The Courage LC70 is a Le Mans prototype of the LMP1 class developed by

Courage Competition Courage (also called bravery, valour (British and Commonwealth English), or valor (American English)) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battl ...

and used in sports car racing since 2006. Although the name ''Courage'' remembers F1 driver

Piers Courage Piers Raymond Courage (27 May 1942 – 21 June 1970) was a British racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Courage participated in 29 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix for Lotus, Parnell and Frank Williams, debuting a ...

, it’s due to the founder of Courage Compétition :

Yves Courage Yves may refer to: * Yves, Charente-Maritime, a commune of the Charente-Maritime department in France * ''Yves'' (single album), a single album by Loona * ''Yves'' (film), a 2019 French film People * Yves (given name), including a list of pe ...

. During development, however, Courage Compétition has been taken over by

ORECA ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French auto racing, racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives, AGS. Or ...

, so the original name Courage LC70 has been changed. The Courage-ORECA LC75 is almost identical in construction but was designed for the LMP2 class. Other modifications of the LC75 are the

Acura ARX-01a The Acura ARX-01, later known as the HPD ARX-01, is a series of Le Mans Prototypes built for sports car racing, specifically in the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is the first purpose-built race car b ...

and Acura ARX-01b, which has been used in the American Le Mans Series since 2007. The type designation LC stands for Lillian Courage, the wife of Yves Courage who died in 2004.

Racing history

The LC70 has been used since 2006 by

Courage Compétition Courage Compétition was a racing team and chassis constructor company now owned by Oreca, based in Le Mans, France, near the Circuit de la Sarthe. It was founded by Yves Courage, a French race driver who ran hillclimbs before founding the comp ...

and

itself, as well as teams such as Swiss Spirit and

Saulnier Racing OAK Racing is an endurance racing team specialising in sports prototypes based in Le Mans, France. In 2013 it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP2 class and the 2013 FIA WEC World Champion drivers and teams on LMP2 class. In 2012 the team cont ...

. In addition to being used in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

, the chassis is primarily used in the

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...

. The LC70, equipped with a Judd V10, made its racing debut in the hands of Swiss Spirit at 1000 km of Istanbul in 2006. Courage Competition itself relied on a brand new V8 unit from Mugen. In 2008, at the second round of the

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

Stéphane Ortelli Stéphane Ortelli (born 30 March 1970) is a Monaco, Monégasque professional racing driver with three world championship titles. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in with Allan McNish and Laurent Aïello and the Spa 24 Hours in 2003 ...

had a serious accident when his LC70 under-inflated before the first chicane and took off. The LC70 was also successful on other continents. An LC70 used by Mugen was able to win the 1000 km of Okayama in the

Japan Le Mans Challenge The Japan Le Mans Challenge (abbreviated JLMC) was an endurance sportscar series based in Japan built around the 24 Hours of Le Mans that began in 2006. It was run by the Sports Car Endurance Race Operation (SERO) sanctioning body and ran under th ...

twice. The Courage chassis were also successful in North America, albeit modified LC75s under the

Acura Acura is the luxury and performance division of Japanese automaker Honda, based primarily in North America. The brand was launched on March 27, 1986, marketing luxury and performance automobiles. Acura sells cars in the United States, Canada, M ...

banner.

Achievements

2006

* 1000 km Spa-Francorchamps: 2nd overall (2nd LMP1) * 1000 km Donington: 5th overall (4th LMP1) *

1000 km Jarama The 1000 Kilometres of Jarama is a sports car race held at Circuito del Jarama in San Sebastían de los Reyes, Spain. The race began in 1967, and has been a part of the European 2-Litre Sportscar Championship, World Sportscar Championship, BPR ...

: 3rd overall (2nd LMP1) *1000 km Okayama : 1st overall (1st LMP1) *

: no car finished

2007

1000 km Monza The 6 Hours of Monza (formerly the 1,000 Kilometres of Monza and known after 1966 as the Trofeo Filippo Caracciolo) is an endurance race, mainly for sports cars, which is held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Italy. Overview ...

: 5th overall (5th LMP1) *1000 km Okayama: 1st overall (1st LMP1) *

: 26th overall (12th LMP1)

2008

: 6th overall (6th LMP1) *

1000 km Spa The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (formerly the 1000 Kilometres of Spa-Francorchamps) is an endurance race for sports cars held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. History The Spa 24 Hours had been introduced in 1924, and other races ...

: 3rd overall (3rd LMP1) *

1000 km Nürburgring 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

: 6th overall (6th LMP1) *

1000 km Silverstone The 4 Hours of Silverstone (formerly the 1000 km of Silverstone and 6 Hours of Silverstone) is an endurance sports car race held at Silverstone Circuit near the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. First run in 1976 as ...

: 8th overall (7th LMP1) *

: 8th overall (8th LMP1) *

: 6th Constructors' Championship LMP1

Design

The vehicle was developed in accordance with the ACO and FIA rules applicable in 2005 so that it is eligible to start in all sports car races up to and including 2010. Courage officially unveiled the prototype at the 2006

Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised b ...

. The car has been designed to compete in both the LMP1 and LMP2 classes with minor modifications. The LC70 thus also forms the basis for the smaller sister car, the Courage-ORECA LC75 for the LMP2. The six-speed gearbox used comes from

Xtrac Xtrac Limited, also known as Xtrac Transmission Technology, is a British engineering company founded in 1984 by the former Hewland engineer Mike Endean to make 4WD systems and gearboxes for rallycross and later rally and racing cars. Endean, to ...

. The engines are sourced from various suppliers such as AER, Mugen, or Judd. For 2008 the aerodynamics of the LC70 has been significantly revised by

. For example, the central air intake at the front was converted into two lateral ones in the wheel arches. In addition, the front spoiler has been heavily modified. The project by students from

Tokai University is a private non-sectarian higher education institution located in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded by Dr. Shigeyoshi Matsumae. It was accredited under Japan's old educational system in 1946 and under the new system in 1950. In 2008, Tokai Uni ...

brought further significant changes. They modified the entire aerodynamics and only adopted the underbody and monocoque for their Le Mans participation in 2008. They also used a YGK engine for the first time.

Chassis

All built chassis of the LC70 or the LC75 were numbered consecutively, since they are largely identical. So chassis 2 was converted from LC70 to type LC75. When

officially entered the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, three LC75 chassis were purchased, but these were used as the

and in 2008 as the Acura ARX-01b. In 2008 another chassis was added for

De Ferran Motorsports De Ferran Motorsports was a motor racing team that competed in the American Le Mans Series. The team was owned by the 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner Gil de Ferran. On August 7, 2009 de Ferran announced that he would retire from racing at the end of ...

. The chassis were also further developed by Acura itself.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Courage LC70 Le Mans Prototypes 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Mid-engined cars Sports prototypes Cars of France 2000s cars C60 Cars introduced in 2006