SMP Racing LMP1 Technical Analysis
One of the contenders to take the fight to the Toyotas for that final step on the LMP1 podium is the Russian BR Engineering BR1 car. Two cars will be raced by SMP Racing featuring the AER V6 direct injection twin turbo powerplant.
Chassis
The BR Engineering BR1 car has been developed in collaboration with Dallara and together, using the LMP2 car as a baseline, an all new carbon fibre chassis was born. This chassis comes in two slightly different versions to cater for the three different engine configurations available to the LMP1 non hybrids. One variant allows a turbo installation to run with the Mecachrome or AER powerplant, while the other suits the normally aspirated Gibson engine.
Weight was another major consideration as the minimum weight for LMP1 non hybrids is 830Kg plus 3Kg for camera equipment. Compare this to 930Kg for LMP2 and around 100Kg had to be saved which was the main driver behind the chassis design concept. ?We started from the LMP2 monocoque that was already good, but the name of the game in LMP1 is weight saving, more than anything else,? says Luca Pignacca, chief designer at Dallara. ?The car must weigh 100kg less than the LMP2 and that is a lot. Fortunately, we had a good base from which to start, because the LMP2 car carries a lot of ballast with the Gibson engine, but we had to redesign everything to save weight. We had to use different materials for the monocoque, so we went more extreme with everything.?
With t...