Photo: Joest Racing
Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus has enlisted 24 Hours of Le Mans winners Joest Racing and Sauber to work on its Le Mans Hypercar program for the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Company founder Jim Glickenhaus told Sportscar365 that 15-time Le Mans winner Joest will provide resources and personnel to the two-car entry during the 2021 campaign, while Sauber is in charge of aerodynamic work for the non-hybrid SCG 007 race car.
SCG first hired Italian firm Podium Advanced Technologies to develop its car, while the project has since been bolstered by partnerships with two decorated racing outfits.
Joest won Le Mans four times with Porsche machinery before going on to take a further 11 overall victories engineering the successful Audi LMP1 program which ended in 2016.
It most recently operated Mazda’s DPi cars in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship from 2018 until last March.
“It made sense with us to get involved with someone like that,” said Glickenhaus.
“I’m a great believer, if you’re a small company, in getting involved with top people.
“It would be completely crazy for me to buy seven trucks and all kinds of pit equipment if someone already has it. Or for me to build my own wind tunnel and do the aerodynamics.
“Also, quite frankly, they have a bit of experience walking around Le Mans, while I don’t. I feel totally comfortable managing things at the Nürburgring, and I’m sure I will at Le Mans, but I don’t need to do everything myself. They’ve been very helpful.”
While the precise scale of Joest’s support is unclear, Glickenhaus noted that the program is “not going to be a Joest entry” with the German company contracted to work within the SCG-labeled operation.
Joest’s resources are expected to prove particularly useful at the mandatory Le Mans test day which this year takes place on the same weekend as the Nürburgring 24.
SCG has competed in the N24 with its own sports cars for several years and plans to return with its 004C machine this summer.
“Luca [Cianchetti, WEC team principal] and I will be running the race,” said Glickenhaus. “We certainly will have some of our own engineers, but it’s a good relationship.
“They have a wonderful team with a wonderful history and capability. They’re not running the DPi this year, so they have excess capacity and it worked out for both of us.”
Last year, Sauber conducted 60 percent scale wind tunnel testing and analysis to determine the aerodynamic profile of the twin-turbo, V8-powered SCG 007.
The Swiss company, which won Le Mans outright with Mercedes in 1989, will soon carry out a full-scale wind tunnel test of the car as part of the LMH homologation process.
“Sauber did the aero for 007,” said Glickenhaus. “I think they were the top people in this field.
“I think that they wanted to work with us and work very well with us. They gave us a fair quote, and we thought that because they are the homologating wind tunnel, this would help us a little bit.
“It’s so we wouldn’t have a situation where we’d develop the car in another wind tunnel and find out while we were there [at Sauber] that it was something different. They’ve been involved since the beginning.
“We’ve not done the 100 percent scale wind tunnel test yet. We will, when the car is built up. But we are confident that the car is going to pass and be very competitive.”
The first 007 chassis is currently in-build at Podium, while the first track rollout is anticipated to take place later this month.
Glickenhaus is confident that with its various partnerships, his team can emerge as a serious contender in the WEC despite its lack of experience racing in prototypes.
In addition to Joest, Sauber and Podium, SCG is working with exclusive LMH tire provider Michelin which is also involved in the team’s other racing activities.
Glickenhaus added that he has received interest from some “serious sponsors” that are looking to back the WEC entry.
“Michelin likes us and we did really well at the Baja 1000, on the BFGoodrich tire,” he said.
“They were very happy with our results at the Nürburgring 24. We’re going to get top service from them and we’re going to put Michelin tires on all our road cars.
“I think we’re getting to the point where people are taking us seriously, where they like the independence of our effort, and they hope we do well.
“I think that people who really know and understand who we are would not say it’s impossible for our 004C to win the Nürburgring 24. And I think people will soon realize that our 007 could win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I’m not saying it will, but it could.”
