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Nissan Deltawing set for 24 Hours of Le Mans
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The Nissan Deltawing isn't just a fancy looking race car - it could very well define the future shape of endurance racing machines around the world. So what if it looks like a 90s Batmobile?
The world of motorsports is reinventing itself. Environmental concerns and depleting fuel reserves have constantly induced pressure on the racing fraternity to not only make racing machines cleaner, but also more frugal and in some situations, completely run on alternative power sources. And then there’s been the rising concern of investments going overboard to go faster and faster without much of the technology seeping down to actual road cars. It seems now that the time has come for motorsport to reinvent itself and while hybrid technology is slowly but surely taking over not only in F1 but also majorly in endurance racing, it clearly isn’t enough.
What is required is a fresh start from a clean slate and that’s exactly what the Deltawing project brings to the table. Originally the brainchild of former Lola design chief Ben Bowlby and Chip Ganassi Racing, the Deltawing was supposed to be the future of the IndyCar series. The American racing series though, thought that the Deltawing was too radical in its approach and stuck to a rehashed version of the current Dallara chassis that IndyCar has been using for years now. Sometimes radical is necessary and with IndyCar out of the picture, the Deltawing’s future was hanging by a thread.
But that was until Bowlby’s team supported by none other than Dan Gurney and Don Panoz kept the project alive and got some very important partnerships on board. Of course, the involvement of Michelin to develop the car’s tyres was an important impetus to the Deltawing but even more crucial has been Nissan’s contribution to the car. The Deltawing houses the Japanese car maker’s DIG-T (Direct Injection Gasoline – Turbocharged) engine straight out from the top-of-the-line Juke, right behind the driver.
While the 1.6-litre, inline-four mill is good for 180 horses on the Juke, racing trim has boosted its output up to 300 horsepower. Yes, that’s a pretty weird car to be sourcing a racing engine from and yes, that isn’t too many horses on tap either, but the Nissan Deltawing has another very crucial element that should theoretically see it beat the pants off most modern race cars.
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