History repeats itself? A new French V12 engine...

[Anders Dinsen]

Peugeot revealed their V12 diesel engine for next years Le Mans or whatever they will want to use it for. The pictures of suit-and-ties dressed managers gatherd around their new 'toy' reminded me of the pictures I have seen from 40 years ago - last time a French company revealed a V12 - the Matra V12.

There are piccies from the press conference on www.lemans.org.


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[Lennart Sorth]

Sweet deja-vu thought to the last time a French V12 was presented. Different hairstyle though :-)

I have a press CD with some impressive pictures of ... an engine. e.g. : http://www.matrasport.dk/vault/Peugeot_908_MOTEUR_0606AB001.jpg (NB: 4Mb jpg)
Its called the Peugeot V12 HDi DPFS/FAP (pictures looks more like a 3D rendering though)

Peugeot states in the notes that they WILL be at Le Mans with a diesel engine and they even have a program telling us that Eric Hélary will be testdriving "the car" in december 2006. They only briefly mention "the Peugeot 908" and continues to tell us about the engine.

I was at the after-race press conference at Le Mans 24h, and considering how much Henri Pescarolo was praising the current regulations that allow diesels (even if they beat him to winning the race), and the need to KEEP these regulations unchanged, I have a cunning feeling his cars will not run
on petrol next year... :-)

A few years ago, Pescarolo was Peugeot (/Sodemo) powered, so the connections are certainly there.

Directly asked, neither Henri Pescarolo nor his wife (who among many other things s the press manager for Pescarolo Sport) have however admitted to any of  this (obviously) so for the time being it remains speculation.

/Lennart

[Anders Dinsen]

Very interesting facts and speculations!

Maybe Peugeot just have multiple options for the chassis and have not decided yet?

Pesca has shown that he has what it takes to get a good position in the race - including a stable chassis -, so if he's backed by Peugeot, who are obviously spending big bucks on this, the combination may be very interesting!!

Question is how different the Judd V10 is to the Peugeot V12 diesel - can the Courage chassis fit it or will they have to redesign it entirely?

But are there any news about when Matra MS will race an electric car???

- Anders

[Lennart Sorth]

But are there any news about when Matra MS will race an electric car???

hehe

Last year, the ACO re-introduced the "Index du performance", which uses a very *secret* formula, taking fuel economy, noise and distance into account, - and despite the secrecy, I'm rather convinced a French Blue "Matra MS-anything" would come out pretty high on that list  :-)

Electric means VERY silent and fuel-economic ... it only needs som HUGE rearview mirrors, to get out of the way for Tom Kristensen and the like :-)

I think Matra-MS should aim for that prize. :-)

(PS: The D'Jet won that index several times)

[Anders Dinsen]

(PS: The D'Jet won that index several times)

THAT would be retro! An electric Matra Jet! That would be an "eJet" which sounds like a product from IBM though...