Deltawing Coupe Completes Track Test Ahead of Racing Debut

The DeltaWingNissan DeltaWingJapan, 2012 > present19 photos
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Coupe has successfully completed its first track test ahead of its competition debut at the American Le Mans Series round at the Circuit of the Americas from September 19-22. The team believes that it has finally solved its reliability problems with the new design.

In certain ways, the DeltaWing should not still be racing. It was created as an experiment to see if a racecar could be built to compete with LMP2 cars at Le Mans but use half the fuel and half of the tires. Despite not finishing the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans after making contact with a Toyota TS030Toyota TS030 HYBRIDJapan, 2012 > present5 photos
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, it proved that it was possible and raced at Petit Le Mans later in 2012.

For 2013, the car was bought by a new team and prepped to race in the American Le Mans Series, but in the LMP1 class. The season has been a failure so far. In the five rounds that it has raced in, it has only finished once. Most of the retirements were due to reliability issues and overheating.

The DeltaWing Coupe is meant to solve the problems that the car has experienced this season. On September 3, it had its on-track shakedown at Roebling Road Raceway in Georgia.

The coupe allows for the engine to be moved a cooling duct to be installed in the roof. The team thinks that it will solve the open car’s cooling problems.

“The new engine installation is all about better cooling, while giving us easier access to the exhaust and turbo systems. We added an air intake on the roof which increased the cooling air by 50 percent, repackaged where the turbo and intercooler sit and installed a bigger oil cooler, which is all definitely working,” said designer Simon Marshall.

The team plans to continue to race the car next season in the United Sports Car Racing series but in the LMP2 class. The coupe conforms to the 2014 series rules for closed cockpits, which clears it to race at Le Mans, if invited.