[LM24] Nissan return to Le Mans (G56)

[JoestForEver]

3.5L V6? No way.....it's the 1.5 3 cylinder turbo right?

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by JoestForEver

3.5L V6? No way.....it's the 1.5 3 cylinder turbo right?

Nope, it is indeed the 3.5L V6.... in the Infiniti M35 Hybrid, as per the link and diagram.

[hcl123]

Nissan engine for the ZEOD RC (garage 56) will be a 1.5L 3 cylinder turbocharged 400 hp miserable 380Nm torque "petrol" engine

http://www.gizmag.com/nissan-zeod-rc-engine/30611/

Suppose they pretend to overcame the *BIG* deficits of the engine with the hybrid part... and those technologies was what i pretended to point in the previous post (many engines can adopt the same techs).

[Simmi]

Something I was thinking the other day when Nissan confirmed Wolfgang Reip in the Zeod.

Let's say Nissan do step up to the big show in 2015 - who the heck do they put in their cars?

Teams like Porsche and Audi have a pool of drivers they can pick from. Nissan do too, but so few of them have any top-line P1 experience.

I figured they'd like (in an ideal world) to have at least one GT Academy driver in the car. With the top candidate (Jann Mardenborough) moving deeper into single seaters I'm not sure how it will pan out. Has Ordonez got the ability?

Has a guy like Michael Krumm still got the pace? Who else is suitable in their Super GT ranks? It strikes me they'd need to delve into the driver market - but with Porsche likely to extend to a third car next year and maybe Toyota too - it's an interesting thought.

[JoestForEver]

Probably borrowing drivers from Red Bull Infinity or Toro Rosso?

[Simmi]

While I don't know how realistic that is in a lot of cases - it does make me wonder whether Buemi might suddenly have a conflict of interest?

He's done stuff with Nissan before recently...

[Gingers4Justice]

Excellent point Simmi. Once we hit four manufacturers, others wanting to join the WEC could really struggle to find the right drivers.

I think it goes without saying that Nissan would put at least one GT Academy Graduate in one of the cars, even if they're slightly off the pace.

So other than one or two of those, they're going to need an entirely new roster of drivers. As for LMP1 experience? Not sure if that's the be-all and end-all at the moment. The new rules have hit the reset button for one thing, and there's a lot of a newcomers coming into the fray. Much of the old generation is being phased out, replaced with the younger guys, many of whom seem to be taking the P1 route intentionally rather than through missing out on other series.

Nissan's star drivers are probably still knocking about in the junior formulae or in LMP2. I wouldn't say Mardenborough is out of it at all.

[Simmi]

I think so much depends on how Jann gets on this year in GP3. If he flies then he could get snapped up and be done with sportscars for the foreseeable future.

I'm interested to see whether he'll race at LM this year or not.

One guy I think Nissan are grooming is Alex Brundle. Bringing him into the Muscle Milk fold for Daytona was quite telling. Oliver Turvey has also been racing with Nissan power.

Anyone know who the official Nissan partner teams are in the WEC this year? G-Drive again?

[TF110]

Nissan has plenty of SuperGT drivers as well. Theyre mighty fast as well, so they should have no trouble.

[gwyllion]

According to http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112789 the Nissan ZEOD will start track testing at Snetterton next week.

[PascaLM]

For Endurance-Info, Darren Cox confirmed 400 hp for the engine and 330 hp for the electric propulsion, with a total weight of 700 kg, including the pilot and 100 kg of batteries.
The engine and the electric motor never work in the same time. But they use the same transmission. The gearbox is used by both of them.
No confirmation is given about the engine itself (R4 or V6).
One of the aims is to do a complete a lap on the electric propulsion only.
"At Le Mans, going till the end should be a miracle, but it is our ambition".

Later, they would like to attempt some records of speed or duration with the electric mode.

[gwyllion]

Most of those numbers, although slightly lower, were already mentioned in the Race Car Engineering issue of November 2013. See http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3312677

The engine is a 1.5 liter 3 cylinder.

[PascaLM]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

Most of those numbers, although slightly lower, were already mentioned in the Race Car Engineering issue of November 2013. See http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3312677

The engine is a 1.5 liter 3 cylinder.

So the first orientation is confirmed (by the way ,why did I write 4 cylinders in my post ? An old reflex, probably).
400 hp from a 3 cyl. 1.5 litre prepared for endurance... not bad, not bad.

[deltawing]

[Simmi]

I have to say I'm looking forward to seeing this on track.



Again not really something I thought when I saw it unveiled.

[miatanut]

Originally Posted by Simmi

I have to say I'm looking forward to seeing this on track.



Again not really something I thought when I saw it unveiled.

I didn't know it had offset driver seating. I thought it was centered. Maybe the Panoz DW is centered driver and I'm getting them confused?

In that case, it would be even better to see the Panoz/Nissan lawsuit settled on the track. The Panoz DW has the advantage of a narrower cockpit. One more reason it should be faster.

[hcl123]

One thing i didn't bother to look... that "thing" has 3 wheels or 4 ?

Seems horrible at corners ! ... perhaps a big motobike like wheel on front with very wide variable camber ( able to incline) would be better!..

[gwyllion]

No it already corners great with 2 narrow tyres at the front.

[deltawing]

Originally Posted by miatanut

I didn't know it had offset driver seating. I thought it was centered. Maybe the Panoz DW is centered driver and I'm getting them confused?

In that case, it would be even better to see the Panoz/Nissan lawsuit settled on the track. The Panoz DW has the advantage of a narrower cockpit. One more reason it should be faster.

The ZEOD has a very standard LMP1 tub and such tub completely meets all 2014 requirements, even if it did not have to. The DW has the driver in the middle, but the tub is not smaller (but of completely different design in comparison to the ZEOD). Just the driver has more space around on both sides. You can see how the car has not changed in width where let's say the knees and butt of the driver are. The top of the tub looks like a perfect vertical extrusion from there. Just looking at pictures of "before" vs. "after", the DW has the same width of the tub (open vs. closed tub).

To settle this on the track would be too funny

[optica]

Originally Posted by miatanut

I didn't know it had offset driver seating. I thought it was centered. Maybe the Panoz DW is centered driver and I'm getting them confused?

In that case, it would be even better to see the Panoz/Nissan lawsuit settled on the track. The Panoz DW has the advantage of a narrower cockpit. One more reason it should be faster.

The Panoz DW has central driving position mainly to improve safety though they claim it is no big deal to offset it if required. The cockpit on the Panoz looks to be wider (and uglier IMO) than the Zeod though a tape measure would be required to confirm it.

[miatanut]

Thanks both of you!

[miatanut]

Originally Posted by hcl123

One thing i didn't bother to look... that "thing" has 3 wheels or 4 ?

Seems horrible at corners ! ... perhaps a big motobike like wheel on front with very wide variable camber ( able to incline) would be better!..

Goes like stink on the straight, and most drivers would tell you that for a given lap time, they would rather have a car that goes like stink on the straight than in the corners, because it's easy to pass on the straight, and tough in the corners.

[optica]

It will be interesting to see what happens to this car after Le Mans. We know a speed record is being considered but whether we will see it on a circuit again I guess time will tell. As this is in many ways Deltawing Mk.2 I hope we eventually get to know what improvements Bowlby was able to make from the original DW especially in the cornering department. The aero already looks to be an improvement.

[hcl123]

Originally Posted by miatanut

Goes like stink on the straight, and most drivers would tell you that for a given lap time, they would rather have a car that goes like stink on the straight than in the corners, because it's easy to pass on the straight, and tough in the corners.

Is an arrow, no wonder.

Besides what rules Garage 56 has to obey ? .. LPM1 .. 2 ? 8MJ ... 16 ?

engine seriously lacks power for any records ... but electric motors don't. 16 MJ or more, and could be the funniest Le Mans i ever watched lol

@ deltawing

The ZEOD has a very standard LMP1 tub and such tub completely meets all 2014 requirements, even if it did not have to.

i think its answered, thanks . But so 8MJ is too short ( FIA/ACO let them have free hybrid!.. could be a lesson to all)

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by optica

It will be interesting to see what happens to this car after Le Mans. We know a speed record is being considered but whether we will see it on a circuit again I guess time will tell. As this is in many ways Deltawing Mk.2 I hope we eventually get to know what improvements Bowlby was able to make from the original DW especially in the cornering department. The aero already looks to be an improvement.

Really hoping they divert full resource into LMP1.