Bringing a loud NASCAR to Le Mans
When the possibility of a NASCAR Cup Series car entering the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race was first discussed two years ago, there was some surprise.
“I talked to a few people, traditional sports car people and traditional race people, and when I told them about the project, they scratched their heads like, ‘What are you going to do?'” John Doonan, president of the International Motor Sports Association, said in an interview.
Doonan is also the project lead for NASCAR’s return to Le Mans 47 years after the series was last involved, when a Dodge Charger and a Ford Torino failed to finish the race
Chevrolet, a two-time winner in the GTE Pro class, provides the car, a Camaro ZL1 run by Hendrick Motorsports from North Carolina, that’s the Garage 56 entry for Le Mans, which is celebrating its centenary this year.
Since 2012, the Automobile Club de l’Ouestthe organizer of the race has reserved Garage 56 for concept cars and projects that are not part of the official competition and do not have to comply with the technical regulations.
The ZL1 still has a 5.8-liter small block V8, but it’s nearly 500 pounds lighter and has a larger 32-gallon fuel cell and carbon brakes along with aerodynamic features that are important for negotiating the Circuit de la Sarthe. Unique to a Cup car, there are headlamps and taillights, and wider tyres, supplied by Goodyear.
“The car is so unpleasant,” Jenson Button, the 2009 Formula 1 champion and one of the car’s three drivers for Le Mans, said in an interview. “He’s so loud, so big, so aggressive, and it’s not Le Mans, but he fits in perfectly because he’s so different from everything else.
“I think the fans will love it, and I think the other drivers will love seeing the car.”
Button will drive with Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, and Mike Rockenfeller, who won Le Mans in 2010 with Audi.
“NASCAR largely wanted the vehicle to retain its DNA of a Cup car,” Johnson said in an interview. “So from an aero efficiency standpoint, we know and recognize it.”
Certain NASCAR traditions will be maintained. At pit stops when the tires are changed, the car will be lifted via a hand jack, rather than built-in pneumatic jacks that other cars use, and when changing drivers they will enter and exit through the window, not the doors.
In preparation for Le Mans, the car completed a 24-hour test at Sebring International Raceway in Florida and tested six other times, including Daytona International Speedway in Florida and Circuit of the Americas in Texas.
The car drove around the Texas track 10 seconds faster than a Cup Series car.
“It’s going fast, but you don’t think it’s going that fast because there’s so much work to do that you’re battling it all the time,” said Button. “It’s also pretty forgiving in the way you can drift the car.
“But it’s not like a single-seater, like an F1 car, which is essentially stuck to the road. You try to accommodate oversteer and big understeer in places. It’s a workout. It is real. And I think that’s why we like it. We always come in smiling like, ‘Who cares? This thing is crazy.’ And it is.”
Doonan said the car and team were ready, even though as the only concept entry it had no competition.
“The ACO set a target for our performance to be in the middle of the GT field, in terms of lap time,” he said. “So while we’re not going to win a class, or we’re going to win it all, getting to the end is number one.
“Ultimately you’ll see the performance of this car, at least based on what we learned in the simulator and what we learned in testing, that this thing is a real race car, and I’m super excited about seeing it in traffic , against the GT cars to show what is really possible.
Doonan said millions of dollars have been invested in the project, which would achieve the goals of introducing NASCAR to a wider audience and presenting a car to the auto industry that debuted last year in the Cup Series.
“There’s definitely a promotional element to it, to show the fans what this car looks and sounds like,” he said.
NASCAR is celebrating its 75th birthday this year last year introduced its next-generation car, on which its Le Mans version is based. With the changes made to the Le Mans car, Johnson said he hoped it was “not done and done” but marked the beginning of a new era for NASCAR.
“I imagine there are ideas that could be taken from this vehicle and potentially applied to NASCAR vehicles as they develop,” he said. “Maybe we can start another series and drive this one because it’s a really cool, fun car.”
The car captured the imagination of Pierre Fillon, president of the ACO. He said he was “immediately excited” when approached by NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France about this “crazy idea”.
“We need something innovative,” Fillon said. “This generation of NASCAR is innovative and is the future of NASCAR, and will provide fans with wonderful memories.”
Despite the showcase opportunity for NASCAR, there is a clear goal.
“A Cup car is not built to run for 24 hours, so getting to the finish is a big deal for everyone at Le Mans,” said Button. “So that’s the main goal for the whole team.”