How 'bout a migraine to compound the jiggle nausea?
500 Miles, 45% better fuel mileage
From speedtv.com's Friday Notebook:
DELTAWING TIDBITS — The Nissan DeltaWing completed a staggering 500 miles on a single set of Michelin tires, between the laps run at the test day as well as Wednesday’s practice and qualifying. And it’s not only great tire wear but also excellent fuel mileage, as Ben Bowlby tells SPEED.com that he expects for it to run 12 laps... with a 40-liter fuel tank. Compare that to the diesel-powered Audis, which should run 13 laps on 63 liters.
"The DW don't fit that category"
The DW don't fit -- PERIOD.
However, as Stan said, if the DW re-begins the quest toward lighter, smaller, more efficient race cars, that would be cool...
But then, Lighter, Smaller, More Efficient has always been the point of race car design.
So, at the end of the day, this little promotion really will have accomplished nothing.
Will it go away forever now?
Lighter, more efficient . .
In my experience, lighter has always meant more expensive. It still does today. In these days where almost every form of motorsport is looking to reduce cost it's difficult to see anyone looking to truly push the boundaries.
Having said said that I wish that there was such an arena.
Strangely enough Le Mans has always had an open mind to innovation.
I'm am so sick of spec this, performance limited that, 'one make' series, etc and cheapened racing.
Just my 3 cents worth! It's the economy . .
Ian
Have you seen the new 2014 LMP1 rules?
"The Automobile Club de l'Ouest, along with the FIA, announced Thursday the new technical regulations for LMP1 cars, which will go into effect in 2014.
Focusing heavily on efficiency, cost reduction and safety, the new-look category will comprise entirely of closed-top prototypes, with a reduced weight of 830 kg (850 kg for non-hybrids) and 10 cm narrower than the current-spec machines."....
..."Perhaps the biggest change, however, comes with the engine rules, as there will be no limit in cubic capacity for the conventional power plants. Air restrictors and turbo pressures have been eliminated and replaced by a fuel meter, which restricts the allocation of gasoline or diesel according to a predetermined level."
"The ACO targets up to a 30 percent reduction in fuel consumption with its new system, which sees five different base configurations, largely dependent on the size of the hybrid systems. "
"For example: privateers, which are limited to 5.5-liter capacity engines, will be allocated 4.95 liters of gasoline (or 3.99 liters of diesel) per a lap of Le Mans. Fuel capacity would be limited to 64.4 liters for gasoline (53.3 liters for diesel), roughly a 11-14 percent decrease over 2012 fuel capacity levels."
"In the situation of hybrids, four different sizes of energy recovery systems will be permitted, ranging from 2 to 8 MJ of power. It's a significant increase over the current hybrid regulations, which are limited to 0.5 MJs. In effect, a larger system will be required to be more fuel efficient. "
"Of note, all factory entries will be required to compete with hybrid systems, which will be homologated on a seasonal basis, eliminating evolutions over the course of a year."
"Thanks to in-depth work and excellent collaboration, today, the ACO and the FIA have announced a unique set of extremely innovative technical regulations for 2014 that are in phase with the times we live in," said Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, FIA Endurance Commission President.
"It should encourage the development of powerful and spectacular cars and also the development of technologies that have real meaning for the everyday motorist. Private teams haven't been forgotten either with simple but competitive alternatives."
The LMP1 technical regulations will be used in the FIA World Endurance Championship and American Le Mans Series beginning in 2014. A one-year grandfathering period for current-spec machinery is being evaluated by the ACO for the first year.
