Glickenhaus to Use Pipo Moteurs Engine for Le Mans Hypercar

Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus has partnered with French company Pipo Moteurs to develop the engine for the American automaker’s SCG 007 Le Mans Hypercar.

SCG founder Jim Glickenhaus has confirmed that his FIA World Endurance Championship racer will be powered by a twin-turbo V8 unit derived from Pipo’s four-cylinder engine found in top-line rally cars.

The non-hybrid 007 is being developed by Glickenhaus and Italian firm Podium Advanced Technologies, while Pipo Moteurs will provide the bespoke powertrain.

Founded in the 1970s, Pipo has manufactured engines for a line of famous rally cars including the Hyundai i20 WRC, the Ford Focus WRC and the Peugeot 206 WRC.

“Pipo has made the most spectacular four-cylinder single turbo WRC engine in the world,” Glickenhaus told Sportscar365.

“It is a beautiful engine and their dream, like mine, is to go to Le Mans and win. Together, they proposed that they would build two of their WRC motors, put them in a common block with a flat-plane crank, and we would have a V8 that can make 870 hp.

“We are paying for the development of the engine, but together we’re happy to let other teams buy it in the LMH form, or in the detuned LMDh form.

“Pipo is going to make the motor available as a twin-turbo V8 that in a Hypercar can make 870 hp or that can couple to the spec hybrid and be used in an LMDh.

“That engine has been on the dyno in its four-cylinder form, running at 50 percent of the power we need. Soon we’re going to be building the V8 form of it.”

Alfa Romeo was originally set to supply a twin-turbo V6 engine for the SCG 007 but these plans were thwarted by the need to raise the power output above the WEC’s originally-stated 750 hp goal, to accommodate the 1160 hp Aston Martin Valkyrie.

“When Aston came in and demanded that the horsepower went up, it was not possible to make the power out of the Alfa Romeo twin-turbo V6 because it was based on a road car engine,” suggested Glickenhaus.

“That was, quite honestly, a V6 version of the Ferrari 488 road car motor. They can make 650 hp in endurance tuning for 30 hours, but they can’t make 870 hp. Unfortunately, because of that, the Alfa Romeo thing was blown up.”

Glickenhaus explained that SCG is completing as much work as it can with Pipo Moteurs under the current challenging situation posed by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The SCG 007’s projected track debut has now been pushed back from this summer to next January as a consequence of the global disruption, but work is ongoing.

“We have so much work to do on computers before we begin physical manufacturing – that takes two months,” said Glickenhaus.

“The engineering, design and proving of a concept is what takes a year. We still have months of work of design to do, and we’re able to do it.

“So much of this [project] involves working on CAD, computers and via telephone conferences. We are able to do a fair amount, in addition to which Pipo has been completely responsive to us during this time.

“The same thing is happening with Podium: their engineers have been able to work remotely, totally within the regulations. We’ll meet whatever we have to do.”

Full-Season WEC Program Now Attainable

The WEC’s move to a calendar year format and the subsequent delay of the LMH category’s debut could enable SCG to contest the entire 2021 season.

LMH was initially slated to debut at Silverstone in September, at the opening round of the 2020-21 season, but the dual-year format was scrapped in response to disruptions caused by the pandemic.

The next WEC season is now set to start in early 2021 rather than September, giving an extra six months of preparation time.

The calendar changes mean that SCG could make the grid for the first-ever LMH race and go beyond Le Mans in the summer, if the right economic factors line up.

“Theoretically, yes, we would like to race the whole WEC,” said Glickenhaus.

“However, that is going to depend on the ability to function and for suppliers to function, and for teams to be able to travel. In the U.S, in March 2021, it’s likely that can happen.

“I am certainly hopeful that Le Mans and Spa will be able to happen. Frankly, a lot is going to depend on how many people are willing to race, because of the costs to go to the races and if we are air freighting all of our stuff.

“We’re just going to have to look at it. The other thing is how soon is it going to be possible to get some sponsors? I don’t know.

“If you ask me if it’s our intention to do the season today, yes. Do we hope we can? Yes. Is it bigger than us? It is.”

Glickenhaus added that a buyer has come forward for the first customer SCG 007, for use in a private collection, but he expressed hope that this model can be raced in the future.