2015 Chicago Auto Show: A closer look at the Nissan GT-R LM Nismo

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFcvNnOjULQ[/youtube]
Meet the Nissan GT-R LM Nismo. This car will race this year at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) class.
Prototype.
That word cannot be stressed enough. This is a one-of-a-kind concept from the same mind that designed Nissan’s DeltaWing and ZEOD : Ben Bowlby. If the looks don’t tell how you it’s different, then know this: It is a 1,250-horsepower, front-engine, hybrid, front-wheel-drive*, aerodynamic phenomenon that also happens to be a racecar.
Need some more insane information on the Nissan GT-R LM Nismo? Dive in:

  • The car’s design was done entirely on a computer, which is typical. What isn’t, however, is designer Ben Bowlby’s faith in the design (and Nissan’s faith in Bowlby). The car has been tested in the wind tunnel exactly once. That is incredible for a car so dependent on its aerodynamic performance.
  • Despite Internet claims that the car will understeer like a pig, Nismo’s Global Motorsports Director Darren Cox told Hooniverse that the car turns quite well, actually, and it’s very stable, particularly in the rain. If it rains at Le Mans (as Jason Statham indicates it always does), watch out.
  • The team, who are based out of Bowlby’s shop in Indianapolis, have only recently done straight-line testing at the Michelin Proving Grounds in South Carolina, where they’re also testing their flywheel recovery system. How crazy is that system? Three seconds of hard braking will spin the flywheel to 60,000 rpm, which is around Mach 2.0 and would produce a sonic boom if it wasn’t in a vacuum(!!).

*The car, as it stands if front-wheel drive, although the design will allow all-wheel-drive with the electric motors sending power to the rears. Maybe. Well, that part’s not yet sorted, yet, actually, since it’s a development year.

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  1. LEROOOY Avatar
    LEROOOY

    "Despite Internet claims that the car will understeer like a pig"
    Didn't you hear? We're all vehicle handling experts because we saw Fast Five on an airplane without headphones, and formally educated engineers who were recruited by global design firms are just chimps poking an anthill with a stick.

    1. skitter Avatar
      skitter

      Carbon fiber sticks, if they're F1 engineers.

  2. Fuhrman16 Avatar
    Fuhrman16

    The driver must sit on the floor of that thing, it's so low!