Nissan Deltawing Gets First Wet Test at Snetterton in UK

The Deltawing has just received its first wet track testing at the Snetterton circuit in the UK, and both Marino Franchitti and Michael Krumm got the opportunity to get behind the wheel of the car. 

It rained during the entire testing period, which gave Michelin an opportunity to evaluate the wet tires that it has developed for the car. Le Mans is just two months away, and that will be the car's maiden competition. 

"The whole Nissan DeltaWing team is still on a massive learning curve. Testing in the States was a stable, predictable way of doing the initial groundwork but this exciting car is going to be racing in the French countryside. Today, the whole team got a taste of the conditions they may well face on June 16/17, so it may not have been much fun in the Norfolk rain, but it's about the best thing that could have happened for a project and a car that will face an enormous challenge just to make the end of the race," said Darren Cox, General Manager of Nissan Europe. 

The drivers did not go into too much detail about how the car coped with the wet weather. Franchitti drove the car in monsoon conditions, according to him, and Krumm got to drive the car on a drying track. The team worked on the car's gearing, suspension setup and brake balance, and Franchitti said that the test was "positive."

Krumm said that since the test at Sebring, the team has refined the car's steering, but did not comment how how the car was during the test. 

Nissan is documenting the development of the Deltawing closely. If it is a flop at Le Mans, this may be embarrassingin hindsight, but in a historical sense, it might be good to have all of this information on the development of the car.