Delta Wing 2012 Discussion ONLY

[Holt]

Roughly 13 months ago I suggested the ideas behind the Delta Wing come to sportscars

http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/show...0&postcount=24

Now my wildest dream will come true

http://www.motorward.com/2011/06/del...-2012-le-mans/

This car will win top speed on the Mulsanne at just 325 HP

What do you think?

[the real Stig]

Car has rear wheel steering
Try driving backwards at speed and see how well that works.
Thrust SSC had rear wheel steering, but it didn't have to make the Arnarge corner.

Front of car
Has no room for front tunnel/ground effect generator.
Has no room for front suspension.

Rear of car
Very little package for tunnel(s).
Steering and power delivery to rear tires.

Power/engine
Can M-mike run a CoD study for 300hp and typical lemans speeds pls?
where are the cooling ducts? Radiators? Air intake?
Take a 300hp caterham and see if it can break 5minutes at lemans.

We'll not be seeing a car resembeling a lawn dart this time next year, I wager.

[Try Hard]

Originally Posted by the real Stig

Car has rear wheel steering
Try driving backwards at speed and see how well that works.
Thrust SSC had rear wheel steering, but it didn't have to make the Arnarge corner.

Front of car
Has no room for front tunnel/ground effect generator.
Has no room for front suspension.

Rear of car
Very little package for tunnel(s).
Steering and power delivery to rear tires.

Power/engine
Can M-mike run a CoD study for 300hp and typical lemans speeds pls?
where are the cooling ducts? Radiators? Air intake?
Take a 300hp caterham and see if it can break 5minutes at lemans.

We'll not be seeing a car resembeling a lawn dart this time next year, I wager.

You'll find the Deltawing does have front steering. I remember reading an article about how they had to be clever with the geometry to get enough lock (remember this was originally ment to be an indycar, for both oval and road course). Indeed, look at the video http://deltawingracing.com/2010/02/simulation-videos-2/

However, I do agree about the front aero... will they generate enough downforce with the underbody tunnels (again look at the rear view of the indycar proposal... big tunnels!) to negate the need for front wing?

[RichardRenes]

I see a bigger problem: look at the width of those front wheels... combined they are about 1/3rd of the width of the frontwheels of other prototype cars! And less width=smaller contact patch with tarmac=less grip. No way they can steer this car through the various chicanes in anger. And I doubt as to wether the increased downforce the body of the car generates can make up for this.

[Racenut]

I want to see how many rear corners are removed by clipping inside walls.. with the front being so much narrower than the rear I expect the drivers to misjudge where the back end is....

[protopuma]

Originally Posted by the real Stig

Power/engine
Can M-mike run a CoD study for 300hp and typical lemans speeds pls?
where are the cooling ducts? Radiators? Air intake?
Take a 300hp caterham and see if it can break 5minutes at lemans.

We'll not be seeing a car resembeling a lawn dart this time next year, I wager.

DeltaWing on there website state a Cd of 0.24. For what it is worth wiki has a .7 Cd for Caterham. Also based on Mikes work current closed top LMP1s have a Cd of some were in the low to mid 0.4s for Le Mans.

[Flyin Ryan]

If they run the engine at Le Mans they were planning to in Indycars they'll run out of horsepower on the Mulsanne I'd reckon.

[WolfsburgRS]

I think safety could be an issue. If a Delta wing center-punched a car like the #1 R18 did on Wednesday it could end up with some very unfortunate results.

It's also pretty unattractive, and you can't discount looks and mass appeal of any car. I a pretty positive, glass is half-full person when it comes to motor racing, but this thing is just....wrong.

Rather than trying to re-invent the proverbial wheel, why not re-legalize ground effect tunnels for Prototypes, and limit the more drag-inducing external aero elements? You get better efficiency, better looks, and don't have to worry about all the stuff like fitting in a pit lane designed for normal cars, garages designed for normal cars, safety for other competitors, marshals, etc.

Someone else mentioned this on the Midweek Motorsport forum, but the fact that the Mulsanne is fairly rutted, and the two rear wheels will be riding in the ruts and the front wheels on the crest of the road will promote a very unstable condition.

[Gingers4Justice]

Oh yes, I'm sure the designers at Delta Wing have completely forgotten that Le Mans has corners, back to the drawing board for them I guess

Seriously guys, come on, why would they design a car that they think can't turn a sharp bend?

[picchiofan]

Some early prototype testing in Britain..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSaIv_5-Mho

[Fogelhund]

My question is why? What does this achieve?

My contempt is the money being spent by various groups of Americans, including the ALMS principle, when the money could be spent on a REAL entry, that could run LM and support the ALMS.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

My contempt is the money being spent by various groups of Americans, including the ALMS principle, when the money could be spent on a REAL entry, that could run LM and support the ALMS.

Are you sure that Don is paying something for this and not getting paid?

As for the Sausagemobile, well, it's an interesting concept. Low weight, low drag, low horsepower. Ok, that's about all the positive things I have to say about this thing. The 56th car "reserves" are a lot more interesting technologically (although they perhaps may not be as fast) and I'm sure they will look a lot better. I don't usually wish failure upon racing teams, but let's hope this thing never hits the track. It's hideous and I also wonder about the safety of this thing.

[WolfsburgRS]

I wonder who in the motorsport community will be the first to mention that the emperor is wearing no clothes? I can't imagine the paddock is full of enthusiasm for this thing.

[Gingers4Justice]

Tell you what I'm fed up with in motorsport, is leaders of bizarre projects such as these who tell us what they think the fans want.

The Delta Wing crew clearly have no idea what we're after.

I want racing cars that look like racing cars and sound like racing cars. They could run on nail clippings for all I care - so long as the sound is there. That's what most of us want.

This looks like something which might go for the land speed record, not victory at Le Mans. It's ridiculous.

Endurance racing will lose a lot of its true fans very quickly if cars begin to look like this.

[kingkai]

What the hell is this project about. In my opinion this car has no place at LM! And shouldn't the prototypes look rectangular from above and with the front wheels being in the same place as the rear wheels?... Thought that was one of the design rules for LMP?...
No this just look like one of those kiddy racers which should be left as miniatures to play with...
This car doesn't fit in sportscar racing in my eyes.