Lamborghini Reveal SC63 Hypercar and GTP Contender At Goodwood
The latest, and last, new 2024 contender for the FIA WEC Hypercar and IMSA GTP class has been revealed by Lamborghini at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The new SC63 prototype, Lamborghini’s first factory-built sports prototype racer, will start its track testing programme “within weeks” after initial development work was carried out using a Driver in the Loop (DiL) simulator. The cars are set to be fielded by Iron Lynx with a single car apiece for the whole WEC season and for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship Endurance Cup though the car will not be ready for a debut at Daytona and will instead debut at the WEC season opener at Qatar.
The SC63 is the first LMDh-rules prototype to be based on a Ligier chassis ‘spine’ and is set to be powered by an all-new 3.8 litre twin turbo V8 engine that has been developed by Lamborghini engineers specifically for the racing programme.
The engine is a ‘cold V’ configuration, meaning that the turbos are mounted outside the vee angle of the engine which makes them easier to cool and to service. The ‘cold V’ solution is adopted to lower the mass and optimise the car’s centre of gravity.
Power from the engine and the single source ‘spec’ hybrid system, which is standard across the LMDh-category cars, is limited by regulation to 500kW (680 CV). The Power Unit is managed by a Bosch electronic control unit. The LMDh rule set specifies a standard gearbox, battery and motor generator unit (MGU), which helps to contain the development costs for the prototype.
Although the gearbox is standard across all LMDh cars, Lamborghini still has freedom to customise it to a their requirements including the selection of the gear ratios and the slip of the mechanical differential.
“The SC63 is the most advanced racing car ever produced by Lamborghini and it follows our roadmap ‘Direzione Cor Tauri’ laid out by the brand for the electrification of our product range,” says Stephan Winkelmann, Lamborghini Chairman and CEO. “The opportunity to compete in some of the biggest endurance races in the world with a hybrid prototype fits with our vision for the future of high-performance mobility, as demonstrated for road legal cars with the launch of the Revuelto. The SC63 LMDh is the step into the highest echelons and into the future of motorsports for our Squadra Corse.”
“Motorsport is, to us, also a valuable and demanding proving ground for our technology,” states Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini Chief Technical Officer “Our LMDh car, the Lamborghini SC63, is an exciting challenge from both a technical and a human standpoint. The development of our internal combustion engine, aerodynamically efficient bodywork and the overall technical package is a process that has pushed us to constantly raise our own standards. Now, it is time to put the wheels in motion, literally, on track in order to be ready and competitive for the 2024 season. As we develop our LMDh car, we are also mindful of the technology transfer opportunities. We will take our learning experiences from motorsport and apply them where possible to our future production cars.”
The bodywork has been designed by Lamborghini’s Centro Stile design department, in conjunction with the race design team. SC63 features very clear brand styling cues throughout the car, including the familiar y-shaped lights at the front and rear.
The SC63s will run in Verde Mantis green, with a black Nero Noctis strip over the cabin, front hood, carbon diffuser, rear fin and wing. The cars will also feature green, white and red Italian Tricolore colours, and will carry the branding of long-time partner of Lamborghini, Swiss watch manufacturer Roger Dubuis.
“From the beginning, my personal briefing to the design-team was that the car needs to be highly functional, but we wanted to create a car that is immediately recognizable as Lamborghini,” says Mitja Borkert, Lamborghini’s Head of Design at Centro Stile.
“The main recognition of the front and rear of the SC63 is driven by the y-shaped signature light. The size of the cabin and the main character of the car is driven by the sporting rules, but we have also implemented our own brand styling cues throughout the car. Integrated into the side panel of the body you can see a NACA duct that was inspired by the air intake of the Countach. When you look at the rear wheel arch, we gave the impression of acceleration towards the front, and this relates to the wheel arch design language of Lamborghini that can also been seen on the Revuelto.”
Development work so far, and the test programme to come will be undertaken by Lamborghini factory drivers Mirko Bortolotti and Andrea Caldarelli, together with Daniil Kvyat and Romain Grosjean who are also retained as part of the SC63 programme. Other programme drivers will be confirmed later in 2023.
Kvyat and Grosjean have recent race experience of hybrids in Formula 1 and have been able to help the engineers to tune the LMDh system, in particular design the steering wheel controls to allow the driver to control the necessary functions of the hybrid system.
Iron Lynx Team Principal and CEO, Andrea Piccini, said: “Being involved in such an ambitious project is a once in a lifetime experience. We are honoured and extremely excited to be part of it and to start a new chapter for Iron Lynx with Lamborghini. It’s been amazing to see everything finally come together for the reveal of the SC63. Everyone at Iron Lynx is eager for testing to get underway. This is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges we’ve ever faced as a team, and we are now looking forward to seeing the SC63 on track.”
“This year marks not only the 60th anniversary of our brand, but also the tenth anniversary of Squadra Corse, Lamborghini’s motorsport division,” says Giorgio Sanna, Lamborghini’s Head of Motorsport. “Over the last decade we have achieved great results.
“Starting from scratch we have won some of the most prestigious endurance races in the GT category for our production-based racing cars. These include three class wins at the 24 hours of Daytona, and two wins in a row at the Sebring 12 hours. Now we are ready for what is our biggest step into the future of motorsport, measuring ourselves against the best manufacturers in the world.”
Source: Dailysportscar
