A road-legal version of the Vanwall Vandervell 1000, a new Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) developed by the German racing team ByKolles, will compete against the Aston Martin Valkyrie.
The manufacturer is putting together a street-legal version of its racecar even though it is likely that the prototype that races at Le Mans won’t be road legal. The Vandervell 1000, seen with a license plate in Vanwall’s most recent twitter post, appears to be destined to become a classic road-legal car.
The road car lacks the racer’s sizable tailfin and rear wing, possibly to comply with pedestrian safety requirements, as shown outside the team’s headquarters in Grending. Although the car won’t have as many aerodynamic components as the racer (presumably to prevent it from slicing pedestrians into several pieces), it generally appears exactly like the real one, as can be seen in the automaker’s posts.
The fact that Vanwall doesn’t intend to tone it down for the future is even more astounding. It’s actually increasing the power on the hypercar, which is restricted to a maximum horsepower rating of 671 hp (500 kW/680 PS) and a minimum weight of 1,030 kg for racing (2,271 lbs).
The team is actually bound by FIA rules despite being powered by a hybrid Gibson V8. As a result, the Vandervell 1000 will only weigh 1,000 kg (2,204 lbs) and produce 1,000 horsepower (746 kW/1,013 PS) when used as a street car. It will also have all-wheel drive (AWD) that will drive all four of its wheels.
Vanwall is the moniker that ByKolles hopes to use for its World Endurance Championship (WEC) endeavors, however it is unrelated to the British company that has revived the same brand for a continued run of the 1958 Formula 1 championship-winning car.
Such numbers are definitely feasible as the 1000bhp Valkyrie was ready for an LMH entry before the plans were shelved in favor of the company’s Formula 1 endeavors.
After starting on-track testing in April 2022, ByKolles intends to start racing the Vandervell 1000 in the WEC from the following year. To be accepted as an LMH entry, it must demonstrate that it is, in some way, a road car manufacturer. Its request to compete in the 2022 WEC season was turned down due to an issue with the supporting documents it provided.
Peugeot, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, Ferrari and Toyota have committed to race in the World Endurance Championship, with Glickenhaus being the only automaker to have declared a road-legal variant of its racer to date.
