Nissan LMP1

[Easy]

I thought the decision to go with the engine in front of the cockpit was.. questionable. Marshall Pruett's article about this design suggests it could be brilliant.

http://www.racer.com/wec-le-mans/item/113077-pruett-inside-the-nissan-gt-r-lm-nismo-lmp1-program#!Nissan_GT_R_LM_NISMO_LMP1_by_Marshall_Pru ett_6

If this wins, does Ben Bowlby enter the pantheon of the greatest race car designers of all time?

[opinionated ow]

Why has it got a penis?

[cameraman]

This was in that ad during the Super Bowl.

Front engine, front wheel drive LMP1

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B80ay5sCEAA2sy2.jpg

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B80b2NVCYAE34zn.jpg

Why?

[gjc2]

I like the idea of a front engine prototype, but not with front wheel drive.

Do you remember the front engine car Panoz entered in LeMans years ago (1998 I think)?

[G.]

Why has it got a penis?

Looks more like the little man in the canoe, but hey - everyone's physiology is different. ;)



(It's for the engine O2. Radiators to the sides of the nub.)

[Gnam]

Good article.

I liked the part where the Nissan PR guy was talking about being totally open about the cars' design and technical specifications, but Bowlby wouldn't tell Pruett how much the transmission weighed. Guess he didn't get the memo. ;)

It will be another Delta Wing: interesting, potential for speed, mostly broken.

I'd like to see a picture of the rear gearboxes.

[cameraman]

Unless they have somehow rewritten the laws of thermodynamics that cockpit will be a freaking oven because air scoops cause a ton of drag.

[nrc]

Just when you thought racing couldn't get any uglier... :rolleyes:

Oh, and those mirrors will never work.

[nrc]

Merged threads. Prototypes fall into the sports car forum.

[chop456]

It will be another Delta Wing: interesting, potential for speed, mostly broken.

I'd like to see a picture of the rear gearboxes.

Yep. The gearbox tends to be a weak point. How to improve that? Incorporate two more.

[opinionated ow]

Looks more like the little man in the canoe, but hey - everyone's physiology is different. ;)



(It's for the engine O2. Radiators to the sides of the nub.)

It kind of looks like a fat bloke lying feet first on wheels hence the obvious appendage ;)

[NismoZ]

LONG before that Panoz, right in the middle of the rear-engine revolution a guy named Bill Thomas came up with a MID-engine design, driver- behind, the Cheetah. It was all about weight distribution. Funny looking, reasonably successful but unable to stop the engine-behind movement. Ralph Salyar was a guy who had some success with the car, won the June Sprints in '64 (?)...also watched him clean up in SCCA Nationals, AP at Meadowdale in a Corvette. Very aggressive driver. How 'bout that...a new P1 car reminds me of the 1960s!?:D

[NismoZ]

If you want...you can see the Cheetah at www.cheetahcars.com Just click on pictures. The Cro Sal car and the red # 64 Clusserath cars were the two I saw race most often...at RA. Geez, almost forgot the driver actually sat partially BETWEEN the rear wheels. Also remember DREADING a possible rear-end wreck!