[sam-joseph]

I can kind of see a resemblance to my X-Trail.....
Regards

[jogiba]

A battle between hybrid gasoline-electric race cars from Audi and Toyota is expected to be a main storyline when the Le Mans 24 Hour race gets started in France later today. But many hardcore racing fans and people who obsess over aerodynamics will be watching a smaller, far less powerful machine — the dart-shaped Nissan DeltaWing.

The unusual car was invited to participate under a race provision called Garage 56, which reserves a spot on the grid for a car deemed so ground-breaking that it should be allowed to compete outside the usual rules.

The DeltaWing is designed to race competitively with half the weight, horsepower and aerodynamic drag of a typical racing prototype, such as the big Audis that have dominated endurance racing for the past decade.

While the DeltaWing wasn’t quite as fast as the top cars during practice sessions, it is expected to gain time on them in part by making fewer pit stops for fuel and new tires. Indeed the car’s developers say it will consumer fuel and tires at about half the rate of other competitors.

DeltaWing Racer Could Make History Today at Le Mans (Video) - Driver's Seat - WSJ

[jogiba]

A Toyota just took out the Nissan DeltaWing and forced it into the wall.

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

[jogiba]

Highcroft Racing ‏@highcroftracing

Thanks to the Toyota guys who came to apologise this morning incl. Kaz Nakajima. Appreciated

[Unsinkable II]

Hmmm... the Toyota direction was unaffected by the collision! And the Nissan, with its massively restricted steering, could do little about it before or after impact.

I don't see delta wing racing cars catching on!

[Phil1]

Good point on the limited front wheel steering angles. I thought so too before the race start that if they took a shunt it would be difficult to return to the track. They had the front-axle sitting on a special low castored "creeper" to more easily move the car around before the race got underway.The track was slippery in places and had "kitty litter" on it is spots. That's what they called the special fill they used in the shunt areas. It looked a bit like marbles and very loose. The Delta sustained side damage regardless and after pit time was not able to return to the course and was retired well before sun down.

On the Delta's early first pit visit they had shifter difficulties and the announcer, I believe, mentioned front brake overheating too. I didn't see any lap times but it appeared to be doing well when running.

[Spunky]

It was it's first race after all and probably the first crash. I feel really optimistic and the idea behind it is great.

[Phil1]

A neat video on the driver attempting to make an on-course repair to the car after the shunt. Only the driver can work on the car when it is on the course. See him consulting with the engineers outside the fence line.

Video: Watch as Nissan Delta Wing Driver, Satoshi Motoyama, Attempt to Repair his Wrecked Rig - Top Speed

The small engine:
http://www.deltawingracing.com/news/2012/4/26/nissan-deltawing-engine-video-feature.html

You Tube

You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=zs_wnHNbVCA&NR=1

Just a footnote, the car number was 0 as it was allowed to run outside any official class.

[Aegon]

Very cool concept.

I wonder if this was a racing incident, or something that was bound to happen either due to poor visibility of the front extents or maybe because of the speed differential.

[Phil1]

The Nissan car was hit by one of the Toyotas, nothing to do with bad handling or visability etc. On a post above the Toyota team came over to the Nissan garage and apologized. That's racing stuff happens.