A hydrogen car can go 400 miles on a tank of fuel. The fuel companies have to get behind it. Shell and Total seem to be getting behind it. So, we might be able to make auto racing still even more environmentally friendly. Hydrogen will be growing as far as a fuel source, especially since water is the byproduct, even though the fuel will be under pressure when it is stored. So, we must contain the fuel in a safe manner so it can be put into a car. The fuel stack will be a part of the racing application just as much as the road car application. The car has two electric motors on it. Toyota #8 is in the pit lane. Another advantage of hydrogen, is the cars will be lighter, and it does away with a battery. The batteries used, have the same size as a normal car battery. Fernando Alonso is now at the wheel of the #8 Toyota, with fresh tires. Alonso now back on track, with new tires. Nathaniel Berthon and Stoffel Vandoorne are next up in the order.
We are at 3AM French time, 8PM Central Standard Time in the United States. Laurens Vanthoor brings Porsche 911 RSR #92 into the pit lane and a new driver into the car. Not sure if it is Fred Makowiecki, the Frenchman, or the Dane, Michael Christensen. The Porsche is 43 seconds behind Daniel Serra in the Ferrari. Both BMW's have had trouble. Aston Martin's retired during the night and so has the #64 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-. Laurens Vanthoor was associated with Audi in the GT3 ranks for a long time, but is now in the Porsche camp in GTE Pro. Is the consumption and cost of hydrogen comparable with standard fuel? Yes, at this point, it is, in British Pounds Sterling. That's the equivalent of 30-35 miles per gallon for a gasoline car.
Fuel companies need to manufacture hydrogen fuel. Jaguar's Norman Dewis who died recently, brought disc brakes into racing through Jaguar. We see Toyota changing the bodywork for the balance of the aero on the #7 car. Kamui Kobayashi stays in the car and he had a gap of 1:14 over Fernando Alonso. Norman Dewis introduced disc brakes through Le Mans to race cars and road cars. How long 'til we see the airless tire in racing? Solid tires, without inner tubes in them, that's a hard one to answer. John Dunlop produced the first rubber tires. Polyester tires might be a possibility. With the issues of plastic, we'll have to see what the tires will become. So many changes have happened technologically at Le Mans through the years. Disc brakes, fuel injection... back in the 1980s, the Group C cars were based on fuel consumption.
Mechanical fuel injection gave way to electronic fuel injection from Bosch and Magnetti Marelli. We've seen hybrid electric race cars, and diesel race cars. Formula 1 has had to take on hybrid tech and have been playing catch up to sports car racing. Hydrogen can power many commercial vehicles. If a car had a wreck, powered by hydrogen, you can't see a flame. There was smoke. Methanol alcohol was the same way with the open wheel cars. Spherical fuel tanks will be more useful than angular ones as we have trouble again with Bratislava. He's back on track, and the Ford was in the pit lane. ARC Bratislava can now dry their tears.
So many specialist cars have been built for Le Mans. Also, we've been talking a whole lot about Hypercar and new hydrogen technology and how water will be the byproduct of the fuel, but the storage will be a question mark because of it's volatility in an un-burned form. You have to transport the hydrogen fuel in a tanker at the moment. This is a new idea for the future, and well, we'll find out how well it works. Kevin Estre, last year's Le Mans winner, leads GTE Pro. Keating Motorsport is leading LM GTE Am with Felipe Fraga driving. Charlie Eastwood is next up. TF Sport will run a customer Valkyrie hypercar. We're going to have stability in the tech regs in the WEC after Audi and Porsche pulled out of the ranks. Let's hope more manufacturers will come, and there will be customer cars, too.
The FIA WEC will be boosted in the future. Also, we have seen the new DBX Aston Martin SUV. The SUV is camouflaged. Look out for track limits. We are at 3:40 A.M. French time, 8:40 P.M. U.S. Central Standard Time. Ferrari #51 has Alessandro Pier Guidi at the wheel of it, chasing Kevin Estre in the Porsche. Five makes were in the top five in GTE Pro yesterday, but now, Ferrari and Porsche are going for it. Rebellion #3 is back into the pit lane. So is Toyota #8. Another new nose is put onto the Toyota for the changing conditions. We're an hour or so away from the crack of dawn. Le Mans is the shortest night of the year, close to the summer solstice. Happy Father's Day, to all the dad's out there, even though we have yet to cross over into Sunday at Le Mans yet.
The hydrogen powered cars we've talked about, they will be just as fast as the LMP1 cars are now. Group C is still the golden yardstick even though those cars raced only for a decade or less. Porsche #92 is back in the pit lane. #92 is back to the garage from the lead of GTE Pro. Oh dear. Alessandro Pier Guidi has now taken the lead for Ferrari. They are probably just changing brakes. Indeed, they are. This isn't a mechanical worry. In the garage, you can throw everyone at the car to get the service done. Will Ferrari have to go for the brake change, too?
Someone cuts through the Dunlop chicane. Ferrari has not won Le Mans in some years. Ferrari still has that magic. Ferrari persuaded the production based hypercars. They were in with McLaren and Aston Martin on the hypercar thing. Also, in November, go see Ford vs. Ferrari, the movie, about Ford and Ferrari's rivalry in the mid 1960s. John Wyre, Carroll Shelby, Holman & Moody, everyone they could find. Matt Damon plays Carroll Shelby, and Christian Bale as Ken Miles. Miles was killed at Riverside testing the J car, which was the Mk. IV GT40 that Dan Gurney won Le Mans with where he sprayed champagne for the first time.
Steve McQueen was here but he was never allowed to drive in the race itself except for one time. Also, Paul Newman, and of course, Patrick Dempsey have run here. The United Autosport #32 CAR is in the garage. Something is going on with Fernando Alonso havinhg airflow issues at the back of the #8 Toyota. There could be floor damage. The explosion in the paint factory scheme on the Rebellion is really popular. Sebastien Bourdais is chasing Antonio Garcia. Ford GT vs. Corvette C-7-R-. The #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing car has made a pit stop as we come to the end of the 13th hour.
Has the #92 Porsche left the garage? No. He's dropped like a stone, 11th place in GTLM. It's something definitely serious. That car will not repeat their 2018 glory. We are less than an hour from the crack of dawn. Western France has seen a lot of poor weather. A yellow flag is shown at marshal post 27, at Arnage. Bad news for Porsche. Kevin Estre is still in the garage. We thought it was going to be a brake change. Tom Dillman has stopped at Arnage in the #4 ByKolles. That car has gone a lot further than usual. ByKolles is interested in hypercar. Is there an exhaust or suspension issue at Porsche? Whatever it is, it's not good.
The sister car is still pounding around. Tom Dillman is stopped out of Arnage on the run up to Maison Blanche (White House corner).
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