Peugeot 9X8 hypercar gets a wing for 2024

Peugeot says the 9X8 has been upgraded from the ground up for a revised approach, starting with disparate tyre widths at the front versus the rear – in this case 29cm at the front, 34cm at the rear. Generally, it’s an upgrade with a view to lifting the 9X8’s performance, which has to varying degrees been off the pace compared to rivals. 

While the obvious changes are to the car’s appearance and aerodynamics, a lot has been altered underneath to get both the re-jigged tyres and aero working at its best. All in, Peugeot says 90 per cent of the car’s exterior surfaces have been redesigned.

What we hope, is that the car’s drivability hasn’t been affected with these new changes. The 9X8 was visibly the easiest, least-edgy car on track during the tricker conditions at Le Mans last year, where the LMDh cars as well as, to a lesser extent, the Ferraris and Toyotas, were clearly struggling with twitchiness.

“We made choices that are no longer the right ones now and this difference in performance was not sufficiently offset by the BOP (Balance of Performance) in 2023,” said Olivier Jansonnie, Peugeot Sport Technical Director.

“The idea was therefore to go back to a car design that is similar to that of our rivals’ car design, so that it would then be given equivalent treatment by the BOP. This is why we decided to drop the use of identical 31/31cm tyre widths on all the wheels, choosing to fit 29cm tyres at the front and 34cm tyres at the rear. Strictly speaking, it’s not a new car, as it has the same chassis, but there are a lot of upgrades.

“For the tyres to work effectively, we had to alter the centre of gravity of the Peugeot 9X8, which meant moving certain components and working [on] making others lighter. And in order to have a better aerodynamic balance, we also had to look at redistributing the aerodynamic loads, which resulted in us redesigning approximately 90% of the bodywork components, most notably adding the rear wing.

“As well as all this, we decided to use this new homologation to add some reliability and performance upgrades to give us the best opportunities in the championship.”

Fear not, being the 9X8, the wing is not some sad, generic graft. Aero blades that flow into the wing area rather than the supports jutting out of the bodywork suddenly mean it’s as stylish as it ever was, even with its new white, grey and lurid green livery.

Last year was one of toil for the team, as it took on the redesign while also fielding its existing hypercar which raced up until the opening round of the 2024 season.

“It was a project within a project, which increased the team’s workload substantially but we were able to rely on the unwavering commitment of Team Peugeot TotalEnergies and we’re now really looking forward to showing off the result of their hard work. The target is clearly to get back among the frontrunners, fight regularly for podiums and even challenge for race wins.”