Le Mans Test: Porsche Throws Down Record Breaking Lap

I think audi will win, but I want to see webber and company get a win. They have the pace but keep breaking down.

Lotterer has got some talent and rode with mr lemans so they can't be counted out.

It's also nice to see some more Americans out there.

 

If memory serves me Audi has won by being the most reliable over being the fastest and you are correct RobG in saying that "Mr. LeMans" should never be counted out or taken lightly.

 

Hello, not knowing about this. I thought the Delta was always tied to Nissan, school me please. Thanks Norm

 

"Nissan's NISMO division provided the engine in return for naming rights for part of 2012."

?Panoz Publicly Calls Out Nissan For Stealing DeltaWing Design

 

Hello Hmm, one of the comments in the link referenced:


the Lawsuit, in my opinion, is tough. It IS Ben Bowlby's design after all. only after it was rejected as the new IndyCar chassis did Bowlby get in touch with Panoz and later, got invited as the inaugural Garage 56 entry in the 24 Hours of LeMans race. Using Panoz' connections got Michelin involved to create small front tires, and Nissan jumped on board to provide power.

Because it is Ben Bowlby's design, he should be free to do whatever he pleases. The powertrain and the rest of the original deal remained with the Deltawing currently in the TUDOR series. I guess Nissan offered him a job, and he took it, using HIS design, with a different powertrain and tire manufacturer than the DeltaWing. Whatever trade secrets there were, likely went with Bowlby to Nissan. If I worked in a nuclear program and was laid off, but hired by another company, anything I learned would be used at my new job, wouldn't it? The same COULD be said about Bowlby and Nissan.

If I recall right, The original Panoz and DeltaWing deal was for to get to LeMans, and there didn't seem to be any further plans after that race in 2012. But Don Panoz owned Road Atlanta, and allowed the DeltaWing to race in that year's Petit LeMans. After the season ended, most of the team dissolved.

 

Actually Norm Mr. Bowlby was the Ganassi Racing Technical Director at the time of the Delta Wing's design and I highly doubt Chip would not retain said rights to designs under his stewardship but then again I could be wrong, interesting and enlightening conversation though.
deltawing - History

 

Why would any entity want to be associated with the DW? It is an embarrassment, and looks like a massive cock! Ever race it either causes an accident due to it's odd proportions or just breaks. I appreciate those that thought outside the box..but clearly it is a flawed design.

 

Is your "johnson" aerodynamically "flawed"???

Innovation sometimes does not always become the next big thing. One must look back to the Chaparrals of Jim Hall to realize that even the best ideas can go south real fast. The success of his cars came with failures also. When the first wing was placed on a Chaparral it was attached directly to the rear uprights. In testing the car the uprights broke under the tremendous pressure from the wing. It damn near killed Mr Hall. As we now know, you attach the wing to the "sprung" part of the chassis. Lessons learned the hard way but we moved forward because of it. Delta Wing may not be the final design, nor the answer.....but it needs to race. Good or bad...we learn from it.

 

Pioneer's are often thought of as being @ss backwards but having the egg's to "put up or shut up" means a lot to some people.

No comment.

Incorrect. The incident percentage of the DW was not the car nor the DW drivers fault as passing another vehicle is an execution in patience/timing.

 

I am all for innovation. It is the reason I have given up on F1 and Indycar. I love where we are with the LMP class these days. But...the DW has been running in one form or another since 2012. It has yet to have any real success, and has opted out of events where they realized it just wouldn't work. At some point, you have to say it is a good idea on paper, but not reality.

I guess you can look at in different ways..on one hand it is the job of the passing driver to be sure they have cleared the car they are passing... On the other hand.. it seems like a design flaw where faster drivers continually have trouble judging where the front of the car is and keep running into it. You can blame others for the incidents, but in racing, to finish first, first you must finish.

 

Actually, the Delta Wing has been quite fast at Road America, Road Atlanta, & Daytona. Each of these tracks is fast and has decent straights, and that has rewarded the low drag concept. In slow corners the DW is not so great. It has finished the Petite twice in the top 5, but of late its transmission has mimicked being made of Swiss cheese.

 

An excellent article in this month's Automobile magazine details how Nissan is trying steal the design.
Some highlights:

Bowlby's(at the time a Ganassi employee)design originally funded by Chip Ganassi

When Indycar chose a more conventional design, Ganassi backed away and Panoz became the benefactor.

Panoz used his connections with ACO to secure an experimental spot for the car at LeMans

Once accepted, they began to look for a major manufacturer to supply the engine and sponsorship

Dan Gurney and AAR built the car.

Turned down by Chevy and Mazda, Nissan indicated mild interest that blossomed when the car did as advertised during testing.

Once it began to draw attention and demonstrated speed and economy, Nissan aggressively associated itself with the project.

Ironically, despite the massive NISSAN lettering on the side, the only Nissan part was a fuel injection throttle body. The actual engine was a Chevrolet supplied by Mallock.

Once proof of concept was sound, Nissan hired Bowlby as Director of Motorsport Innovation.
And announced their revolutionary ZEOD RC(that looked nearly identical to the Delta Wing.

Nissan also weaseled out of paying their promised 2 million sponsorship, brought out a street legal version concept(again similar to Panoz's plans), was caught in a number of questionable decisions and attempts at hiding their nonsense.

The battle is now in the courts.

So, yes, I hope the Nissan effort fails miserably.

 

Yep the narrow front wheel base, thus grip, is clearly a huge issue but the car is fast and the design has hope. I like underdogs.

Carlos has "shifty eye's" and has always remained on the "suspect" list.


Ponzi???

 

Hello, always loved the DW concept and still think its a good design, didnt know it came with this drama though. Thanks guys

 

Nor did I.

 

what are the expected top speeds this year ?

 

Nissan is not without criticism here, but the GT-R LM is a new design under Bowlby.

Reminds me a little of Honda's beef with Ducati's single sided swing arm on the 916. Ducati won the infringement case in court IIRC. My understanding is the other teams in the MotoGP paddock still refer to Ducati as "pirates".

 

The 956 was pulling 240 MPH down the Mulsanne in the 80's Not much has changed in 30 years!

 

Except for the fact that until the 1989 race included they had a 5km straight whereas from 1990 onwards there were two chicanes built to cut down speeds.

The fasted speed was 405 or 407 by a WM Peugeot in practice in 1988 if I recall correctly.

As a teen and in my early 20's I used to go where you weren't supposed to along the Hunaudieres (real name of the Mulsanne straight) which is a no go zone for the public and in 1989 with the Mercedes at almost 400kph (250mph) I remember not wanting to stand right behind the guardrail but behind a few rows of trees

The first section of the Hunaudieres is still plenty long and when I did Le Mans Classic in 2008 in a car topping 275kph you had the time to...wait and wait. The section from Mulsanne to Indianapolis corner is very fast too...

Best regards,

Marc

PS: I'd really like to see Mark Webber win, if the Porker will have an untroubled run, this time.

 

Yes Marc,That takes me back,in the mid sixtes,as a 20 year old,we could wander from our campsite to the edge of the straight (thurs-fri) and sit down on the side of the tarmac as GT40s and Ferraris hurtled past during pre race practice. Not an official in site. Indeed,I remenber once,when the road was clear,we wandered across to a cafe for a beer or two !!

 

You come to Fchat and didn't expect drama? You must be a newbie!

As for you.....you should know better!

 

That third step is a doozy ie "I taste floor".

 

Actually, it was in the race itself. Here's what Wikipedia says about it:

"In 1988, Team WM Peugeot knew they had no chance of winning the 24-hour endurance race, but they also knew that their Welter Racing-designed car had very good aerodynamics. Thus they nicknamed their 1988 entry 'Project 400' (aiming to be the first car to achieve a speed of 400 km/h on the famous straight), although the official team entry was named WM Secateva. Roger Dorchy, Claude Haldi and Jean-Daniel Raulet would be the three drivers that year.

Three hours into the race the team decided to go for it. The air intakes for the Peugeot 2.8L V6 turbo charged PRV engine were covered with duct tape to improve aerodynamics, and they also equipped the car with special narrow Michelin tires. The plan worked: with Roger Dorchy behind the wheel the WM P87 achieved the speed of 405 km/h (251.1 mph).

Taping over the air intakes obviously impeded engine cooling and the Peugeot retired shortly after that (on lap 59) with an overheating engine. By then it had outlasted two other Group C1 entrants."

 

The Greenwood SuperVette ran over 220MPH in 1976 and had the highest top speed of any car(including prototypes) that year. It still remains the fastest car ever on the Daytona banking at just under 240.