24-hour power

Pipo Moteurs carried out all its pre-manufacture engine tests on a four-cylinder unit, as it could carry the engine behaviour directly over to each bank of the V8

The 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans, held over the weekend of 21-22 August 2021 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, saw Jim Glickenhaus’ dream of designing and building a Le Mans win competitive car come true. From a blank piece of paper to lights out at the circuit, the Glickenhaus 007C Hypercar came to fruition in 18 months.

With the rulebook for the Hypercar class very fluid throughout the process, the 007C’s evolution, as with the other Hypercar competitors, was challenging – particularly in the powertrain department.

Glickenhaus appointed Guilherand-Granges, France-based race engine specialists, Pipo Moteurs, to design and build the power unit for the 007C project. The company’s managing director, Fred Barozier, talks Racecar Engineering through the process from design to the finish line at the French classic.

‘When Jim Glickenhaus contacted us at the start, we were very excited about a project to go to Le Mans in the top class,’ says Barozier. ‘Our conversations at the beginning were about the best platform to use, whether that was a road car-based engine or a custom engine.

‘We were confident the bespoke engine was