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The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015 |OT| Nissan enter the fray

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Juicy Bob

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Apparently, Nissan were supposed to get special tyres from Michelin in order to cope with all the accelerating, braking and turning demands for the front-wheel drive, front engined system, but they never got them. So, instead, they've been forced to use the standard LMP1 tyres, which is costing them a lot of front-end grip - which would explain their horrendous understeer problems.

And they've had issues with their suppliers from the hybrid system side of things as well, which shagged them for their energy recovery side of things.

Basically, Radio Le Mans reckon that when Nissan get everything all sorted, they should be mixing it with the other manufacturers.
 
Pretty good explanation of the Nissan woes on RLM.

Not having the hybrid system working (beyond being down on HP) made them change up the front wheels, which made them table the custom tire compound they'd developed. It also explains the constant brake maintenance, since not having energy recovery means the only way to stop their heavily front-weighted car is the fronts...

That said, pretty clear they were operating with a low margin for error to suffer such a huge failure cascade.
 

Dilly

Banned
Pretty good explanation of the Nissan woes on RLM.

Not having the hybrid system working (beyond being down on HP) made them change up the front wheels, which made them table the custom tire compound they'd developed. It also explains the constant brake maintenance, since not having energy recovery means the only way to stop their heavily front-weighted car is the fronts...

That said, pretty clear they were operating with a low margin for error to suffer such a huge failure cascade.


Ah, I was wondering about the brakes. When I saw footage of one of the Nissan's in the pits, the sides were black tinted with brake dust.
 

dalin80

Banned
I can understand nissans issues and how unfortunate they are but my main issue is that they shouldn't have discovered them here. They skipped previous events to be ready for the main event and all it has made them do is be even more unprepared. You don't see F1 teams not bother with the season but then go to monaco for their first public test.
 

Jezbollah

Member
Pretty good explanation of the Nissan woes on RLM.

Not having the hybrid system working (beyond being down on HP) made them change up the front wheels, which made them table the custom tire compound they'd developed. It also explains the constant brake maintenance, since not having energy recovery means the only way to stop their heavily front-weighted car is the fronts...

That said, pretty clear they were operating with a low margin for error to suffer such a huge failure cascade.

I was theorising that the lack of energy recovery (and resultant retardation of the generating drive) would be meaning that the reliance of braking has been put all to the fronts.

You said it perfectly though, they have a low margin of failure. I give them credit for trying something so radical - I really hope they get it right for next year.
 

Juicy Bob

Member
I can understand nissans issues and how unfortunate they are but my main issue is that they shouldn't have discovered them here. They skipped previous events to be ready for the main event and all it has made them do is be even more unprepared. You don't see F1 teams not bother with the season but then go to monaco for their first public test.
I don't think they skipped Silverstone and Spa in order to be ready for Le Mans, they skipped them because they knew they weren't ready for them to begin with. Whereas with Le Mans, they were always going to show up no matter what state they were in.
 

Dave_6

Member
I honestly wasn't expecting Nissan to be in contention at all this year. I just hope they get it sorted and don't jump ship as I think they can be up front next year. Wish Toyota had more pace this year as it's always just two teams fighting for the win lately. I expect them to be competitive again next year though according to what they've said.

Props to Nissan for trying something completely out of the box! Going to be even more awesome next year with them improving and Ford joining the GT ranks.
 

Juicy Bob

Member
Sounds like the #7 Audi is having radio troubles. The drivers can only hear the pit wall from the start/finish straight and don't receive messages along the Mulsanne.
 

LoveCake

Member
I don't think they skipped Silverstone and Spa in order to be ready for Le Mans, they skipped them because they knew they weren't ready for them to begin with. Whereas with Le Mans, they were always going to show up no matter what state they were in.

I think they should have gone to either Spa or Silverstone for some sort of shakedown, however i completely agree with you, but the problem is as Fernando Alonso would say "they already look like amateurs".

I would like to know what is in the NISMO car that was also in the DeltaWing, i know there are legal issues surrounding the DeltaWing but it seems that maybe instead of writing of the investment they built the NISMO.
 

dalin80

Banned
Finally back to race footage, the 24min update took the best part of an hour and we mostly missed the change from day to night. Thanks eurosport!
 

LoveCake

Member
I have done the same thing in GT6 when I have been texting or playing with the cat. It's very easy to do.

He's a professional racing driver!


There were earlier radio talks with his team about brake temperatures (getting to low), so guess they were just to cold, but we will have to wait for interviews to know for sure.

I cannot imagine they would have cooled that much though, there must be something wrong with them?
 

Dilly

Banned
in which game can I play the 24h of le mans?

Race Driver GRID had a pretty good representation. No pitstops and the handling wasn't great, but it was fun to do and it had multiclass racing.

Project CARS should be pretty great for 24h Le Mans races, if they get the car selection for AI sorted.
 

LoveCake

Member
project cars, interesting. like with the whole field, all classes?


Yes

Race Driver GRID had a pretty good representation. No pitstops and the handling wasn't great, but it was fun to do and it had multiclass racing.

That was very good, the thing that got me was it got dark so quick & then towards the end on the last lap when the music started up with that pumping heart-beat track, always put me off & i ended up crashing!
 
Unless Nissan can skirt the regs and basically run an AWD car with the FWD downforce advantages, next year isn't going to be much better......
 
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