #3 Corvette Racing - Corvette C6.R - 125 laps
13. #19 Van der Steur Racing - Radical SR9 - 119 laps
14. #45 Flying Lizards - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - 118 laps
15. #62 Risi Competizione - Ferrari 430 GT2 - 116 laps
16. #61 Risi Competizione - Ferrari 430 GT2 - 116 laps
17. #44 Flying Lizards - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - 114 laps
18. #54 Team Trans Sport - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - 114 laps
19. #31 Petersen/White Lightning - Ferrari 430 GT2 - 113 laps
20. #12 Autocon Motorsports - Creation CA06/H - 97 laps
21. #37 Intersport Racing - Creation CA06/H - 96 laps
22. #13 Woodhouse Performance - Dodge Viper - 95 laps
23. #18 Rahal Letterman Racing - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - 92 laps
24. #71 Tafel Racing - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - 83 laps
25. #73 Tafel Racing - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - 80 laps
26. #21 Panoz Team PTG - Panoz Esperante GTLM - 49 laps
27. #8 B-K Motorsports - Lola B07/46 - 18 laps



-Bern

 

maybe they should have just stuck with the engine that they had last year, they were at least finishing

 

And improve on it!