[WEC 2015]Nissan GT-R LM NISMO

[wesley123]

So yesterday it was finally official, Nissan launched their contender for the 2015 FIA WEC championship.

As it is an interesting car, and a lot different than any other P1 offered so I thought it deserved it's dedicated thread.

Pandamasque's post pretty much covers the whole car very well, so i decided to quote his post. His post can be found here

Nissan-Cosworth 3.0L V6 Turbo petrol engine, front-mid longitudinal with exhaust exits in front of the windshied (backfire should look quite entertaining from the cockpit!)

The ICE drives the front wheels, electric motors (motor?) drive the rears powered by two flywheels (still a rumour)

2 massive tunnels from the "mouth" all the way to the exits above the rear diffuser, as Mike Fuller predicted, provide both the cooling and the front diffuser air extraction.







[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3rBtzrgIEg[/youtube]

[Sombrero]

http://lemansprototypes.over-blog.it/







I wonder if the Nissan will use the "coanda" effect to attach the exhaust plume on the outer skin of the car toward the back end.

[timbo]

Indeed, the car deserving its own thread!

I am intrigued by front wheel drive. I always though that FrWD is precluded from high performance vehicles, as weight transfer at acceleration would mean less grip which would limit then acceleration. Also, combining cornering and acceleration would be tricky. It is clear that to some extent this is combated by weight-distribution and tyre choice, but still, I wonder how it fares out.

[marcush.]

the drawback of front wheel drive should be traction limitations in the slow stuff at lower speeds .If the aero is working i don´t think it is a problem to drive the front wheels .Starts slow but with straights long enough ...
I wonder how long it will take Bowlby Marshall and Eakin to make the concept work at the same overall level as those who follow paved tracks in their designs.
I tend to believe this car will draw a lot of extra people to watch LeMans -my appetite for a trip to la Sarthe has risen considerably in the last hours i openly confess.

[timbo]

the drawback of front wheel drive should be traction limitations in the slow stuff at lower speeds .If the aero is working i don´t think it is a problem to drive the front wheels .Starts slow but with straights long enough ...

That's along with what I thought as well. However, being slow in the slow stuff might add a chunk to lap time, maybe the car is specifically calculated for la Sarthe since there's not much of really twisty parts there.

I tend to believe this car will draw a lot of extra people to watch LeMans -my appetite for a trip to la Sarthe has risen considerably in the last hours i openly confess.

Indeed it seems to push divercity to a new level!

[marcush.]

one might take note that Nissans FWD experience with RML in Supertouring is considerable and those cars were quite amazing in terms of traction and grip especially in the slow corners.

with skinny rears and clever brake by wire startegies it ma well be possible to get this thing handling nimble and change direction well ...and the drop the hammer and stretch the muscles as downforce builds.

Still it`s dunlop Chicane,Terterouge ,the two chicanes ,Musannescorner,Arnage and ford Chicane were you need to slow down a lot -Arnage and Mulsannescorner especially slow -but with a lot of straightline to regain what´s lost ...With the speed the car is able to build one has to consider braking points are going to be earlier than others as well(to make the corner)so I tend to believe the Nissan is well placed to be involved into entertaining fights with cars of similar overall laptime potential.
sure making the 6-8MJ E-components last the distance with 100% availability will be a huge challenge .







`s

[timbo]

Still it`s dunlop Chicane,Terterouge ,the two chicanes ,Musannescorner,Arnage and ford Chicane were you need to slow down a lot -Arnage and Mulsannescorner especially slow -but with a lot of straightline to regain what´s lost ...

Those bits (and the track as a whole) remind me Montreal circuit, you need car that is stable under braking (and that front end should probably give that) and then accelerate fast. Such places are IMO benign for cars with low speed traction and direction change deficiencies. It's parts that are slow after slow with punish them like those two hairpins in the F1 Indy track, the bit at the end of Istambul circuit (half a second easily lost or won on those three corners), triple chicane at Abu-Dhabi, that sort of stuff.

[dmjunqueira]

They say that the rear wheels will be driven by the energy recovery system.
Of course much less power on rear wheels, but this "little" power may help on acceleration after slow corners.

You can see that there are half shafts on rear wheels...

[fawe4]

One could be making babies in those tunels at the rear. Absolutely stunning design. But I have to wonder how those front tires will live for 24 hours.
On a side note, KIA had great success with FWD against regular bunch in Pirelli World Challenge in GTS class, and I believe that they are also running bigger front tires, so for me they are a proper challenger.

[RacingManiac]

I think Michelin will have a lot to do with how this car works. The tire sizes are unique to this. And they would need to offer the same assortment of tires for all the different operating range.

[DaveKillens]

Obviously this car is designed for just one track and race, the 24 hours of LeMans. Every component of this car is designed around that one requirement. Initially I asked myself how difficult it would be to repair, that is something you cannot ignore. I went over what pictures are presently available, and come to the conclusion that the entire front clip is detachable. I'm not up to date on what's permissible, so any input on that subject would be appreciated.

There are lots of quick-disconnects between the front and and cockpit area, the driver's position is set far back, their feet do not intrude into the engine bay. Many components are modular, a requirement for 24 hours. There is little that extends from the front clip to the driver's cockpit, just wiring and hoses, and some driveshafts.

Here is one good site with lots of pictures. http://www.dailysportscar.com/2015/02/0 ... tures.html





On this last picture of the cockpit there are many components (the quick-disconnects, high amperage battery connector) that suggest that this car includes design features for repair-ability and quick component change.

[RacingManiac]

I think race-ability is something would be interesting. The P1 cars shell we say, do some pretty "robust" racing and often shoving other cars out of the way. The Nissan might be more vulnerable in that respect with the radiators sticking out front in front of the front wheels(I wonder if it hits one of the sleeping police men curb at Le Mans hard enough would that damage them?), would that be more prone to damages from debris or car contact? And with the the rear "box" which actually carries the rear suspension bits, in a contact with other car would that damage the box, and can that section be replaced, or is that actually part of the tub?

[ian_s]

with the driver sat so far back i'm sure the visibility over the front wheels would be an issue. straight ahead and to each side should be fine, but spotting and finding apexes could be interesting, not to mention other cars.

[Spoutnik]

About 360KMH at the end of "Hunaudières"
The V6 Engine produce less than 50% of the theorical power (550HP). He sound good
2015 edition of Le Mans will be close !

[machin]

Here's a question then... When Bowlby designed the Deltawing he said:

Because more than 50% of the vehicle’s braking force is generated behind the center of gravity it is dynamically stable under braking

Now a lot of us called BS on that statement, but anyway, if for a moment we go along with it for a moment, is it safe to presume that Bowlby has designed a car for Nissan which he thinks is dynamically unstable under braking ?!?!