Hypercar powertrain details announced
The new hypercar concept prototype rules that will come into force for the 2020/21 World Endurance Championship will allow bespoke race-bred engines and hybrid systems to be used alongside production-based units.
This was the original intent of the rulemakers, the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’ouest, when the concept was unveiled in June and was agreed by the FIA’S World Motor Sport Council last week.
ACO sporting director Vincent Beaumesnil explained that there were now two tiers of regulations for both internal engines and the front-axle kinetic motor-generator units.
“The engine can be production-based or it can be a pure race engine,” he said.
“If you start with a production engine there are less restrictions, such as the use of variable camshaft timing as long as it is used on the road car.
“It is the same with the hybrid system: you are allowed just one electric motor but you can have two if it is developed from a road system.”
There are minimum production figures for production-based powertrains.
A minimum of 25 cars using the powertrain must have been produced by the end of the year after the season in which they are first raced, and 100 cars after the end of the second season.