RML AD Group’s 2011 Plan
All HPD – Chassis And Engine
 
The 2010 Le Mans Series LMP2 (Team and Driver) Champions today announce their 2011 plans – with an HPD ARX-01d chassis, powered by a new HPD 2.8 litre twin turbo V6. The driver line-up remains as it was in the second half of 2010, Mike Newton and Tommy Erdos joined by Ben Collins.

The trio will again embark on a Le Mans Series campaign, plus the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The image is ‘mocked up’ to show what the new package will look like this season.

The switch to an HPD chassis follows eight hugely successful seasons in Lola products, during which the team won the LMP2 class twice at Le Mans (2005, 2006), took the Le Mans Series titles twice (2007, 2010) and finished as runners-up in the championship (by a single point) in both 2005 and 2006. This is a team with an enviable record of reliability (with the occasional exception) and results.

2010 followed that pattern, but the Lola-HPD combination was outpaced by the all-HPD competition – so it’s a natural move to switch chassis.
 
“This has been an enormously difficult decision for us,” admits Phil Barker, Race Operations Director at RML and team manager. “We have had an excellent relationship with Lola for many years and we are saddened to be leaving such good friends. However, we will also be renewing our relationship with HPD after a very successful first season with them as engine suppliers in 2010.”
 
“Last year we knew the HPD was a very fast package,” comments Mike Newton, CEO of AD Group, “and we appreciated first-hand just how good the V8 engine was. The same quality of engineering applies to the chassis as well, and if the new V6 engine maintains the near-legendary reliability associated with HPD - as I’m sure it will - the total package will be another winner for us.”

The change means that Newton, Erdos and Collins will be back in an open cockpit again, and Newton is “looking forward greatly to being more 'in touch' with the environment once again!”

The ARX-01d is a direct development of the original and highly successful Acura-badged LMP2 racecar, updated to meet the ACO’s latest technical regulations – with a newly homologated aero package. The HPD 2.8 litre twin-turbo V6 is based on the same production unit that powers the Honda Accord and Acura ZDX road cars.

Tommy Erdos neatly sums up the RML-AD philosophy as the team members contemplated their options ahead of a new season: “We always study our options carefully in order to arrive at the first race of the season with the most competitive package we can afford. Last year we recognised that, although we had a very strong combination with the Lola-HPD, the speed simply was not there to match the HPD chassis. We now have that package, so it should make for a more level playing field. That said, it will be sad not to be driving a Lola. We have collected some impressive silverware with Lola and I will be sorry to end that relationship. A big vote of thanks must go to everyone at the Huntingdon factory for their incredible support over the years. They have been a significant contributor to the success of the programme and I will miss working with them.”
 
Ben Collins is rightly very optimistic regarding the team’s 2011 prospects. “We saw how good the HPD was last season in the hands of our competitors, and it was a credit to RML that we beat them to the title. Honda Performance Development has a stellar racing spirit and I’m sure the new V6 turbo engine will be as fast and reliable as anything else out there. The 24-hour race tests everyone’s resolve to the limit and I believe the team has the right partner. I just can’t wait to whistle along Mulsanne and feel the breeze, bugs, rain and everything else that Le Mans throws at you in an open-top car.”
 
Pauline Norstrom, Marketing & Motorsport Director for AD Group, explains the connection between the company’s products and the team’s endurance racing programme: “The synergy between video surveillance and endurance racing play a significant part in making the race programme a firm marketing platform for the AD Group. Our clients depend on the endurance and reliability of our video surveillance systems, which are developed to perform at their optimum, 24 hours a day, non-stop. We apply the same principles in our choice of the engine and chassis as we do in our own business; critically, HPD's track record of endurance and reliability in this extreme environment played a major part in the selection process.”