NASCAR Next Gen “has to have hybrid” for Le Mans 24H entry, says ACO
www.autosport.com
That would give NASCAR the chance to test the hybrid technology on its Next Gen machine in competition ahead of its introduction in the premier Cup Series, which could happen as early as 2024.
- Autosport, 18th Mar 2022
I would have expected a V8Supercar to race at Le Mans before another NASCAR Cup car and my suspicion is that this entry will be on a hiding to nothing and won't make it into the top 10 outright, but I guess it is the perfect place to use as a test bed for new stuff.
At 110in (wheelbase) by 76.5in (track) a Cup Series car is an exceptionally wide thing. The VE/VF Commodore was already a massively massive thing and when you compare that on track to the Cup Series cars which haven't changed dimensions, it looks tall and skinny.
The Oreca 07 is 118in (wheelbase) by 61.8in (track) which means that they'll be about as long if you allow for bodywork but at almost 15 inches narrower that's absurd.
I expect the project to be mostly a failure and for the prototypes to us the Cup car as a drafting plug but it will be interesting to see if it survives at all; let alone how they work out changing drivers, brakes and maybe rotors on the fly.