Bat man enters Le mans

[Top Cat]

475Kgs, and 300bhp 1.6l nissan direct injection turbo. Looks a bit twitchy entering the corners. 

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[MAT ED30]

was looking at this the other day does look good

[MAT ED30]

[rich83]

Hmmm.... I'm not sure that placing the front wheels so close was a good move.

[Top Cat]

To be honest i think it is more of a publicity stunt than an all out effort to be serious. I would like to know how they get enough downforce on the front end to stop it driving like an Audi. 

[rich83]

The answer is they probably don't.

[glenn_g60]

It was originally a design for this years new regs for Indy car. Bit to radical for the americans. Got some top men behind it and michelin have developed tyres just for it and they wouldnt do that if they thought it would be a disaster. Will be running in a class on its own seeing as it doesnt fit into any of the other classes!

[boxxer1973]

Can't wait to see this there

[lee_]

I've been following the progress on this in race car engineering, the whole thing is designed to be unstable like a modern fighter jet.
Electronics and torque vectoring are then used to tame it in the hope that the instability makes it incredibly agile. 

[SRC]

The wider track at the rear means that, from the in-car footage, the driver seems to miss every apex.  It must be like driving an artic (only much much faster!)

[VC]

so how is the downforce achieved at any real significant level? i cant see how it can run at any real competitive speed, but as a feat of engineering its pretty impressive

[glenn_g60]

A lot of the performance will come from the enclosed wheels, one of the biggests causes for drag. Sould make it good down the mulsan! Also make it have better MPG, key factor in winning at Le Man.