REVOLUTIONARY NISSAN DELTAWING TO RUN AT LE MANS USING HALF THE FUEL OF CONVENTIONAL RACERS
Experimental race car to be powered by Nissan 1.6-litre DIG-T engine in this generation's most innovative and exciting motorsport project
- Nissan leads efficiency charge at Le Mans with car which will use half the fuel of conventional Le Mans racers
- Nissan DeltaWing acts as test bed for Innovation
- Le Mans 24 Hours 2012 will be the worldwide racing debut for Nissan DeltaWing, just 107 days after it first turned a wheel
- Car to run outside race classification from ‘Garage 56' - reserved especially for experimental cars
The Nissan DeltaWing - the most revolutionary racing car to appear in motorsport for a generation - will take part in the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours on 16-17 June with the bold aim of proving that it is possible to create a racing car that runs at similar pace to conventional entrants but uses half the fuel
With a completely unique and radical design, Nissan DeltaWing's philosophy is relatively simple. If you can create a car that weighs half as much and has half the aerodynamic drag of a conventional racer, it will only need half the power, half the fuel and half the tyre material to run at roughly the same speeds. Making this philosophy become a reality is far from simple but is a project that Nissan, Michelin and a range of commercial partners have fully embraced, while using technology that will benefit road car efficiency in future.
From June 2011, when the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) invited DeltaWing to occupy ‘Garage 56' at Le Mans - a spot traditionally reserved exclusively for experimental cars - the team behind the project has had 12 months to take the car from the drawing board to Le Mans, a gruelling schedule for any racing car, let alone such a revolutionary one. From the lightweight Nissan 1.6-litre DIG-T engine, which is much smaller and lighter than conventional powerplants, through to the 10cm-wide front tyres that had to be specially created by Michelin, the DeltaWing uses a fantastic number of purpose-built parts and combines them together in a way that has never been done before.
The Nissan DeltaWing will make its worldwide racing debut in the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours where, running outside of the classifications and carrying the number ‘0', its aim is neither to win nor finish in any certain position, merely to prove the viability of the technology within it. Ben Bowlby, the Concept Originator and Designer for the Nissan DeltaWing, came up with the idea three years ago as part of his vision to create a racing car that was truly unique and efficient.
"We had to completely tear up the rule book to create the DeltaWing," said Bowlby. "Modern racing cars are so heavily constrained by regulations that it's impossible to make large changes in efficiency within the rules. Thanks to the ACO, we've been allowed to enter the race outside of the regulations and show what can be done if you really think differently."
Nissan's expertise has been applied primarily to the development of the engine, in order to make it light and efficient enough to prove the philosophy behind the concept can work in ‘real-world' motor racing. A race-prepared 1.6-litre four cylinder engine, built from scratch and badged DIG-T (Direct Injection Gasoline - Turbocharged) produces around 300bhp and features several aspects of technology which have been applied from road cars to this project. Other elements and innovations used within DeltaWing will be transferred to make Nissan production cars more efficient in future.
"Everything about this car challenges conventional thinking and that's why Nissan had to get behind it," said Darren Cox, General Manager, Nissan in Europe. "It's not just about a 1.6-litre engine producing the same lap times as a V8; it is the whole concept. With DeltaWing, you're talking about half the weight and half the drag of a normal car, which means you only need half the power and half the fuel.
"A lightweight petrol turbo engine is the answer, which is absolutely perfect for us and for DeltaWing. The core engine for Nissan going forward will be a 1.6-litre petrol, Direct Injection Turbo. We think this is the future and the DeltaWing embraces that perfectly."
Nissan makes up one part of the DeltaWing family which consists of a group of core partners, including American motorsport entrepreneur Don Panoz, the All-American Racers organisation of ex- Formula 1 driver Dan Gurney, Duncan Dayton's two-time championship-winning Highcroft Racing team and Michelin North America. All these partners have come together to make the unique car a reality, but all know the realities of what can be achieved at Le Mans.
"There have been just over 100 days to develop this car from the time it first turned a wheel and, with that in mind, getting to the finish at Le Mans would be an unbelievable achievement," says Cox. "The likelihood is that the car won't make the finish and this fact would put off other manufacturers but if you don't try bold new things you'll never move forward. Whatever happens in the race we will learn from it, we've already learned from it and there's plenty more we can gain from this car in future."
NISSAN DELTAWING
The experimental Nissan DeltaWing will make its race debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours on June 16/17. The most innovative and ground-breaking motorsport concept of its generation, the Nissan DeltaWing aims to complete the famous endurance race using half the fuel and half the tyre material of a conventional LMP race car. To follow this radical motor racing experiment, visit http://www.youtube.com/user/nissanineurope for videos, http://newsroom.nissan-europe.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/NissanSportsCars for news and http://www.deltawingracing.com/ for regular updates.
