RE: Deltawing sent flying

[The Wookie]

TimJMS said:

At 48 seconds, the Porsche driver makes an effort to get out of the way of the Deltawing as it comes into his peripheral vision by steering left. There is no out of condition to correct. This is in no way opposite lock. The impact is a long way past the preceding corner, and a few seconds after the Porsche has already been corrected.

If you look, the Porsche is still pointing right and heading towards the Nissan, while the wheels are pointing left.

[_Leg_]

Showed my wife the video and a picture of the deltawing to explain the shape of it.

She just said, "well, its just a big penis isn't it".

"But its really cool" says I, "well, you think your penis is really cool so no surprise there eh" says she.

Can't argue with that. I can write my name in the snow, of course its cool.

Edited by _Leg_ on Friday 19th October 08:46

[nicfaz]

Once the deltawing is fixed, they should paint it with alternating red and yellow stripes. I bet people wouldn't drive into it then.

[zebedee]

robmlufc said:

But none of those ideas are a new concept, Colin Chapman could tell you that.

Agreed but in direct back to back comparison with prototype Le Mans cars it was pretty novel. Please do remember that there was a hell of a lot of people saying the idea simply didn't work (even to the extent of refusing to accept it would go around corners) so they had a lot of convincing to do. It was hellish convincing in the end!

[Andy ap]

Agreed if you watch closely the porsche lost rear end grip as it went over the rumble strip, started sliding and was actually counter steering at the time of impact. No one was at fault that was a simple racing accident. I'd say the Porsche driver had good reflex's and its in fact the Deltawings shape that got it into trouble.

Sorry to the delta wing though either way

Edited by Andy ap on Friday 19th October 09:30

[robmlufc]

I have given the DW a fair amount of the stick over the last year, quite liked this shirt though. Fair play to them.

[garypotter]

Very glad that all drivers are OK, bloody hell that delta wing is fast out of that corner it leaves the race prep 911 for dead, wrong time wrong place results in 911 running wide, driver tries to catch it unfortuneately Delta wing flying up the side and incident occurs, does not look like much damage to the Porsche 911.

I hope the Nissan engineers can get the delta wing back to gether for the race.

[robmlufc]

garypotter said:

Very glad that all drivers are OK, bloody hell that delta wing is fast out of that corner it leaves the race prep 911 for dead, wrong time wrong place results in 911 running wide, driver tries to catch it unfortuneately Delta wing flying up the side and incident occurs, does not look like much damage to the Porsche 911.

I hope the Nissan engineers can get the delta wing back to gether for the race.

I think it went out last night for practice.

[BeirutTaxi]

Technical Specs here:

http://www.deltawingracing.com/the-car/

[Gary C]

dukebox9reg said:

the porsche driver lost control on the kerb, he didnt purposely steer into him

No way the Porsche was out of control. He did not see him and was moving across the track on the normal line over the brow.

Often happens in mixed class racing (or even practice).

[masermartin]

Apparently the Porsche driver has admitted such as well.

[Builder]

Yes, this type of incident is more likely in mixed category racing. When you have a spec car that is not meeting the other category rules, it's apparently even more likely. Yes, it was a racing incident. But, the #34 has no excuse for not seeing the DWing. It was dancing around in the guy's mirrors like a motorcycle would, in an attempt to be even more visible. And, this was practice...not a race.

I like the DWing, but don't believe it's being raced in the right place. It might be more appropriate in open-wheel racing, where its handling and visibility characteristics might be closer to the other cars.

It's obvious why rules are needed. It's a competition and the rules provide a base from which all competitors start. They are not designed to thwart innovation, but to level the playing field. If you have a brilliant idea, but it fractures the rules, you are always welcome to develop it elsewhere, for other purposes. There are other series that allow virtually any vehicle to compete, as long as they meet the "safety rules".

[Munter]

Builder said:

Yes, this type of incident is more likely in mixed category racing. When you have a spec car that is not meeting the other category rules, it's apparently even more likely. Yes, it was a racing incident. But, the #34 has no excuse for not seeing the DWing. It was dancing around in the guy's mirrors like a motorcycle would, in an attempt to be even more visible. And, this was practice...not a race.

I like the DWing, but don't believe it's being raced in the right place. It might be more appropriate in open-wheel racing, where its handling and visibility characteristics might be closer to the other cars.

It's obvious why rules are needed. It's a competition and the rules provide a base from which all competitors start. They are not designed to thwart innovation, but to level the playing field. If you have a brilliant idea, but it fractures the rules, you are always welcome to develop it elsewhere, for other purposes. There are other series that allow virtually any vehicle to compete, as long as they meet the "safety rules".

This is the "elsewhere". Originally I believe it was an idea for indycar.

[Greg_D]

i'd take issue with the assertion that the pork driver was correcting a slide - look at the slowmo at 1.18 onwards, he was just making his way into the pits IMO, he only turned left once the DW was alongside - and too late.

ps, the DW did flip over alarmingly easily (also IMO) on any 4 wheeled car, the front right would have acted in a much more robust way against a flip over than the 'fresh air' in the same place on a DW.

[turbo-ww]

Bloody Porsche Drivers....

Has anyone seen the in-car footage from the Porsche?

[zebedee]

Greg_D said:

ps, the DW did flip over alarmingly easily (also IMO) on any 4 wheeled car, the front right would have acted in a much more robust way against a flip over than the 'fresh air' in the same place on a DW.

Agree to an extent but as someone has posted in picture form before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMWFiq7aXVw

which is a different type of accident in terms of the initial pitch of the car, but I can't see the deltawing then doing what this did. I think the point is get a heavy car in the back end of a quick light car and the result is often spectacular. Like I read elsewhere, tossing a light pancake with a heavy spoon.

[Builder]

Munter said:

This is the "elsewhere". Originally I believe it was an idea for indycar.

Now that you mention it, I think that's right. Guessing that they just didn't want to accommodate a car that didn't fit the spec. In the USA, there are two groups where they would have a no restrictions category, as long as safety guidelines were met; SCCA and NASA. These series don't receive as much global attention as ALMS, Indy cars, etc., but would be great for proof of concept...figuring out some of the potential issues like visibility.

[Matt Harper]

Delta Wing Driver Gunnar Jeanette is no stranger to thrill-rides of course...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOmHLPt_qVo&fea...

He also drinks our beer at Sebring - top fella.

[turbo-ww]

Matt Harper said:

Delta Wing Driver Gunnar Jeanette is no stranger to thrill-rides of course...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOmHLPt_qVo&fea...

He also drinks our beer at Sebring - top fella.

[S0 What]

dukebox9reg said:

the porsche driver lost control on the kerb, he didnt purposely steer into him

I agree you can see the arse drift out to the left, wether the driver didn't counter steer enough i have no idea but certanly did not look intentional to me.