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.

DeltaWing Race Car Debut

The DeltaWing race car's appearance contradicts a lot of commonly accepted race car design principles. Because it is so extreme, this car is either ahead of its time or a technical dead-end. There's no middle ground. I don't know what to make of it yet but the design certainly brings up a number of interesting points.

It was originally proposed as a single-seater for IndyCar competition beginning in 2012. However, IndyCar chose to go with a Dallara design instead.

So the team shifted its focus to racing as an experimental entry in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. The video above is footage from its recently completed shakedown test at Buttonwillow Raceway.

With minimal frontal area and few appendages to disturb airflow, there is no doubt about its ability to reach high straightline speeds with a lot less power than traditional race cars. The principles are sound.

The area in question is its ability to turn. In order for a car to effectively turn the front wheels must have sufficient traction which is a result of tire contact patch area and downward force.

In the video it doesn't sound like it is being driven very hard so it's hard to judge. At 0:49 there's just a hint the tires (presumably the fronts) start squealing at what appears to be a pretty moderate pace. That would be a possible indicator of understeer.

With each front tire a mere 4" wide, spaced very closely together and most of the car's weight on the rear axle (weight distribution has not been revealed) it seems the car needs a tremendous amount of front end aerodynamic downforce to prevent understeer and the risk of "wheelies". Tire wear could also be a concern since a lot is asked of them.

The car essentially has half the weight and power but almost ¾ of the tire footprint of its competitors. But on thing is for sure. It's not lacking in its backing.

A number of highly respected names have lent their support to the project including Dan Gurney, Don Panoz, Highcroft Racing, Nissan and Michelin. Whatever the outcome at La Sarthe they should be applauded for pioneering such a radical concept.

The Next Big Thing Is About 1.4 Liters

Future engines are getting downsized for cost and environmental reasons. But due to increasing efficiency, there shouldn’t be much if any reduction in performance. Why do with 5 what you can do with 3? Classic engineering progress.

According to this month’s AEI (Automotive Engineering International), Nissan, Chrysler, VW, GM and a number of other automakers will be releasing engines in the 1.4 liter range. These will supplant current engines in the 2.4 liter range, and will feature a variety of efficiency enhancing features such as Direct Injection and turbocharging.

Coupled with more efficient CVT or dual clutch transmissions, or with just more speeds these powertrains will find their way into vehicles expected to return over 40 mpg, in an effort to raise each manufacturer’s fleet average fuel economy above the nominal 2016 CAFE target of 35.5 mpg.

Nissan To Introduce EV In 2010?

This would be quite an accomplishment if Nissan can introduce an EV next year that is price competitive with conventional vehicles in that segment. I'm curious what kind of range (supposedly 100+ miles) and functionality it will have, and how widely available it will be; probably Southern California and possibly only for fleets at first.

Click here for AutoblogGreen's article.