We talked about the MissionH24 project, promoted by the French car club ACO, the organizer of the 24 Hours of Le Mans: it started in the autumn of 2018 and the aim is that in a few years’ time a sports prototype with a hydrogen fuel cell engine will start legendary marathon.
But tests of the experimental machine are already underway, and yesterday it set a speed record for machines with similar power plants.
ACO is working on the MissionH24 project with GreenGT, an independent hydrogen technology company, and by 2025 Le Mans should have a separate category for cars with electric and hydrogen engines.
On the afternoon of June 8, on the Mulsanne straight, Swiss driver Stéphane Richelmi accelerated to 290.8 km/h in the H24 sports prototype. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the weather had already started to deteriorate, it started to rain and the condition of the asphalt surface of the Sarte ring was not ideal.
The 6 km Mulsanne straight has a special section for measuring the maximum speed, it starts after the Tertre Rouge and ends before the first chicane (Daytona). As the first raindrops had already fallen on the tarmac, it was decided to abandon the entire warm-up lap and try to bring the tires up to the desired operating temperature in the 3.7km starting the high-speed segment from the start line.
Richelmi had at least only one attempt. At the point of official speed measurement, it was recorded that it accelerated to 290.8 km / h. But Stefan released the throttle moments later, just before the chicane itself, and the telemetry registered that the car was speeding at 292.8 km/h.
The participants in the MissionH24 project were satisfied, the record was set, but of course work continues to improve the machine, so new achievements are on the horizon.
Stéphane Richelmi: “The record speed on the test segment and 292.8 km/h, which we see on telemetry, are excellent results. In addition, the tires started to cool when I went to the track because there was already a thin layer of water on the pavement. If I did another lap and warmed up the tires properly, they would work more efficiently and we would break the 300 km/h barrier. But let’s do it next time!”
Source: F1 News
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