who said FWD isn't for race cars!

[sambb]

check out this bit of FWD engineering...impressive stuff:


Nissan LMP1 revealed | Racecar Engineering

[Dugle]

Hmm, the article says "3-litre V6 twin turbo four wheel drive".
But, then he goes on to say "capable of more than 360km/h in a straight line…if the power can be delivered efficiently through the front wheels."

I is cunfused...

[rgvlee]

2 engines, 1 front 1 rear, rear is electric motor, main drive through front wheels

[sambb]

Yeah I saw that too. I got the impression from other articles though that it is infact front wheel drive - the electrical flywheel feeds onto the crank of the engine, not to any rear electric motors. Think the 4WD bit was a typo. Either way an awesome class of racing with audi doing turbo V6 diesels with flywheel electric on the front axle, toyota doing atmo petrol V8's with front and rear KERS, porsche doing a turbo 2.0L V4 petrol on the rear axle with a turbo generator and KERS electric on the front axle. good stuff. I just wish F1 had stayed a bit more purely in the combustion camp and left all this stuff to the Le mans guys.

[kaanage]

I just wish F1 had stayed a bit more purely in the combustion camp and left all this stuff to the Le mans guys.

You can thank Bernie for trying to keep F1 "relevant"

[sambb]

Things might be looking up though. Just read that the F1 stategy group has agreed on hitting 1000hp in 2017 which is good and limiting the electric side of things to just the old KERS system ie no turbo harvesting. The Ferrari proposal of twin turbo 2.2L V8's was shot down by merc and honda, so apparently it looks like back to the 80's and twin turbo V6's with angry wastegate screamer pipes as big as my dump pipe. I read a comment from a merc engineer who said that at maximum thermal efficiency, that the current 1.6L V6 configuration would be theoretically capable of 1630hp! nice

[Notso Swift]

LMP1is where it is at for technical innovation, F1 is for pushing tight rules, but LMP1 is where the creative motorsports engineering is

The car is combustion motor powered FWD with energy recovery on all 4 wheels plus the motor. They haven't given details out on that so we don't know how much energy. The idea is by moving the centre of aerodynamic pressure forward they can have less drag in total. Nissan are smart, I think the will win Le Mans in 2or 3 years, but they will not win the WEC, because high speed is where this will excel
you can follow it on NISMO.TV

[sambb]

Yeah they seem to be using the turbo exhaust and wastegate flow and linking it in with air coming over the nose, and then running it out around the front and sides of the car. Love those access hatches that reveal the turbos.

[kaanage]

I still remember the Adelaide qualifying shootout in the final year unrestricted fuel and boost of the 1.5 litre turbos where Mansell, Piquet and Senna had 1500bhp to play with on one lap qualifier grenade engines

The idea is by moving the centre of aerodynamic pressure forward they can have less drag in total.

Can you elaborate on this? I don't understand how moving the centre of aerodynamic pressure forward can reduce drag.

[Notso Swift]

Now, I am a long way from an expert! This just the way i understand aero balance, basically you want the centre of aerodynamic pressure to meet the centre of gravity.
a splitter pushed out front in clean air creates more efficient downforce per unit of drag than a wing, stuck out back in dirty air. By pushing the cog forward (and downforce to match) the rear wing will be smaller with less drag for the whole car. (And if you look at the back of the car there is a lot of hollow space that is solely designed to smooth the air exiting from the front, there is a great pic in the promo ad that shows it with the body off -very sexy!)
If you look at what they have done they have matched the forces at every wheel, aero, weight (static) and I bet drive as well, (no details are known about the KERS) the front wheels are about 50% wider than the rears, but the car will be balanced... And slippery, at LeMans slippery is a big deal, and let's be honest 1 LeMans win is worth 10 everywhere else (just ask Toyota)

It is amazing what basically free technical regulations can bring, Audi, Toyota, Porsche and Nissan are all VERY different in their solutions, and the racing is great, F1 is so tame in comparison

There were some articles published by a magazine called Trackdriver (UK thing) where Simon goes into modern aero theories, with simple CFD calc, they are on line and free. Good reading