NASCAR at LeMans

[Chris GTO TT]

Not going to lie I'm looking forward to seeing this happen at this year's 24 hours of LeMans. Whether it's a shit show or impressive either way it has my attention. The group of drivers alone is impressive.

https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/ ... /10426556/

[alienviking]

Button and Rockefeller have a lot of road course experience for sure. Will be interesting to see their performance vs Johnson.

[Chris GTO TT]

Button and Rockefeller have a lot of road course experience for sure. Will be interesting to see their performance vs Johnson.

Yeah and Jordan Taylor as a driver coach/consultant

[Chris GTO TT]

Jordan Taylor is awesome, his caption and shirt

https://www.instagram.com/p/CoIeFlipMVF ... k5N2NlZjQ=

[DCIV]

So this is an actual nascar at LeMans? Interesting.


Coop

[Chris GTO TT]

So this is an actual nascar at LeMans? Interesting.


Coop

My understanding is yes it is. It's going to be modified some for the event, but it's basically the same car.

The ACO (LeMans sanctioning body) has 55 official entry spots for LeMans but in the past 10 or so years they've allowed a one off car an exemption to compete. The Panoz Delta Wing car ran as a Garage 56 entry, IIRC hybrids were first allowed as a Garage 56 entry. This year the ACO used it to promote their closest collaboration with NASCAR owned IMSA in close to 20 years.

[alienviking]

Yeah they listed it as a "Modified ZL1" but I haven't seen more info on what they consider "modified"

[aaronatstate]

I'm assuming the modifications done to it, will be setting up for road course, rather than circle track.

[alienviking]

I would be curious to know about engine modifications as well.

[Jeff V.]

This is super obvious in hindsight, but they have to put headlights on this thing. Kinda weird seeing a cup car with lights.

https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/ ... /10427300/

[aaronatstate]

That is a good point. Needs headlights and tail lights. Looks strange on a cup car for sure. Though maybe NASCAR will do some night road races depending on how this plays out (doubt it though).

[alienviking]

Doh didn't even think about that. I wonder what kind of wet weather testing they have done..

[Chris GTO TT]

This is super obvious in hindsight, but they have to put headlights on this thing. Kinda weird seeing a cup car with lights.

https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/ ... /10427300/

I read that article earlier this morning too and had the same thought.

[aaronatstate]

Doh didn't even think about that. I wonder what kind of wet weather testing they have done..

I wonder if the just put production Camaro lights on it?

[Jeff V.]

I doubt it. They're probably not bright enough, nor are they built to handle 24 hours of race car level vibration. Weight might be an issue too.

[Chris GTO TT]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CoxcLjdOKEG ... k5N2NlZjQ=
Here is a decent comparison between the garage 56 car and the next gen nascar car. It shows the headlights they're definitely custom one off.

[aaronatstate]

Wow they cut 525 lbs. of weight out of it too, while having a larger fuel tank.

[Jeff V.]

Wow. I'm amazed they managed to knock 500 lbs out of it while adding equipment and fuel capacity.

[DCIV]

The things are just tin cans and roll cage. Think it’s a lot of the stuff you see on the screen when watching races.


Coop

[Chris GTO TT]

I'm sure most of that weight is just ballast that can be moved and in this case removed to meet NASCAR requirements. Most of the time race cars are built to be well under weight and then they add ballast to the car down low. This keeps the CG low and allows them to set weight distribution exactly how they want it.