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38-513: Immediately following the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans in which both BMW V12 LMs had failed to finish due to mechanical difficulties and a slow pace caused by aerodynamic inefficiencies, BMW Motorsport made the decision to radically revamp their sportscar project and quickly replace the V12 LM with a new car for 1999, the V12 LMR. The V12 LMR retained only the basic structures of the V12 LM; all of

76-540: A mere two points. For 2000, BMW's alliance with WilliamsF1 brought the marque into Formula One , with BMW providing the engines for the WilliamsF1 team. It was therefore decided by BMW that the company would concentrate on the worldwide exposure of Formula One for the future and that they would not return to Le Mans to attempt to follow up on their victory. However, in order to not see the V12 LMRs go to waste, it

114-409: A reserve list, in case an entry from the list of 48 withdrew prior to the event. These entries were allowed to join the race entry list based on the fastest pre-qualifying times from the same group and class as the withdrawn entry. Before the race, two LMGT2 entries from the first pre-qualifying session were withdrawn. First to be withdrawn was the lone Cirtek Mustang which had qualified, which promoted

152-487: A significant increase in manufacturer involvement. Porsche and Mercedes-Benz remained, with upgraded cars in both GT1 and LMP. Toyota sent three of their new, extremely fast GT-One racing cars, while BMW, in association with WilliamsF1 , launched the new BMW V12 LM . Nissan sent 4 of their new R390 GT1s . The United States was also represented properly with a two car team from Panoz , with Ford powered Esperante GTR-1s , and factory-backed Chrysler Viper GTS-R in

190-545: A single lap, but not as fuel-efficient. Even with this apparent setback, a V12 LMR was able to take the fourth-fastest lap time over the practice session, behind two Toyota GT-Ones and a Panoz prototype. For the race, only two cars appeared, with the Art Car being dropped from the line-up. In qualifying the two LMRs again showed their speed, taking 3rd and 6th places, again beaten only by the Toyota GT-Ones . During

228-617: Is an automotive manufacturer that builds and designs street cars and race cars. Élan Motorsports is a company that builds and designs race cars too. Both these two companies are still owned by the Panoz family. The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was created by Don Panoz in 1999. Panoz also owned the International Motor Sports Association , the organization that sanctions the ALMS . It held its inaugural event,

266-1069: The 1998 Petit Le Mans as part of the Professional Sportscar Racing series. The ALMS has a partnership with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest , the organizers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans , to allow teams to compete to the same regulations. In 2012, the ALMS was sold to NASCAR and then in 2014, the series merged with the Rolex Sports Car Series to form United SportsCar Racing . The Panoz group previously owned Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, United States as well as previously operated Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida , United States. They also previously owned Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario , Canada but

304-672: The 2015 race . The GT2 class win by the Chrysler Viper GTS-R was the first GT class win for an American made car since the Shelby Daytona Coupe won in 1964. Panoz Panoz is an American manufacturer of luxury sports automobiles founded in 1989 as Panoz Auto Development by Dan Panoz , son of Don Panoz (1935 – 2018). The company has also been extensively involved in professional racing, and designs, engineers and builds its own race cars (including chassis and components). Panoz products have included

342-537: The ACO's Le Mans prototype regulations, and reduced drag and obstruction for the air to the rear wing. A total of four new chassis were built by WilliamsF1 in the United Kingdom. Internally, the V12 LMR retained the same BMW S70/3 5990 cc V12 engine as the V12 LM. Responsibility for running the cars was handed over to Schnitzer Motorsport , which ran the team not only at the 24 Hours of Le Mans but also in

380-612: The Indy Racing League , Champ Car World Series , American Le Mans Series , Le Mans Series , and other championships. The Panoz Racing School was a driver training school previously operated at Road Atlanta and Sebring International Raceway. Students learned racing techniques in purpose-built Panoz GT-RA cars. Following completion of the course, students were eligible for an SCCA regional racing license. The school also included programs where customers could receive instruction in their own road cars. The Panoz Racing Series

418-651: The Panoz DP01 which was the final chassis used under ChampCar until the unification of the American open wheel series in road racing. Panoz Motor Sports Group was sold to NASCAR in 2012. The assets of the sale included the American Le Mans Series , Road Atlanta , Sebring International Raceway and Panoz Racing Schools. Mosport International Raceway was sold separately to a Canadian consortium led by Ron Fellows and Carlo Fidani. Panoz, LLC.,

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456-789: The Panoz Roadster and AIV Roadster , the Panoz Esperante , and the Panoz Avezzano . Since 1997, Panoz cars have competed in racing series around the world. Team Panoz Racing race the Panoz Avezzano in the Pirelli GTS class, and in 2018 won the Manufacturer's Championship. In addition to Le Mans series (Now European Le Mans series) wins, an Esperante GTLM won the GT2 class at the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans and in

494-588: The #33 Nova Nissan spinning into a gravel trap after only 10 minutes of the session, later resuming with the spare rear bodywork from one of the TWR cars. In LMP1 there were 9 entries competing for 7 slots. Again a Ferrari was fastest, as the JB Ferrari beat the factory BMW and Porsche entries with 0.4 and 2.7 seconds respectively. The second Kremer K8 scraped home ahead of the Konrad K8 by 0.08 seconds and thus made

532-504: The #65 Roock Racing 911 GT2 into the race. Secondly Viper Team Oreca, which had a total of four Vipers qualified for the race including their automatic entry, withdrew Viper #52. This promoted the #58 RJ Racing Helem into the race. Of the 48 cars entered for the race 47 would take part in practice and qualifying. The Helem V6, which had been promoted following the withdrawal of the #52 Viper, ultimately failed race week scrutineering checks because of non-complying structural differences between

570-631: The GT2 class entered by Oreca . Automatic entry to the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans was granted to teams that had performed well in the previous year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the 1997 season of the FIA GT Championship and the Le Mans Autumn Cup. Entries with a blue background were granted entries, but did not accept their invitations. A total of 63 entries, including those already automatically qualified, were presented for scrutineering on Saturday, May 2. 61 cars passed

608-687: The Panozes but struggled with the Audis. BMW was forced to settle for 3rd and 4th behind both Audis. For the next two rounds, Audi attempted to perfect their R8 for Le Mans and therefore decided to race their older R8R instead. This allowed BMW to take victory at Charlotte and at the European event at Silverstone . In BMW's home race at the Nürburgring in Germany, the V12 LMR lost to a Panoz for

646-411: The car's bodywork was redone from scratch. The cooling ducts, a major problem on the V12 LM, were moved to the top of the car instead of from the bottom where it had suffered from ambient track heat. Among the more radical design features was the use of a small roll hoop located only behind the driver's seat, instead of a wide roll hoop that covered the entire cockpit. This took advantage of a loophole in

684-625: The cars and concentrating on their new Formula One partnership. BMW took second in the teams' championship behind the dominant Audi. Unlike the V12 LMs, the V12 LMRs were not sold to customers after their retirement. 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 66th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 6 and 7 June 1998. Events for the 24 Hours of Le Mans began on 2 May with technical inspections, before initial pre-qualifying on 3 May. The race week began on Monday 1 June with renewed technical inspections. 1998 saw

722-515: The fastest 911 GT2. The non-qualifiers were two 911 GT2's and the Helem PRV V6. Note: Pink background denotes non-qualifiers, green background denotes entries automatically pre-qualified. Afternoon session (2:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.) The afternoon session saw the final 9 GT1 entries competing for the remaining 7 slots on the grid. Fastest overall and in GT1 was the number 26 Porsche in

760-636: The fastest time. The non-qualifiers were the number 17 Kremer K8 (4:02) and the WR (3:56) which suffered a spin into the gravel trap at the Dunlop curve early in the session. Slowest of the LMP1 cars was the already-qualified Courage #24. The GT2 group consisted of 11 entries competing for 8 slots. The lone LMP2 entry to the race, the #22 Debora, had been grouped into this category in the absence of any other competition. The predicted Oreca Viper benefit, 4.3 seconds clear of

798-645: The grid. In the end it was the unfortunate Larbre and Zakspeed entries that were out of luck despite trying hard with in the case of number 38 spectacular moments. Slowest of all in GT1 was the GTC McLaren with the Mercedes (which had a stop on the Mulsanne at 12:30, reason unknown) splitting the two non pre-qualifiers. In LMP1 8 entries battled for 6 slots on the grid, with the Moretti Ferrari setting

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836-456: The hands of Allan McNish after a titanic battle with Martin Brundle's Toyota in the closing hour, the difference ending up at only 0.09 seconds. The two who go no further in GT1 for this session were Hybrid Panoz and the second Zakspeed Porsche (meaning neither Zakspeed entry made it through to the race). The two Nissans (one TWR, one Nova) and the 'conventional' Panoz made it comfortably, despite

874-427: The new American Le Mans Series for 1999. Debuting at the 12 Hours of Sebring , BMW Motorsport and Schnitzer Motorsport entered a two-car team. The cars were immediately fast, taking the pole position in qualifying. During the race, both cars ran towards the front for the first six hours. V12 LMR chassis #001 had a large accident, damaging the car to the point that it would never race again. The second V12 LMR took

912-443: The overall win. The team went back to Europe with what they had learned at Sebring in order to prepare for Le Mans . In early May, at the initial test session for Le Mans, three V12 LMRs appeared. In the tradition of the famous BMW Art Cars , one of the two undamaged cars featured a paint job created by artist Jenny Holzer . Unlike at Sebring, the V12 LMRs would be facing closed-cockpit prototypes which were theoretically faster over

950-565: The pair of BMWs won again. Over the final four races of the season, the BMWs would take two more victories, losing twice to the American Panoz prototypes. Even with four victories on the season, due to BMW's decision to return to Europe following Sebring and thus miss two ALMS races, BMW failed to take the team's championship, losing to Panoz (which engine was co-develop by Élan and 1999 Winston Cup Series winners Robert Yates Racing ) by

988-483: The race as the faster cars from Mercedes, BMW and Toyota retired with mechanical difficulties and accident damage. The remaining Nissans and outdated McLarens were unable to match the pace of the upgraded 911 GT1s. Following this race, Porsche went into a sabbatical, rumored to be part of a plan to allow Porsche's partner Audi to develop their own sportscar without competition from within the alliance. Porsche would return to Le Mans in 2014 ; they would eventually win

1026-490: The race the V12 LMRs ran strong, outlasting a large number of closed cockpit competitors which suffered woes, including Mercedes-Benz , Nissan , Toyota , and Audi . In the second half of the race, BMW's main competitors were a pair of open-cockpit Audi R8Rs and the lone remaining Toyota GT-One . In the closing hours of the race, the #17 BMW V12 LMR driven by JJ Lehto crashed heavily in the Porsche Curves section of

1064-560: The race win, although it did beat an Audi R8. Returning to America, with Audi having taken victory at Le Mans, the V12 LMR was now forced to finish the rest of the season fighting the dominant R8. For the next four rounds, BMW could do no better than second against the Audi, which won every round. For Petit Le Mans , BMW decided to bring out chassis #004, the Art Car which had only ever run at Le Mans testing in 1999. The car retained its paint job from Jenny Holzer. The V12 LMRs suffered during

1102-413: The race, including one of the cars backflipping and flying into the side barriers, as had a Porsche 911 GT1 in the same place two years before, and the Art Car was the only V12 LMR able to finish, in fifth place. BMW did not win either of the final two North American rounds of the season. It was decided by the team that they would not travel to Australia for the final round of the season, instead retiring

1140-528: The race. The other prototype not to progress was the other WR which never managed to set a competitive laptime. GT2 was again dominated by the Oreca Vipers. 8 of the 10 entries would make it through, with the two non-qualifiers being the second Cirtek Mustang and the third Roock Racing 911 GT2. Note: Pink background denotes non-qualifiers, green background denotes entries automatically pre-qualified. The entries which failed to pre-qualify were placed on

1178-434: The road car and the competition one entered in the 24 Hours. After barely scraping through on a reserve entry the car would thus not be allowed to take any further part in race proceedings. Qualifying took place over a combined four sessions held on Wednesday and Thursday evening, with the fastest times set at any time across all sessions determining the starting grid for the race. Class leaders are in bold . Porsche won

BMW V12 LMR - Misplaced Pages Continue

1216-653: The same year, won the 2006 12 Hours of Sebring and was on the podium at the endurance season finale, 2006 Petit Le Mans . For the 2007 American Le Mans season, Panoz contracted longtime BMW Motorsport partner Prototype Technology Group to campaign the GTLM in the ALMS and Le Mans. Panoz has also provided IndyCar with the G-Force GF05 and GF09 ; and the Champ Car World Series with their final race car,

1254-429: The scrutineering checks, but two entries - the #37 Newcastle United Lister Storm and the #59 Pilbeam Racing Designs Lotus Esprit , were denied on technical grounds. With no time to effect the necessary changes both entries would be unable to take part in pre-qualifying for the race. Pre-qualifying for the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans took place on Sunday, May 3. The entries were divided into two groups of qualifiers where

1292-455: The slowest entries in each class would be eliminated and thus not qualify for the race. A total of 49 starting slots were available for the entered cars, including those already automatically pre-qualified, and were divided on a session- and class-basis. The pre-qualifying results were as follows: Morning session (7:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.) It was an expectedly tight session for the GT1 cars, with 7 strong entries competing for 5 slots on

1330-520: The track due to a stuck throttle. This left the #15 BMW LMR in the lead, less than a lap ahead of the 2nd place Toyota. The Toyota was catching the BMW in the final hour until it suffered a tire blowout at high speed, allowing the Schnitzer BMW team to solidify their lead. The driving team of Joachim Winkelhock , Pierluigi Martini , and Yannick Dalmas were successful in bringing the V12 LMR home for

1368-659: The victory, a single lap ahead of the GT-One. The BMW V12 LMR is estimated to put out about 580 hp, which in the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans allowed the German prototype to hit 342 km/h (214 mph) on the Mulsanne Straight . Following the success of BMW at Le Mans, the team decided to return to North America to finish the American Le Mans Series season. Making their return at Sears Point ,

1406-415: Was decided that BMW would run the full American Le Mans Series season before the cars were retired. Starting the season at Sebring, the BMWs suddenly found themselves facing new competition, with Audi debuting their second-generation R8 Le Mans prototype . The BMWs found themselves qualified in 5th and 6th, behind both the Audis as well as both Panoz LMPs. During the race, the BMWs were able to outlast

1444-640: Was sold in 2011. The tracks hosted the American Le Mans Series , now the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship , in addition to other top-level auto and motorcycle racing series. Élan Motorsports is a company that designs and builds race cars from top-level professional racing cars, through to amateur race cars. The company is owned by the Panoz family. Élan acquired other manufacturers, including famous Formula Ford builders Van Diemen and Indy Racing League constructor G-Force Technologies . Élan-built cars have raced in

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