Norma Auto Concept
Norma Auto Concept is a French manufacturer of sports cars based in the municipality of Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, with a population of 1,200 .
Company history
The company was founded in 1990 by the French engineer Norbert Santos. It develops and builds racing cars for various national and international racing classes and, according to its own information, also deals with the preparation of the vehicles for the respective races.
The products
Formula sport
With open single-seaters, Norma serves Formula Renault , a French junior class that is located below Formula 3 .
Hill climb
In addition, Norma produces sports prototypes that are used by independent drivers in the French mountain championship and the European mountain championship .
Endurance racing
Since 1990 Norma has repeatedly entered vehicles for the Le Mans 24-hour race , but has not been able to take part in every race.
For the 24-hour race in 1990 , Ecurie ASA Armagnac Bigorre reported a Norma M6, a closed class C1 prototype. The team was in a sense a Norma factory team; which was directed by Norbert Santos, who was also reported as one of the drivers. Other drivers were Noël del Bello and Daniel Boccard. The special thing about this car was its engine: it was an unusual W engine , initially designed for Formula 1 by Moteurs Guy Nègre , which had been tested in 1989 in a car belonging to the Formula 1 team Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives (AGS). After the unsuccessful completion of the Formula 1 tests, the engine developer, Guy Nègre, handed the engine over to Norbert Santos for further use. There was no race participation because the team did not qualify. According to press reports, the mechanics could not get the engine running, so that the team could not participate in the qualification.
Two years later, for the 1992 24-hour race , a team called Noël del Bello Racing reported another Norma. The registration lists do not indicate which type it was. A 3.0-liter six-cylinder from Alfa Romeo was specified as the drive . The team did not appear in the end.
For the 24-hour race in 1995 , Norma owner Norbert Santos registered a Norma M14, which was to be powered by a 4.5-liter six-cylinder Buick . The drivers were Dominique Lacaud , Jean-Paul Libert and Pascal Dro. The team did not take part in the race; The reason given in the official lists is engine damage.
Finally, a Sezio Florida Racing Team registered a Norma M2000 with a BMW M5 engine for Edouard Sezionale and Patrice Roussell for the 24-hour race in 2000 . However, the report was not accepted by the organizer of the race, so that there was no participation in the race.
For the 2003 24-hour race , Frenchman Edouard Sezionale registered a Norma M2000-2 for the LMP-900 class. The vehicle was powered by a 6-liter eight-cylinder Ford USA. Registered drivers were Edouard Sezionale, Patrice Roussell and Lucas Lasserre. Participation in the race, however, only took 45 minutes before the engine collapsed.
2010, the prototype Norma M200 was with Judd -Motor with which the Ecurie Pegasus Racing at the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans participated. The car driven by Julien Schell, Frédéric da Rocha and David Zollinger dropped out after 40 laps.
In 2011 , the Extreme Limite AM Paris used the M200, which is now powered by a BMW engine, for Fabien Rosier, Phillipe Haezebrouck and Jean-René de Fournoux . The team finished the race out of classification.
