24 Hours of Le Mans

Peugeot Sport looks to the future after Le Mans

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat

Three weeks after the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours, and after inspecting the cars that contested this year’s event, Peugeot Sport looks back at the problems that affected the 908 HDi FAPs in the French race and provides details of its plans for its Intercontinental Le Mans Cup programme during the second half of the season.

Looking back to the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours

Bruno Famin (Technical Director, Peugeot Sport): “To begin with, with regard to the N°3 908 HDi FAP which retired 2½ hours into the race, we have found a quality-related problem concerning the production of the tub at the point where the lower front-right suspension wishbone is attached to the chassis. This is the same tub that won the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours and the 2010 1,000km de Spa-Francorchamps, and – like every 908 chassis – is regularly inspected at the factory using sophisticated tools that enable us to detect ageing or damage to the carbon. The problem in this case, however, was due to a totally undetectable defect which resulted in a premature and sudden failure of the mounting point.

“As far as the engines are concerned, it didn’t take us long to confirm that all three engines suffered the same problem, i.e. conrod failure, although the cylinders that were affected were different. Further investigation has just revealed that the particularly severe conditions encountered at Le Mans in June led to excessive overload of the V12s in question.

“Indeed, the track benefited from high levels of grip this year, so the engines spent longer at full throttle than we expected. At the same time, the weather stayed cool and, unlike previous years, the air/air intercoolers did not become clogged up. The filling of the combustion chambers remained extremely efficient throughout, which in turn meant that the performance delivered by the engines was particularly high. Okay, the conditions were the same for all competitors, but we were running new conrods this year. That said, they had undergone thorough testing on the bench and during the numerous on-track simulations we carried out upstream of the race.

“We didn’t observe the slightest problem with them during any of these test sessions, so there was nothing to suggest that we were closer to the limit than we had imagined. As it turned out, the race conditions tipped us to the wrong side of that limit. Having contested the Le Mans 24 Hours three times, we had every faith in our processes. The evidence now points to the fact that this wasn’t the case and that despite our growing experience, it is very difficult to master absolutely everything. The conditions we face at Le Mans differ every year, as do the constraints to which the cars are subjected. It is clear that we need to reinforce our validation procedures.”

The second half of the season: the 2010 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup

Peugeot Sport’s programme for the second part of the season will focus on the team’s participation in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Either one or two cars will take part in the three races that make up this series and Peugeot Sport’s Director Olivier Quesnel has divided up the ‘drives’ amongst Team Peugeot Total’s nine drivers as equally as possible:

1,000km of Silverstone (September 10-12): one 908 HDi FAP
In addition to the 908 HDi FAP entered by Team Oreca-Matmut, a factory Peugeot will contest the race with:
Anthony DAVIDSON (GBR) / Nicolas MINASSIAN (FRA).

Petit Le Mans, Road Atlanta (September 29-October 2): two 908 HDi FAPs
Anthony DAVIDSON (GBR) / Marc GENE (ESP) / Alex WURZ (AUT)
Pedro LAMY (POR) / Franck MONTAGNY (FRA) / Stéphane SARRAZIN (FRA)

Zhuhai 1,000km (November 5-7): two 908 HDi FAPs
Franck MONTAGNY (FRA) / Stéphane SARRAZIN (FRA)
Sébastien BOURDAIS (FRA) / Simon PAGENAUD (FRA)

Looking ahead to 2011

Last but not least, during a lunchtime team debrief after the Le Mans 24 Hours, Olivier Quesnel, explained how pleased he was with the professionalism of Team Peugeot Total’s nine drivers, both during the long build-up to the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as during the race itself. His will is to renew his confidence in the same line-up for the 2011 endurance racing season.