T Pyx: towards a new paradigm for nova explosions

T Pyxidis is a recurrent nova which underwent explosions at semi-regular
intervals of about 22 years between 1890 and 1966. On the 14th Apr 2011,
it started its sixth (long overdue) known outburst. In this talk, I
present a multi-site campaign aimed at the follow-up of this object in
the optical regime with intermediate resolution spectroscopy and I
summarize some of our findings which challenge some of the common
understandings of novae. Our observations may actually imply that the
two populations of novae (Fe II and He/N) suggested by te{wms92} are,
in fact, a byproduct of the speed class and may have significant
repercussions on the whole nova theory.