Patrón Highcroft Racing, two-time American Le Mans Series prototype champion, continued its close association with Honda Performance Development by testing the latest HPD Le Mans Prototype 2 engine.
Patrón Highcroft driver Simon Pagenaud logged 435 miles on the new engine during a two-day test over the weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, S. C.
Team owner Duncan Dayton was highly impressed that the engine performed perfectly in its first trial.
“You always expect some sort of dramas when you test a new car or engine, but that simply wasn’t the case,” Dayton told Lemans.org. “We did 435 miles across the two days at Kershaw and the engine ran flawlessly. All together, we are really pleased.”
Highcroft’s HPD ARX-01c chassis won the 2010 ALMS title powered by a 3.4-liter fuel-injected HPD V8. According to the 2011 Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) rules, this engine will be classified in the more expensive P1 class, so Highcroft would be racing head-to-head against the vastly better-funded factory teams from Audi, Peugeot, and Aston Martin.
Rather than move up to P1, Highcroft has opted to use the new HPD engine, a 2.8-liter twin-turbocharged V6, which conforms to the 2011 ACO and ALMS Le Mans Prototype 2 rules.
“The regulations for next year will slow down both LMP1 and LMP2 cars, so it obviously felt slower than our car from this season, but overall the new engine ran exceptionally,” said Pagenaud in a Patrón Highcroft statement.
“The HPD boys always do an outstanding job, and I was incredibly impressed with how smoothly everything went,” Pagenaud said. “The car/engine package was very easy to drive straight away, and the turbo was a real surprise.”
Patrón Highcroft driver Simon Pagenaud logged 435 miles on the new engine during a two-day test over the weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, S. C.
Team owner Duncan Dayton was highly impressed that the engine performed perfectly in its first trial.
“You always expect some sort of dramas when you test a new car or engine, but that simply wasn’t the case,” Dayton told Lemans.org. “We did 435 miles across the two days at Kershaw and the engine ran flawlessly. All together, we are really pleased.”
Highcroft’s HPD ARX-01c chassis won the 2010 ALMS title powered by a 3.4-liter fuel-injected HPD V8. According to the 2011 Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) rules, this engine will be classified in the more expensive P1 class, so Highcroft would be racing head-to-head against the vastly better-funded factory teams from Audi, Peugeot, and Aston Martin.
Rather than move up to P1, Highcroft has opted to use the new HPD engine, a 2.8-liter twin-turbocharged V6, which conforms to the 2011 ACO and ALMS Le Mans Prototype 2 rules.
“The regulations for next year will slow down both LMP1 and LMP2 cars, so it obviously felt slower than our car from this season, but overall the new engine ran exceptionally,” said Pagenaud in a Patrón Highcroft statement.
“The HPD boys always do an outstanding job, and I was incredibly impressed with how smoothly everything went,” Pagenaud said. “The car/engine package was very easy to drive straight away, and the turbo was a real surprise.”
“While it obviously lacks the top speed from the V8, the level of torque was very impressive.”
Highcroft’s engineering team managed to fit the new engine into its HPD ARX-01c chassis in place of the 3.4-liter V8, a process that took seven weeks and necessitated some bodywork modifications.
“There are a number of new openings on the sidepods for the intercoolers, and there are some new blisters on the engine cover because of the placement of the throttle cable and some sensors, but it all looks rather seamless,” Duncan Dayton said.
HPD’s 3.4-liter V8 was exceedingly successful in 2010, powering Patrón Highcroft to the ALMS title, while Straka Racing’s ARX-01 won the LMP2 class at Le Mans, and RML Racing’s HPD-powered Lola won the European Le Mans Series LMP2 championship.
Highcroft’s engineering team managed to fit the new engine into its HPD ARX-01c chassis in place of the 3.4-liter V8, a process that took seven weeks and necessitated some bodywork modifications.
“There are a number of new openings on the sidepods for the intercoolers, and there are some new blisters on the engine cover because of the placement of the throttle cable and some sensors, but it all looks rather seamless,” Duncan Dayton said.
HPD’s 3.4-liter V8 was exceedingly successful in 2010, powering Patrón Highcroft to the ALMS title, while Straka Racing’s ARX-01 won the LMP2 class at Le Mans, and RML Racing’s HPD-powered Lola won the European Le Mans Series LMP2 championship.
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