04/26/24
March 16, 2012
DeltaWing, a Nissan-powered race Batmobile, zooming into Le Mans: Think of it as a Batmobile for the race track.
posted by gfinsf to auto racing at 07:15 AM - 4 comments
Horrible looking car. I hope it fails for the simple reason that if it doesn't we go down the path of fuck ugly prototypes being viable in the future, and given how ugly F1 is this year (McLaren excluded) sports car is where I go to see beautiful racing cars.
Sebring this weekend. Excited.
posted by Drood at 12:06 AM on March 17, 2012
I agree aesthetically it isn't pleasing to look at but beauty is sometimes in the functionality and depending on how it actually performs, it may get better looking if it were passing under a checkered flag.
posted by Atheist at 11:02 AM on March 19, 2012
I don't really understand the function of the vertical stabilizer at the rear of the car. On an aircraft, it would be to prevent the craft from going into a flat spin, a condition that ultimately, through asymmetric lift conditions, causes the aircraft to roll inverted due to the difference in velocity of air over the wings. In a ground vehicle, the friction of the contact of the tires with the ground should be more than enough to prevent spinning, and if the driver gets too ambitious in a corner, that vertical stab won't help. It looks like the vertical piece will merely add needless drag.
posted by Howard_T at 04:35 PM on March 19, 2012
Pretty cool. It will be interesting to see if the light body can handle everything over 24 hours.