Nismo GT-R LMP1
Discussion
The Jaguar effort was a poor one although it was not a full factory representation (Paul Gentilozzi GT2 car) unlike the considerable Nissan effort - as they have been putting a lot of miles in recently during testing (which must have worn Marc Gene out). I think they will be running with their sole intention of achieving at least one of the three cars to make the finish, top 10 would be expected by most but it's not a given with the pace of the current P2 cars.
The most embarrassing recent 'works' effort was that god awful Aston AMR-One as has been mentioned already, pitifully slow and unreliable, I felt sorry for all involved, funny enough one of the chassis ended up being used for the Deltawing !
The most embarrassing recent 'works' effort was that god awful Aston AMR-One as has been mentioned already, pitifully slow and unreliable, I felt sorry for all involved, funny enough one of the chassis ended up being used for the Deltawing !
Edited by joekarter on Tuesday 12th May 01:30
I was (am!) a fan of the Delta Wing and it was a real shame it had the problems it did.
Was quite interested in the Zeod, but probably no more than that.
For this LM, I am really excited by the Nismo GT-R. Whether it is the FWD aspect, or because of all the initial hype & subsequent doubts, I don't know, but I do expect them to be putting some serious effort in & I wish them well.
It's things like this, that make endurance racing so bloody interesting and alive, unlike the utter bore of F1.
Was quite interested in the Zeod, but probably no more than that.
For this LM, I am really excited by the Nismo GT-R. Whether it is the FWD aspect, or because of all the initial hype & subsequent doubts, I don't know, but I do expect them to be putting some serious effort in & I wish them well.
It's things like this, that make endurance racing so bloody interesting and alive, unlike the utter bore of F1.
Truckosaurus said:
I see from the Dailysportscar site that Nissan will also be using a Ginetta LMP3 (Nissan powered anyway) at the Test Day so their rookie drivers can get their laps in without worrying about the reliability of the new car.
I'm not the only one who thought "we're not expecting to be able to do 30 laps" then?It's a pity, I want them to do well.
PW said:
The Nissan LMP1 project in a nutshell.
Darren Cox has continually criticised the other teams for not being "open", but those teams aren't the ones with a string of broken promises and misinformation to their names.
1250 bhp, AWD LMP1 race car in the WEC! It was announced so clearly and certainly that I believed that was actually what would happen.
Now - not 1250 bhp... Or awd... And not the first half of the season... It got them the headlines though, which I guess is the true aim of the whole venture, so I assume the BS won't stop.
That'll teach me to be enthusiastic about something won't it....
It was obvious to me since the beginning, and I am not the biggest expert in endurance racing. Darren Cox has continually criticised the other teams for not being "open", but those teams aren't the ones with a string of broken promises and misinformation to their names.
1250 bhp, AWD LMP1 race car in the WEC! It was announced so clearly and certainly that I believed that was actually what would happen.
Now - not 1250 bhp... Or awd... And not the first half of the season... It got them the headlines though, which I guess is the true aim of the whole venture, so I assume the BS won't stop.
That'll teach me to be enthusiastic about something won't it....
It's a vanity project which attracted a huge amount of media attention. Shame, but from a marketing perspective it probably worked.
stuckmojo said:
It was obvious to me since the beginning, and I am not the biggest expert in endurance racing.
It's a vanity project which attracted a huge amount of media attention. Shame, but from a marketing perspective it probably worked.
Indeed. Pretty much the same as the Deltawing. I know all factory teams are about marketing to an extent but Audi/Porsche/Toyota are there to win, where as the Nissan efforts have all been about getting their name around at Le Mans without making the same efforts as the other factory teams. It's a vanity project which attracted a huge amount of media attention. Shame, but from a marketing perspective it probably worked.
They should have their Le Mans entry withdrawn after missing the first two rounds of the WEC, other P2s or GTEs could have been on the grid. It appears they entered the WEC purely to get the Le Mans entries, again without having to put the work in.
i think that is a bit harsh ... nissan seem to be pretty committed to WEC motorsport (vis 14 of 19 LMP2 entries with nissan power) and endurance racing in general (the GTR is active across the globe and immensely successful ... remember the last few laps of bathurst earlier this year?)
yes it's disappointing they were not at spa and silverstone, but they have thrown away the accepted wisdom of race car design and come with something completely new ... i think they deserve a little slack if they have teething trouble ...
... clearly if they shutter the garage at 3.20pm on saturday 13th then we'll all be pretty disappointed.
si
yes it's disappointing they were not at spa and silverstone, but they have thrown away the accepted wisdom of race car design and come with something completely new ... i think they deserve a little slack if they have teething trouble ...
... clearly if they shutter the garage at 3.20pm on saturday 13th then we'll all be pretty disappointed.
si
I'm not sure what Nissan would have to gain by making bold claims if they know they cant follow them through. Yes they will make a few headlines along the way but they will only set themselves up for a greater fall.
Nissan of all companies aren't doing motorsport half assed. Look at the number of categories they are involved in around the world, they aren't there to make up the numbers. I think the only mistake (if you can call it that) is to conduct their testing in public.
It was regrettable that they missed the first two rounds of the WEC but they realised that the car needed further development before submitting it for homologation. They could very easily have said from the off that they would debut in 2016 but I applaud their ambition and I'm looking forward to seeing the car in a little over 3 weeks!
Nissan of all companies aren't doing motorsport half assed. Look at the number of categories they are involved in around the world, they aren't there to make up the numbers. I think the only mistake (if you can call it that) is to conduct their testing in public.
It was regrettable that they missed the first two rounds of the WEC but they realised that the car needed further development before submitting it for homologation. They could very easily have said from the off that they would debut in 2016 but I applaud their ambition and I'm looking forward to seeing the car in a little over 3 weeks!
but surely the whole reason they are in motorsport in the first place is for advertising and PR ... as are ALL of the other factory teams ... they want to sell more road cars.
it might be the case that nissan were never going to be ready for WEC 2015, which is a great shame and certainly not the message from the super bowl add, but at least they are pushing the boundaries and getting stuck in developing something completely new ... it's not a cheap thing to do and i think they should be allowed to sing their own praises to a certain extent
don't get me wrong ... i wish they were going to be a viable opponent to the the others but it seems that may be a 2016 story. let's hope the rebellion boys can pull something out of the bag to keep the three main factory teams honest.
it might be the case that nissan were never going to be ready for WEC 2015, which is a great shame and certainly not the message from the super bowl add, but at least they are pushing the boundaries and getting stuck in developing something completely new ... it's not a cheap thing to do and i think they should be allowed to sing their own praises to a certain extent
don't get me wrong ... i wish they were going to be a viable opponent to the the others but it seems that may be a 2016 story. let's hope the rebellion boys can pull something out of the bag to keep the three main factory teams honest.
There's a difference between blatant bulls
t and being forced to go for plan B etc..
The way I interpreted it was their original plans had do be scaled back (for this year at least) due to problems they encountered during testing, Failing the crash test, the problems with the hybrid unit and the deadline for homologation which became impossible to meet due to those things.
There's nothing dishonorable in any of that, it's what testing is for and unfortunately when you are trying something new and untested, these things happen.
I'm sure that Nissan haven't deliberately set out to mislead anyone. Their aims were high and unfortunately they didn't achieve everything they wanted to in their first year. Had they just kept their mouth shut and done everything in secret we would be none the wiser and (probably) singing the praises of a FWD Hybrid LMP1.
I'm sure Nissan will get there in the end. It might just take a little longer than first hoped.
t and being forced to go for plan B etc.. The way I interpreted it was their original plans had do be scaled back (for this year at least) due to problems they encountered during testing, Failing the crash test, the problems with the hybrid unit and the deadline for homologation which became impossible to meet due to those things.
There's nothing dishonorable in any of that, it's what testing is for and unfortunately when you are trying something new and untested, these things happen.
I'm sure that Nissan haven't deliberately set out to mislead anyone. Their aims were high and unfortunately they didn't achieve everything they wanted to in their first year. Had they just kept their mouth shut and done everything in secret we would be none the wiser and (probably) singing the praises of a FWD Hybrid LMP1.
I'm sure Nissan will get there in the end. It might just take a little longer than first hoped.
PW said:
Cox has openly admitted that they don't think they can beat the other factory teams on budget or knowledge of endurance racing, so they've created a "peacock" to grab attention.
I think that's a bit unfair, and not really representative of what he said.He said that they can't beat Audi on knowledge or experience, and I accept that. Audi have been doing this for over a decade and have learnt A LOT along the way.
Nissan accept that if they follow the path that Audi took, they'll be 10 years behind them. Because of that, they've gone for a completely different approach in an attempt to mitigate the 10 year head-start that Audi have. I suspect that there aren't many books on the shelf about creating hybrid FWD LMP1 cars from scratch, so as disappointing as it is that they haven't made the first two rounds, that's the risk you take in taking a risk.
I don't believe that they've only done that "for attention", but of the four factory LMP1 teams Nissan are certainly making the most noise. I don't mind that personally.
Gassing Station | Le Mans | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff