What is Aston Martin up to?

[tux]

Originally Posted by canaglia

hope they could be back in lmdh also because thinking about, aston martin was in some way the pioneer of modern dpi/lmdh concept...

what actually was lola-aston? an lmp1 spec carbon tub made by a third party supplier + a road derivated engine + a modified bodywork... that's basically dpi formula.

Just wanted to ask how much of the car was modified by Aston Martin? For sure engine, & bodywork but did they redesign the front & rear suspension too? I genuinely don’t know.

[Pandamasque]

Don't forget that it started with a toe in the water, when AMR and Lola made a V12-engined Lola B08/60 with standard Lola aero, which was turned into DBR1-2 a year later.

[S griffin]

It was something that was a nice idea and could have worked, but had too many things against it. Still was great while it lasted

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by tux

Just wanted to ask how much of the car was modified by Aston Martin? For sure engine, & bodywork but did they redesign the front & rear suspension too? I genuinely don’t know.

prodrive purchased some b08, b09 and b10/60 tubs and made a customized and stylized AM bodywork (front grill, rear lights). I don't think they did a lot of work because b08 was already designed to fit the aston V12.

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by S griffin

It was something that was a nice idea and could have worked, but had too many things against it. Still was great while it lasted

I think that it actually worked... in a relative way, along arx-01c, lola aston was the best petrol car of late '00, at le mans was about 3 seconds faster than other lola b09-10/60 and updated courages (pescarolo/oreca 01) powered by the judd 5.5L V10.
No petrol lmp1 could realistically stand against audi and peugeot because turbodiesel cars were too much powerful and had all kind of regs. advantages being audi and peugeot the biggest manufacturers involved at le mans.
Petrol lmp1 were in the range of 650hp, peugeot in 2008 and 2010 was seriously closer to 800hp than 700hp as they always claimed!
despite the inhuman torque audi and peugeot were only 30kg heavier and had longer stints too.
Considering also that some of lola-aston drivers were also actually the owners of the chassis they were driving, the whole prodrive lola-aston budget was likely what audi and peugeot used to spend for the vending machines of their hospitalities...

[S griffin]

It certainly did alright considering the opposition it had. It was definitely an underdog in that respect. Just didn't quite threaten the top.

Of course the competition was quite tough then in terms of Audi and Peugeot, although it would have been nice to have more challenge them. Rebellion did quite well considering. But hey they were fun times. Can't complain. Well done Aston for giving it a go. Would have liked to have seen more, but wasn't to be

[andrewn7]

Originally Posted by S griffin

It certainly did alright considering the opposition it had. It was definitely an underdog in that respect. Just didn't quite threaten the top.

Of course the competition was quite tough then in terms of Audi and Peugeot, although it would have been nice to have more challenge them. Rebellion did quite well considering. But hey they were fun times. Can't complain. Well done Aston for giving it a go. Would have liked to have seen more, but wasn't to be

That Lola-AM tie up was definitely one of the better attempts at LMP1 in recent years (full blown Audi/Peugeot manufacturer efforts excepted). The car looked great, sounded amazing, had some handy drivers, was reliable and picked up some decent results, maybe even a podium at LM one year?

For the budget they were running on it was a highly creditable effort, and it was a massive shame (and huge mistake imo) when AM pulled the plug and went ahead with the AMR001. From memory AM fell out with Lola over the naming rights to the Lola-AM, hence the split. Probably more too it than that, but you do think how things could have turned out differently, for both companies, if they'd stuck with the partnership. Hey ho, as said above was fun times whilst it lasted

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by andrewn7

maybe even a podium at LM one year?

Alas, P6 was the highest finish. I seem to remember they were going to finish 3rd once, but the engine blew up a few hours before the end.
I just went and checked the results and it was hard to comprehend how such an iconic programme, in turns out, only lasted 2 seasons! Not counting rather unsuccessful privateer Le Mans outings and some ALMS exploits with Muscle Milk. It made quite an impression.

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by andrewn7

That Lola-AM tie up was definitely one of the better attempts at LMP1 in recent years (full blown Audi/Peugeot manufacturer efforts excepted). The car looked great, sounded amazing, had some handy drivers, was reliable and picked up some decent results, maybe even a podium at LM one year?

For the budget they were running on it was a highly creditable effort, and it was a massive shame (and huge mistake imo) when AM pulled the plug and went ahead with the AMR001. From memory AM fell out with Lola over the naming rights to the Lola-AM, hence the split. Probably more too it than that, but you do think how things could have turned out differently, for both companies, if they'd stuck with the partnership. Hey ho, as said above was fun times whilst it lasted

There was nothing that could save lola from the 2012 bankrupt, the road was already marked... AM tried to convince lola to give them full rights on the i.p. so they could be able to officially rename the car Aston Martin DBR1-2, lola demanded payments for the rights but AM declined, so officially the car is still named lola-aston martin B09/60.
In late '00 prodrive got some carbon/composites production assets, likely they thought to don't need a supplier anymore, recent history told how they were ridiculously wrong... poor and unreliable engine aside, AMR-one was a joke... everyone was moving on coupè because of new regs, prodrive decided to do the most draggy open car ever made..
infact AMR came back to lola-aston for final part of 2011 season despite they didn't even own any lola aston anymore.

[Richard117]

Originally Posted by Pandamasque

Alas, P6 was the highest finish. I seem to remember they were going to finish 3rd once, but the engine blew up a few hours before the end.
I just went and checked the results and it was hard to comprehend how such an iconic programme, in turns out, only lasted 2 seasons! Not counting rather unsuccessful privateer Le Mans outings and some ALMS exploits with Muscle Milk. It made quite an impression.

They finished 4th in 2009.

[S griffin]

To be fair, it was a proper endurance race that year

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by S griffin

To be fair, it was a proper endurance race that year

that's the truth, 2009 was last year le mans 24H was still an endurance race and not a 24H long sprint race... infact 2010 LM is the edition that still holds the distance record and during 2011 LM lotterer in his night stints had a so crazy fast pace that his fastest lap was like 0.5 faster than pole position

[S griffin]

It still has some enduro skill in it. But it’s getting more like a sprint race, although that could change with new rules. After all 2010 was won by the tortoises that were Audi, rather than the faster Peugeots. So there is still a bit about knowing when to back off and knowing when to go for it and having different drivers for different stints

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by S griffin

It still has some enduro skill in it. But it’s getting more like a sprint race, although that could change with new rules. After all 2010 was won by the tortoises that were Audi, rather than the faster Peugeots. So there is still a bit about knowing when to back off and knowing when to go for it and having different drivers for different stints

if we talk about LM2010, it isn't about endurance skill or anything else, the keyword is only one: titanium rods.
Not to mention that peugeot gave a brand new chassis to oreca and used a damaged one for them

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by canaglia

Not to mention that peugeot gave a brand new chassis to oreca and used a damaged one for them

Is that the one that had a suspension failure when Lamy was driving?

[S griffin]

It was a race that really got turned on it's head with unreliability towards the end

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by Pandamasque

Is that the one that had a suspension failure when Lamy was driving?

it was #2 that had a suspensions failure just after few hours, they didn't even try to fix it despite there were many hours to go yet

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by S griffin

It was a race that really got turned on it's head with unreliability towards the end

908HDi was a beast of car, maybe the most brutal car ever made for le mans, shame they decided to "test" the new titanium rods right there at le mans... honestly peugeot sport was a big up and down all the time, sometimes they did so silly mistakes that looked like amateurs compared to joest guys

[Mike E]

For sale: Aston Martin Valkyrie, one careful owner, never raced or rallied.

https://twitter.com/DabOf0ppo/status...O6mpDGwMA&s=19

[broadrun96]

Slight stain on the seat

[NaBUru38]

TF Sport will enter a Vantage GT3 at the Nürburgring 24h with factory drivers Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen, Maxime Martin and David Pittard.

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

TF Sport will enter a Vantage GT3 at the Nürburgring 24h with factory drivers Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen, Maxime Martin and David Pittard.

NLS2, NLS3, and 24h quali race also in their plans, although NLS2 has now been postponed to November

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

NLS2, NLS3, and 24h quali race also in their plans, although NLS2 has now been postponed to November

Pretty funny that NLS2 has been postponed to November because it's going to be too cold this weekend.

[S griffin]

Yes, it will probably be even worse in November. It'll be colder then, while it's getting warmer at this time of year

[tux]

Have Aston Martin Racing lost long time customer Andrew Howard?

They pulled the Beechdean cars from GTWC after SPA 24 and Andrew was driving the SKY Mercedes this weekend in British GT..