Photo: Nissan
Next month in the American Petit Le Mans Series race, Lucas Ordonez will drive the Nissan DeltaWing, a fighter jet-style racer looking to log impressive lap times not through sheer power, but with fuel efficiency and a light curb weight.
The DeltaWing appeared three months ago at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but six hours in, the Nissan made contact with another racer. Driver Satoshi Motoyama tried to repair the damage by the side of the Le Mans circuit for 90 minutes before surrendering and leaving the race.
Had it not met its unfortunate demise, the DeltaWing was on track to meet some impressive goals. In 24 hours of driving, a standard LMP2 car at Le Mans chugs about 2,350 liters of fuel and burns through nine sets of tires. The DeltaWing is designed to use half the fuel and half the rubber of its competitors, which means less time in the pits, and in turn, shorter lap times.
The DeltaWing is a joint project between former Lola design chief Ben Bowlby and Chip Ganassi Racing. Nissan signed on earlier this year and now supplies the 1.6 liter DIG-T (Direct Injection Gasoline – Turbocharged) engine that pumps out 300 horsepower. That doesn't sound like much, but with a curb weight of 1,300 pounds, the thing goes. And goes fast. For shoes, their partnership with Michelin means the car gets bespoke performance tires, including a pair of super-skinny front wheels that let the car turn with ease.
Even the driver is part of the futuristic package. For the 10-hour, 1,000-mile Petit le Mans race, Spaniard Lucas Ordonez will be driving, along with American Le Mans vet Gunnar Jeannette. Ordonez was the winner of Nissan's first GT Academy back in 2008, a competition in which drivers' performance in Gran Turismo (yes, the video game) can win them a chance to race IRL. Besides getting to test the DeltaWing during development, Ordonez made it to the podium in the LMP2 class at Le Mans 24 Hours in 2011.
Angela Watercutter 19 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/-thHRJD5R5M/
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