Norma Auto Concept

Norma Auto Concept
SAS
Industry Automotive
Founded 1984
Founder Norbert Santos
Marc Doucet
Headquarters Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre
Website Norma Auto Concept

Norma Auto Concept is a French constructor of racing cars. It was founded in 1984 by Norbert Santos and Marc Doucet.

History

Hillclimbing and initial Le Mans entries

Norma was founded by Norbert Santos and Marc Doucet in 1984 and initially designed and built only cars for the French Hillclimbing championship. After success in the hillclimbing scene Santos and Doucet decided to build a Group C car, the Norma M6. This car was fitted with an experimental MGN (Moteur Guy Nègre) W12 engine. The Norma M6 was entered in the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans with drivers Daniel Boccard, Norbert Santos and Noël del Bello. The car failed to qualify and was not entered in any other race. Norma's second attempt at Le Mans came in 1995. The Buick powered Norma M14 prequalified 23rd overall and did not qualify to race at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car saw a comeback in 1999 when it was entered in the 1999 24 Hours of Daytona. The Norma qualified 26th overall and did not finish the race due to an exhaust failure.[1]

France Norma Auto Concept
Founded 1997
Folded 1999
Former series French Formula Renault Championship
Noted drivers France Renaud Malinconi
France Stéphane Gautré
David Zollinger racing a Norma M20F at Jarama in the V de V series

Formula Renault

Between 1997 and 1999 Norma Auto Concept entered the French Formula Renault Championship, as a team, not a constructor. In 1997 Norma entered Renaud Malinconi driving a Martini MK76. Malinconi finished eighth in the final standings achieving two podium finishes.[2] More success in Formula Renault came in 1999 with Stéphane Gautré driving a Martini MK77. Achieving one win and four podium finishes he ended up fourth in the standings.[3] With the introduction of the spec Tatuus Formula Renault in 2000 Norma seized their Formula Renault activities.

Racing at Le Mans and Group CN success

A more successful prototype came in 2000, the Norma M2000. This car raced in 2000 thru to 2003. The car was solely entered by Sezio Florida Racing Team and saw a best result of 6th. In 2001 and 2002 the car entered full-time in the Rolex Sports Car Series The team made four attempts to start at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, they succeeded in their last attempt in 2003. They started 36th overall but did not finish due to an engine failure, 8 hours, 39 minutes in the race.[4] For the design of the Norma M2000 Santos and Doucet were joined by Edouard Sézionale who would also accompany them with the design of the Group CN cars.

After their Le Mans experience Norma designed and built Group CN prototypes starting with the Norma M20. Norma produced 30 Norma M20 cars in 2003 and 2004. Norma continues to develop the Norma M20, the current Norma M20 FC is entered in the V de V, Speed EuroSeries and other sportsracing series. A Norma has won the V de V Prototype Endurance Challenge in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Anthony Gandon achieved a second place in the Speed EuroSeries ranking driving a Norma M20 FC in 2012. Another attempt at Le Mans was made in 2010.[5] The Pegasus Racing entered a Norma M200P, but it did not finish the race. The following season the car was taken over by Extreme Limite which entered in the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2011 and 2012. The best finish for the car was a fifth place at the 6 Hours of Estoril in 2011.

Pikes Peak

In 2014, Romain Dumas won the Pikes Peak hill climb in the Norma M20 "RD Limited", developed specifically for the event.[6] Driving in the Unlimited class, Dumas finished in a time of 9:05.801. Dumas won once again two years later with the 2016 specification of M20 RD Limited with the time of 8:51:445.[7]

FIA European Hill Climb Championship

In 2014 entered Norma into FIA European Hill Climb Championship with type Norma M20 FC Zytec (3L naturally-aspirated V8 engine). Italian driver Simone Faggioli (with direct factory support) won championship for Category 2 (Competition Cars - single seater, sportprototypes and silhouetts) in 2014 and 2015. Simone Faggioli and Norma created a lot of track records and registered indelibly in the history of this series...

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

Starting in 2014, Jim Devenport drove a Norma M20FC with a Honda K20 2 liter engine to a 3rd place finish at the Runoffs at Laguna Seca in the class Prototype 1. In 2015, same car and driver finished 2nd at the Daytona Runoffs. In 2016, a new lighter weight M20FC was driven by Jim Devenport to first place at the Runoffs in P1 at Mid-Ohio giving Norma its first Runoffs victory.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Drivers Car Engine Qualification Result
1990 France ASA Armagnac Bigorre France Noël del Bello Norma M6 MGN 3,5L W12 DNQ DNA
France Norbert Santos
France Daniel Boccard
1992 France Del Bello Racing France Noël del Bello Norma M6 Alfa Romeo V6 DNA DNA
France Thierry Lecerf
1995 France Norma France Dominique Lacaud Norma M14 Mader Buick 4,5L V6 DNQ DNA
Belgium Jean-Paul Libert
France Pascal Dro
2001 France Sezio Florida Racing Team France Edouard Sezionale Norma M2000 Mader BMW V8 DNA DNA
France Patrice Roussel
2003 France Sezio Florida Racing Team France Patrice Roussel Norma M2000 Ford 6L V8 36 DNF Engine
France Edouard Sezionale
France Lucas Lasserre
2010 France Pegasus Racing France Julien Schell Norma M200P Judd DB 3,4L V8 28 DNF Accident damage
France Frédéric da Rocha
France David Zollinger
2011 France Extreme Limite AM Paris France Fabien Rosier Norma M200P Judd-BMW 4L V8 26 28
France Philippe Haezebrouck
France Jean-René de Fournoux
2012 France Extreme Limite AM Paris France Fabien Rosier Norma M200P Judd 33 29
France Philippe Haezebrouck
France Fabien Thirion

Cars

Year Car Class
1984 Norma M4 Hillclimbing
1985 Norma M5 Hillclimbing
1990 Norma M6 Group C
1991 Norma M7 Group CN
1994 Norma M11 Group CN
1995 Norma M14 24 Hours of Daytona Can-Am, 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP1
1996 Norma M16 Group CN
1998 Norma M17 Group CN
1999 Norma M18 Group CN
2000 Norma M2000 Grand-Am SR, ALMS LMP900
2003 Norma M20 Group CN 2L
2004 Norma M20-3A Group CN 3L
2005 Norma M20-2B Group CN 2L
2007 Norma M20-F Group CN 2L/3L
2010 Norma M200P LMP2
2011 Norma M20 FC Group CN 2L
2014 Norma M20 FC (Hill climb specification) Hillclimbing Group E2-SC 3L

[8] [9]

References

  1. "1999 24 Hours of Daytona". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  2. "Championnat de France Formule Renault 1997". DriverDB.com. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  3. "Championnat de France Formule Renault 1999". DriverDB.com. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  4. "2003 24 Hours of Le Mans". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  5. "Norma M200P". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  6. "Pikes Peak : Romain Dumas winner of the race to the clouds!". http://www.romaindumas.com. Romain Dumas. Retrieved 26 August 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  7. "Pikes Peak : Romain Dumas historic two-time winner at Pikes Peak!". http://www.romaindumas.com. Romain Dumas. Retrieved 28 June 2016. External link in |website= (help)
  8. "Norma Cars". Norma Auto Concept. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  9. "Les Archives d'Euromontagne - Norma". euromontagna.com. Retrieved 20 May 2013.

1. "1999 24 Hours of Daytona". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 18 May 2013. 2. "Championnat de France Formule Renault 1997". DriverDB.com. Retrieved 20 May 2013. 3. "Championnat de France Formule Renault 1999". DriverDB.com. Retrieved 20 May 2013. 4. "2003 24 Hours of Le Mans". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 18 May 2013. 5. "Norma M200P". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 18 May 2013. 6. "Pikes Peak : Romain Dumas winner of the race to the clouds!". http://www.romaindumas.com. Romain Dumas. Retrieved 26 August 2014. External link in |website= (help) 7. "Pikes Peak : Romain Dumas historic two-time winner at Pikes Peak!". http://www.romaindumas.com. Romain Dumas. Retrieved 28 June 2016. External link in |website= (help) 8. "Norma Cars". Norma Auto Concept. Retrieved 18 May 2013. 9. "Les Archives d'Euromontagne - Norma". euromontagna.com. Retrieved 20 May 2013. 10. https://www.scca.com/articles/2002828-devenport-outlasts-prototype-1-field-for-maiden-national-championship

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.