The Cougar C12 was a

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for Touring car racing, touring cars and ''Group B'' for Grand tourer, GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 (motorspor ...

race car Race, RACE or The Race may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

, designed, developed and built by French constructor

Cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

in 1985, and used in

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...

from 1985 to 1988. Its best result was an 18th-place finish at the

1986 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1986 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 54th Grand Prix of Endurance as well as the third round of the 1986 World Sportscar Championship season, 1986 World Sports-Prototype Championship. It took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, France, on 31 May ...

, being driven by Yves Courage,

Alain de Cadenet Alain de Cadenet (27 November 1945 – 1 July 2022) was an English television presenter and racing driver. He was noted for racing in 15 editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans during the 1970s and 1980s, achieving one podium finish with third ...

, and

Pierre-Henri Raphanel Pierre-Henri Raphanel (born 27 May 1961) is a French former racing driver. He participated in 17 Formula One Grands Prix for Larrousse, Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems, Coloni and Rial Racing, Rial, debuting on 13 November 1988. He only qualified ...

Development history and technology

The Cougar C12 is a closed Group C prototype, was developed and built by Yves Courage in 1985 and prepared for the respective races by his own racing team,

. Powered by a 3-liter Porsche 6-cylinder

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...

engine, and made its debut at the

1985 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1985 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 53rd Grand Prix of Endurance, as well as the fourth round of the 1985 World Sportscar Championship season, 1985 World Endurance Championship. It took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, France, on 15 and 16 Ju ...

, with drivers

Henri Pescarolo Henri Jacques William Pescarolo (; born 25 September 1942) is a French former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing, Pescarolo is a four-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and w ...

and Yves Courage. It was later succeeded by the more successful C20, in 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cougar C12 Le Mans Prototypes 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Mid-engined cars Sports prototypes Cars introduced in 1985 C12 Cars powered by boxer engines Group C