Peugeot finally unveiled his hypercar for the 2022 World Endurance Championship season. We’ve only seen bits and pieces of it so far, but now we can see the concept car, which Peugeot dubbed the 9×8.
This is the hybrid hypercar that will take on the French automaker’s rivals at Le Mans in the coming season, and it looks like what Peugeot is most proud of about the 9X8 has to do with its design. Note that the car has no rear spoiler:
No rear fenders are a bit on the trend right now, but it makes sense that Peugeot would rely on design to set itself apart from its rivals at this early stage. Remember that the FIA ​​regulations dictate very precise rules for hypercars.
Machines in the Le Mans hypercar class, or LMH, will be capped at 500 kW, or 670 horsepower, of total power output from a hybrid transmission and must weigh at least 1,030 kg, or 2,270 pounds. The spec limits what OEMs can do with their entries into the class, so their design is mostly where hypercars would be different and I think Peugeot did a pretty good job.
G / O Media may earn a commission
One of the coolest elements are the integrated mirrors, which underline Peugeot’s attention to air circulation. This is only part of the overall picture of the car: it does not have a rear spoiler. The company in fact said that he figured out how to make the car so aerodynamic that it doesn’t need it:
“The new Le Mans Hypercar regulations have been developed to level the importance of conventional performance improvement systems” explains Olivier JANSONNIE, Technical Director of the PEUGEOT Sport WEC Program. “Designing the 9X8 was an exciting experience because we had the freedom to invent, innovate and explore original ways to optimize the performance of the car, and more particularly its aerodynamics. The regulations state that only one adjustable aerodynamic device is allowed, without specifying the rear spoiler. Our computational work and simulations revealed that high performance was indeed possible without one.
The automaker also said he’s not going to share exactly how he figured out aerodynamics, and that he’s going to keep his secret for as long as possible.
Peugeot wouldn’t even be the first to launch a wingless prototype at Le Mans in the modern era. The wonderfully strange Deltawing done with no wing at all in the back. It is probably worth mentioning that his doomed spiritual successor, the Nissan lmp1 project, did it.
The name of the 9X8 comes from the automaker’s endurance history, but also places it among Peugeot’s current lineup, as he describes:
The “9” continues the series used by the manufacturer for its recent high-level endurance racing cars, namely the PEUGEOT 905 (which raced from 1990 to 1993) and the 908 (2007 to 2011), both now brand icons.
The “X†refers to PEUGEOT Hypercar’s all-wheel drive and hybrid drive technology, which embodies the brand’s electrification strategy in the world of motor racing.
The “8” is the suffix used for all current PEUGEOT model names, from the 208 and 2008, to the 308, 3008, 5008 and, of course, to the 508 which very recently passed into the hands of engineers and designers who designed the Hypercar to become the first car to bear the Peugeot Sport Engineered label.
The hypercar has adopted many of Peugeot’s current design cues. The automaker says the 9×8’s lights are inspired by the claws of big cats, and I can see how, but their practicality on the track is questionable. We’ll see what’s left and what happens as the concept develops before hitting the track in 2022.
