Category Archives: Racing

If you have two things with wheels, then you just gotta see which one is faster.

The Nissan DeltaWing

Posted on by

Road & Track got an exclusive look at the new Nissan DeltaWing race car doing some full power testing. It’s currently being powered by a turbocharged and direct injected 1.6 liter inline 4 cylinder engine. Nissan makes the engine and it’s related to the optional turbocharged engine for the Juke. The goal behind the car was to make be lighter and more aerodynamically efficient than a traditional car in order to reduce fuel consumption. That’s why the nose and front tires are so narrow. The DeltaWing is able to turn because its center of gravity is almost on the back axle. That gives the front wheels a lot more leverage on the weight of the car. The design was in the running to become the new chassis for Indy but was passed over for a more traditional design. Now Nissan is picking up the project to race in the 24 hours of Le Mans.


Let me give you full disclosure here. I’m all for new technology and efficiency in motorsports more than most, but I absolutely hate this car. It’s my opinion that the DeltaWing is too far in the realm of idealistic engineering theory and not a practical design. It makes some sense if you analyze the forces on the tires and the center of gravity while the car is static, but I think the car will suffer in wheel to wheel racing when the drivers are trying to pass using aggressive line changing with the weight of the car shifted forward from heavy braking. A lot of passing maneuvers depend on how the car behaves in situations like that and I don’t see the DeltaWing being particularly good for them. I sincerely hope I’m wrong.

Source: Road & Track YouTube Channel

Meet the 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR

Posted on by

Porsche Motorsports and Falken Tires released these videos promoting their updated 911 GT3 RSR for the 2012 American Le Mans Series. In the first video, the head of Porsche Motorsports details the upgrades made to the car:


They also released this pretty cool first person point of view video of one of their pit stops from the race in Long Beach. You’ll notice that these stops are little different from Formula 1. The guys are not allowed to change the tires on the car until the refueling is complete. At the end, you get a good look at the refueling hose. The fitting has two equal size ports in it because one pumps fuel in and the other pumps an equal mass of air out of the tank. That way you don’t get the gurgling effect of air bubbles trying to leave in the same space as the liquid fuel going into the tank.


Source: Falken Tire YouTube Channel

Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo MotoGP Racing in Catalunya

Posted on by

I came across this video of what has to be some of the best motorcycle racing ever caught on film. It took place during the 2009 MotoGP season at Catalunya. At the time, Valention Rossi was the defending world champion but was trailing his Fiat Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo. They have a head to head battle for the last few laps of the race for a surprise win. I won’t spoil the results for those of you who have never seen this before:


The results of this race saw Rossi and Lorenzo tied for championship points. Rossi went on to win the MotoGP Championship that year.

Source: Tim Fowler on Vimeo

Toyota TS030 Hybrid

Posted on by

Toyota unveiled the car they would using to return to Le Mans LMP1 racing earlier this year. It’s called the TS030 (TS stands for Toyota Sport) and it’s a gasoline/electric hybrid. The gasoline end of things is taken care of by a 3.4 liter V8. Toyota’s press release stated that they were still deciding on which electric motor system they were going to use. The rules limit them to driving only one of the axles with an electrical system. Toyota was considering a system by Aisin for driving the front wheels and a Denso system to drive the rear wheels. The energy storage duties will be handled by an ultra-capacitor made by Nisshinbo. Capacitors are much lighter than batteries and are better suited for the high energy charging and discharging duties of road racing. The car will operate in pure EV mode in the pit lane.

Unfortunately the last news I heard about this car was that there was a crash in testing which would push back it’s official debut. Toyota Europe released this video with the press release announcing the car. It’s in-car footage of Alex Wurz driving the TS030 around the Paul Ricard track in France. Pay attention to how the car sounds as it first leaves the pit under electric power only.


Source: Toyota Europe YouTube Channel

Audi R8 LMS Testing

Posted on by

This is the Audi R8 LMS race car doing some on-track testing in the rain. It uses the same V10 engine that’s found in the Lamborghini Gallardo. All wheel drive is prohibited in GT3 racing, so this car is only rear wheel drive which explains the slight squirreliness through the chicane.


Source: YouTube User NM2255 via Jalopnik