Thursday 7th February 2013

Nissan splits from Deltawing

Nissan bids Deltawing farewell, Panoz to race it at Sebring and beyond

---

Breaking up is never easy but Nissan has confirmed that its involvement in the Deltawing
project has come to an end, issuing a 'it's not you, it's me' statement reproduced below.

Deltawing didn't finish Le Mans but won hearts

It was little over a year ago that we reported Nissan's backing for the revolutionary Deltawing and in that time the car has been truly taken to PHers' hearts, winning our Award For Outstanding Engineering Geekery at the end of 2012 by a landslide of votes. Chris Harris was blown away by the car's unusual dynamics and dazzled by the enthusiasm of its creator Ben Bowlby when he drove it at Road Atlanta, scene of its most impressive race result with a fifth overall in the Petit Le Mans event. This atoned somewhat for the disappointment of an early exit from the Le Mans 24-hour, the Deltawing nonetheless taken very much to the hearts of all who saw it in action.

The Deltawing lives on though, Don Panoz taking over the project and, according to an article on Fox's SpeedTV, planning to replace the Nissan engine with a Mazda-derived unit for next-month's Sebring 12-hour. Nissan hasn't commented on Panoz's plans beyond saying it "wishes Dr Don Panoz and all the other partners involved in the Deltawing all the best for the future and we look forward to supporting their progress from the sidelines at future races."

In an internal document Nissan spoke of "now looking ahead to the future and our next exciting project" while saying "Nissan Deltawing was a very exciting project winning the hearts and minds of many." It denies pulling out of the project was a cost decision, that there was any bad blood between it and any of the other partners or that it was simply a case of so long and thanks for all the publicity. "The ... Nissan Deltawing project was first and foremost a test-bed for future innovations for both Nissan's motorsport and road product programmes," it says. In its own words it takes aerodynamic, transmission and engine knowledge away from the partnership and says the car "enabled us to explore the potential of Nissan's 1.6-litre engine for future applications." These will include the further developments of the Juke Nismo, teased on the recent launch for the road car PH attended.

Innovation this radical is rare in motorsport

If the official line is polite but distant the Tweets and other comments from Nissan insiders, notably motorsports boss Darren Cox, have been a lot more emotive. Quotes like "We should say though that we loved every minute of the #NissanDeltawing experience. Exciting and innovative project. #gamechanger" and "We had a blast with DeltaWing and will always have a major soft spot for that car #nissandeltawing" from @Nissan_OnTrack last night show a more personal view.

Speaking exclusively to PH, Cox said, "It was an amazing journey for all of those at Nissan and NISMO who were involved in the project. On reflection the highlights were the London launch when all the partners were together for the first time, the aftermath of the Le Mans crash because everyone knew we had delivered the best job we could have and of course Sebring - not just the result and speed of the car but also the secondary boost of allowing people like Chris Harris from outside the team to experience this incredible car."

Fully aware of the passion the car has inspired he reserves special thanks for those who supported the project too. "Biggest thanks must go to the fans who took us to their hearts," he told us. "Nissan gave the fans access to the project and the fans repaid us with their huge support. Thanks to you all. We will keep surprising you in the coming months and years with our Motorsport activity."

[Sources: SpeedTV, Nissan]

---

Nissan's official statement:
"Nissan confirms that it will not continue with its partnership of the DeltaWing motorsport project with immediate effect.

"Nissan was an instrumental in the ground-breaking DeltaWing project, which aimed to demonstrate the current real-world viability of efficient motorsport by completing the famous Le Mans 24 Hours using half the fuel and half the tyres of any of its counterparts.

"Described as a "game-changer" and widely acknowledged as the most revolutionary racing car to be built in a generation, the Nissan DeltaWing was the brainchild of British engineer, Ben Bowlby. It was also described as "the world's first social media racing car" due to Nissan's innovative approach off track.

"The car's performance at Le Mans and its subsequent 5th place finish at Petit Le Mans endurance race in the USA proved to the doubters that the pioneering and hugely innovative technology produced by Nissan and the other partners in the project delivered on its promise.

"Nissan produced a lightweight, down-sized version of its 1.6-litre DIG-T engine for the Nissan DeltaWing. Combined with innovative chassis and aerodynamics, this engine produced the same lap times as its fellow Le Mans entrants, using half the fuel from its vastly smaller engine capacity.

"Darren Cox, Director of global motorsports for Nissan, says: "The Nissan DeltaWing was an exciting project that challenged all conventional thinking and that is why Nissan put its support behind it. We are committed to developing innovative and exciting cars both on the track and on the road.

""Nissan wishes Dr Don Panoz and all the other partners involved in the DeltaWing all the best for the future and we look forward to supporting their progress from the sidelines at future races. "

"Nissan will announce its future motor sport plans on 26th February at the opening of its new state of the art Nismo headquarters in Yokohama, Japan."

[4a4]

Shame to have lost what appeared to be a solid partnership.
Having seen the amazing, apparent law defying, close up Deltawing on track, i only hope that it does get to continue under Panoz.

[HorneyMX5]

Only in it for the publicity then.

[TonyHetherington]

From a purely marketing experience, I imagine it has been great for Nissan. However, I imagine also, they can see no longevity in it (now the "wow" and "new" factor is gone).

Great they got behind it in the first place though

[robmlufc]

Marketing event over. Lets see what real innovation Nissan can come up with now. I predict the Deltawing will fade away now.

[trickymex]

Erm...the engine was never a Nissan product. It's an engine designed, built and developed by AER and all the electronics including the direct injection ECU and associated components were made by life racing. AER are one and the same in fact. The new Mazda engine will be the same engine with a new badge no doubt or they could refer to the older AER designed engine that bares a Mazda badge. As far as I can tell nissans technical involvement was minimal if anything at all so it was a marketing excercise

[robmlufc]

trickymex said:

Erm...the engine was never a Nissan product. It's an engine designed, built and developed by AER and all the electronics including the direct injection ECU and associated components were made by life racing. AER are one and the same in fact. The new Mazda engine will be the same engine with a new badge no doubt or they could refer to the older AER designed engine that bares a Mazda badge. As far as I can tell nissans technical involvement was minimal if anything at all so it was a marketing excercise

Smaller twin turbo unit.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/alms-panoz-...

With Michelin pulling out as well the science experiment is dead in the water.

[TonyHetherington]

HorneyMX5 said:

Only in it for the publicity then.

As opposed to all the other huge car manufacturers that are in it for the, errr.....

[robmlufc]

TonyHetherington said:

As opposed to all the other huge car manufacturers that are in it for the, errr.....

Winning races?

[masermartin]

I was under the impression that it had been fitted with a Nissan engine once they got involved, but yeah, it does seem like they had a bit of a marketing opportunity, and they are probably about to launch or focus on something that will "compete" in the same sphere as the DeltaWing (although the suits won't allow the DW to compete with anything really).

[trickymex]

robmlufc said:

Smaller twin turbo unit.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/alms-panoz-...

An improved version of this engine at the bottom of the page then

http://www.aerltd.com/products.html

[robmlufc]

trickymex said:

An improved version of this engine at the bottom of the page then

http://www.aerltd.com/products.html

Ah I see! Thanks for that.

[TonyHetherington]

robmlufc said:

TonyHetherington said:

As opposed to all the other huge car manufacturers that are in it for the, errr.....

Winning races?

And why does a car manufacturer want to win races?

[Munter]

Good lord. You all mean a company was involved with motorsport for marketing reasons! It seems so unlikely. Not like Red Bull (stewart GP), or Mercedes (ilmore), or ....

Of course they were in it for the marketing. And by being "in" enabled it to run at LeMans etc. So well done Nissan, and thanks.

[TonyHetherington]

Quite agree

[gdelargy]

No danger of a limited edition Qashqai Deltawing then. Phewww.

[robmlufc]

TonyHetherington said:

And why does a car manufacturer want to win races?

To show people who the daddy is. I would rather watch marketed cars race than billboards simply turn exhibition laps, each to their own though.

[trickymex]

I don't have problem with it at all, I was just reading it and laughing at the fact Nissan seem to be claiming that they are responsible the technical input of this project

Have you read the Q and A? It was just funny for me. we should all realise that without company's like Nissan handing over cash these projects would never happen so I says thanks Nissan

[ArnageWRC]

masermartin said:

I was under the impression that it had been fitted with a Nissan engine once they got involved, but yeah, it does seem like they had a bit of a marketing opportunity, and they are probably about to launch or focus on something that will "compete" in the same sphere as the DeltaWing (although the suits won't allow the DW to compete with anything really).

RML built the engine as far as I'm aware (since the Nissan involvement) - Nissan's Darren Cox was on Midweek Motorsport last night, and he thanked all parties, including Michelin, who supplied the tyres. I know AER were involved with the project at the start, when the DW was mooted as the Indycar of the future.


One would hope that Nissan would have a global Motorsport programme - they already supply the majority of the LMP2 field with engines. However, they really need to be in the top class of a series.

[TonyHetherington]

PW said:

An unfair conclusion to jump to.

Panoz clearly wants to develop Deltawing from a one-off curiosity into a regular feature of American prototype racing, and plans to do this by selling the cars to customers.

You can't expect that sort of venture to be funded by Nissan's PR budget, especially when they are configuring the chassis to run any engine the customers want...

So my saying "Nissan can see no longevity in it" remains correct, does it not? That others can see promise is a great thing, and are obviously trying to build it out of the individual car it is now into something more widely used. No bad thing at all. But, as you say, Nissan wouldn't be the people to do that.

[trickymex]

ArnageWRC said:

RML built the engine as far as I'm aware (since the Nissan involvement) - Nissan's Darren Cox was on Midweek Motorsport last night, and he thanked all parties, including Michlin, who supplied the tyres. I know AER were involved with the project at the start, when the DW was mooted as the Indycar of the future.


One would hope that Nissan would have a global Motorsport programme - they already supply the majority of the LMP2 field with engines. However, they really need to be in the top class of a series.

The LMP2 engine is also an AER developed engine