RE: Nissan DeltaWing: the full story

RE: Nissan DeltaWing: the full story

Author
Discussion

jmmc

54 posts

172 months

Tuesday 27th March 2012
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One word describes it best, hideous.

Great Dane

2,732 posts

167 months

Wednesday 28th March 2012
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agree my friends and I are running a 'book' as to where it first crashes...

Great Dane

2,732 posts

167 months

Tuesday 5th June 2012
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Highcroft is trying to fix the handling problems which they think might be caused by the narrow front track...





PS When you look at front of the Deltathing from this angle, it looks like reptile or snake with two slanting eyes...

Ahonen

5,018 posts

280 months

Tuesday 5th June 2012
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J B L said:
How do you get a reliable 300bhp out of a 1.6L engine? Even with a turbo?

Can someone explain what wizzardery's involved in such a feat?
Christ, it's Karl Benz himself, back from the dead. Karl, things have moved on a bit since 1900...

realjv

1,118 posts

167 months

Tuesday 5th June 2012
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Racecar Engineering did a really fantastic article all about deltawing which explains many things which they are now giving away for free
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/le-man...

anonymous-user

55 months

Tuesday 5th June 2012
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shoestring7 said:
Munter said:
J B L said:
How do you get a reliable 300bhp out of a 1.6L engine? Even with a turbo?

Can someone explain what wizzardery's involved in such a feat?
Shirly 80s F1 cars were producing at least a reliable 300bhp from a 1.5 turbo.
Shirley you mean "Why is a 21st century 1600cc endurance racing engine only producing 300bhp?".

SS7
2 words:

Inlet & Restrictor


;-)

Chris71

21,536 posts

243 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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Ahonen said:
J B L said:
How do you get a reliable 300bhp out of a 1.6L engine? Even with a turbo?

Can someone explain what wizzardery's involved in such a feat?
Christ, it's Karl Benz himself, back from the dead. Karl, things have moved on a bit since 1900...
hehe

Well put. Next year we're due to have a fairly mainstream production car with 300-odd bhp from a 1.6-litre turbo, I believe. Plus I suspect the specific output of the RML engine in the DeltaWing is still comfortably lower than that of the small turbo engines (Mazda AER etc.) which have been in LMP2 for ages.

DanDC5

18,834 posts

168 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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How did this get on at the Le Mans test the other day? Not seen any news over the weekend?

Munter

31,319 posts

242 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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DanDC5 said:
How did this get on at the Le Mans test the other day? Not seen any news over the weekend?
http://www.deltawingracing.com/news/2012/6/3/nissan-deltawing-completes-strong-debut-at-le-mans.html

DanDC5

18,834 posts

168 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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Quicker than I thought it would be to be honest, 20 seconds off the Audi's and just over 10 off the quickest LMP1 car. I still think it looks stupid though.

eps

6,307 posts

270 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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!!!

"Powered by a 300 horsepower 1.6 liter Nissan DIG-T turbocharged engine, the Nissan DeltaWing also features specially developed Michelin tires which are four inches wide at the front."


Did it run in the wet conditions at all?



DanDC5

18,834 posts

168 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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Only a lap or 2, no really serious running. I'm impressed it only used one set of tyres though.

IforB

9,840 posts

230 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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300bhp and only 20 seconds of the Audis? That is very impressive. There maybe something in this design afterall. A 3min 47s lap puts them well within LMP2 pace which is much faster than I expected.

It seems I was overly pessimistic on their behalf.

Deisel Weisel

2,541 posts

185 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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Great Dane said:
See what is written on the bracket that holds the car up for repairs... at least they have made a carbon front sub frame
I can't make it out. Can anyone?

Chris71

21,536 posts

243 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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eps said:
!!!

"Powered by a 300 horsepower 1.6 liter Nissan DIG-T turbocharged engine, the Nissan DeltaWing also features specially developed Michelin tires which are four inches wide at the front."

Did it run in the wet conditions at all?
Can't remember if it did at the weekend, but the Snetterton test a few weeks back was biblically wet and last thing I heard the tyre guys were actually worried about not accruing enough dry weather testing.

The (lack of) width of the tyres works the same way in the wet as it does in the dry; you have a very lightly loaded front end which requires very little tyre thrust to turn it and a long lever arm to rotate the rest of the car. If anything it should work better in the wet as the narrow tyres will show less tendency to aquaplane.

Lap times were towards the lower end of P2 from what I remember (3:47 ish?) Hopefully it should be good for the stated aim of putting in a 3:45 lap during the race.

Coincidentally, did anyone catch the Radio Le Mans interview with Darren Cox? The guy is a proper petrolhead - used to take time off to go and scrub the wheels at Le Mans apparently. He's now responsible for Nissan's backing of the DeltaWing and presumably things like the Juke-R. We could do with a few more people like him in the upper echelons of the motor industry.

steve y

460 posts

212 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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Deisel Weisel said:
I can't make it out. Can anyone?
"Gary's tombstone RIP"
obviously a dark sense of humour!
Steve

HowMuchLonger

3,006 posts

194 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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It sounds like the ideal foundation for a track day car, good performance and very cheap to run.

freedman

5,447 posts

208 months

Sunday 17th June 2012
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So retired quite early, through no fault of its own, after being opunted off by Nakajaima

However, what was the point?

It ran at the very bottom end of the LMP2 field, quicker only than GT cars.

It doesnt comply with any existing Sportscar regulations, and bar the odd wheelbase/axle configurstion there isnt any particular;ly innovative technolgy involved

Munter

31,319 posts

242 months

Sunday 17th June 2012
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freedman said:
So retired quite early, through no fault of its own, after being opunted off by Nakajaima

However, what was the point?

It ran at the very bottom end of the LMP2 field, quicker only than GT cars.

It doesnt comply with any existing Sportscar regulations, and bar the odd wheelbase/axle configurstion there isnt any particular;ly innovative technolgy involved
It was an experiment. To find out if you could do LeMans competitively with significantly less fuel and tyre use.

If it had done better we may have seen a change in the regulations.

I think the problem that took it out means it'll never catch on. If you lose a corner on a standard car it still has 3 points of contact to allow you to limp home. The deltawing lost a rear corner and it had nothing to stop the whole side of the car dragging on the floor. 2 points of contact are not enough. That just makes it too fragile for LeMans.

Scuffers

20,887 posts

275 months

Sunday 17th June 2012
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Munter said:
It was an experiment. To find out if you could do LeMans competitively with significantly less fuel and tyre use.

If it had done better we may have seen a change in the regulations.

I think the problem that took it out means it'll never catch on. If you lose a corner on a standard car it still has 3 points of contact to allow you to limp home. The deltawing lost a rear corner and it had nothing to stop the whole side of the car dragging on the floor. 2 points of contact are not enough. That just makes it too fragile for LeMans.
agreed, great bit of fun and marketing, but just about totally pointless....