It was good to catch up earlier this week with two time Le Mans LMP2 winner Mike Newton to find out a little more about the current status of his Tiga LMP2 project.
Mike, when might we see the car on track testing for the first time?
“We think now in December but as always with a project like this the final determination will be based on the availability of parts. Particularly when you are starting up a project like this, and with nothing like the budget of some of the established players, that can be, and is, a real challenge. We are getting there steadily though, there’s no one thing that I am majorly concerned about.”
We know, of course, that the car is based on the WFR LMP2 from some years back, is that car’s designer, Peter Elleray, involved with the Tiga?
“No, we were in contact but we’ve gone in a different direction, I have Geoff Kingston on board looking at the mechanical revisions needed to update the car to current spec. He knows the original car as well as anyone and has huge experience.
“The aero and design work are in the hands of James Kmieciak of Ayari Racing Developments and Nigel Rees of Global Sports Developments is on board too with some of the design and vehicle dynamics work. James and Nigel have worked together on a number of high downforce chassis and aero projects. James is running the Desktop CFD on Solidworks Flow Simulation, which is then being augmented by higher definition analysis under StarCCM+ in conjunction with Manchester University MACE (School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering ).”
‘The CFD aerodynamic work is being undertaken with both ‘desktop’ CFD capability, and also in conjunction with Manchester University MACE ( School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering ).
“We believe that the car will be more than capable of performing at the level of the established competition.”
So will we see you back racing in an LMP2 car?
“That’s not currently part of the plan, I’ll be at the race meetings for sure, but likely in a different role than I have been in the past as things currently stand.
So will there be a ‘factory’ Tiga?
“No, the way we intend to proceed is to work with our early customers as development partners, working hand in glove with them to develop the car with our direct input and support.
“The priority at present is to get the car out on track. That’s likely to be in a basic configuration with the final aero to be developed in testing before we homologate.
“That seems the correct route to take, to develop a car around the things that its customers tell us are important. We’re in good shape to respond to their input and to produce a final spec car very quickly.”
And what level of interest has there been so far in the car?
“Pretty good. We are in serious talks with a number of teams, some with heritage in LMP racing, others without.”
And is this interest from Europe, the UK, further afield?
“Most of the more serious conversations are with UK outfits but there have been some initial discussions about possible future programmes in North America. The current and continuing absence of firm rules though has, perhaps, counted against some projects progressing quickly.”
Are you building new cars or are the initial cars adapted/ updated cars based on the original WFR chassis?
“The package I bought included two full cars and an attractive option for the first two customers might well be to lease those cars. That keeps costs down for them, and initially for us too. They can opt to purchase a car based on a brand new tub though.”
