World Endurance Championship

What next for the DeltaWing?

  • This topic has 40 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 11 years ago by BenH.
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  • #131548
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    Unless you’ve been living under a rock of late, you will know as well as I do that one of the big interest stories at Le Mans this year was the Nissan DeltaWing. And while its appearance was cruelly cut short to just seventy-five laps, the level of attention it garnered makes me wonder what the future holds for the DeltaWing. It was given a one-off entry to Le Mans this year, but next year, Garage 56 will be occupied by the GreenGT, and the 2014 Le Mans regulations don’t really allow for designs like the DeltaWing. Nevertheless, I don’t think it deserves to simply be parked.

    So what should happen with the DeltaWing? Should it expand out to a series of its own? Should the rules of an existing series be tweaked to allow it to run? Or should it serve as the inspiration for an entire category, where experimental designs are not simply encouraged, but mandatory?

    #203809
    Bullfrog
    Participant

    I think they should invite it to some WEC rounds this year, like Silverstone and the Japanese one. It’ll generate some interest in those races.

    But it could do with something to race against – a lightweight or experimental class in one of the Le Mans series? Maybe the ACO could expand the Le Mans Garage 56 concept into a mini-class of 3 or 4. After all, GreenGT and some other electric project were reserves this year. And if that keeps a few wandering Ferraris out of the race, even better…

    #203810
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    I think they could make something of an entire series out of it, promoting radical designs and brand-new technologies with virtually no rules except the maximum dimensions of the car, inlet restrictor, a standarised cockpit and a budget cap for development. But it needs a new name – “Garage 56” doesn’t sound right. Maybe the XLMS, or Experimental Le Mans Series.

    #203811
    zomtec
    Participant

    If Garage 56 doesn´t sound right, how about Area 51?

    #203812
    john
    Participant

    When I first saw the DeltaWing there was one at an Indycar race as a possible option for that series. I would love to see it be used in F1 in the future, it certainly deserves a permanent position in motorsport today.

    #203813
    Calum
    Participant

    I was so sad to see it hurtle towards ths barrier at LM, it would be pretty good if it got invited to another WEC event, it was popular with fans and it didn’t deserve to get punted when it tried to get out of the way of the Toyota. I would be delighted for them if it got invited to Nissan’s home race, the Fuji round of WEC.

    #203814
    matt90
    Participant

    I can’t think what place it has. An experimental series could be very costly, and the difficulty would be promoting actual innovation and not focusing on a win-at-all costs mentality, otherwise all the designs will converge to what is quickest in order to win.

    #203815
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Spec series!

    #203816
    Lin1876
    Participant

    Like many people I would like to see it get another shot in a WEC event so we can see the true pace of the car against the rest of them. Would also be good to see how the idea fares outwith Le Mans and on a more traditional track like Silverstone or Fuji.

    Into the future, a spec series would probably be the only real option, or it might have to remain as a one-hit wonder whose legacy goes into future motorsports development, which was, after all, is the team’s aim.

    #203817
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    I’ve heard talk that it could appear at Petit Le Mans later this year, run in ALMS from 2013, and/or replace the Oreca FLM09 as the spec chassis for the Le Mans Prototype Challenge.

    #203818
    GeeMac
    Participant

    That’s probbably the best option, it could replace the LMPC Oreca. The LMPC class, even when it was the old “Formula Le Mans” Class, seems a bit unecessary to me. The cars resemble LMP2 cars and with a strong turn out in LMP1 and LMP2 I’m not sure a third prototype class is necessary. The performance difference needed to justify a third tier of prototype would probably make the third tier slower than the GT Pro’s….so what exactly is the point.

    Having the Deltawing slot in there, with freedom as to the engines the teams running the chassis can use (seeing as the Deltawing isn’t a Nissan project, just a project which uses Nissan power) between the LMP’s and the GT’s makes sense to me. It is also a cool looking thing, it looked good out on the track and added something different to the race.

    #203819
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    Having the Deltawing slot in there, with freedom as to the engines the teams running the chassis can use (seeing as the Deltawing isn’t a Nissan project, just a project which uses Nissan power) between the LMP’s and the GT’s makes sense to me. It is also a cool looking thing, it looked good out on the track and added something different to the race.

    It would tie in nicely with engine regulations that would allow the 2014 Formula 1 engines to be used in Le Mans cars. And it might even lower the price of an engine package if there are more teams buying engines.

    #203820
    Mads
    Participant

    I don’t think it has proven enough to be considered for anything like a new series.
    It didn’t seem that fast if you consider that it is just 150 hp short of the GTE pro cars, but less then half the weight and a lower CoG.
    Is it really better? I don’t think it is. It seems like they made something different for the sake of being different, not because it was really better.
    It is more efficient, but making a car shaped like that wont work in the car industry anyway.
    It was fun while it lasted, and a few more entries in WEC wouldn’t be a bad idea, but I don’t think it deserves anything beyond that.

    #203821
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    I don’t think it has proven enough to be considered for anything like a new series.

    I disagree. I think that, at the very least, its Le Mans performance warrants a little bit more development time. Maybe if they re-launched it in 2014 as a replacement for the Oreca FLM09.

    #203822
    matt90
    Participant

    I’m thinking along the same lines as @Mads. It is interesting, but unless it competes as part of an experimental series I don’t see a place for it. I don’t see any basis in it becoming a spec chassis unless Nissan did it as a completely separate spec-series off their own back.

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