We continue to watch this stirring LMP2 battle. Not long ago, the top seven LMP2 machines were all on the same lap. Not anymore, though. AF Corse's #71 Ferrari is in the lane for service, and it is indeed routine. Still leading, Kamui Kobayashi, in the #7 Toyota. They might have to stop. There's something going on in the engine compartment. They are two laps up on the sister car, #8. The #8 has been in to fix the brakes or the front four wheel drive hybrid motor. The gasoline engine sounds fine. They changed the brake ducting and futzed with the front wheel drive motor. There is a one minute penalty for the #27 DragonSpeed car for speeding in a slow zone. Renger van der Zande is driving, along with Henrik Hedman and Ben Hanley.
They have to take that penalty. Come on, Mr. Director, give us an onboard shot. The hump on the Mulsanne straight was cut down a ways, but it is slower. The 1999 flip of the Mercedes CLR caused that to be trimmed down. The two United Autosports cars are pushing each other. Will Owen vs. Paul Di Resta. Will Owen is under king size pressure. Di Resta is applying the blowtorch. Owen leads. Will he give it up? I don't think so. This is the move. Paul Di Resta has moved by Will Owen, or has he? Slow car through the cicanes. Who is there? Who? The course is totally green all 'round. Toyota #7 is headed to the garage and they will make repairs. Let's seen how long this is going to be. It is time for a driver change as well. Will it be Jose Maria Lopez or Mike Conway?
There are lots of leaves on the circuit. It is autumn after all. The front nose cone comes off. They are working on both sides of the car. Everything checked with a fine tooth comb. We cannot see what is happening at the back. This is the end of hybrid era after Audi brought the diesel and we had Peugeot with a diesel, but then, just Audi, and Porsche, and Toyota, and now, only Toyota. There's cooling ducts on the right rear corner. Is there something wrong with the suspension. Kamui Kobayashi is not happy. He is distraught that he may not win. It's been in for three, maybe four mkinutes. The front nose cone is going back on the car.
Car #8 had a brake and wheel motor issue. This is an engine issue with the twin turbo 2.4 liter V6 with 450 horsepower, and joined by 500-600 horsepower from the hybrid system for a total of 1,000 horsepower with four wheel drive. So, this brings Rebellion back into the picture and Toyota #7 has been in the garage for almost six minutes. We have never seen a race with wildlife at Le Mans. But Stefan Johansson hit a deer at the Osterreichring in Austria, and there have been hares running across the road at Silverstone in England. But, no wildlife troubles at Le Mans. The #8 Toyota has the same right rear issue. Rebellion are now going to be in striking distance.
The exhaust headers are about to be replaced on the #7 Toyota. The Dempsey Proton #88 Porsche is in the gravel again. Adrien De Leener is off the road at La Chapelle. De Leener, sharing with Thomas Preining and Dominique Bastien. The #21 DragonSpeed Lmp2 car is in the pit lane. Juan Montoya at the controls. Rebellion #3 is closing up on the stationary Toyota #7. The IDEC LMP2 car is i the lane for service. Le Mans is half an hour north of the Loire Valley and the plantaginates came from England over here in the medieval times. 17 minutes and counting on the #7 repaires. Adrien de Leener is back on the road.
This is the last time we see the hybrid LMP1 cars atLe Mans. Hydrogen, we see will be a fuel of the future. In the scheme of things, hydrogen road cars are moving on, but the hydrogen race cars are really moving ahead. A new car was unveiled at the press conference yesterday. It's 150 kilograms lighter. They will see performance equivalent of an LMP3 car. Hydrogran is coming forward for power, and there will be a class at Le Mans for hydrogen cars, in four more years, in 2024. Five automakers are interested in presenting hydrogen cars. A Hyrase league has been announced in Germany, with the league expected to race in Germany in 2023 before going international in 2024.
There is a new series of Extreme E, an offshoot of Formula E, with electric off road cars, with battery power. The Extreme E series will race in Nepal, Greenland, places where there's no electricity. The batteries will be recharged using hydrogen generated onsite from solar panels and water. How will this work? A container of water and solar panels that will generate the hydrogen to generate the electricity to power the car. Very interesting ideas. BMW mentioned they are looking at fuel cell technology and they could come back to prototype racing with a hydrogen powered car.
Honda have a car, and so do Hyundai, and Toyota, having hydrogen cars ready to roll in the state of California. The petrol companies are not affected, because they can sell hydrogen fuel at their filling stations if they can store it safely. After a half hour in the garage, the #7 Toyota is back on track. We will see where hydrogen and electric cars come from and how it all goes. Gordon Murray, great car designer, and the ACO, are both keen on it. Le Mans has a history of bringing on revolutionary motorsport technologies. Disc brakes, engine management systems, fuel injection in Group C in the 1980s, starting with mechanical fuel injection, and the cars were going faster and faster with 5% less fuel every year.
Mechanical injection gave way to electronic injection. The ACO has a history of developing road cars. Disc brakes were brought in with Jaguar. Every car on the road since the 1960s or '70s has disc brakes. Le Mans was the first paved road course, but Indianapolis and Brooklands are also paved. James Calado is into the pit lane, as we get close to completing another racing hour. He didn't stop. It is a different Ferrari. I saw the Corvette C8.R at Daytona, and hope it makes to Le Mans, next year, with it's new flat plane crankshaft V8. Toyota, ByKolles, and others have Hypercars, and so does Glickenhaus. There are three that will be here next year. Peugeot is going to Hyprcar and not LMDh. Alpine could have a car next year of course. Alpine Renault might do a Hypercar.
A hydrogen powered car, will be silent. It's an electric car, basically. It's hydrogen electric as opposed to a battery electric car.
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