It’s been a while since we’ve caught up with the team behind the proposed Vanwall LMH effort in the FIA WEC – So let’s get right up to date now.
The car, set to be dubbed the Vandervell LMH with no final decision yet reached on whether the Vanwall brand is to be used as the ‘Brand’ for the entry, tested last month at Lausitzring with both Tom Dillmann and Esteban Guerrieri, Dillmann having his first laps in the car.
The test was reported to be very encouragong, the car reliable despite high summer temperatures. “The car had no problems at all,” Colin Kolles told the DSC Editor.
The car, with a bespoke chassis, designed in-house, has already passed the required crash testing, Kolles told DSC though the final aero homologation will be held until the test programme has progressed further, the team, as with Toyota, Glickenhaus and Peugeot before them, very aware that once finalised the homologation locks in that aspect of the car for multiple seasons.
The team’s effort is about to be redoubled with the recent delivery of their third chassis.
“We intend to enter two cars for next season, and will be offering customer cars for sale too. There is significant interest from multiple parties,” said Kolles. “These are prominent names in the sport, but not names that are currently in the WEC, rather teams that are unhappy with the Championships that they are currently contesting.”
The cost of customer cars is predicted to be, “cheaper than the Porsche and in the same ballpark as the Glickenhaus”
There’s a road car version of the car coming too. “We are using the crash test chassis for the prototype,” say Kolles. “That emerged from the test entirely unscathed.”
“We expect the road car to run in September”. The car “1000 horsepower and 1000 kilos” will feature a different powerplant from the 4.5 litre V8 Gibson powered racer.
Entries for the 2023 FIA WEC open later this year and close early in the New Year with the top Hypercar class likely to feature entries into double figures for 2023 as Ferrari, Porsche and Cadillac also join the World Championship.
Part 2, currently set for publication later this week, looks at the remaining obstacles for the effort with full input from Colin Kolles.
Pics above copyright and courtesy Dylan Don
