Highcroft's Deltawing *Update: granted ALMS 2013 full entry! *

  • Thread starter Hun200kmh
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Not Delta-shaped no. That kind of closed cockpit, squarely planted, massively front-engined car is more reminiscent of this:

panozesperantegtr1autoa.jpg



But not the DeltaWing. The only thing familiar with it is this:

537058042.jpg


;)
 
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The more I hear and see about this car the more I get excited for it! Would love to see this as a GT5 DLC. I'm dying to know what it's like to drive.
 
Highcroft tweeted a while ago this:

Highcroft Racing
Highcroft Racing ‏ @highcroftracing
Ready for the first run of the NIssan #DetlaWing at 12:30pm today at Sebring. http://ow.ly/i/vHJM #lm24
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If my calculations are correct, 12:30PM at Sebring are equivalent to 18:30PM GMT, right?
 
LancerEvo7
It should have happened 8 hours ago.
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Based on Hun's post, I interpreted it as meaning the test would take place on the 16th, and not the 15th. If it had already happened, we would probably have plenty of photos and videos and anyalsis to sift through by now.
 
Neither, it just did a couple of demonstration laps. The serious testing will continue next week.

The ACO has an official video that is so lame that I find it hardly worthy of posting, but since it's the first available ... here goes:

Edit:Video posted by Patrick, one post above

Much more interesting, but only if you understand french, is the interview with the ACO Sporting Director. Basically he congratulates the DeltaWing builders and promoters for reaching this far, but he is also clear in saying that the car is not yet cleared to enter the LM 24 because:

a) Crash tests acccording to FIA rules still have to be passed;
b) 4 demo laps aren't 24 hours and therefore it is not clear yet if the car is ready for an endurance event;
c) There is a performance target the car must achieve (part of the deal between the ACO and them) in order to be able to "mingle" with the other competitors and it is not clear yet where we stand in that regard.

Here, for those that understand french



EDIT: Tree'd by Patrick on the 1st video, I'm taking it off :dopey:
 
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Should pass crash tests. As to whether it can make the lap times... Eek... I hope it does.
 
There are a couple of Podcasts on the Radio Le Mans site about this.

http://www.radiolemans.com/

One is the official launch and the other is interviews.

The team is estimating a 3:45 lap time around Le Mans as requested by the ACO.
 
Not minimum. It's the lap time the ACO want them to do. Not faster, not slower.

With the changes to the rules this year they think that should put them between LMP1 and LMP2 but we all know how accurate ACO estimates on lap-times are though!!
 
Tired Tyres
Not minimum. It's the lap time the ACO want them to do. Not faster, not slower.

With the changes to the rules this year they think that should put them between LMP1 and LMP2 but we all know how accurate ACO estimates on lap-times are though!!
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I also don't trust their trap speed data. At Le Mans 2008, when the 908 did a 3:18 I really doubt it topped out at 207 mph.
 
Sebring testing continues to a 3rd day. Interesting contrast on track. No word on laptimes though ... this image is Highcroft's, got it from their twitter feed.

deltaaudi.jpg
 
Another official video has just been posted. Nothing excitingly new, but here and there bits of interesting info.

 
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The guys keep testing at Sebring (not only Highcroft but Audi too) and just got lucky, today they were graced with rain and a wet track.

A most needed bonus especially for Michelin / Highcroft, considering every test is about a new thing or piece. In this case, intermediate and wet versions of the DeltaWing's front and rear tyres. If you consider the odds of a few wet hours at Le Mans, I guess they're feeling lucky today.

deltawet.jpg



^^^^ Picture above published about 10 minutes ago by Highcroft in their twitter feed. With this text:

Highcroft Racing
@highcroftracing
Testing continues at Sebring today with @MFranchitti behind the wheel of the #Nissan #DetlaWing in the wet http://ow.ly/i/wBYL #lm24
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That's the best angle shot I've ever seen 👍

Would love to know the test results as soon as they're out, I hope they can match the pace of the LMP2 cars at least :) LMP1+ pace would be even better :D
 
Sier_Pinski
I don't know why the rear wheels are not covered on the top. Wouldn't that bring a slight aerodynamic disadvantage?
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Evidently not. The entire car was designed to have the smallest drag co-efficient possible. If having bodywork over the rear wheels raised the co-efficient, then the DeltaWing would not have bodywork over the wheels.

Besides, it makes sense to have bodywork there. The face of a tyre is square, which makes it very inefficient aerodynamically. But by placing bodwork over the rear wheels, the designers of the DeltaWing can make air flow over that part of the car more efficiently. Which is the entire point of the car.
 
Sier_Pinski
I don't know why the rear wheels are not covered on the top. Wouldn't that bring a slight aerodynamic disadvantage?
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It could be to avoid issues with high pressure air getting caught in the wheel wells. This is why cars sometimes have vents or louvers over the wheels. They could also be trying to use the wheel to generate some downforce (cylindrical wings can make a plane fly, it's called Magnus effect), or generate turbulence to reduce flow separation at the rear of the car (I'm kind of iffy on this, as by my rough estimation the Reynolds numbers at the rear wheels is about 1,000,000 at 100 mph, and nearly 800,000 at 80, meaning that the flow would probably be turbulent over most of the high speed range even if the wheels were closed. There could be some very specific kind of flow that I don't know about that they're aiming for however).

I'm not sure if these are the reasons for it, but I think they're feasible.
 
Might be something to do with the testing, the R18 running with it has bigger holes that it normally does too.
 

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