Next year, a massive collaboration between Chevrolet, NASCAR, and Hendrick Motorsports is set to bring a "Next Gen" stock car to the 24 Hours of Le Mans as an unclassified Garage56 entry. That program finally began testing early last week at Road Atlanta, the beginning of a year-long development process to get the car endurance racing ready before its multi-class debut. If the clips of the car testing the team putting the program together has posted are anything to go by, drivers will have a challenging 24 hours ahead of them next June.
#FBF to the #NextGen56 test car roaring through Road Atlanta.
The test was a critical starting point, but we've still got a lot of development on the road to #LeMans. pic.twitter.com/pp6C2ZtAM5
That's turn 12 at Road Atlanta, a difficult downhill corner that feeds into a small start/finish straight. It's the most technically challenging part of the track that hosts Petit Le Mans. In a normal car, you want stability throughout the corner for maximum downforce at a crucial mid-speed corner. With this thing, stability does not seem to be an option; the car is bouncing before the apex and seems to be a handful to guide through the turn. The driver hammers the throttle on exit and gets out of it anyway.
When the "Next Gen" Camaro hits the Circuit de la Sarthe next year, the car is expected to be significantly slower at mid-corner than any GT car. Add to that a substantial width and the car will be a particularly difficult obstacle in overnight traffic for prototype drivers going after what will be the most competitive overall win at the 24-hour classic in decades. It will be an even bigger challenge for the drivers of the car itself, tasked with keeping a gargantuan and difficult stock car out of the way on a uniquely challenging 8-mile track. If nothing else, the whole thing should be a fun and memorable experiment.