Under The Skin Of The Rebellion R-One

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

Hello there!

The Rebellion R-One was a very successful LMP1-L car, with an array of wins to its name. I was able to get closer at Silverstone last year and was able to get some pictures, so big thanks to the team for allowing this. 

It's was a car which beat its light rivals ByKolles Racing quite often, and It has to be said that the bigger team was just more professional than their rivals. Let's take a closer look. 

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

Starting off at the bulkhead, we can see the torsion bar, as well as the steering rack. The team has also labelled the brake and clutch reservoirs too. Also, note the sensor connector and pins that mount the nose to the tub too.

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

Compare to the Rebellion bulkhead, to the ByKolles one. It looks to be less complex, but this could be down to the tub design and the way they have packaged the internals. 

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

This small hatch is on top of the tub of the chassis and is for the mechanics. This image here shows where the driver's legs are placed also.

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

For the front suspension, the car has push rods, as shown above here. We can also see the aluminium and steel upright and wishbones too. For the brake duct, one pipe feeds the calliper, and one feeds the disc.

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

For the stopping power, the car has 6 pot callipers, and a vented carbon-carbon brake disc too. Note the temperature sensor being used here.

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

Likewise, to the CLM, the car uses a twin turbo AER V6, as you can see here. The car has twin charge air coolers in the side pod, one for engine cooling, and the other for the turbines. Also, note the small plenum and coil sprung suspension laid close to the transmission casing. For rear brake cooling, the team use a tube from the rear fender arches.

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

Here I was able to get a closer look at the turbocharger the engine has. The car has two of these and has over 600bhp. This thus has given the R-One a high top speed, often the fastest at WEC races I learned.

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

Here we can see the manifold, with has some coating to keep heat in, which then goes into the turbine. Note the intercooler piping and support bars going from the tub to the bell-housing.

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

Compare the installation to the ByKolles car, above. Which shows they have another cooler mounted in the side pods. Also, check the rearward intercooler mounted at the back of the car, just above the red spring units. 

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

At the very back end of the car, we can see the FIA regulated diffuser, and the gearbox oil cool, mounted at the very back of the casing. Note the plank of wood under the car too, which provides the FIA information on how low they run the race car. 

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

Although I took this out of focus, you can see this is one of the four coolers, as used by both ByKolles and Rebellion Racing. They are manufactured by US firm PWR.

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

For the floor, we can see 1/50th of it here, as the mechanic washes it. It's made from full Carbon.

 

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

A good look can be seen in the livery here, which I love. This is the front nose cone, note the blended brake cooling duct suggesting this is a low drag front. 

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

Compare the nose to the ByKolles high nose concept, which uses turning vanes to produce downforce, as well as using the high nose to apply more low-pressure flow under the chassis, thus improving the performance of the rearward diffuser. 

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

Above shows the rear bodywork assembly. Note the popular swan neck pylons and rear deck gurney flap.

Pic: Stefan Ruitenberg

For sure these are my favourite wheels from WEC paddock. They are made by O.Z Racing and made from full magnesium.

I hope you liked this little piece!