Perrinn turns to the crowd for first-ever Open Source LMP1 project

A new British race car constructor is turning to crowdsourcing for its project to develop a Le Mans Prototype (LMP) racer that aims to compete at Le Mans in 2015. Anyone can participate in the said project through an open source website, www.perrinn.com. For the first time, the public have access to every element of the racing project that includes drawings, CAD models, and even financial budgets.

Nicolas Perrin, a Yorkshire-based race car designer is the man behind the said project. Perrin is also an engineer who has worked for F1 and sports car racing. The open source idea for the LMP1 race car was developed as an alternative way to support his £8.5 million ($14,142,895) project. Perrin hopes that the open source idea will attract sponsors and investors to support the project.

"From my extensive time in F1 and even when I was designing sports cars for others, I saw how secretive motorsport really is, preventing fans, enthusiastic students, and engineers from getting involved and learning. It doesn’t have to be like that. We can create a true ‘people’s team’ and by opening everything up, we aim to not only build up a fan base that gets involved to improve the car but also attract backers who share our values. We are not an established brand, so we have to do something different. This is a very different way but I believe we can, together get a result," Perrin said.

Perrin already has a complete set of blueprints for his 4WD hybrid LMP1 challenger that would face Porsche, Audi and Toyota at Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship. With this, the component drawings, CAD models and set up data will be available on the Perrinn myTeam site so that the public can view it and give own personal feedbacks.

“To date, everyone, including competitors has been hugely supportive and wants the project to proceed, believing it will help them to open up more and increase the appeal to their own fan bases,” Perrin concluded.