A few images from the Sebring test are posted on Sportscar365. Audi and Nissan were joined by ESM yesterday. The rear wheels on the Nissan look so counter intuitave but if it works, maybe everyone will be running this configuration. PHOTOS: Sebring Tuesday Prototype Testing Gallery - Sportscar365 BHW
The Porsche guy is right, seems foolish to not use the maximum amount of tire allowed in the rules. I can't think of any reason they would do this other than that they can't the right balance otherwise with this car configuration. I don't think this concept will work, but hope I'm wrong. On paper the GT-R is too big and heavy to perform but look at what it does.
That's kinda what I figured, but I'm still wondering why they aren't covered. I can understand louvers being over the holes to vent the air, but nothing on them at all? It just looks odd. Not that the car is all that attractive anyway. But it's purpose is to win races, not look good. So long as it gets the job done I guess.
The change was made for two reasons. Rubber and debris can clog vents. Vents can be exploited to not function properly at certain speeds.
Less weight over the rear, the rear is doing less heat. You pick tire width based on heat dissipation and heat build up. Narrower tire = less dissipation and more build up for a given amount of work. Less work, maybe they can get away with it. In a RWD car, the rear tires are working down the entire straight away building heat, being used for braking building heat, and being used in cornering building heat. In this Nissan, as down force builds, the front tires end up doing most of the work, allowing the rear tires to cool. The difference in tire width aerodynamically may pay off against the heat management. This will be an exciting race car to see perform. It harkins of the GB R1 & R2 in its tear drop design when veined from above. Reliability, not lapspeed, will be the Nissan's downfall.
Recalling the days that the wheel wells were ventilated with louvers and a lot of the time, the rubber that the tires threw up was going right through them. Usually by the end of races, there wasn't much left of the louvers. Having seen pieces of rubber the size of footballs flying off P-1 cars, it damages the louvers, which can go flying off and then cut the tires of other cars. So, there is the safety issue as well. At the Sebring SVRA/TransAm race this past weekend, teams were scrambling to get the sealer that the track has put down in the cracks out of their cars. After their first 20 minute session, all of the TransAm cars looked as though they were on the track for three hours or more such as the accumulation of sealer in and on the cars. BHW
And the Toyota flip a few years later at Le Mans. The front engine car is blowing exhaust over the body inside of the wheel arches. But you don't want lift there do you? Strange. I guess it's a response to the Delta Wing fizzle. Any news on that?
Just read that the Nissan has been scratched from testing for the rest of the week with a "carbon issue". Not quite sure what that means but likely a chassis problem that can't be fixed at the track. BHW
While it's completely hideous, IMO, I certainly give NISMO credit for bringing a clean-sheet design to the track. I have some idea of the amount of investment it takes to bring something like this from drafting board to reality, and it's not a small sum. In addition to the design and manufacturing, of course, NISMO has to pay for the racing operations (probably contracted out, but maybe internal) and that's not nothing, either. It will take some time to sort the issues, too, and that will be an expensive (and humbling) process. Good luck to them, but I don't see this as being a class-winner. CW
Now on Jalopnik. Rather surprising how open Nissan were allowing photographers to crawl all over the car in the Sebring paddock this week especially given that it's a brand new car and barely broken cover. Audi on the other hand were bivouacked on the far side of the circuit with their compound set up on the test track pit lane with an HVACed marquis tent serving as their garage, it may be assured no cameras were allowed. In any case, the Nissan rear suspension is an interesting case study. They're making as much room as they can for this flow-through tunnel. A Closer Look At The Nissan LMP1's Incomprehensible Rear Suspension BHW
Nissan has announced that they're skipping the first two WEC rounds at Silverstone and Spa and so their first race will be at Le Mans. Must fill the drivers with huge confidence. Nissan to skip first two races of 2015 WEC | WEC news | Motorsport.com http://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/nissan-regroups-ctivates-plan-b-for-radical-lmp1-racer BHW
