Glickenhaus “Finalizing” Hypercar Program Details

Jim Glickenhaus says his eponymous race team is in the process of “finalizing” the details of its planned FIA World Endurance Championship hypercar program.

Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus is pushing to be ready for the inaugural season of the new regulations, which is set to get underway in September 2020.

Glickenhaus said that assembly of the car, dubbed SCG 007, is set to begin in September, while he hopes to have a test mule running later this year, in time for a full rollout in January or February.

The company is also developing at least three other new products, including the 004C which is set to replace the SCG 003C as its flagship GT contender next year.

Glickenhaus said SCG is currently in the process of agreeing to an engine deal with an OEM for the WEC, and is now mulling over the idea of utilizing a twin-turbo V6 unit.

“The rules are finalized, and we are finalizing exactly what we are going to do in terms of the design of the car and the engines of the car,” said Glickenhaus.

“We actually have some very large and famous OEMs who are interested in providing engines for us. The rules are really set to make it easier to use a road-based engine.

“At the [Nürburgring 24] I started talking to some manufacturers there. Some of them said point-blank that they couldn’t sell us race engines. But then one said that they are very interested in a proposal, and they are not building a car for Le Mans, so it wouldn’t be an issue.”

Glickenhaus still wants SCG’s hypercar to be a petrol-electric hybrid, despite an amendment to the regulations that means constructors can now build non-hybrid cars.

“We’re probably going to make a hybrid, so it would be about 600 hp petrol and 150 front-wheel-drive hybrid, and it’s likely that we will build our race car to the prototype rules with the road car being very similar to it,” he said.

“It’s easier to build to the prototype rules because to meet the safety standards, if you design the tub as a safety cell, it’s a lot easier and less expensive.

“We’ve done a lot of hybrid [work] with P4/5 Competizione, which was the second SCG, and we think the hybrid is very interesting for racing.

“We like a true hybrid that you recover braking energy in and convert it into horsepower. We’re pretty optimistic and we think it’s going to be really good.”

Evo Approach Set to Accelerate 007 Design

Glickenhaus explained that SCG’s positioning of the 007 hypercar as an evolution of its 003C and 004C models will help speed up the build process in time for the first season of the new regs.

“Unlike others, with this it’s not going to be a new car: it’s going to be an 003 with an 004 nose and 004 tub,” he said.

“The 004, which will be the three-seater with a center [positioned] driver, will be in the 007 as the conventional two-seater but the front differential through the KERS system will go through where the driver was.

“The suspension pieces, the architecture and the brake systems [are evolutions]. The hybrid system is actually a throwback to when we made the P4/5 Competizione.

“We’re basically going backwards and forwards to put the car together very quickly. We have the tubs already, the brake systems, and all of the things that we keep improving will go into the new car.”