Skip to main content

Car FYI Car of the Month for June 2015: Le Mans Winning Porsche 919 Hybrid

Photo Credit Porsche Cars North America

Forgive me for I am still catching up to my commitment to provide a Car of the Month for the Car FYI website. When I started this initiative, I knew with the absence of auto shows, the summer would produce a trickier period for determining the monumental vehicle for a month.

Picking a car for the month of June, it is my belief I am trying too hard to be clever in choosing a vehicle that I should have followed my first and most obvious choice. Without further ado, I present the June 2015 Car FYI Car of the Month recipient; the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans overall winning Porsche 919 Hybrid.

After a decade and a half absence from top-tier global sports car racing, a Porsche factory racing effort assembled on-track for 2014 as LMP1 competitors in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Porsche's return to prototype sports car competition was hedged on a gasoline/electric hybrid propelled entrant. The Porsche 919 Hybrid pairs a rear-axle connected turbocharged, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with an electric motor on the front axle. Two energy recovery systems gather electrical power through braking as well as through exhaust gases.

The 2014 season for Porsche Racing started tough but ultimately ended with a victory at the 6 hours of Sao Paulo on Brazil's Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace. In 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Porsche 919 Hybrid displayed impressive speed on course but lacked the durability necessary for the endurance race. For 2015, Porsche Racing returned to the Circuit de la Sarthe with an enhanced 919 Hybrid boosting a combined performance output of roughly 900 horsepower.

Taking the top-three positions in qualifying, the Porsche Racing team's LMP1 effort for the 2015 L24 Hours of Le Mans consisted of a red #17, black #18 and white #19 machine driven by a veteran as well as younger competitors. While the red Porsche 919 Hybrid proved to be winning material early, its was the #19 machine crossing the line first after 24 hours and 395 laps in the French endurance classic. The white Porsche 919 Hybrid was wheeled by a relatively young driving team of Nico Hulkenberg, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy.

Becoming the second hybrid-powered race car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall (first being the Audi R18 e-tron quattro), the Porsche 919 Hybrid use of a gasoline/electric powertrain has coincided with for the 918 Spyder supercar production car.   
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Canadian Star Car: Red Green's Possum Van

Clip of Possum Van during a Red Green Show season 1 scene transition.  It could be argued that the car someone regularly drives can be reflective of their personality. The level of character traits found in our automobiles can range from subtle to flamboyant as practicality, style, power, brand loyalty and other details are factors influencing our vehicle affection. On the big screen and silver screen, an automobile (frequently popularized as a Star Car) can be used to affirmatively to expand on a human character. Batman’s Batmobile, the Dodge Charger called the ‘General Lee’ in Dukes of Hazzard, the Volvo P1800 featured in the 1960s television version of The Saint, the Aston Martin DB5 driven by James Bond in some of the most famous spy movies are some popular examples where vehicles play a major role in reinforcing the appearance of fictional individuals. Due to the budgetary constraints of Canadian media productions, the presence of native Star Cars is rare. However, one success...
Post a Comment
Read more

Honda’s Secret 30th Anniversary In Indy Car Racing

Photo Credit: Engine Developments Ltd. Too many times, forgetting an anniversary would end with someone spending time in the proverbial doghouse. This has apparently happened this year as the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season concluded with no major celebrations or recognition for what is 30 years since a major current partner of American open wheel racing began participation in the sport. The following article is a collection of the details I’ve learned as well as some insight from engine builder John Judd on what was a quiet 30th anniversary in the Verizon IndyCar Series. During the week where the 30th running of the Canadian street race now known as the Honda Indy Toronto, I was compelled to capture the flavour of the inaugural event. The viewing experience provided me some insight into a period of time where I was too young to absorb auto racing in the manner I do today. A race that featured television coverage with no regular onscreen statistics, the league used a local ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 1967 Indy 500: When An STP-Sponsored Turbine Almost Changed Racing

Photo Credit: Uncredited Photographer/IMS LLC Racing has always been the ultimate proving ground for automobiles. Not only has competition promoted innovations big and small, race cars have also influenced overall vehicle appearance. At the 1967 Indianapolis 500, the STP-Paxton TurboCar fielded by the late Andy Granatelli provided a shocking example of how much racing at the speedway evolved over 56 years. Ever since the first 500-mile event was held at the 2.5-mile rectangular oval Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1911, the winning Marmon Wasp with a rearview mirror paved the way for what would be a grand showcase of automotive development. Accompanying “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” advancements in automobile technology showed greater sophistication with every passing decade in the quest for more speed. During the 1920s and 1930s, American race car designer Henry Miller offered groundbreaking engines to the Indianapolis 500. Miller also gave front-wheel drive technology it...
Post a Comment
Read more