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 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.
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. 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. With the introduction of the spec Tatuus Formula Renault in 2000 Norma ceased 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 3rd. 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. 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. 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. 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.

FIA European Hill Climb Championship

In 2014 Norma entered into FIA European Hill Climb Championship with type Norma M20 FC Zytec. Italian driver Simone Faggioli won the championship for Category 2 in 2014,2015,2016 and 2017. 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

YearTeamDriversCarEngineQualificationResult
1990 ASA Armagnac Bigorre Noël del BelloNorma M6MGN 3,5L W12DNQDNA
1990 ASA Armagnac Bigorre Norbert SantosNorma M6MGN 3,5L W12DNQDNA
1990 ASA Armagnac Bigorre Daniel BoccardNorma M6MGN 3,5L W12DNQDNA
1992 Del Bello Racing Noël del BelloNorma M6Alfa Romeo V6DNADNA
1992 Del Bello Racing Thierry LecerfNorma M6Alfa Romeo V6DNADNA
1995 Norma Dominique LacaudNorma M14Mader Buick 4,5L V6DNQDNA
1995 Norma Jean-Paul LibertNorma M14Mader Buick 4,5L V6DNQDNA
1995 Norma Pascal DroNorma M14Mader Buick 4,5L V6DNQDNA
2001 Sezio Florida Racing Team Edouard SezionaleNorma M2000Mader BMW V8DNADNA
2001 Sezio Florida Racing Team Patrice RousselNorma M2000Mader BMW V8DNADNA
2003 Sezio Florida Racing Team Patrice RousselNorma M2000Ford 6L V836DNF Engine
2003 Sezio Florida Racing Team Edouard SezionaleNorma M2000Ford 6L V836DNF Engine
2003 Sezio Florida Racing Team Lucas LasserreNorma M2000Ford 6L V836DNF Engine
2010 Pegasus Racing Julien SchellNorma M200PJudd DB 3,4L V828DNF Accident damage
2010 Pegasus Racing Frédéric da RochaNorma M200PJudd DB 3,4L V828DNF Accident damage
2010 Pegasus Racing David ZollingerNorma M200PJudd DB 3,4L V828DNF Accident damage
2011 Extreme Limite AM Paris Fabien RosierNorma M200PJudd-BMW 4L V82628
2011 Extreme Limite AM Paris Philippe HaezebrouckNorma M200PJudd-BMW 4L V82628
2011 Extreme Limite AM Paris Jean-René de FournouxNorma M200PJudd-BMW 4L V82628
2012 Extreme Limite AM Paris Fabien RosierNorma M200PJudd3329
2012 Extreme Limite AM Paris Philippe HaezebrouckNorma M200PJudd3329
2012 Extreme Limite AM Paris Fabien ThirionNorma M200PJudd3329

Cars

YearCarClass
1984Norma M4Hillclimbing
1985Norma M5Hillclimbing
1990Norma M6Group C
1991Norma M7Group CN
1994Norma M11Group CN
1995Norma M1424 Hours of Daytona Can-Am, 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP1
1996Norma M16Group CN
1998Norma M17Group CN
1999Norma M18Group CN
2000Norma M2000Grand-Am SR, ALMS LMP900
2003Norma M20Group CN 2L
2004Norma M20-3AGroup CN 3L
2005Norma M20-2BGroup CN 2L
2007Norma M20-FGroup CN 2L/3L
2010Norma M200PLMP2
2011Norma M20 FCGroup CN 2L
2014Norma M20 FC Hillclimbing Group E2-SC 3L
2017Norma M30LMP3
2018Volkswagen I.D. R PPIHC Unlimited