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Motorsports |OT| of Endurance Racing, Nascar, Rally, Sportscars, MotoGP, etc

On at the moment. Coulthard just crushed Solberg in a rally car... which is fairly funny.

Edit - Wow, that kid that got to go with Gordon on the truck exhibition has to be the luckiest kid in the world. :D
 

Mastah

Member
So it seems Nissan is indeed developing front-engined Le Mans prototype:

mrpxjb8rxnjf75o7j1jg.jpg


http://blackflag.jalopnik.com/exclusive-this-is-nissans-front-engine-gt-r-lm-nismo-l-1673335696
 

Shaneus

Member
Hang on.. Bathurst, Rydell pole lap in a Volvo and Murray commentating?

I think I just had a man accident.
Jesus Christ, that was an amazing run. That car completely reminds me of that TOCA Touring Car game Codies did back when they still made good games.
 
So it seems Nissan is indeed developing front-engined Le Mans prototype:

mrpxjb8rxnjf75o7j1jg.jpg


http://blackflag.jalopnik.com/exclusive-this-is-nissans-front-engine-gt-r-lm-nismo-l-1673335696

:(

I was hoping it would look more along the lines of one the big bad Panoz prototypes from back in the day. This looks fucking stupid, but the concept is certainly intriguing.

Having nearly a dozen factory prototypes at the head of the field ought to make next year's 24 Hours,
and Audi's inevitable triumph
, something truly special.
 

Juicy Bob

Member
My lovely girlfriend and I are on our way to Silverstone for Round One of next year's WEC. Looking forward to seeing Nissan's big LMP1 race debut...
 
The posts about Volvo and Rydell above made me look for something about his win in Macau 1992.

Winning a classic race like that is great but the list of people he beat is crazy - Jacques Villeneuve, Tom Kristensen, David Coulthard, Rubens Barrichello, Pedro Lamy and Gil de Ferran.

http://youtu.be/2jKs6u9iykk

Too bad he didn't get a chance to continue racing in formula-cars.
 
:(

I was hoping it would look more along the lines of one the big bad Panoz prototypes from back in the day. This looks fucking stupid, but the concept is certainly intriguing.

Having nearly a dozen factory prototypes at the head of the field ought to make next year's 24 Hours,
and Audi's inevitable triumph
, something truly special.
Don't worry about the mockup picture, it's completely nonsensical.

The Mulsanne's Corner article that jalopnik cherry-picked is way more interesting in full:
http://www.mulsannescorner.com/newsnov14.html
Connecting the dots, how did Bowlby get there from here? To an extent Delta Wing and ZEOD showed the way and shook up concepts about weight distribution and packaging. Was that some of the takeaway from those two projects? Maybe. Would anyone else have considered a front engined LMP? Given recent experience I highly doubt it.
 
Re: Nissan's LMP1, here's today's Mulsanne Corner post on a horrendous photo Nissan released:

Taken with a pinhole camera (or etched on a rock, I can't decide), we can see what can only be described as a blob, or an amoeba, as seen from 2 miles away. However, the image seems to confirm that the blob is red, and perhaps white, and probably front engined. If you squint that is. Furthermore, given the much higher downforce nature of COTA than Le Mans, a rear wing blob can be seen (no surprise there, ultra low-drag only has a chance at LM) at the rear of the main blob. Maybe. Identifying any more details beyond that would be a supreme leap of faith, though I'm pretty sure that's Winston Churhill's profile there in the middle.
http://www.mulsannescorner.com/newsjan15.html

:lol
 
I'll second that.

This shit is crazy; in the premier prototype class, we now have front- and mid-engine layouts, with gas or diesel-powered 4, 6, and 8- cylinder engines, coupled to 2-8 MJ hybrid systems, with power routed through various combinations of rear and all-wheel drive, and to top it off, an energy conservation formula that (mostly) works as advertised with little detriment to the actual racing.

F1 still garners all the headlines, but the WEC is making a real case for being the true home of innovation and diversity in motorsport.
 

dubc35

Member
Agreed. We're in a great age of sportscar racing right now.

Speaking of, albeit touring cars, I'm about 75% through Adrenaline. It's pretty good, highly recommend it for BMW fans.
ADRENALIN brings the exciting and successful BMW touring car story to the big screen. 50 years of a spectacular sport played out at race circuits around the world.
Charismatic drivers and evocative racing cars from five decades plot the growth of the sport and the technology. From the drifting touring cars of the 60’s to the first victory of the BMW M4 in the highly sophisticated new DTM. The legends behind the wheel tell their exciting stories and bring the golden era of touring car racing alive again.
 

Dave_6

Member
You know, I actually like the Nissan. I'm more anxious to hear details on the powertrain and how it sounds.

Edit: Ah there is a video in the link. Sounds a lot like the current TT V6 that is in the GT-R.
 

Shaneus

Member
Agreed. We're in a great age of sportscar racing right now.

Speaking of, albeit touring cars, I'm about 75% through Adrenaline. It's pretty good, highly recommend it for BMW fans.
Is that the doco Zanardi was interviewed for? I recall seeing around 5-10 mins of him featured in something I'm sure was to do with BMW, but can't recall for sure. Is it worth buying?
 

dubc35

Member
Is that the doco Zanardi was interviewed for? I recall seeing around 5-10 mins of him featured in something I'm sure was to do with BMW, but can't recall for sure. Is it worth buying?

Yes, he was in it for 5 min or so, so far. I'm only ~75% through it, though it's mostly in chronological order so unless he was involved again he might not be in it anymore.

Worth buying? If you're a BMW fan absolutely. I don't consider myself a huge BMW fan but I have enjoyed it so far. It definitely shows a different era of racing. I never knew about the Pro Car series, half the grid current F1 drivers and half current touring car drivers? Yes please...and it's during a F1 GP weekend!

FYI, a decent amount is in German but overlayed by an English narrator. I don't find it distracting but some find things like that distracting.
 

Shaneus

Member
So how did Jalopnik guess what it was going to look like? Did they have an insider who knew how it looked, or was it more a Scarbs-esque guess given the regulations of the format?
 
So how did Jalopnik guess what it was going to look like? Did they have an insider who knew how it looked, or was it more a Scarbs-esque guess given the regulations of the format?
Had to have an insider to get that close on the body style.

That isn't as surprising as it sounds, IIRC a lot (most?) of the development for the Nissan LMP is being done here in the States.
 
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