The fourth and final part of our A-X of Hypercar and GTP journey takes us from LMDh manufacturer Porsche to powertrain specialist XTrac, via Red Bull, Toyota and many more.
If you missed any of the earlier parts you can catch up with the links below:
PART 1 >>>
PART 2 >>>
PART 3 >>>
Porsche
Porsche’s 963 was an early adopter of the LMDh regulations based around the Multimatic chassis and a 4.5 litre Porsche turbo V8 based around the highly successful non-turbo engine from the Porsche RS Spyder.
Porsche has ordered c.30 or more Multimatic chassis with the majority already delivered for current or future test, race and/or spare chassis requirements (show cars do not require a full chassis).
Currently, there are full factory efforts fielded by Penske Motorsport under the Porsche Penske Motorsport banner in both IMSA and WEC, with two cars in each championship. In the WEC this will expand to a three-car effort at Le Mans this year (the two WEC cars plus one from IMSA).
Both factory programmes have already got underway with privateer cars to follow.
First up after the promised late April deliveries for the first batch of cars will be Hertz Team Jota with a single car set to join the FIA WEC from round three at Spa. The team is also looking to double up in 2024 and for one of those cars to take in the Rolex 24 and other North American races.
Proton Competition meanwhile is set to add a car apiece in both the WEC and IMSA and has opted to delay its programmes until after Le Mans. The debut for the German team is targeted for Monza in the WEC and Road America for IMSA. Proton, like JOTA, has outlined plans to double up, potentially with both programmes, for 2024.
The final IMSA customer in 2023 is JDC Miller which is targeting Laguna Seca in May for its competitive debut.
In 2024 Porsche has confirmed that it is set to release a further four customer cars, with new customers set to emerge and Jota and Proton exploring expansions of their efforts (see above).
Proton
See Porsche
R Motorsport
See Aston Martin
Rahal Letterman Hannigan (BMW Team RLL)
See BMW
Red Bull Advanced Technologies
Involved in the design of the Aston Martin Valkyrie and also with the proposed chassis (in conjunction with Oreca) for the currently stalled top-class Hydrogen Fuel Cell regulations. Repeated rumours of the organisation’s interest in Hypercar have thus far come to nothing.
Sauber
Has been involved with aero consultancy and wind tunnel proving work with multiple programmes including Glickenhaus, Isotta Fraschini and Vanwall.
Signatech
See Alpine
Tata
See Jaguar
Team Penske
See Porsche
Toyota
2023 sees the third FIA WEC season for the now third iteration of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s GR010 Hybrid Hypercar.
It arrived in Sebring with a second World Championship title and a second Le Mans win on its racing CV. For this season it has been updated, giving better handling and cooling. Coupled with a well-drilled and experienced team in the garages and on the pit wall, Toyota is going to be very tough to beat for some time yet!
Toyota is certainly relishing the competition but is continuing with what is essentially a very conservative programme, but supported by a world-class factory facility in Cologne.
There has been some interest in evaluating a potential IMSA programme with a single GR010 but that prospect disappeared some time ago. Toyota has expressed privately too, some interest in adding a race run at Daytona, again though with no certainty of a programme emerging. DSC understands that Toyota hasn’t fully explored the costs and work involved in converting its GR010 for IMSA GTP competition.
As for the future, the effort seems to have real staying power, though Toyota has shown real interest too in hydrogen technology, initially at least in the fuel cell regulations, though more recently a switch of focus to hydrogen combustion tech seems to be in play. Whether that happens at all, happens in parallel to, or could become an eventual replacement for its current hybrid tech is very firmly in the ‘wait and see’ bracket…
Tyrrell
The famous British F1 team’s brand was an early target for the ByKolles organisation. For reasons unknown, it switched its focus to the even earlier Vanwall brand.
Vanwall
After a number of efforts over the past decade in LMP2 and later LMP1 under a variety of monikers with very limited success, Colin Kolles’ ByKolles team, via an associated company PMC GmbH, registered the Vanwall trademark in Germany ahead of a Hypercar programme aimed at the WEC in 2022.
Whilst the car was built, despite still ongoing legal woes regarding the use of the trademark (see DSC’s archive for past stories) the team’s entry was not accepted for 2022, but was listed for the current season.
The non-hybrid Gibson-engined car debuted at Sebring and was reliable but off the pace in the race until hit from the rear by a Peugeot, the damage subsequently leading to suspension failure.
The team plans to change its driver line-up post-Le Mans and did not enter a promised second car for Le Mans in 2023.
Vector Sport
See Isotta Fraschini
Vision 1789
Something of a wild card, the Vision 1789 supercar from Vision Automobiles Paris was designed to be powered by bio-methane with some reports suggesting that the car might be the basis for a future ‘Garage 56’ innovative car Hypercar project.
The project had a powertrain designed by Gerard Welter of Peugeot, WM and WR renown with initial involvement in the project from racers Matthieu Vaxivière, Ines Taittinger and Paul-Loup Chatin.
The project has been quiet for some time now though…
Wayne Taylor Racing
See Acura
Williams
Williams Advanced Engineering is a partner in the ‘single-source’ Hybrid drive for the LMDh cars and also provides technical support for the Isotta Fraschini LMH project, helping to develop and prove the aero modelling.
WRT
See BMW
Xtrac
The British powertrain specialist provides, amongst other things, key components for the ‘single-source’ LMDh hybrid drive systems.
AND – the one that the Editor forgot!
Fangio
The car dreamed up by ex Team Veloqx owner Sam Li was never seen in racing specification and has not been heard of since a soft ‘launch’ of the brand at Yas Marina Circuit in early 2022.
There the team behind the idea to field a road-car-based LMH ran what appeared to be a Ferrari-based front-engined supercar in front of an invited audience.
The car comprehensively destroyed its brakes and little or nothing was heard thereafter from an outfit that had, at one point, seemed set to employ ex Audi Sport engine guru Ulrich Baretsky
