Le Mans: Probation for man and car 🎥
IMPRESSIVE NUMBERS At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, not only all the drivers but also their equipment were subjected to extremely heavy loads. The factory Porsche 911 RSR, for example, underwent 20,000 gear changes and 28 million ignitions. Porsche clinched a podium finish in the fiercely contested GTE-Pro class at the 89th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. While [...]
Porsche clinched a podium finish in the fiercely contested GTE-Pro class at the 89th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
While three drivers share the strenuous work in the cockpit during the 24 Hours of Le Mans race marathon, the vehicle has to endure the torment of racing alone. This is how people and machines reach their limits in tough competition.
High torque of the 4.2-liter boxer engine
Romain Gineste, chief performance engineer in the Porsche GT team: "Our cars each have to complete around 20,000 gear changes over the race distance. Not to mention that the race isn't everything-the transmission has to do its job in all the practice sessions and qualifying as well."
Unlike previous years, when teams used Friday to install a completely new powertrain, since 2018 the components have remained in the vehicle throughout the race week.
With this operational schedule, the transmission of the Porsche 911 RSR has to ensure another 7,000 gear changes flawlessly-and at lightning speed. A shift takes just 15 milliseconds with the sequential six-speed transmission. The high torque of the 4.2-liter boxer engine thus pushes the race car forward almost without interruption.
Temperatures of pads and brake discs
With this in mind, Porsche has developed the braking system of the 911 RSR. The system is in focus at 13 points per lap at Le Mans. Time and again, the drivers brutally drop anchor before tight passages, such as the two chicanes on the famous Hunaudières straight or before the Mulsanne corner.
In total, they hit the pads with great force around 4,000 times during the race. The temperatures of the pads and brake discs shoot up to more than 400 degrees Celsius at these moments. Sophisticated ventilation cools the system down again within a few meters.
24 hours hard knocks for the dampers
The dampers also have to take numerous hard knocks over the course of the 24 hours. The kinematics have to swallow thousands of shocks due to the unevenness of the road.
Romain Gineste: "Twenty times per lap, the system compresses to the maximum when the car goes over the curbs. The car rebounds with the same frequency."
Michelin's racing tires absorb part of the horizontal forces that occur.
