Revolutionary Lemans Race Car

wheelbender6

wheelbender6

Well-Known Member
Races are won in the corners, right? Nissan is betting that Le Mans can be won on the straights with a low drag, front wheel drive race car. Nissan says the long straights at LeMans give their front wheel drive an advantage.
The Peugeot diesel beat the heavily favored Audi TDI at Le Mans a few years back with a car geared for top speed on the straights rather than acceleration out of the corners. More info at the link.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthew...ssan-gt-lm-nismo-race-car-has-road-car-roots/
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Nissan seems to have been reading their history books. I remember reading that the first CV-joint-style front wheel drive car, the 1926 Tracta, was used rather successfully in racing. And weren't some of the Millers front wheel drive also? I think we could see some interesting developments from this trial.
 
That's one race that I would like to see!! I did see the Lemans cars run at Sears Point/Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA many years ago.
 
Well, the Nissan fwd endurance racers had a disappointing debut at Le Mans, according to autoblog.com. "Nissan experienced all the pain of a first-year effort with its front-wheel-drive GT-R LM Nismo. The three car effort was consistently 20 seconds slower than the leaders, and cascading problems kept the cars in and out of the garage."
-One the positive side, the Porsche Hybrids took the top two overall spots, with the Audi TDI finishing third. Looks like fuel efficient cars still dominate endurance racing.
 
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