Now that's some interesting news. Good for them. The more different manufactures on the grid, the better the show. Mark
As of now, I'll be there for the week but leaving early Sunday morning. I think the house I'm staying at is in Allonnes.
Too bad-was looking forward to another battle. I wish that FIAT through Alfa/Lancia would take up the challenge.
Too bad. That came out of left field. I'll play the Audi trifecta It also takes some of the pizzazz out of Sebring not to mention the WEC. FYI, here are some pics of the new Toyota LMP https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.10150524508894099&type=1
I can't help but think that Peugeot leaving is directly related to Toyota showing up. they have a habit of spending everyone (including themselves) into oblivion.
From Peugeot Sport. After 14 victories in the last 16 races, including a double at the Le Mans 24 Hours 2009 as part of the ILMC championship won by Peugeot two years running, in 2010 and 2011, the Brand has decided to close its 2012 endurance programme and will not be taking part in the next Le Mans 24 Hours. * This decision has been taken against the backdrop of the challenging economic environment in Europe coupled with a particularly busy year for the Brand in terms of new vehicle launches. In this context, Peugeot prefers to concentrate its 2012 resources on its commercial performance and, in particular, ensuring the successful launches of the 208, 3008 HYbrid4, 508 RXH, 508 HYbrid4 and 4008 which will take forward the Brand's strategy of moving upmarket and extending its global presence. In keeping with its social responsibility obligations and as part of the GPEC (forward management of jobs and skills) agreement signed by 5 trade unions, all of the employees concerned will be offered redeployment solutions within the Group thanks to a special system set up to oversee and lead occupational training/retraining as well as internal mobility.
I think it has more to do witth Peugeot's drop in sales: more than 6% apparently. French car makers are taking a hammering in this economy crisis; Renault lost 20% sales in UK.
no, I think that's the excuse if they knew they weren't going to continue the program you would think they would have shut it down at the end of last season. this seems very abrupt, just a few months before Sebring (where theoretically they already had cars in development). surely they knew their sales were poor before now...
Nothing more than badge engineering; not very credible. Morgan has a very good GT3 in the AeroMax; it should concentrate on that instead of sponsoring an ageing French-designed chassis with a Japanese engine!
Peugeot tested for one day at Sebring as recently as November and were slated to take part in an unprecidented 24 Hour test at the Winter Test in February. We may hope Oreca or Pescarolo may enter a car or two as privateers but that's starting to seem remote as well. BHW
I'll be at Le Mans (a) working on a cool side project associated with the DeltaWing and (b) watching my DragonSpeed business partner Elton Julian, who will be driving in LMP2 with Greaves Motorsport, last year's class winner.
Do you have any first-hand updates on the DeltaWing? Is it built? When will it turn a wheel? Will it be at the Le Mans test, etc?
Sorry, not allowed to go into detail, but there should be some hard news and something to look at in early March...
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01NMDRwOzKM&feature=uploademail[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjFymy4FKqc&feature=uploademail[/ame]
I'm rooting for Toyota this year. Is Audi running a diesel hybrid? We'll see if Peugeot returns after the rule changes
Nice videos. It's always good news to have new manufactures building prototypes. As per all of the closed cockpit LMP's, it looks to have sketchy visibility/blind spots.
