Porsche LMP
Encyclopedia
The Porsche LMP was a stillborn Porsche
Le Mans Prototype
project with intentions to race in 2000. It was a planned replacement for both the LMP1-98
and 911 GT1
-98 following Porsche's one year sabbatical from the top Le Mans Prototype class in 1999. The project was canceled before a single car could be completed, although it was later tested.
announced that they would not continue their development of the open-cockpit LMP1-98
for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans
. The Porsche 911 GT1
, which had won Le Mans in 1998 but struggled in the FIA GT Championship
, would not be continued either, but this was due to its GT1 class being dissolved through FIA and ACO
rule changes. Porsche would instead concentrate on development of the 911 GT3
-R, a production-based car for various Grand Touring series. However, Porsche also announced that they would return to the top Le Mans Prototype class in 2000 with an all new car.
Design work on this new car had begun just prior to Porsche's announcement in 1998. An open-cockpit prototype, it originally planned to use a variation of Porsche's traditional turbocharged Flat-6
engine. By early 1999, the Flat-6 would be abandoned due to difficulties in using the aged design. Porsche would instead turn to the use of a naturally aspirated V10 engine
that had originally been built in 1992. At that time, Porsche was providing engines for the Footwork Arrows
Formula One
team. They had initially used the 3512
3.5 litre V12 engines without much success, and Porsche had developed a new 3.5 litre V10 for 1992. However, Footwork decided to end their partnership with Porsche before the end of the 1991 season, so the new V10 was shelved. Requiring an advanced naturally aspirated engine, Porsche decided to develop these V10s for the prototype. The engines were expanded to 5.5 litres and had their pneumatic valve systems removed in order to increase longevity and endurance.
The first chassis began construction in the summer of 1999, with Lola Cars International building the carbon fiber
tub. The new V10 would require slight modifications to the design work, including a large rear hump to accommodate the engine and its airbox integrated into a new single rollbar behind the cockpit (a design element Audi was also developing for their Audi R8 at the time). Suspension and transmission elements were borrowed and upgraded from the LMP1-98
.
On November 21, 1999 just before the first chassis was completed, Porsche
officially announced that the project was to be canceled. Porsche's official reasoning was that engineering staff on the LMP project would be needed for the new Cayenne
SUV project which was more economically important to the company. Porsche was also content to continue development of the 911 GT3
-R which had become the dominant car in the lower GT classes. It is also believed that Ferdinand Piëch
, chairman of the Volkswagen Group
, wanted the new Audi R8 to compete uncontested at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
. Piëch supposedly offered aid in development of the Cayenne SUV in return.
Although the project was canceled, Porsche allowed for the prototype to be completed and conduct a two day test at the Weissach
test track. Allan McNish
and Bob Wollek
both tested the car. Following the test, the car would be placed in storage and has not been seen since.
company, and allowed for the construction of a concept car
that would be competitive with the top supercars of the world. Although the car was being designed from scratch, elements of the LMP were borrowed for usage on the concept. Most notably, the 5.5 litre V10 and its racing transmission were used in the car, although power was restricted down to a more modest 558 horsepower
. The car, known as the Porsche Carrera GT
, debuted at the 2000 Geneva Auto Show.
This concept would later become a production car with the same name, varying little from the initial concept. The racing engine was further refined with the addition of VarioCam
and an expansion to 5.7 litres, bumping power to 612 horsepower. The sequential racing transmission was abandoned for a more traditional six-speed. The production Carrera GT would be sold from 2004 to 2006.
Porsche would not return to prototype racing until 2005 with the debut of the RS Spyder
, although the car competed in the smaller LMP2 class it still managed to take overall race victories over the LMP1 class in the American Le Mans Series
, including the 12 Hours of Sebring
in 2008
.
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....
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...
project with intentions to race in 2000. It was a planned replacement for both the LMP1-98
Porsche WSC-95
The Porsche WSC-95 was a Le Mans Prototype built for Porsche by Tom Walkinshaw Racing and run by Joest Racing, yet can trace its origin to a Jaguar sports car designed in 1991...
and 911 GT1
Porsche 911 GT1
The Porsche 911 GT1 was a car designed for competition in the GT1 class of sportscar racing, which also required a street legal version for homologation purposes...
-98 following Porsche's one year sabbatical from the top Le Mans Prototype class in 1999. The project was canceled before a single car could be completed, although it was later tested.
Development
On November 28, 1998 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....
announced that they would not continue their development of the open-cockpit LMP1-98
Porsche WSC-95
The Porsche WSC-95 was a Le Mans Prototype built for Porsche by Tom Walkinshaw Racing and run by Joest Racing, yet can trace its origin to a Jaguar sports car designed in 1991...
for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans
1999 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 67th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 12 and 13, 1999.-Pre-race:1999 saw another increase in manufacturers involvement. Although Porsche did not send a team to contest, Toyota retained their three updated GT-Ones, now moved to the LMGTP class due...
. The Porsche 911 GT1
Porsche 911 GT1
The Porsche 911 GT1 was a car designed for competition in the GT1 class of sportscar racing, which also required a street legal version for homologation purposes...
, which had won Le Mans in 1998 but struggled in the FIA GT Championship
FIA GT Championship
The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout the years has visited other continents including Asia and South...
, would not be continued either, but this was due to its GT1 class being dissolved through FIA and ACO
Automobile Club de l'Ouest
The Automobile Club de l'Ouest , sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the organising entity behind the annual Le Mans 24 Hours race...
rule changes. Porsche would instead concentrate on development of the 911 GT3
Porsche 911 GT3
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a higher performance version of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is the latest in a line of high performance models, beginning with the 1973 911 RS...
-R, a production-based car for various Grand Touring series. However, Porsche also announced that they would return to the top Le Mans Prototype class in 2000 with an all new car.
Design work on this new car had begun just prior to Porsche's announcement in 1998. An open-cockpit prototype, it originally planned to use a variation of Porsche's traditional turbocharged Flat-6
Flat-6
A flat-6 or horizontally opposed-6 is a flat engine with six cylinders arranged horizontally in two banks of three cylinders on each side of a central crankcase...
engine. By early 1999, the Flat-6 would be abandoned due to difficulties in using the aged design. Porsche would instead turn to the use of a naturally aspirated V10 engine
V10 engine
A V10 engine is a V engine with 10 cylinders in two banks of five with a distinct exhaust note.- Mechanics :The V10 is essentially the result of mating two even-firing straight-5 engines together. The straight-5 engine shows first and second order rocking motion...
that had originally been built in 1992. At that time, Porsche was providing engines for the Footwork Arrows
Footwork Arrows
Footwork Arrows was the name of a Formula One motor racing team, competing during the mid-1990s. Japanese businessman Wataru Ohashi, who was the president of Footwork Express Co., Ltd., a Japanese logistics company, began investing heavily in the Arrows team in 1990, the deal including requiring...
Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
team. They had initially used the 3512
Porsche 3512
The Porsche 3512 was a racing engine designed by Porsche for use in Formula One racing during the 3.5-liter normally aspirated era of Grand Prix racing. The engine was a V12 configuration, with an 80-degree vee angle, and displacement was just under 3.5 liters . The engine was also unusual for...
3.5 litre V12 engines without much success, and Porsche had developed a new 3.5 litre V10 for 1992. However, Footwork decided to end their partnership with Porsche before the end of the 1991 season, so the new V10 was shelved. Requiring an advanced naturally aspirated engine, Porsche decided to develop these V10s for the prototype. The engines were expanded to 5.5 litres and had their pneumatic valve systems removed in order to increase longevity and endurance.
The first chassis began construction in the summer of 1999, with Lola Cars International building the carbon fiber
Carbon fiber
Carbon fiber, alternatively graphite fiber, carbon graphite or CF, is a material consisting of fibers about 5–10 μm in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms are bonded together in crystals that are more or less aligned parallel to the long axis of the fiber...
tub. The new V10 would require slight modifications to the design work, including a large rear hump to accommodate the engine and its airbox integrated into a new single rollbar behind the cockpit (a design element Audi was also developing for their Audi R8 at the time). Suspension and transmission elements were borrowed and upgraded from the LMP1-98
Porsche WSC-95
The Porsche WSC-95 was a Le Mans Prototype built for Porsche by Tom Walkinshaw Racing and run by Joest Racing, yet can trace its origin to a Jaguar sports car designed in 1991...
.
On November 21, 1999 just before the first chassis was completed, 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....
officially announced that the project was to be canceled. Porsche's official reasoning was that engineering staff on the LMP project would be needed for the new Cayenne
Porsche Cayenne
The Porsche Cayenne is a five seat mid-size luxury crossover manufactured by the German manufacturer Porsche since 2002, with North American sales beginning in 2003. Its platform was developed by Porsche and is shared with the Volkswagen Touareg and the Audi Q7. It is the first V8-engined vehicle...
SUV project which was more economically important to the company. Porsche was also content to continue development of the 911 GT3
Porsche 911 GT3
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a higher performance version of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is the latest in a line of high performance models, beginning with the 1973 911 RS...
-R which had become the dominant car in the lower GT classes. It is also believed that Ferdinand Piëch
Ferdinand Piëch
Ferdinand Karl Piëch is an Austrian business magnate, engineer and executive who is currently the chairman of the supervisory board of Volkswagen Group....
, chairman of the Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen Group is a German multinational automobile manufacturing group. , Volkswagen was ranked as the world’s third largest motor vehicle manufacturer and Europe's largest....
, wanted the new Audi R8 to compete uncontested at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
24 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...
. Piëch supposedly offered aid in development of the Cayenne SUV in return.
Although the project was canceled, Porsche allowed for the prototype to be completed and conduct a two day test at the Weissach
Weissach
Weissach is a municipality in the district of Böblingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.The Weissach axle is named after the town, where the research centre of Porsche is located....
test track. Allan McNish
Allan McNish
Allan McNish is a Scottish racing driver. He is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2008, and two-time American Le Mans Series champion.- Early life :...
and 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...
both tested the car. Following the test, the car would be placed in storage and has not been seen since.
Legacy
Following the cancellation of the project, Porsche decided that they needed to show that they were still a competitive sports carSports car
A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....
company, and allowed for the construction of a concept car
Concept car
A concept vehicle or show vehicle is a car made to showcase new styling and or new technology. They are often shown at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not have a chance of being produced....
that would be competitive with the top supercars of the world. Although the car was being designed from scratch, elements of the LMP were borrowed for usage on the concept. Most notably, the 5.5 litre V10 and its racing transmission were used in the car, although power was restricted down to a more modest 558 horsepower
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
. The car, known as the Porsche Carrera GT
Porsche Carrera GT
The Porsche Carrera GT is a mid-engined sports car that was manufactured by Porsche in Leipzig, Germany.- History :The development of the Carrera GT can be traced back to the 911 GT1 and LMP1-98 racing cars. Due in part to the FIA and ACO rule changes in 1998, both designs had ended. Porsche at...
, debuted at the 2000 Geneva Auto Show.
This concept would later become a production car with the same name, varying little from the initial concept. The racing engine was further refined with the addition of VarioCam
VarioCam
VarioCam is an automobile variable valve timing technology developed by Porsche. VarioCam varies the timing of the intake valves by adjusting the tension on the timing chain connecting the intake and exhaust camshafts...
and an expansion to 5.7 litres, bumping power to 612 horsepower. The sequential racing transmission was abandoned for a more traditional six-speed. The production Carrera GT would be sold from 2004 to 2006.
Porsche would not return to prototype racing until 2005 with the debut of the RS Spyder
Porsche RS Spyder
The RS Spyder is a racing car designed by Porsche to compete in Le Mans Prototype Class 2 racing. The car takes its name from the legendary 550 Spyder of the 1950s...
, although the car competed in the smaller LMP2 class it still managed to take overall race victories over the LMP1 class 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...
, including the 12 Hours of Sebring
12 Hours of Sebring
The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, a former Army Air Force base in Sebring, Florida...
in 2008
2008 12 Hours of Sebring
The 2008 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida was the 56th running of this event and the opening round of the 2008 American Le Mans Series season. It took place at Sebring International Raceway, Florida on March 15, 2008...
.
External links
- Mulsannes Corner - 1999-2000 Porsche LMP1 (with pictures)
- Bentley Publishers - Porsche: Excellence was Expected (Chapter 61, Volume 3)