Delta Wing projections?

Shouldn't this be in the other thread? [No biggie, maybe the mods can merge 'em?]

Anyway, my 02c; It looks like a fancy Reliant Robin!.....

It may be super light and slippery, but I don't see any way it can handle at all well.

When I initially read "1.6L turbo" I thought they might be "preparing" a motor for F1 - Nope, it's an inline 4 rather than a V6 and "only" produces 300 horses!

OTOH, "Garage 56" has produced some surprises over the years, I certainly wish 'em well with it. And AAR are no fools. A little more interest in the 24hrs at least.....

Cheers,
Ian

 

I always cringe when people say this.

It's called the Bicycle model. You're looking at the force distribution of the front tires wrt the rear tires. Forces at your contact patch are the driving force behind how your car handles or doesn't. FYI this model DOES not care about front or rear tracks.... (that is not the whole story)

If everyone's theory of how vehicle dynamics should work then nissan wouldn't endorse a video of the car going around turns.

 

A lot of us have been skeptical of the car ever coming
to fruition much less racing at Le Mans due to the lack
of news, at least until a couple of weeks ago.

Now that the engine package deal with Nissan has been
announced and we see videos of the car on the track,
the skeptics have been silenced, at least for now.

In theroy, the DeltaWing certainly is interesting. And, as
stated above, the non-traditional design isn't going to
work as many of us are accustomed to seeing.

The devil is in the details obviously and it's great that
videos (one of which I just viewed again before coming
to F-Chat) are circulating and the car is finally testing.

From the little I've seen from the available videos though,
I notice that they seem to be doing installation laps. Franchitti
is feathering the car through the turns and that his intercom
system isn't plugged in is rather telling.

Only when we see the car at Sebring this week and being
driven 10/10ths will we get the bigger picture. It's too early
in the going to judge but definateky worth watching. All
the best to them.

BHW

 

Duncan Dayton has been a big part of this and if he's convinced, I'm convinced.

 

Certainly worth paying attention.

 

I agree. I'm curious to see how it deals with the bumps on turn 1 and turn 17 at full chat.

I remember seeing Ben Devlin's massive shunt in 2008 when he was launched out of turn 1 in the Dyson Lola Coupe & that car must have exponentially more aero downforce than the phallic prototype. I've also seen plenty of other cars get bounced out of turn 17.

Marino Franchiti's ****** pucker meter will undoubtedly be pegged.

 

When will it take to the track at Sebring?

 

From the other thread (includes the entire press release);

Can you make it? Would love to see your shots of this sucker!......

Cheers,
Ian

 

Fair enough, 'twas just my WAG and I'm sure Nissan, AAR and it seems Duncan Dayton are all onboard. Hope it does well.

Any explanations of your "bicycle model" anywhere? [I'm not trying to be clever, I'm genuinely interested] From my rudimentary understanding, front & rear track have always been very important to how a car handles - Agreed it's all about the *4* contact patches, but their relative positions have a big effect IMHO.

But I could be wrong

Cheers,
Ian

 

Thanks!

I really would like to be there to see and photograph it but I don't think I can make it because of my dog

I'm going to drive from Orlando to Naples on Thursday to drop my dog off with my Sister and then go to Sebring early Friday for the 12 hours.
Then go back to Naples and spend a few days working on the pictures when I'm not at the beach.

No pets allowed at the track or I'd stop on the way to Naples

Maybe they will have so much fun they will take a few more laps on Friday.

 

Doggie day care for a few hours?

We can hope!..... Given they've got an entry for Le Mans, maybe they'll at least run ahead of the race if not start it (?)

Cheers,
Ian

 

Man, I was right behind the worker station on the fence when that happened. I felt it before I heard it! Of course, it ended qualifying right away so the wall could be rebuilt.

Ben's car went loose as he approached the apex against the wall under the cone high on the fence and the left front touched the wall, turning the car. Then, he left the surface of the road and went flying head high into the multiple tire wall drivers right about where the grass starts on the outside.

That was a really scary wreck... Was very glad to see him climb out of that, that day.

 

I was lucky enough to be invited to Dan Gurney's shop last Saturday where they had an informal release of the Delta Wing to a small group of people. In speaking to the people involved I can tell you that there are just too many really talented groups involved for this project to be a total flop. For this reason I scoff at the punters who just look at a photo of a car and give feedback on how it will handle and drive.

As for the Franchitti video, I am not sure when or when this was shot because the car has only been tested once by Alex Gurney. He was there on Saturday and said that the driving dynamics and performance went beyond initial expectations. It was truly a historic thing to see uncovered.

 

Bicycles work because they tilt into the turn.

When the flag drops the bull**** will stop.

 

As I said, there's a lot smarter people than me working on this thing - The OP asked, and it was just my WAG based on a little experience - I still say it looks like a fancy Reliant Robin, and we know how they handle. "Simple physics, old chap!"

I'm very interested to hear about the "bicycle" approach though.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Understood. Is that what this thing is gonna do?

Hey, str8shooter - You gotta get us some action shots!.......

Cheers,
Ian

 

No. They're going to try and balance the CG very percisely to have the rear outside tire lever force onto the front tire and plant it so it turns. In the straights it's lower frontal aera will make it slippery. (they believe)

Their engineers are true belivers but personally I don't see it.

I wish them luck and like and respect Dan a lot so I hope I'm wrong.

 

Aha! Gotcha, thanks.

+1 Seems like a nice theory, but I'm with you!

+1 Kudos to 'em for even trying something a little different. I just don't see P4/5c going this route!

Cheers,
Ian

 

We're going with Audi and keeping our front track WIDE.

 

So, really - the only advantages to this are supposedly aerodynamic (and perhaps a little less weight)?

Can there really be much aerodynamic advantage - provided that there still has to be downforce applied to make it handle?

 

The conept is 1/2 the weight - car weighs 1100 lbs

1/2 the power - 300hp

1/2 the drag - I have no figures for this

According to the engineers I spoke to the car is really quick in the turns. The only thing the drivers have to get used to is apexing the rear of the car rather than the front as the long length and narrow front track take some getting used to.

Then again the Auto Union drivers had to get used to rear engined cars in the 1930's.

The world is not out of radical ideas, it is just a little shy of radical thinkers.

 

As proven by the 'launch' of the March 6 wheeler at Silverstone many years back.









Hint: They towed it behind a car, as it passed the photographers, they let go of the rope. Voila, action shot!

 

From my limited understanding it doesn't need a wide front track because there is no weight up front.

A bicycle or motorcycle carries its weight up high and thus has to lean into turns. If conventional automobiles carried a similarly high center of gravity compared to their width, they would have to lean just the same.

Virtually all of the weight is back between the rear wheels. . . which probably prevented them from slimming down there to match the front.

Again while I am no engineer, conventional automobiles place a higher load on the outside rear tire than they do the front tire while negotiating a turn, particularly in rear-engined motorsports.

Now I probably wouldn't want to slam on the brake mid-apex. . .

 

And what do you think that tilt does to the tires??