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SRC Hyperslotcar project - woodcote - 22nd-Jul-22

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Anyone who follows SRC on social media will have noticed that the company has become super-excited about the new Le Mans Hypercar era. So much so, that they've pledged to produce a number of the LMH cars as 'Hyperslotcars' - notably the Peugeot 9X8, Toyota GR010 and Glickenhaus SCG007, all of which have already made their racing debuts in the World Endurance Championship. Also mentioned was the LMDh Porsche 963, although no CAD images have materialised as yet.

The Hypercar and LMDh regulations might not be familiar to many slot car racers - and might just seem another tweak to already uninspiring machinery, especially when compared to whatever your golden era of sportscar racing might be. Any Le Mans Prototype from the past decade certainly lacks the character, panache and beauty of a Ferrari 330 P4, a Porsche 917k or even the cars of the Group C years. And the front of the grid has been pretty barren the past few seasons.

However, there's a very good chance that these new rules will usher in a new golden age of international sportscar racing - in terms of competition and design. Firstly, an agreement between the organisers of Le Mans (the ACO), the FIA and North America's IMSA means these cars can compete in the two most important sportscar series from 2023 - IMSA as the GTP class and the WEC as Hypercar - including the iconic endurance races at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring. Secondly, the regulations deliver affordability and a Balance of Performance formula. Rather like the worldwide GT3 regulations administered for the FIA by SRO Motorsports, manufacturers are being offered a global stage, a defined development budget and the promise that no one manufacturer can dominate the class.

After a shaky start, it looks like the scheme is working. And if this is a bright new future for global prototype racing, you'd expect slot car companies to be in the mix. SRC have jumped to the front of the queue and announced their intention to build on the success of their Toyota TS050 LMP1 model and create a strong range of endurance sports prototype models, alongside their wonderful slot rally cars. Lets take a look at what they've hinted at so far...



The Peugeot 9X8 would seem to be the perfect slot car - it doesn't have any pesky rear wing to get broken! This is a big issue for races and classes that require any wing breakages to be replaced. Will a future Hyperslotcar grid be an Peugeot-only line-up? Race organisers have a problem to solve... The actual car made its race debut at the WEC Monza 6 Hours two weeks ago - essentially a test session in racing conditions. The 9X8 seemed to have the pace to be a contender - and Peugeot don't do anything by halves. They are back to win. The 9X8 is powered by a V6 petrol engine paired with a hybrid system and all-wheel drive.



The Toyota GR010 is a more traditional-looking Le Mans Prototype, introduced last year and winning both the 2021 and 2022 Le Mans 24 Hour races. Built to the new Le Mans Hypercar regulations, the GR010 differs from the previous LMP1 class TS050 by having a lower-cost carbon-fibre and aluminium honeycomb monocoque chassis, plus a V6 engine and hybrid system limited to 670bhp as opposed to 1000bhp in the LMP1 car. Aerodynamically, the LMH regulations limit the amount of downforce, freeing up the design parameters. The minimum weight is now 1030kg, a big increase from 878kg for the hybrid LMP1 cars.

Most importantly for slot car manufacturers, the maximum width in the Hypercar class has gone out from 1,900mm (59.375mm in 1:32 scale) to 2,000mm (62.5mm in 1:32 scale). That means SRC Hyperslotcars can have nearer the ideal-for-racing 64mm rear track and still be scale models - avoiding that controversial stretched/squished look.



The Glickenhaus SCG 007 has played a vital role in proving the new regulations work for teams on a budget. A relatively tiny operation owned by Hollywood film producer and racing car enthusiast James Glickenhaus, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus put together this great-looking LMH car in the three years between the announcement of the Hypercar class and the debut of the 007 at Portimão. The SCG has been a fan-favourite throughout the 2021 and 2022 seasons - a real underdog story that delivered a fairytale podium finish at Le Mans last month, plus another third-place finish at Sebring in March.

The nose of the Glickenhaus almost looks like it has a slot car guide underneath - and the team created a new blue and white livery for the recent Monza 6 Hours, so there's scope for a run of different slot car models of the 007.

The dearth of liveries is likely to be an issue with some of these LMH cars - unless the manufacturers change their schemes from time to time, as Glickenhaus did at Monza. Peugeot updated the liveries each season on their 908 LMP1 cars, but Toyota liveries have looked almost identical for the past 6-7 years.

If a slot car manufacturer wants lots of liveries, then the LMDh cars might be the ideal place to go. These will be racing in the IMSA and WEC series from 2023 and will be manufacturer-designed body kits and engines, bolted to a chassis supplied by either Multimatic, Oreca, Dallara or Ligier - plus a standardised hybrid system. With the global Balance of Performance scheme covering both the LMDh and LMH cars, this option is the most cost-effective - and most manufacturers will delegate the running of their LMDh cars to an established private team, with the possibility of further cars being made available to customer teams.



The Porsche 963 was unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last month. It utilises the Multimatic chassis and a Porsche V8 based on the engine in the 918 Spyder road car. Porsche will team up with Penske Motorsport to run the 963 - harking back to the all-conquering ALMS Porsche Spyder LMP2 of the late 2000s. Porsche Penske Motorsport is the official works team, but contracts for customer cars have already been signed with JDC-Miller Motorsports and JOTA. The cars cost $2.9 million, but do come with full factory support. For 2023, that's three teams and six different Porsches for slot car manufacturers to model.

Those are the four Hypercars mentioned so far by SRC - but there are others to consider...

RE: SRC Hyperslotcar project - woodcote - 22nd-Jul-22

One massive motorsport name is joining the LMH crowd next year...



Ferrari have just begun testing their Le Mans Hypercar - aiming for a racing debut in 2023. Details are sparse at the moment, but the shift of AF Corse into LMP2 this year is seen by many as an indication that they'll be running the Ferrari LMH. Who knows, Ferrari may buck the LMH trend and offer customer cars to other existing partners in their GT3 and GTLM programmes.

Ferrari brings the 2023 LMH entries up to four - Alpine's A480 will be ineligible next season. Back in 2018, it looked like Ford, Aston Martin and McLaren would develop LMH programmes. None have materialised. Two small manufacturers - Isotta Fraschini and Veloqx - have also talked about joining the fray, but since the requirement for a road car tie-in has been dropped by the FIA, they have been quiet. ByKolles - a small German manufacturer with experience in LMP1 - have been working on their Vanwall Vandervel LMH. Testing has apparently begun, but ByKolles have a history of not getting new projects to the grid. Their aim is for a 2023 entry.

It seems that LMDh is where most manufacturers are focussing on - especially those with a strong interest in the North American car market...



BMW have recently unveiled their M Hybrid V8 for 2023. This uses the Dallara chassis and will initially be raced by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in North America.



The rather beautiful Cadillac is another Dallara-based LMDh and is being developed by Chip Ganassi Racing ready for the 2023 IMSA championship. Action Express Racing will be receiving customer cars and other teams may join the Cadillac fold, with former customer JDC Miller Motorsports switching to Porsche.



Acura – Honda’s North American brand – are testing their Oreca-based ARX-06 LMDh car ready for 2023.

Lamborghini have announced their Ligier-based LMDh programme will go racing in 2024 and Alpine will be developing an Oreca-based LMDh for a 2024 debut. Audi's planned Multimatic LMDh car is on hold - if their move into F1 goes ahead, the Hypercar programme will be cancelled. And it's rumoured the new owners of Lola will look at a return to prototypes, but that might be the 2025-9 LMP2 regs rather than Hypercar.

That's the lay of the land for the future of sports prototype racing - four (maybe five) LMH and six LMDh cars to hit the track in 2023 and 2024. I suspect Carrera and Scalextric will be weighing-up the cost of official licenses - although that will get them the manufacturers' CAD files to use in the design process. Slot.it have just announced their Oreca 07 LMP project is currently being tooled for manufacturing, unleashing dozens of possible LMP1 and LMP2 liveries from the past five years - maybe including the Alpine A480 LMH - plus future LMP2s up until 2025. Although I suspect Maurizio will be looking at LMDh, Slot.it might hold back for now - or maybe not... Likewise with NSR, whose only venture into Le Mans Prototypes was the Audi R18, but they may be tempted. Whether other manufacturers like Racer Sideways will join in, we'll have to wait and see. It seems like SRC have an open field for the moment, although as a small company, they'll need to pace themselves.

RE: SRC Hyperslotcar project - Gpa113 - 22nd-Jul-22

Excellent article Andy.

What we really need is more cars/Teams on the grid. A bit of variety helps a lot. 
These cars could be really good for WEC & IMSA, but they do all tend to look very similar.  Which is sort of the point of these regulations,  trying to keep everything competitive,  and cost effective. 

GT3 has been a real winner, especially the BOP format.  Now we have GT3 coming in to replace GTE at Le Mans, and other races,  but already they seem to be planning on altering the tried and tested GT3 package by bringing in a special "Le Mans " body /aero kit.  More tinkering,  more money. 

Let's see which slot car manufacturers give it a go.....

RE: SRC Hyperslotcar project - Anthony B - 24th-Jul-22

Outstanding article Andy.

I have just seen the Porsche and Cadillac cars for the US series shake down last week.  All looks to be awesome for next year.


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