2010 Lola B10/60 LMP1

Lola Group has always been focused on creating race cars with cutting-edge technology and competitive performance. Ever since being rescued from failure in the late 1990s, the company has been focused on providing customers for sports car endurance racing 'turn-key front runner' chassis at affordable prices. In an effort to maintain that commitment to its customers, Lola Group unveiled their newest generation of their coupe LMP chassis, the B10/60.

First raced with the Aston Martin-powered Charouz team, the B08 went through gradual evolutions throughout 2008. It then became known as the B09/60 going into the 2009 season. Outwardly, there was little difference between the B08/60 and the 2009 version. Comparatively, the 2010 B10/60 sports a number of evolutions and upgrades.

The majority of the B10/60's aerodynamic shape, up front, has been a hold-over all the way back from when Lola designed the B05/40. This remains to be a testament to the design of the car's front end. However, it is pursuit to provide teams with top levels of performance, the front of the B10 went through some important revisions and updates.

When comparing the B08/60 to the B10/60 one important feature stands out quite clearly. Present on the B10/60 compared to the chassis of the previous couple of years are slots in the upper portion of the bodywork between the front wheel fairings and the nose bulkhead. Brake cooling had been moved to underneath the raised nose. It would be suggested the addition of the slots with the raised nose that Lola suffered from cooling issues. Flush-mounted mesh screens have been adopted to cover the slots with a more aerodynamically efficient focus. Tapping over portions of the slots then allows teams to strike a balance between aerodynamic efficiency and brake cooling.

Besides the multitude of engine and transmission combinations that are possible with the B10/60, the more obvious differences and updates on the B10/60 are found from the doors back.

One of the least noticeable changes used by many teams with the B10/60 is the movement of the engine exhausts from the top of the rear bodywork down to along the side of the sidepod, just before the rear wheel well.

Just above the exhaust ports is the heavily contoured sidepod. The design looks to 'fall off' to either side of the car. This is helpful for controlling airflow around the back of the car. The desire of every design is to remove as many disturbances as possible. By having the bodywork fall off, excess airflow can also fall off to either side of the car instead of being squeezed between the leading edge of the rear wheel fairing and the engine cowling.

Incorporated into the leading edge of the rear wheel fairing is another updated design feature of the B10/60. Whereas the airscoop to provide cooler air to the rear brakes on the B09/60 protruded high, up out of the top of the rear wheel fairing leading edge, the air scoop was integrated much more cleanly. The scoop remains about the same size, but the contoured bodywork just prior to it led designers to package them more neatly into the leading edge.

The other major update on the B10/60 from previous iterations can really only be noticed from behind the car. Simple mesh panels attached to the backside of the rear wheel fairing bodywork had to be replaced according to 2010 regulations. It was found that simple mesh became destroyed over the course of long distance races. This meant debris could be kicked out the back of the car, which is always very dangerous. As a result, new regulations mandated louvers to be used. The B10/60 features a panel with an extensive number of louvers to comply with the new regulation.

One surprise at the rear of the car. On the Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 the swan-neck wing support structure was used. However, on the customer-based B09/60 this design and support-structure feature was not used. Similarly, the swan-neck support structure was not used again for the B10/60. But given the company's success providing customers great competitive endurance prototypes, especially in LMP2, it was not all that surprising.

At Le Mans in 2008, the B08/60 was capable of out-qualifying one of the Audi R10s. Then, in 2009, the Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 proved it had the top-end speed and performance to be a champion. Lola hopes and believes its revised version of its coupe, the B10/60, will enable customer teams to have a 'major advancement in pace' in order to put together competitive performances in the prototype category.

By Jeremy McMullen

2010 Lola LMP breaks cover

Lola are pleased to release details of its much anticipated development upgrades to the successful LMP1 and LMP2 designs.

The newly titled B10/60 LMP1 Coupe sees significant upgrades in both mechanical and aerodynamic areas. The Lola LMP cars are set to race on both sides of the Atlantic in 2010, as well as at the 78th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.

After winning both LMP1 and LMP2 Le Mans Series constructors titles in 2009, Lola has continued to invest in and further develop its capabilities to ensure that the LMP designs have a major advancement in pace for the new racing season.

As well as perpetual upgrading in CFD and Windtunnel facilities, Lola has also seen key investment in its assembly and office areas as well as taking on extra technical staff to bolster its already renowned design office.

Lola has been a clear market leader in recent sportscar history with 60 LMP designs having been sold since 1999. With flexibility in technical and commercial strategies, Lola continues its dedicated support to all its teams.

Lola Cars Managing Director Robin Brundle will be interviewed on the Autosport Main Stage at 13.30 on Thursday afternoon, along with Lord Paul Drayson from Drayson Racing and Guy Smith from Dyson Racing

Q&A with Julian Sole, Chief Engineer, Lola Cars

Q. What are the key changes that people will see for the 2010 season?

A. 'We have done a lot of work on suspension geometry, improving front and rear suspension; there was quite a big focus on that this year. When the car is released you'll be able to see the rear of the bodywork is a lot different. Everything rearwards from the door is different. We have also incorporated on to the LMP1 the removable rear end that we had on the LMP2 car last year.

Q: When did the planning for 2010 begin? Was it straight after the last race or was it influenced by the regulation announcement?

Q. For 2010, what is the percentage of mechanical and aerodynamic updates that have been made to the Lola LMP? Can you give a precise or rough estimate?

A. 'This year, in terms of development time spent, it is probably 50/50. We have completed a lot of mechanical work as well as the aero programme, so really there is more mechanical development for the 2010 spec car then we usually would do. This has included a lot of very concentrated vehicle dynamic work on our 7-post test rig and all the new suspension geometry.'

Q. How did the regulation changes affect your work in the tunnel?

. 'The regulation changes, although they seem quite small, always affect the balance of the car and the performance of the car, so it's just working to make the car work with the new regulations. In practice it meant we had to change a few surfaces on the car.'

Q. Obviously you know the car inside out after two full seasons of racing. How do you decipher the data from having been on track to then make a decision to change different areas of the car?

. 'The focus of how much development we do each year and which areas we develop is not only an engineering decision, but also a commercial decision. We can't do a new car every year because customers simply couldn't afford to update to that level each year, so we tend to focus on smaller development areas of the car so teams can update their cars with kits to keep the cars moving forward in terms of pace. All the information we get back from the teams will be useful in closing the loop and continuing the development of the cars with the teams' feedback. Drivers always give us an idea of the strengths of the car and we can focus on pushing even further forward.'

Q. What about the step-by-step process of development? How do the designers and the aerodynamicists work on it all practically?

Q. Are there areas on an LMP car that are given over more to aero-dynamic development? Is there a specific area where you just can't exhaust the development, you just chip away?

' The answer is easy. You can't exhaust the development you do on any project. It's an ongoing process and we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't find consistently more improvements, so it's just a case of carrying on and moving forward. Every new development generates a massive amount of new ideas of where we could go next. So, the parts that make it onto the car are really just a point in time where we have to release the car, otherwise we would be constantly in a development circle. Once we have released to the car, we go back to the development side of it, pushing it forward ready for the next development and we never really stop.'

Q. There is a fierce debate about CFD v Wind Tunnel – what's your opinion on how this is helping the 2010 updates for the LMP?

'We use both and they both have a very important place in the development process. I wouldn't really want to loose either of them. So, in terms of putting them in a priority, it's very difficult because we rely on both. They both have strengths and weaknesses and we play them always to their strengths in order to push the development of the car forward as quickly as we can. The other areas are 7-post rig testing which is carried out once we have the full-sized car. We run simulations to validate and focus the design areas and find where we can get the maximum improvement in lap time for our development strategy.'

Q. Please talk us through the interim regulations that the ACO announced last autumn?

'With the interim regulations for 2010, the changes next year centre on the bodywork around the rear wheels where you now have to have a louver panel rather than gauze. Úp until 2010 we have been able to just put wire mesh behind the rear wheels which now the ACO would like removed, really because the gauze is getting damaged by lumps of rubber (marbles) and stones flicking up from the rear wheels and pushing the meshes out and leaving meshes lying on the track which can be dangerous. So the ACO have changed the regulations to incorporate a louvre panel rather than a mesh and that is part of an interim rule because the 2011 regulations will be closing that area off totally. So, we will not be allowed any openings there at all eventually.'

Q. Any changes to the cockpit or the A/C systems or anything ergonomically within the tub itself?

'No, the ergonomics inside the tub tend to get honed quite a lot to the drivers' requirements depending whether they are tall or small drivers or not. Various pieces get changed to suit them, so we try to allow as flexible an interior as we can, so they can move to suit their needs. The A/C has been very successful, so we haven't really done much work on changing it. It worked very reliably through last season, so we have kept that pretty much as it was.'

Q. Looking at the season, how easy is it for us to react to adding certain development parts – do you envisage Lola having an additional kit for certain specs of racetrack?

'Not necessarily. The car that we produce is a very similar car that races in Europe at the low drag circuits and in America on high downforce circuits, so we have to design a car that has a good range of downforce that is adjustable by the team with various components around the car. So, going from high to low downforce really is a strength of the car as a standard design feature and I am glad to say we have this in abundance. As the season goes on, depending on how development work is going, we will often try to release a small update kit during the season to improve things.'

Source - Lola