The Vanwall Vandervell LMH drives in 40 degrees Celsius at the Lausitzring without any problems – Colin Kolles is surprised himself – Next week it goes on
It had been quiet around the Vanwall Vandervell LMH for some time. After the rollout in Most, which was immediately used for an extensive test, the team went through around 20 different FIA tests
Now the Le Mans hypercar is rolling again – and how: During a test at an outside temperature of almost 40 degrees Celsius, the bolide reeled off more than 900 kilometres.
“The car drives and drives and drives – lap after lap, even at 40 degrees. We’ve now done around 1,800 kilometres and haven’t had a single technical problem.”
Bermes adds, “The heat was very welcome. We now know that our cooling systems are working well. We should now be well prepared for conditions like in Bahrain or earlier in Austin.”
Tom Dillmann drove the test solo and thus completed an extreme programme for his part. For his part, he did not make a single mistake.
Numerous new components were tested in the areas of aerodynamics, electronics and software. In addition, reliability tests were carried out with different materials on various areas.
The car was only in the pits for scheduled pit stops and set-up changes. The aim was to understand how the car reacts to different wing positions. Long runs of 25 laps were also completed.
Powered by a naturally aspirated 4.5-litre V8 engine producing around 700bhp, the bolide will undergo further testing in the coming weeks.
“It’s off to Oschersleben next week,” Kolles confirms. The team will take time off in August for the general holiday period before resuming testing in September.
Whether a race start at the Bahrain 8 Hours would be conceivable, as it is for Porsche? “That’s not up to us,” said the 54-year-old.
“We did our job and built the car. I don’t think we have to hide from the others, neither from Toyota, nor from Peugeot or Porsche. I know we have a good product. “
