Nissan Deltawing

The Nissan Deltawing has acquitted itself well this year. Powered by a turbocharged, direct-injection four-cylinder Nissan engine producing about 300 horsepower, it has comparable straightline speed to other cars with twice the power since its narrow profile has about half the frontal area. Despite having been crashed out of the 24 Hours of Le Mans by another car and retiring after just 75 laps, the Highcroft Racing team came back strongly in the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Even though it tangled with yet another car in practice, the team was able to rebuild the car and get it into the top ten in qualifying. In the race it had to start from the back of the 42 car field since it was an unclassified experimental vehicle. Nevertheless, it went the full 1,000 mile race distance and finished 5th overall in only its second race outing. That it has half the weight, half the drag and half the power of the leading cars is quite a testament to the design and the team. I'm impressed, even if the look has yet to grow on me, and even more excited about the innovations this car will inspire.