Motorsport on Monday: 5/1/15
What to look forward to in 2015 if it's got wheels and they keep score
Nissan to join Toyota, Audi and Porsche this year
For me, the big news this year is that Nissan will join Audi, Porsche and Toyota in LMP1.
The GT-R LM NISMO will be unveiled in February (we think), but the rumours currently circulating allege that Ben Bowlby's creation - he of DeltaWing fame - will be equally unconventional. We're potentially talking a front-engined chassis, with a turbocharged V6 (expect Cosworth involvement) driving the front wheels. A Flybrid flywheel hybrid system will power the back axle.
Just like the DeltaWing and the ZEOD, expect the GT-R LM NISMO to challenge convention. In fact, it could flip the current, accepted approach to building a prototype on its head.
Counting down the days...
So, slippery down the straights, decent grip and balance through the quick stuff, and the hybrid powertrain's efficiency magnified thanks to the lack of drag. Should the other three be worried?
Very possibly. The ZEOD Garage 56 project was a bit of a disappointment, but it was a public test and development exercise for some of the technology that'll be in the GT-R LM.
Besides, reliability is something that comes through racing, as Porsche found out last year. But with three 919 Hybrids, three R18 E-Tron quattros and two TS040 Hybrids confirmed for Le Mans, Nissan's three GT-R LMs are going to be up against it, innovative approach or not.
How close can the others get this season?
Last season F1 proved interesting - or more so than recent years. Partly because of the introduction of new powertrains causing a certain level of unpredictability. Reliability improved massively over the season, but with an engine freeze on the cards for this year at the end of last, it seemed like F1 had the potential to return to the V8 borefest of years gone by.
Potentially not so for 2015. A loophole in the regs that the FIA hasn't managed to close means the sport's governing body has now confirmed teams will be able to tweak their power units during this season.
It should please Renault and Ferrari, although they're playing catch-up to Merc anyway. And with the Silver Arrows sitting on a year's worth of data from the factory and customer teams, there are surely myriad changes it'll try and make too.
Ferrari will hope for improvement in 2015
Honda will be up against it though, as a new manufacturer the 2015 rules don't allow it any development freedom. Let's hope it doesn't detrimentally affect the McLarens too much.
It'll be the first time in years we've seen in-season changes. With the power units split into 66 arbitrary tokens, the FIA has confirmed 32 tokens can be modified this year - around 48 per cent of the engine.
That's quite a lot. The likes of Ferrari and Lotus are going to need more than a few components to catch Mercedes and Williams, but this big change should at least add another element for the fans, and yet another dead horse for the analysis shows to flog come the end of the season.
Business as usual for 2015?
Sebastien Ogier is more than likely going to have it harder this year. As defending champion, sticking with VW, he'll likely still be the one to beat - and now that the running order for the first two legs of a rally follows championship position, he'll have his work cut out to sweep the road further still.
Obviously we're making a massive assumption here, that he and the Polo will still be the class of the field based on last season's form, but would you bet against him and VW? Really?
More interestingly, we'll see more diversity in in 2015, so just when your ears have had enough of being buzzed by four-pot turbo WRC and R5 cars, your ossicles could be excited by the shriek of a 911 GT3 or the bark of an Exige. Under new R-GT rules for this season, there'll be an R-GT Cup for competitors. When you're actually fighting for silverware it makes sinking all that cash into a project just that little bit easier. Sort of.
We've already seen Tuthill's 997 GT3, and a Lotus Exige S ran to R-GT rules back in 2012, but with the FIA acknowledging the desire of the market to rally GT cars, could we see a Nissan GT-R (four-wheel drive's got to help) or even an Aston V8 Vantage in stage - after all, Aston has form there (see the batch of images from 300bhp/ton in the thread).
Turkington will be out to defend his BTCC title
On the face of things it'll be status quo in the BTCC for 2015. However, a few significant tweaks have been made. All engines running in this year's championship have been re-tested and boost levels set accordingly to further equalise performance and close up any gaps.
There'll be more success ballast for race wins, too (exact increases from the current 45kg max TBC), to try and keep things tight and take the title right down to the wire just like last year.
When we say status quo, we mean you'll need a feeler gauge to determine the gap between cars. Expect that proverbial Swan Vesta paper you'll just be able to get between hatchbacks to get crushed and crumpled on a number of occasions throughout the season.
WTCC
Like the British championship, not much is new for the BTCC in 2015. Citroen will still be the team to beat, especially now it's expanding its entry to five cars.
This season will be the last for V8s in DTM
DTM
With the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft heading for downsized 2.0-litre turbo engines, following Japanese Super GT that made the switch last season, 2015 will be a year in limbo for German touring cars.
Well, that's one way to look at it. The other is that it's the last year of the screaming flat crank V8s and that we should try and get as much exposure as possible.
British F3
In recent years British F3 has had its peaks and troughs, but there genuinely is nothing to look forward to this year: the championship will not exist in 2015.
No British F3 for 2015; shame
A cocktail of stale rules, poor promotion, cost and competition from elsewhere has squeezed British F3's popularity, marginalising the championship to the point where it's now sharing a bed with the Dodo.
Let's hope this time next year, after a year without and some time to reflect, someone with some money and nous resurrects British F3, turning it back into a fertile ground for developing drivers, what it traditionally has been and still should be.
[Ferrari F1 image: LAT]
Stop falling for the marketing nonsense! If it's a front engined car, I can't believe Nissan are in it to win.
More weight transfer at an axle != more grip.
Nope.. think the laws of physics are fine as they are. With the same "trickery" of chassis balancing used on the Deltawing, there's no reason why FWD won't work.
More weight transfer at an axle != more grip.
Nope.. think the laws of physics are fine as they are. With the same "trickery" of chassis balancing used on the Deltawing, there's no reason why FWD won't work.
More weight transfer at an axle != more grip.
Nope.. think the laws of physics are fine as they are. With the same "trickery" of chassis balancing used on the Deltawing, there's no reason why FWD won't work.
More weight transfer at an axle != more grip.
Nope.. think the laws of physics are fine as they are. With the same "trickery" of chassis balancing used on the Deltawing, there's no reason why FWD won't work.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing how their package works.
(As a side note, I should imagine Nissan will have evaluated the predicted performance of this FWD concept vs. conventional RWD and found it to be advantageous enough to pursue, not merely as a gimmick!)
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