™ It’s Quicker It’s Cooler It’s Patented Performance Friction (UK) Limited Unit 7 - Boundary Road (0) 1280 843390 Brackley, Northants NN13 7SE FAX (0) 1280 843133 www.PerformanceFriction.com Performance Friction Corporation (US) 83 Carbon Metallic Highway (1) 800 521 8874 Clover, SC 29710 FAX (1) 803 222 8134 Performance Friction Japan 6-2-7 TSW1 Urawa City Saitama Pref 336-0026 Japan 011 81 488 364 412 © Performance Friction 2003 0106.0001 TECHNOLOGY FOR MOTORSPORT The International Journal ™ THE LOST TECHNOLOGY PROPHET CHALLENGE The Allard J2X lacked How to run a factory results but it changed Formula 1 car with prototype design privateer resources July 2005 · Vol 15 No 07 www.racecar-engineering.com UK £4.50 · USA $8.95 Aston returns How the factory-backed cars were engineered for Le Mans NASCAR blown New full-size wind tunnel exclusively for stock cars Rubber checks Tool storage Taking the black magic Keeping pit garages and out of tyre optimisation workshops organised 0 7 9 770961 109050 Better Plumbing. 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Internal Radius and Contoured State-of-the-art manufacturing, Entrances Double Swivel extensive inventory and tech support... Triple Sealed Hose Ends with you’ll get it all from XRP. Dual Angled Seats and Patented, Aerospace Approved Nipple & Cutter Design per MIL-DTL-83798 UNITED STATES XRP, Inc. [email protected] tel 562 861 4765 fax 562 861 5503 ® EUROPE James Lister & Sons [email protected] tel 44 (0) 121 525 5800 fax 44 (0) 121 553 5951 THE XTREME IN RACECAR PLUMBING Contents 2005 JULY Features 30 Aston Martin DBR9 Cover story Aston’s new GT1 Le Mans contender examined in detail 38 Hindsight The Allard J2X was a radical car that never fulfilled its true potential 30 44 Tyre optimisation Getting the best from a racecar’s tyres is crucial. Dufournier Technologies is the expert 52 Formula 1 for amateurs EuroBOSS is grand prix cars run on a budget. We investigate what it takes to succeed 60 NASCAR wind tunnel A look at AeroDyn’s purpose-built stock car wind tunnel Raceworld 05 Write line – Motorsport’s worst enemy is 38 motorsport itself 06 Debrief – BAR Honda gets banned and Porsche heads for Le Mans 16 Race people – Adrian Daniels of ADR Engineering is On the Gas 21 V-Angles – Paul Van Valkenburgh discusses psychology and super sensitivity 29 Forum – Patent problems and Supermodified wing issues Raceshop 77 Racegear – All the latest products 44 83 Database – Full motorsport supplier listings 93 Aerobytes – Simon McBeath examines the true role of bargeboards 97 The Consultant – Roll moments and anti geometry discussed FOR SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS TURN TO Subscriptions PAGES 68-69 Or visit www.racecar-engineering.com 52 www.racecar-engineering.com July 2005 Racecar Engineering 3 INTERSPARES MOTORSPORT LTD Unit 4, Rockfort Industrial Estate Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 9DA Tel: +44 (0)1491 827460 fax: +44 (0)1491 827469 Export Specialists Email: [email protected] 4 July 2005 Racecar Engineering Write Line Pit Crew hat is the biggest threat to world motorsport? Would you be shocked Vol 15 No.7 or outraged if I was to suggest it might be world motorsport itself? Editor Charles Armstrong-Wilson How can that be, you may be asking? There are many threats to our Deputy Editor Sam Collins favourite activity and all of them are external. Consider for exam- Art Editor W Barbara Stanley Borras ples, the green lobby, or fuel shortages. How about economic recession or rising Chief Sub Editor Mike Pye population density? Surely all these are threats hanging over the future of the Editorial Assistant Katie Power sport and they are the things holding a gun to our heads. True, but only if we let Contributing Editors them. None of these will inevitably lead to the death of motorsport. They can all Paul Van Valkenburgh, Allan Staniforth Technical Consultant be dealt with if we have the will. Peter Wright Group Art Editor In the UK, a long battle to ban fox hunting was fi nally successful earlier this Patrick Morrissey Contributors year. I don’t want to take a stand either way on the rights or wrongs of this deci- Mike Breslin, Mike Fuller, Jonathan Ingram, Simon McBeath, Mark Ortiz, Ian Wagstaff sion, but the way it came about offers some sobering lessons for the future of our Photography industry. LAT, Tony Tobias Business Development Manager By the time the issue was being bounced around in our parliament, it had Tony Tobias +44 (0) 20 8726 8328 Mobile 07768 244880 Fax +44 (0) 20 8726 8399 become a political battle, not an [email protected] Advertisement Sales Executive electoral one. There were staunch Andy King +44 (0) 20 8726 8329 camps on both sides of the argu- [email protected] SURELY THE FAILURE Group Advertisement Manager ment, but the vast majority of the Kevin Attridge voting public had a resigned indif- TO FIGHT THIS IS THE Marketing and Exhibitions Manager “ Richard Marcroft ference to the issue. It was unlikely Publisher GREATEST THREAT TO Gavin de Carle to win or lose the election for any General Manager Niall Clarkson party and, if it went, the vast major- MOTORSPORT Managing Director Paul Williams ity would hardly notice. That left Editorial & Advertising the majority of members of parlia- Racecar Engineering, Focus Network, ” Leon House, 233 High Street, Croydon, Surrey CR9 1HZ, UK ment with little reason to resist the onslaught of lobbyists and pressure groups. Tel +44 (0)20 8726 8364 In fact, the bulk of the work by the anti-hunting groups had been done up to 30 Fax +44 (0)20 8726 8399 E-mail [email protected] years earlier with well-organised, high-profi le protests that succeeded in seed- Back Numbers John Denton Services, Unit 1 A1 Parkway. South Gate Way, ing the public consciousness with one point of view. Meanwhile, the hunt sup- Orton South gate, Peterborough, PE2 6YN Tel +44 (0)1733 370800 porters regarded this interference as a nuisance, but not a serious threat. They Fax +44 (0)1733 239356 Worldwide News Trade Distribution believed in their indisputable right to their sport and saw no need to justify that Marketforce (UK) 5th Floor, Low Rise, Kings Reach outlook to others or actively put their side of the argument. By the time the threat Tower, Stamford St, London SE1 9LS, UK Tel +44 (0)20 7633 3300 became imminent, it was too late. Worldwide Subscriptions Racecar Engineering Subscriptions, PO Box 272, Hayward’s Heath, Now motorsport is starting to face a similar threat, this time from government. West Sussex, RH16 3FS, UK Typesetting & Repro Planart Ltd In the UK, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has Print Text Benham Goodhead Print, just passed an act denying subsidies for set-aside agricultural land that occasion- Cover BR Hubbard Printers Printed in England ISSN No 0961-1096 ally hosts motorsport. At a stroke, thousands of competitors in the UK have had USPS No 007-969 Racecar Engineering their venues priced out of reach as farmers factor the lost subsidies into their is a Focus Network publication, published by charges. Yet motorsport is the only activity excluded, while car boot sales and IPC Country & Leisure Media Ltd static shows have been left completely unaffected. Exactly why motorsport alone Racecar Engineering, incorporating Cars & Car Conversions and Rallysport, has been singled out is unclear, but the fact that it has is something we should is published 12 times per annum and is available on subscription. Although due care has been worry about taken to ensure that the content of this publication is accurate and up-to-date, the publisher can This is a blow to club motorsport and possibly the accept no liability for errors and omissions. Unless otherwise stated, this publication has not tested thin end of the wedge, setting a precedent for other products or services that are described herein, and their inclusion does not imply any form of exclusions directed at our industry. If we cannot justify endorsement. By accepting advertisements in this publication, the publisher does not warrant our activities at grass roots level, then we are opening their accuracy, nor accept responsibility for their contents. The publisher welcomes unsolicited the gates for legislation that could work its way all the manuscripts and illustrations but can accept no way to the top. If we can’t rise to this, then what are the liability for their safe return. © 2005 IPC Media. All rights reserved. chances of dealing with the next attack from the Reproduction (in whole or in part) of any text, photograph or illustration contained in this bureaucratic-machine? Surely the failure to fi ght this is publication without the written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.