Vehicles Blog

Updates from March, 2012

• LONDON • Nissan says it is aiming to change the face of endurance racing by becoming a founding partner in the most radical motorsport project of its time — the  Nissan DeltaWing. The ground-breaking car was unveilled to the world’s media on Wednesday in London, supported by the full Nissan DeltaWing team.

  The streamlined car is unlike any other racing car currently on the track. The driver sits well back in the car, almost over the rear axle, and looks along a long, narrow fuselage to narrow twin front tires. With a rear-mounted engine, the car has a strong rearward weight bias, which makes it highly manoeuvrable, while its light weight and slippery shape make it far more efficient.

  Its innovative design and technology has encouraged the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), the organizers of the Le Mans 24 Hours, to invite the car to run in this year’s race from “Garage 56,” the spot in the pitlane reserved for experimental cars. As it doesn’t conform to any existing championship regulations, the DeltaWing will not be eligible to compete for trophies and will carry the race number 0.

  While the DeltaWing will not be classified for the race, the company is looking to showcase the pioneering technology that will show one potential direction for the future of motorsport and will feed into the research and development of future technologies, which might filter down to Nissan’s road car product range.

  Related

  • Toyota Racing unveils hybrid Le Mans challenger

  • Porsche to contest Le Mans with new prototype race car

  A race-prepared 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine, featuring direct gasoline injection and a turbocharger, will power the DeltaWing, which is half the weight and has half the aerodynamic drag of a conventional race car. The engine, badged DIG-T (Direct Injection Gasoline – Turbocharged), is expected to produce around 300 horsepower, sufficient to give the car lap times between LMP1 and LMP2 machines at Le Mans, despite having only half the power of those conventional prototypes.

  Nissan was invited to participate by the existing group of core partners — designer Ben Bowlby, American motorsport entrepreneur Don Panoz, the All-American Racers organization of former U.S. Formula One driver Dan Gurney, Duncan Dayton’s two-time championship-winning Highcroft Racing team and Michelin Tires North America.

  The first two DeltaWing drivers to be confirmed include British Sportscar competitor Marino Franchitti and Nissan’s reigning FIA GT1 World Champion Michael Krumm. The car is scheduled to make its first public demonstration laps at Sebring, Fla., at 12:30 p.m. local time on Thursday, March 15.

  
  

  

  
  1:00 pm on March 13, 2012
   

• Toyota Racing today announced more details of its forthcoming FIA World Endurance Championship participation, including an intention to race two hybrid-powered cars in specific races.

  Related

  • Porsche to contest Le Mans with new prototype race car

  The new team, which is based at Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) in Cologne, Germany, will make its race debut May 5 in the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Toyota Racing also intends to enter two TS030 Hybrid cars at the Le Mans 24 Hours June 16-17. Participation in further rounds is yet to be confirmed.

  A driver lineup of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima has already been confirmed for one car while discussions are still ongoing to finalize the driver lineup for the other.

  The TS030 Hybrid is Toyota’s successor to the TS010 and TS020 cars that participated at Le Mans with some success during the 1990s,  TS being an acronym for ToyotaSport.

  Toyota says it is the first manufacturer to confirm its participation in the FIA World Endurance Championship using a hybrid system. The THS-R (Toyota Hybrid System – Racing) powertrain and features a new 3.4-litre V8 gasoline engine and hybrid system with capacitor storage developed by official team partner Nisshinbo.

  The team will use the TS030 Hybrid’s first test to evaluate the front motor and rear motor system within current race regulations. Those regulations limit hybrid systems to recovering a maximum of 500 kilo-Joules between braking zones while restricting deployment to only two wheels.

  Toyota first competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 1983. The automaker’s race cars have raced in 13 Le Mans 24 Hours races, finishing second three times.

  
  

  

  
  3:25 pm on January 24, 2012
   

• LONDON • A vintage British racing car at the centre of motorsport’s most deadly accident sold for a record-breaking £843,000 ($1,341,000) at a British auction on Thursday.

  The 1953 Austin-Healey 100 Special Test Car, which had been left untouched in an English barn for 42 years, was involved in the 1955 Le Mans disaster that claimed the lives of French driver Pierre Levegh and 83 spectators.

  “This is a fantastic result for the Austin-Healey and a world record for any car of this make at auction,” a spokeswoman for the Bonhams auction house said.

  “Everyone is delighted,” she added. “The auction went on for about 10 minutes and there was a tense, excited and hushed atmosphere in the room as four bidders competed for the car. We had bidders in the room and over the phone, but the car finally went to a private buyer who was in the room.”

  The car, which was driven by Englishman Lance Macklin during the ill-fated 1955 race, was shunted by Levegh’s vehicle, which then exploded into the crowd.

  The auctioned vehicle, which also competed in the 1953 24-hour race, was impounded by French authorities after the accident before being released back to the Donald Healey Motor Company 18 months later.
  It was then repaired and restored before being bought by Thursday’s seller in 1969.

  The car remained unrestored in the owner’s barn until it was brought to auction.

  
  

  

  
  8:00 am on December 3, 2011