Italy is in fashion in motorsport once again. While Ferrari achieved victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2023, other teams and manufacturers have begun to look at an endurance discipline that is experiencing a new golden age. Waiting to see what happens with IsottaFraschini, Lamborghini Squadra Corse has taken the most important step in its history, practically coinciding with what is the 60th anniversary of the Sant'Agata Bolognese firm.
For the manufacturer of the bull, the 2024 campaign will be its great litmus test. Lamborghini will debut in the Hypercar category, competing in both the WEC and the IMSA WeatherTechSportscar. That is why they have decided to build a prototype under the LMDh regulations, entrusting the chassis to the French company Ligier, which thus gets its first client, while Iron Lynx will be the team in charge of sports management and the two cars in their ambitious plan that also extends to IMSA where they will have one of the displaced units.
Although it was already expected in May, Lamborghini decided to frame the presentation of its new SC63 LMDh during the weekend of one of the great automotive events of the year: The Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Lord March grounds are the ideal place not only to pay homage to the 60-year history of the brand founded by Ferruccio Lamborghini but also to unveil the new transalpine competition prototype.
The debut, as sources from Lamborghini itself have confirmed, will not come immediately for the start of the season, specifically in the IMSA, the early-rising championship that celebrates the 24 Hours of Daytona in January. It is expected that Lamborghini will not be there with Iron Lynx, but that their program would start later, specifically in Sebring within the North American series and in Qatar in the case of the WEC. The SC63 will contest the entirety of the WEC, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, while in the North American championship, although the program has yet to be fully defined, they are expected to contest the longest events, including Sebring, Watkins Glen, Indianapolis, and Petit Le Mans.
By then, a few frantic months are planned, with multiple tests in the next six weeks before finishing a second unit that will have to travel to the United States in order to go through the wind tunnel and thus refine the correlation of the data once again. as well as, passing the IMSA approval after more tests in situ, on the asphalt of the country of stars and stripes. At the moment, they have already shot virtually in what is known as the Driver in the Loop (DiL) dynamic simulator.
So far, four of Lamborghini's starting drivers have been confirmed; MirkoBortolotti and Andrea Caldarelli, along with newcomers Romain Grosjean and DaniilKvyat, in what is still a combination of experienced riders from other circuit disciplines, with the presence of two stars no longer linked to the World Championship of Formula 1. At the moment, the remaining names have not been defined, and not even an approximate date has been given as to when we should know them, but no possibility has been ruled out, and even Giorgio Sanna, when asked about the options of Albert Costa, whom he knows very well, he did not want to close any possibility, even generalizing to other Spanish pilots.
Why resist at a time like this? The truth is that, in the middle of a roadmap towards electrification by Lamborghini, more specifically towards hybrids, the current era of the Resistance adapts like a glove to what the Italian company currently wants. The entire range of Lamborghini products will be hybridized by 2024, so a project in which you compete in the same championship as Porsche or Ferrari, two of your great rivals also far from the circuits, and that does not require an economic effort like that of Formula 1, it seems that it is the best fit of all.
The SC63 is the most advanced racing car ever designed by Lamborghini and follows the 'MovimentoCorTauri' strategy defined by the company for the electrification of the range. The opportunity to compete in some of the world's greatest endurance races with a hybrid concept car fits into our vision of high-performance mobility, as was also demonstrated in the production product with the launch of the Revuelto. The SC63 represents for our racing team the entry into the highest levels of motorsport and a very important step into the future - Stephan Winkelmann
The Lamborghini SC63 LMDh in depth:
In the technical section, too many details are not yet known beyond the fact that the chassis will be provided by Ligier, while the engine will be a self-development with the scheme of a 3.8-liter biturbo V8 block and 680 HP of power (500 kW by regulation), with the novelty that it will follow a philosophy called 'Cold V', which means that the turbos are arranged away from the cylinder banks to improve cooling and also lower the center of gravity of the power unit and, therefore, also of the whole.
The rest of the components of the hybrid part will be provided by the suppliers of the LMDh concept, both in the case of the gearbox, the battery, and the MGU (Motor Generator Unit), although from Lamborghini they assure that they will make modifications within the margins that gives the technical regulations, for example, the gearbox, an element in which each manufacturer is free to establish the most appropriate ratio and mechanical blocking of the differential to the characteristics of the circuits on which the car competes. The suspension scheme has also been revealed, with Lamborghini betting on the front push-rod mounted directly on the monocoque in order to reduce the pitch of the prototype as much as possible.
The SC63 project represents an exciting challenge from both a technical and a human point of view. Developing the design, the most efficient aerodynamic solutions and a new combustion engine designed specifically for racing, has pushed us to raise the bar ever higher, always keeping in mind that pure performance is useless without reliability. Now the time has come to put the wheels on the track with the aim of being competitive for the 2024 season, while at the same time using the SC63 project as an opportunity to transfer motorsport technology and knowledge to the road models of the future - Rouven Mohr
As for aesthetics, there is no lack of details. Lamborghini commissioned its Centro Stile, in collaboration with Squadra Corse, to design the image of this new racing car and applied a livery that is an adaptation of the one we already know in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 with the tone 'Mantis Green' predominant, accompanied by 'Noctis Black' and the indispensable Italian tricolor, as well as the already visible logos of Iron Lynx and watchmaker Roger Dubuis.
The nods to Lamborghini's history are also not missing, with the peculiar 'Y'-shaped design of the front optics, as well as rear wheel arches that partly replicate those used in the Lamborghini Revuelto. The ultimate wink is seen in the side view, with those NACA ducts for cooling the rear brakes that are identical to those used by the Countach, one of the great historical emblems of the manufacturer.
This year not only marks the 60th anniversary of our company, but also the 10th anniversary of the founding of Squadra Corse, Lamborghini's motorsport department. During the last decade we have achieved excellent results. Starting from a clean sheet of paper, we've won some of the most prestigious endurance races in the GT category, reserved for production-derived cars. Those successes include three class wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona and two consecutive class wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring. We are now ready to take what will be our biggest step into the future of motorsport, taking on some of the most prestigious manufacturers in the world - Giorgio Sanna
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