Courage Compétition
Encyclopedia
Oreca
Oreca is a French racing team, founded and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport including Formula Three where drivers including Alain Prost, Jacques Laffite and Jean Alesi have won the French Formula Three Championship for...
, based in Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
near the Circuit de la Sarthe
Circuit de la Sarthe
The Circuit des 24 Heures, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe, located near Le Mans, France, is a semi-permanent race course most famous as the venue for the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race. The track uses local roads that remain open to the public most of the year...
. It was founded by Yves Courage, a French race driver who ran hillclimb
Hillclimbing
Hillclimbing is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course....
s before founding the company. Following the purchase of Courage by Oreca
Oreca
Oreca is a French racing team, founded and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport including Formula Three where drivers including Alain Prost, Jacques Laffite and Jean Alesi have won the French Formula Three Championship for...
in 2007, Yves Courage has refounded the company as Courage Technology in 2010, attempting to develop electric racing cars.
Yves Courage
Yves Courage began his racing career in 1972, racing in various hillclimbs throughout the 1970s. By 1980, he had won over 80 hillclimb races, including the Mont-Dore. However, in 1977, Yves Courage moved to sports car racing, participating in his first 24 Hours of Le Mans24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
. In 1981, along with Jean-Philippe Grand, Courage's Lola-BMW managed to finish the race and take victory in the under 2-liter sport class. With this success, Courage decided to found his own company and began building prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
chassis with which he could compete at Le Mans. On this premise, Courage Compétition was founded with the construction of the Courage C01 prototype in 1982.
Early years
Debuting at the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans1982 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 50th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 19 and 20 1982. It was also the fourth round of the World Endurance Championship.-Race:For 1982, the new FIA Group C rules were in effect...
, Courage's first C01 chassis participated in the also new Group C
Group C
Group C was a category of motorsport, introduced by the FIA in 1982 for sports car racing, along with Group A for touring cars and Group B for GTs....
class using a Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
Cosworth
Cosworth
Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries...
DFL V8. Unfortunately the car managed to last a mere 78 laps before it was forced to retire. Courage would continue on in the following years with the C01 and its follow-up, the C02. The team also earned the sponsorship of Primagaz to help financially, while the chassis would be renamed Cougar instead of Courage, a trend which would continue for many years. However, the team would fail to finish at Le Mans again in 1983 and 1984. For 1985 however, the team announced a deal with Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
which would bolster their capabilities.
Porsche era
For 1985, Yves Courage signed a deal with PorschePorsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
to use their engines in replacement for the Ford Cosworths. To better fit the Porsche turbocharged flat-6 engine, Courage debuted the Cougar C12 chassis. The team saw immediate success with this combination as they finished 20th in 1985, followed by 18th in 1986. All of this built up to the team's greatest achievement so far in 1987, as they managed to finish 3rd overall, behind only the factory Porsche 962
Porsche 962
The Porsche 962 was a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the European Group C formula as the 956 had...
and their own team's 962
Porsche 962
The Porsche 962 was a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the European Group C formula as the 956 had...
. During the same year, Courage participated in a partial season of the World Sportscar Championship
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance and road racing events in Europe and North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid,...
, managing 8th in the teams championship with their Cougar C20 and Porsche 962
Porsche 962
The Porsche 962 was a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the European Group C formula as the 956 had...
. Following this success, and believing that his chassis and team were capable of succeeding at Le Mans, Yves Courage officially retired from driving in order to concentrate on running the factory.
Unfortunately for 1988, the team was not able to follow-up on its success, failing to finish any of its three entries at Le Mans and only managing to score points in a single World Sportscar Championship round. This was quickly reversed for 1989 as the team managed to win the C2 class at Le Mans with a 14th place finish, and take 11th place in the World Sportscar Championship
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance and road racing events in Europe and North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid,...
by scoring points in over half of the races that season. The next year, Courage would switch back to the C1 class and finish 7th overall at Le Mans, then in 1991 would switch yet again back to C2 and finish 11th overall.
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance and road racing events in Europe and North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid,...
due to their continued usage of the Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
turbocharged Flat-6, which was no longer legal in WSC. However, at Le Mans the C3-class Courage C28LM took class victory and finished 6th overall. This car was driven by Porsche factory driver Henri Pescarolo
Henri Pescarolo
Henri Pescarolo is a former racing driver from France. He participated in 64 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 22 September 1968. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 12 championship points...
who would form a relationship with Courage in the later years.
With the demise of the World Sportscar Championship in 1993, Courage would return again to the C2 class and take both 10th and 11th place finishes at Le Mans (5th and 6th in class), and then followed by another 7th place finish in 1994.
In 1995, Courage mounted its best challenge yet, with drivers Bob Wollek
Bob Wollek
Bob Wollek , nicknamed "Brilliant Bob", was a race car driver from Strasbourg, France. He was killed on March 16, 2001 at age 57 in a road accident in Florida while riding a bicycle back to his accommodation after the day's practice sessions for the following day's race, the 12 Hours of...
, Eric Hélary
Eric Hélary
Eric Hélary is a racing driver from Paris. His career has encompassed single seater formulae, endurance sports car racing, and touring cars...
, and Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti
Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...
challenging for the lead in the #13 Courage C34. In the end though the team would have to settle for 2nd place overall, losing by a single lap to a McLaren F1 GTR
McLaren F1 GTR
The McLaren F1 GTR was a racing variant of the McLaren F1 sports car first produced in 1995 for grand touring style racing, such as the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT Championship, JGTC, and British GT Championship. It is most famous for its overall victory at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans where it...
. In 1996, Courage's reliability continued as they finished 7th and 13th, but were actually 2nd and 3rd in their Le Mans Prototype
Le Mans Prototype
A Le Mans Prototype is a type of sports prototype race car most notably used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, American Le Mans Series and Le Mans Series...
(LMP) class. One of the two teams was actually run by Henri Pescarolo
Henri Pescarolo
Henri Pescarolo is a former racing driver from France. He participated in 64 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 22 September 1968. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 12 championship points...
, who would begin to develop his own team in association with Courage. The duo continued their success in 1997, taking 4th, 7th, and 16th places overall. However, by 1998, Courage's partnership with Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
was over a decade old, as was the design of the engines that Courage was using. Courage's last outing with the Porsche powerplants showed the lack of pace as the team managed to finish only 15th and 16th against newer Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
, Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
, Nissan, and Toyota prototypes.
Henri Pescarolo
Henri Pescarolo
Henri Pescarolo is a former racing driver from France. He participated in 64 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 22 September 1968. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 12 championship points...
would keep the Porsche-powered Courages alive into 1999 when he raced an older chassis for his newly founded team, and would achieve a miraculous 9th place finish.
Nissan engines
Nissan MotorsportNismo
Nismo is the motorsports and performance division of Nissan Motor Company. Formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departments, Nismo cars have participated in JSPC, Formula Nippon, JTCC, 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Daytona...
, at the time attempting to run in the GT classes with their R390 GT1
Nissan R390 GT1
The Nissan R390 GT1 was a racing car built for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1997 and 1998. It was built to race under the grand tourer style rules, requiring a homologated road version to be built, although only 2 R390 road cars were ever built, and one is stored at Nissan's Zama...
, were looking to develop an open cockpit prototype for 1999. In order to assist them in the project, Nissan turned to Courage Competition to help them not only develop a chassis, but also to use their Nissan motor in order to help Nissan gain much needed testing and mileage. Thus in 1998, alongside two Porsche-powered Courages, two Nissan-powered Courages were also entered. Both used the Nissan VRH35Z 3.5L Turbo V8 from the R390 GT1. However both Nissan cars failed to finish while the Porsche cars succeeded.
For 1999, Nissan would continue their involvement with Courage. Nissan would purchase a Courage C52 chassis for their own team to run alongside their own R391
Nissan R391
The Nissan R391 was a prototype racing car built by Nissan and their motorsports counterpart Nismo for competition at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans...
prototype, while Courage would continue to use and develop the Nissan powerplants in their own car. At the end of the race, Courage's car had finished 6th, Nissan's car 8th, with Pescarolo Sport
Pescarolo Sport
Pescarolo Sport is a motorsport team based in Le Mans, France and founded in 2000 by French racing driver Henri Pescarolo. They race in the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In October 2007, Henri Pescarolo purchased Jacques Nicolet's Saulnier Racing and created Pescarolo Automobiles,...
's old Courage-Porsche in 9th. However, with Nissan's R391 failing to finish and being deemed a failure, Nissan decided to drop out of sports car racing and end their involvement with Courage.
Modern era
For 2000, Courage would debut a new state-of-the-art chassis for the LMP1 class, dubbed the C60. The C60 would use an all new V10 JuddJudd (engine)
Judd is a name brand of engines produced by Engine Developments Ltd., a company founded in 1971 by John Judd and Jack Brabham in Rugby, Warwickshire, England...
engine to replace the departed Nissan. At the same time, Pescarolo Sport
Pescarolo Sport
Pescarolo Sport is a motorsport team based in Le Mans, France and founded in 2000 by French racing driver Henri Pescarolo. They race in the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In October 2007, Henri Pescarolo purchased Jacques Nicolet's Saulnier Racing and created Pescarolo Automobiles,...
would upgrade their Courage C52 with a new Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
turbocharged powerplant. Pescarolo's older chassis would manage a 4th place finish at Le Mans, while Courage's own chassis failed to finish towards the end of the race.
For 2001, Pescarolo would upgrade not only to the C60, but would purchase two of the chassis. One of the new cars would finish 13th overall, while the second failed to finish. Courage's own Judd-powered car would also fail to finish. This would continue into 2002, as Pescarolo's one finishing car managed 10th, while Courage's own car would manage 15th.
In 2003, the C60 would reach its highest point, as Courage's own car finished 7th, and Pescarolo's cars were 8th and 9th. Later in 2003, Courage would debut another chassis, known as C65, for the smaller LMP675 (later LMP2) class. This chassis would debut at the 1000km of Le Mans
2003 1000km of Le Mans
The 2003 1000 km of Le Mans was one-off sports car event run under the organization of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest in preparation for the Le Mans Endurance Series that began in 2004...
exhibition race and take class victory and 4th overall, behind Pescarolo's 2nd place finish.
At the time, Pescarolo had begun to modify their C60 chassis. By 2004, they had reached the point that they no longer resembled Courage's own C60s. Thus the cars became known as Pescarolo C60s. These modified cars would show great success leading into the 2004 season, where both Pescarolo and Courage began competition in the new Le Mans Endurance Series
Le Mans Series
The Le Mans Series is a European sports car racing endurance series based around the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and run by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest . The series was originally named the Le Mans Endurance Series, but changed its name prior to the 2006 season...
. Courage's own C65 would take the LMP2 teams championship in the first season, although the team failed to finish at Le Mans. Pescarolo's own cars would take a 4th place overall at Le Mans, behind the dominating Audi
Audi
Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer, from supermini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand , positioned as the premium brand within the Volkswagen Group....
s.
Also at this time, Courage began to supply customer chassis to teams, with Paul Belmondo
Paul Belmondo
Paul Alexandre Belmondo is a French racing driver who raced in Formula One for the March and Pacific Racing teams. He is the son of actor Jean-Paul Belmondo and grandson of sculptor Paul Belmondo...
and Epsilon Sport of France and Miracle Motorsports of the United States being the first to receive customer C65s. Eventually ten C65 chassis would be built, making it the largest manufacturer in LMP2 at the time.
Courage would return to concentrating on the C60, now upgraded to a "hybrid" prototype in 2005. The team would manage 8th place overall, while Pescarolo's heavily modified C60 would finish 2nd overall.
Current racing efforts
In 2006, Courage Competition as a team became a two car effort in the Le Mans SeriesLe Mans Series
The Le Mans Series is a European sports car racing endurance series based around the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and run by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest . The series was originally named the Le Mans Endurance Series, but changed its name prior to the 2006 season...
, with major backing from Yokohama Rubber Company
Yokohama Rubber Company
is a tire company based in Tokyo, Japan. The company founded and started in 1917 in a joint venture between Yokohama Cable Manufacturing and B.F. Goodrich. In 1969 the company expanded to the United States as Yokohama Tire Corporation. The Aspec A300 was the driving force behind its tremendous...
and Mugen Motorsports
Mugen Motorsports
Mugen Motorsports is a Japanese company formed in 1973 by Hirotoshi Honda, the son of Honda Motor Company founder Soichiro Honda, and Masao Kimura. Mugen, meaning "Without Limit", or "Unlimited", is an engine tuner and parts manufacturer closely associated with the Honda Motor Company...
. Mugen would replace Courage's Judd V10s with their own V8s in exchange for a new Courage chassis to be run by Mugen in the Japan Le Mans Challenge
Japan Le Mans Challenge
The Japan Le Mans Challenge was an endurance sportscar series based in Japan built around the 24 Hours of Le Mans that began in 2006. It was run by the Sports Car Endurance Race Operation sanctioning body and ran under the rules laid out by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest...
. At the same time, Courage officially replaced the aged C60 with the new LC70 LMP1. A fourth LC70 would be sold to the Swiss Spirit team, also campaigned in the Le Mans Series. Pescarolo Sport
Pescarolo Sport
Pescarolo Sport is a motorsport team based in Le Mans, France and founded in 2000 by French racing driver Henri Pescarolo. They race in the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In October 2007, Henri Pescarolo purchased Jacques Nicolet's Saulnier Racing and created Pescarolo Automobiles,...
meanwhile would continue to campaign their own heavily modified C60. Pescarolo dominated the LMS LMP1 championship, winning all 5 races, while Swiss Spirit was 4th and Courage's teams 8th and 10th. The new Courage suffered scathing reliability issues with the Mugen engine, which hampered their chances of taking an overall win despite being a competitive car.
In LMP2, Courage's customer C65s would also claim the Le Mans Series team's championship in the hands of the Barazi-Epsilon squad. In the American Le Mans Series
American Le Mans Series
The American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consists of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Teams compete in one of five classes: LMP1, LMP2 and LMPC...
, Mazda
Mazda
is a Japanese automotive manufacturer based in Fuchū, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.In 2007, Mazda produced almost 1.3 million vehicles for global sales...
's official factory effort used a C65 to finish 3rd place in their teams championship.
At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Pescarolo's C60s would take 2nd and 5th place overall, while Courage's factory LC70s would fail to finish. Miracle Motorsports and Barazi-Epsilon would both bring their C65s home as well.
Future
Courage is currently constructing their new LC75 LMP2 chassis to replace the C65. AcuraAcura
Acura is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Honda Motor Company. The brand has been available in the United States and Canada since March 1986, marketing luxury, performance, and near-performance vehicles. It was introduced to Hong Kong in 1991, Mexico in 2004, and China in 2006...
has officially bought three for the American Le Mans Series
American Le Mans Series
The American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consists of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Teams compete in one of five classes: LMP1, LMP2 and LMPC...
, although they have extensively modified the bodywork and the cars have been re-homologated
Homologation
Homologation is a technical term, derived from the Greek homologeo for "to agree", which is generally used in English to signify the granting of approval by an official authority...
as the Acura ARX-01a. Other former C65 teams in the Le Mans Series
Le Mans Series
The Le Mans Series is a European sports car racing endurance series based around the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and run by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest . The series was originally named the Le Mans Endurance Series, but changed its name prior to the 2006 season...
are also changing to the newer LC75.
Courage ended their collaboration with Mugen Motorsports
Mugen Motorsports
Mugen Motorsports is a Japanese company formed in 1973 by Hirotoshi Honda, the son of Honda Motor Company founder Soichiro Honda, and Masao Kimura. Mugen, meaning "Without Limit", or "Unlimited", is an engine tuner and parts manufacturer closely associated with the Honda Motor Company...
and now utilizes AER power in the factory cars, while a new Indian Le Mans Project has also been announced with intention to bring Indian drivers to Le Mans and the Le Mans Series in association with the factory squad.
Pescarolo, forced to change their cars in order to conform to 2007 rules, continues to use their modified bodywork from the old C60, but has now changed the chassis as well. Thus their new cars, dubbed the Pescarolo 01, no longer bears any relation to Courage chassis, although the two teams continue to aid one another in development.
On September 14, 2007, Oreca
Oreca
Oreca is a French racing team, founded and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport including Formula Three where drivers including Alain Prost, Jacques Laffite and Jean Alesi have won the French Formula Three Championship for...
announced their plans to purchase Courage Compétition. Yves Courage will remain with the company, while Oreca will use Courage's engineering expertise to develop an all new Le Mans Prototype
Le Mans Prototype
A Le Mans Prototype is a type of sports prototype race car most notably used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, American Le Mans Series and Le Mans Series...
.
Racing cars
These are the designations of the chassis that Courage Compétition has built since its inception. The date listed is the year each chassis first competed.- C01 (1982)
- C02 (1984)
- C12 (1985)
- C20 (1987)
- C22 (1988)
- C24S (1990)
- C26S (1991)
- C28S (1992)
- C30LM (1993)
- C32LM (1994)
- C34 (1995)
- C36 (1996)
- C41 (1995)
- C50 (1998)
- C51 (1998)
- C52 (1999)
- C60 (2000)
- C65 (2003)
- LC70 (2006)
- LC75 (2007)