Yahoo Autos Lamborghini LMDh Racer Is Finally Here
We have been waiting 60 years for Lamborghini to take part in a top-flight race series. Now meet the car that will do just that. This is the Lamborghini SC63, the company’s LMDh hypercar challenger, which was unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the U.K. Thursday. It will be competing in both the FIA’s World Endurance Championship and IMSA’s GTP class next year.
It is reaching the party a little late, arriving behind LMDh rivals including the Acura ARX-06, Cadillac V-Series.R, and Porsche 963. Lamborghini will be partnering with Italy-based Iron Lynx to run cars in both WEC and IMSA, the privateer outfit having previously run GT racers including both Ferrari and Porsche GTE cars in the WEC.
Lamborghini will also be giving the new car a relatively gentle start. The company says the SC63’s IMSA program for 2024 will feature a single car in the four rounds that make up the Michelin Endurance Cup rather than the full season. That means the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Sebring 12 Hours, Six Hours of the Glen, and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. The WEC challenge will be for the full season, although also with only one car entered into early rounds. But Lamborghini has said there will be a two-car entry for next year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
The SC63 certainly looks striking. As a ‘semi-spec’ series the basic proportions are predictably similar to those of existing LMDh rivals; the technical regulations require all challengers to use the same cockpit glasshouse, longitudinal stability fin, and rear wing uprights. But Lamborghini’s design team has been able to give the SC63 plenty of cool details including distinctive Y-shaped light elements front and rear, an idea shared with the forthcoming Revuelto road car. The company also says that the NACA duct on the side panel takes inspiration from the Lamborghini Countach’s air intake.
Underneath the SC63 uses a monocoque designed by Ligier; Lamborghini being the first LMDh car to partner with the French outfit, one of four suppliers permitted to supply chassis for the series. This is despite the fact that Lamborghini's parent company Audi’s scrapped LMDh racer was set to use the Multimatic chassis that underpins the Porsche 963. Lambo is going its own way on this one.
The SC63 is also using its own V-8, one unrelated to the Porsche unit powering the 963. This engine is a new 3.8-liter twin-turbo unit with a ‘cold vee’ configuration - turbos mounted outside the engine to simplify servicing and also to help lower its center of gravity. Company sources say this is the same base engine that has been developed for the forthcoming Huracan replacement. Power will reach the rear axle through the same spec hybrid system as other LMDh racers with a shared seven-speed transmission, battery, and motor-generator unit. Peak output from both sides of the powertrain will be limited to 670 hp.
The SC63 will face many challengers, but the prospect of it battling with Ferrari in the WEC is the one that is the biggest draw. Italy’s two most famous supercar makers have never competed directly in anything above GT3 racing. While shared components and a third-party chassis might make LMDh seem less advanced than the Le Mans hypercar regulations Ferrari competes under, with the 499P using a proprietary hybrid and all-wheel drive system, BoP balancing means that both should compete on an equal footing.
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