As the FIA World Endurance Championship refines the regulations for the new ‘Hypercar’ class, it appears the Drag Reduction System (DRS) that would have featured on the rear of the car has been dropped in favour of getting more true road-going hypercars in the series.
The latest revision to the regulations include an increase of 110kg to the minimum weight of the cars in the class, and sees the predicted 24 Hours of Le Mans lap time drop by around five seconds.
The removal of moveable aero devices from the regulations comes from the rule makers believing that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for a pre-existing hypercar – example: Aston Martin Valkyrie – to incorporate a DRS. This additional ask of manufacturers would also negate the cost-reduction that WEC are going for in opening the regulations to road-going hypercars.
Interest for the 2020/21 ‘Hypercar’ regulations have been hit and miss with manufacturers. Some actively show their support for the new class, whilst others have their concerns about cost-effectiveness, development and use of technology in commercial vehicles.
The FIA, WEC and Automobile Club de l’Ouest have repeatedly expressed their intentions of making the regulations as open as possible in an attempt to get large manufacturers interested. The decision came last month to allow pre-existing hypercars to race in contention with the new breed of prototypes.
Positively, this leads us to believe the WEC is consciously trying to build an even playing field for the new hybrids and the pre-exsisting ones, which goes to show they may be learning from the combined LMP1 class we see in the Super Season.
