The Art of Racing: A Conversation with James Rostock

As a professional racing driver for Perso Sports, I have had the privilege of pushing my skills to the limit in some of the most technologically advanced cars on the planet. With the recent introduction of the 9x8 hypercar class, I find myself at the forefront of an exciting new era in endurance racing. In this article, I will share with you my insights and experiences as a driver of one of these cutting-edge vehicles.

The Design Process: A Symphony of Form and Function

As we are racers every time we are coming, even if we are running, it's to win. So, we'll do our best. The sport regulation is forcing geometry of the car. Yeah, on this car, it's a downforce coefficient, a drag coefficient, and as long as you're in this window, you can make the design you want. We made the BET (Braking and Throttle) instead of letting the motorport engineer designing the car and after working within the design, uh, style Department to make it beautiful. We made an on-road legal car, what we call a convergence design. Technical and the way we have worked is we were in a frame to fulfill the regulation, no compromise on performance, but with a lot of room for creativity.

Convergence Design: Where Form Meets Function

One of the key aspects of our design process was creating a beautiful car that would also perform exceptionally well. We believed that if it's beautiful, it should be fast. It's necessary to win, and it's necessary to be beautiful. Our team worked tirelessly to ensure that every aspect of the car, from its aerodynamics to its weight distribution, would work in harmony to deliver a world-class driving experience.

The 9x8 Hypercar Class: A Unique Experience

I've never had the opportunity to race a four-wheel drive car before, and I can tell you that it's an incredible feeling. When you come out of a corner and the four-wheel drive kicks in, it's like the car just flies out of control. You're on the edge of the limit of the car as you go into the corner, and then you nail a throttle, and the thing just flies straight out of the corners.

Four-Wheel Drive: A Game-Changer for Hypercars

The 9x8 hypercar class is unique in that it features four-wheel drive. This technology is a game-changer for these cars, allowing them to accelerate more quickly and maintain speed longer than traditional rear-engine cars. When you come out of a corner and the four-wheel drive kicks in, it's an amazing feeling. The car just seems to take off, and you feel like you're flying.

Managing Energy and Temperature

One of the unique challenges of racing in the 9x8 hypercar class is managing energy and temperature. Our car features regenerative braking on the front axle, which allows us to recover 200 kW of energy during braking from the front axle. This energy is then put back into the battery to deploy at the exit of corners. However, this technology also affects brake temperatures, which can impact our ability to warm up our brakes quickly enough.

Energy Management: A Crucial Aspect of Hypercar Racing

Managing our battery state of charge and keeping it in the right window is crucial to maintaining optimal performance. We refer to this as "state of charge" (SOC), and it's essential that we keep the battery temperature in the right range. If we don't, it can impact our overall performance and even put the car at risk. It's a delicate balancing act, but one that we're confident we've got down pat.

The Future of Hypercar Racing

As the hypercar class continues to evolve, I'm excited to see what the future holds for endurance racing. With more brands entering the fray, the competition is sure to get fierce. Each team will have its unique approach and philosophy, which will make the racing even more thrilling. From a technical standpoint, it's going to be incredible to see how these teams push the boundaries of innovation.

A Final Thought

As I look back on our experience with the 9x8 hypercar class, I'm reminded that racing is not just about speed; it's about strategy, finesse, and a deep understanding of the car. While our car may look like a supermodel, it's the performance and reliability that truly make it special. Despite being beaten by Toyota at Fuji, which isn't unexpected given their home turf advantage, I believe we've shown that our car is truly a contender in this class. Bring on 2023 – I'm excited to see what the future holds for endurance racing!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome to Japan it has incredible car culture some of the nicest human beings on Earth it has the best vending machines which is really handy when you've got very bad jet lag handy robots there's even a race circuit at the base of Mount Fuji we're here to check out a new race series and one very special racing car in particular and it's this the 9x8 this is P's new leemon hyper car it's got a 2.6 L turbo V6 and a hybrid system with four-wheel drive it's got 671 brake horsepower and it weighs just over a ton so yeah this is a fairly serious car now lemon hyper car and its sister series lemon Daytona hybrids are a new endurance racing series that's been conceived to be a little bit more realistic at least in terms of budgets and replace the very expensive lmp1 class it's kind of the dawn of a new era for the wec the World Endurance Championship and I happen to think it is worth your attention so what's good about it well it's cheaper than before so that should encourage more teams and more variety which is always good in competition so far alongside the lemond Daytona hybrids there are entries from Persia BMW glicken house Alpine Ferrari Toyota and Porsche amongst others this is good but after that the rules are a little bit Freer so every team has to use a specific chassis from one of four manufacturers which keeps cost down but after that they can use any internal combustion engine that they want so it gives them a lot of freedom in the way they power their car when it's Allied to a hybrid drive you can then use it to power the front wheels to give all-wheel drive boost up the rear wheels or you can just use the engine to power the rear wheels on its own what that means is is that the cars will have a lot more character they'll sound different they'll look different on the track and therefore you get more variety oh and there's balance of power regulations to keep the racing close and fair and make sure that one team doesn't whitewash the whole series there's one tire supplier mitchen in and running a pair of hypercars will be 75% cheaper than lmp1 that means you'll get private teams being able to mix it with the big manufacturer entries and you'll also get cars that look like they've been designed by actual people instead of copy and paste racing cars with different liveries and that's why we're in interested in P's effort because the regulations limit Arrow downfalls it means that the designers can be more creative and pjo has decided that it can produce all the ground effect it needs by using clever underbody arrow and without the mosive rear wing and that makes the 9x8 look different I mean just look at it if goodlook cars are fast then this thing is going to be lightning and the basic structure is actually really interesting so up here we have a 200 KW electric motor shrouded in a nose that actually looks like someone from perso designed it okay so it's not exactly a 308 but you do see the family resemblance and then as you move down the car come with me and look at this there's the cockpit which is a little bit wider than I first thought when I saw it in pictures although the car seems to be very low and narrow it's very Slinky shape and as you move down you see all the aob bits and then when you get to the back there's no massive rear wing that we're used to with these kind of racing cars because the requirement for downforce is a little bit lower in leemon hyper car perso has gone a completely different direction they've managed the air flow all over the top of the car and especially underneath it so that this car produces enough downforce without a Big Wang and also as you'll notice it still has perso rear lights it's not a 508 but you get where I'm going with it it looks great which is kind of the point cheaper racing for the manufacturers more competition style and character for the fans a win all round but they still have to work so that's why we're here at the Fuji 6 hours with perso to get a handle on some of its final testing before the big campaign in 2023 now you're the boss of stellantis Motorsport right right so why do Motorsport why race cars cuz it's not exactly a poo 308 that you've got in there it's not exactly a if you don't motorport it's because it's a passion you can't do Motorsport if it's not a passion I mean the interesting thing is here you started a new completely new series Lon hyper car is very different so what is it about Lon hyper car that that's going to excite the fans what's what's different to lmp1 uh what is different to lmp1 is um I would say the main difference is the cost to make this program affordable so to make such a program of it's a business decision it's a to make it's a technical laboratory for new technologies skills we're developing the tooling the development tool tools we are using on the architecture are already the same as on the 508 PC on the 5 PC has already the energy management algorithm that have been developed for the 968 it's actually directly related so this year has been kind of um kind of an installation a little testing year and then next year you're going to hit it hard and you've got a car that looks very different to other leemon hypercars why have you made it without big wings why doesn't it not look like an nmp1 yeah you're you're right this year is a learning year but as we are racer every time we are coming even if we are running it's to win so we'll do our best the sport regulation is forcing geometry of the car yeah on this car it's a downforce coefficient a drag coefficient and as long as you are in this window you can make the design you want we make the BET instead of letting the motorport engineer designing the car and after uh uh withing uh the design uh uh style Department to make it beautiful we made as on road legal car what we call a convergence design yeah and Technical and the way we have worked is we were in a frame to fulfill the regulation no compromise on performance but with a lot of room of creativity of the this angle and pretty race cars are fast race cars so if it's beautiful it should be fast uh it's necessary to win it's necessary to be beautiful I'm James roster and I'm race driver for perso Sports in a 9x8 for the World Endurance Championship so lmh gives you a lot more freedom in the rules in terms of design so you can design a beautiful car you can have areas of the car that you can create your unique identity but also you can Implement your technology so you can really build a car that has your philosophy your team's ethics your the and really build the project around the the the sort of guidelines that you want to showcase for your brand the four-wheel drive is is different to me I never had raced a car that was four-wheel drive this is something that's really unique to the hyper car class and when you come out the corners and that four-wheel drive kicks in it's it's an amazing feeling you just the car just flies out of the corners you can be sort of on the edge of the of the limit of the car as you go into the corner and then you get to the exit and you nail a throttle and the thing just flies straight out the corners and this is something that's really unique to the hyper car class the car itself to drive it's it's okay it's quite intuitive where it becomes really challenging is you have a lot of GT cars out there and you're overtaking them about every 6 to eight laps so you have to be really smart with your traffic management your energy management you can't just fly up behind one of the GT cars and expect him to move because he's flat out racing himself so you have to be smart you have to play a game of chess kind of with with those GT cars and you're also racing the other hyper cars so from that side it takes a huge amount of concentration to race in the hyper carass so we we have obviously the regen on the front axle with our electric motor so we recover 200 KW of energy during braking from the front axle this allows us to put the energy back into the battery to then deploy it on the exits and and where that becomes unique is it affects brake temperatures so it affects your brake warm up it affects when the when the batter is at 100% you don't have it so you have to manage your battery state of charge the sock which you might hear us referring to over the radio is state of charge and this is quite important to keep it always in the right window to keep the battery temperature in the right window so there is quite a lot of things technically to manage from from the engineering side as well with all the brands coming in now over the next couple of years it's going to be incredible the hypercar class there's so many Brands it's going to be so competitive and each one gets to Showcase their unique technology so I think it's going to be a great future for hyper car I guess what we're asking is whether this 9x8 is actually any good or whether it's all mouth and no trousers and to figure that out well let's go so here's the thing the peos actually look like persos when they're out racing and simple things like having lights that are recognizable at a distance even in the day make the 9x8 really easy to pick out but you also really do notice that the 9x8 sounds different to say the Toyota gr10 and looks like a different class alog together smaller more Nimble somehow slicker than the more traditional and very fast Japanese entry and that's the point this is great great ah so despite looking like a super model the 9x8 got beaten Toyota won this race at Fuji which isn't unexpected given that Fuji is home turf for the Toyota team but perso bought a car that looked completely different and remained competitive having witnessed there I think lemon hypercars looks like a bit of a winner wait until next year when we've got 10 plus all swapping paint on the same bit of track this could be the best thing to happen to endurance racing since well since ever bring on 2023\n"