Cleaner, Greener, More Quiet. Welcome to motorsport in the 21st century. The Automobile Club de la Ouest (ACO) have unveiled the regulations for the 2011 Le Mans 24 hour race and associated series.

According to the ACO the new rules have been drawn up in the context of sustainable development and respect for the environment.

The ACO and the motor industry have concentrated on two aspects that are crucially important from their point of view:

• An endurance race like the Le Mans 24 Hours must enable entrants to test new technologies.

• The focus of the Le Mans 24 Hours must be aimed even more strongly towards both the reduction of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption.

The most noticeable change will be new rules to both control and encourage energy recovery systems. Under the new rules the recovery and release of energy will be restricted to two wheels only (front or rear axle).

Energy from the system may be stored using either electrical or mechanical systems. This will no doubt please Porsche whose flywheel based William F1 designed system has already been tested and proven in last months Nurburgring 24 hour race.

Other means of energy recovery will also be allowed: exhaust, engine heat, dampers etc.. provided that they respect the specifications drawn up by the ACO (safety, driver aids banned, evaluation of the increases provided by the system, the reduction of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions).

In addition to the rules regarding Hybrids, the new regulations follow the current evolution of the car in relation to the environment: namely, reduction in the power and overall performance of the engines.

2010 LM P1’s will remain eligible in 2011 provided that as announced two years ago, the cubic capacity of the LM P1 prototypes will be reduced. The 2011 regulations for the Le Mans 24 Hours, the ILMC, ALMS, LMS and the Asian Le Mans series have been revised to take into account the current economic situation and ensure a transition period. It gives the 2010 LM P1 prototypes one extra year with their performance adjusted in relation to the new 2011 cars. The development of the current chassis will be frozen as at 31/12/2010.

LM P2 will be ” A Low Cost Formula” powered exclusively by  production series engines with engine regulations close to those currently in LM GT2.

The current LM P2s can still race in 2011 on 3 conditions :

• 1. Installation  of a new engine derived from a production series.

• 2. Chassis development frozen as at 31/12/2010.

• 3. Performance adjusted in relation to the new 2011 models.

CREATION OF THE NEW GT ENDURANCE CATEGORY

In 2011, there will be no LM GT1 category for the following three major reasons:

• Numerous date clashes on the event calendars.

• Very small fields outside the Le Mans 24 Hours.

• The current category is entirely sprint based.

This is why in agreement with the GT manufacturers the ACO has decided to create a GT Endurance category with a single set of regulations valid between 2011 and 2013. These regulations are based on the current GT2 cars complying with the 2009 ACO rules with the following modifications:

• Steering wheel mounted paddle gearshifts allowed.

• Only 1 evolution per year allowed.

• 2 evolutions per year will be allowed for new cars.

• Measures will be taken to reduce top speeds without reducing overall power.

The GT Endurance category will be for one type of car but divided  into two classes from 2011:

• GT Endurance PRO: a professional category, cars and drivers free.

• GT Endurance AM: cars over one year old and with a minimum of two drivers classified in the bronze or silver categories (defined under LM P2 LMS 2010 regulations).

• The Michelin Green X Challenge will continue in the PROTOTYPES and GT classes.

• Reduction in tyre consumption (as defined in 2009 and 2010 ACO Regulations)

• Reduction in noise level decibels (From 112DB in 2010 to 110DB in 2011)

With: ACO Media release.