Lamborghini was at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex, England this year to introduce the automotive world to its first hybrid sports prototype: the SC63. The prototype is scheduled to begin testing in early August and compete in the world’s hypercar class Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) sports car championship in 2024.
Hypercar era
Between a full WEC season and an IMSA season, the new Lamborghini brand will make its first competitive appearance at two of three endurance championships, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. It wasn’t that long ago, in the ’60s, when sports cars could barely complete an endurance race before breaking down, forcing teams to park their cars in the pits or on the track just before the finish line, to wait out the time limit before they could restart their engines I risk one last crawl past the finish line. Today, the SC63 represents the beginning of hypercars in endurance racing in full bloom, joining Alpine’s A242 as the latest candidate to join the first freshman cohort of LMDh entrants from Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche in 2023.
The release of the SC63 is part of Lamborghini’s roadmap for full electrification by 2028. This follows the Italian luxury carmaker’s 2022 commitment to move away from pure fuel cars and make greater investments in reducing CO2 emissions in the automotive world.
A look under the hood
The SC63 features a newly developed 3.8-liter V8 biturbo engine specifically designed for the racing program. The engine features a “cold V” configuration, meaning the turbos are mounted outside the V angle of the engine to facilitate cooling and maintenance. The “cold V” also serves to lower the car’s center of gravity, optimizing the tire grip and balance that is so important for endurance racing.
In keeping with LMDh regulations, which require teams to purchase a chassis from pre-determined manufacturers, Lamborghini worked with French manufacturer Ligier to design the SC63’s monocoque. As Ligier’s first collaborator, Lamborghini claims to have pushed for greater freedom in the design phase, for example by customizing the pushrod front suspension and bell housing. The LMDh regulations also limit engine power to 500 kW, which is managed by a Bosch electronic control unit in the SC63.
Lamborghini shares that the car’s cooling arrangement actually drove much of the engineering and design. For example, the air intakes in the side pods behind the cockpit underwent several iterations before a final design was settled on. The SC63 is also equipped with eight different coolers: two intercoolers, a transmission cooler, an air conditioning condenser, an energy recovery system (ERS) cooler, one energy storage system (ESS) cooler and two water coolers.
A notable limitation of the LMHd regulations is that only a single body kit configuration is permitted, limiting the changes teams are allowed to make from race to race. The design of the SC63 therefore had to take into account worst-case scenarios such as high ambient temperatures when controlling its thermal efficiency.
As an endurance racer, the SC63 was designed to provide the widest possible operating window, meaning its performance is only as optimized as its ability to protect its tires on even the most aggressive track surfaces. In the run-up to the test drives on the racetrack, intensive development is already taking place in the virtual world using a driver-in-the-loop simulator (DiL).
“For us, motorsport is a valuable and demanding testing ground for our technology,” explains Rouven Mohr, Chief Technical Officer at Lamborghini. “Our LMDh car, the Lamborghini SC63, is an exciting challenge from both a technical and a human perspective… When developing our LMDh car, we are also aware of the possibilities of technology transfer. We will use our learning experiences from motorsport and, if possible, transfer them to automobile production in the future.”
Immediately recognizable as a Lamborghini
As for the bodywork, Lamborghini Squadra Corse (their motorsport division) worked closely with Lamborghini Centro Stile (their design division) to create “a car that is instantly recognizable as a Lamborghini.” The SC63 features clear brand styling cues throughout the vehicle, including the iconic Y-shaped lights front and rear. Integrated into the side panel of the body is a NACA duct inspired by the air intake of the legendary Countach, which has been out of production since 1990. The rear wheel arch also takes up design elements from another new addition to the Lamborghini family, the Revuelto coupé.
The car is painted in a bold Verde Mantis green with a black Nero Noctis stripe across the cabin, front hood, carbon diffuser, tailfin and fender. The Italian flag colors of green, white and red serve as proud embellishments and are a reminder of Lamborghini’s Italian heritage.
Until 2024 and beyond
The Italian racing team Iron Lynx has expanded its collaboration with Lamborghini to the LMHd category and will use the car in the upcoming races. Andrea Piccini, team leader and CEO of Iron Lynx, enthusiastically shared: “Being involved in such an ambitious project is a unique experience. We are honored and excited to be part of this and start a new chapter for Iron Lynx with Lamborghini. It was amazing to see everything finally come together at the unveiling of the SC63. Everyone at Iron Lynx can’t wait to start testing. This is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges we have ever faced as a team and we are now looking forward to seeing the SC63 on track.”
The drivers include Lamborghini works drivers Mirko Bortolotti and Andrea Caldarelli as well as newcomers Daniil Kvyat and Romain Grosjean. The latter two have recently gained racing experience with hybrid vehicles in Formula 1 and have provided their feedback to the engineering team to fine-tune the LMDh system. From 2024, one car will compete in the entire FIA WEC. The second car will compete in the North American Endurance Championship races of the IMSA series. The SC63 not only marks 60 years of Lamborghini, but also the tenth anniversary of Lamborghini Squadra Corse. Successes over the last decade include three class wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona and two consecutive victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Now we look ahead to 2024 and await the big battle between these hypercars of the future.
For more car stories click Here.
