Nissan has become a founding partner in the radical DeltaWing motorsport project. An advanced turbocharged 1.6-litre Nissan engine will power the DeltaWing car as it races for the first time at the Le Mans 24 Hours (16-17 June).
While the Nissan DeltaWing will not be classified in the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours, the company will showcase pioneering technology that will be a potential direction for motorsport and will feed into the research and development of future technologies, that filter down to Nissan’s range of passenger vehicles.
 A race-prepared 1.6-litre 4-cylinder engine, featuring direct petrol injection and a turbocharger, will power Nissan DeltaWing, which is half the weight and has half the aerodynamic drag of a conventional racer.
Nissan was invited into the DeltaWing family by the existing group of core partners – US-domiciled British designer Ben Bowlby, American motorsport entrepreneur Don Panoz, the All-American Racers organisation of former US Formula 1 driver Dan Gurney, Duncan Dayton’s two-time championship-winning Highcroft Racing team and Michelin Tyres North America.
 The engine, badged DIG-T (Direct Injection Gasoline – Turbocharged), is expected to produce around 300hp, sufficient to give Nissan DeltaWing lap times between LMP1 and LMP2 machines at Le Mans, despite having only half the power of those conventional prototypes. It features the same technology found in Nissan road cars, such as the Nissan Juke DIG-T.
“As motor racing rulebooks have become tighter over time, racing cars look more and more similar and the technology used has had less and less relevance to road car development. Nissan DeltaWing aims to change that and we were an obvious choice to become part of the project,” says Nissan Motor Co-executive vice president Andy Palmer.
 “But this is just the start of our involvement. Nissan DeltaWing embodies a vast number of highly-innovative ideas that we can learn from. At the same time, our engineering resources and commitment to fuel efficiency leadership via our PureDrive strategy will help develop DeltaWing into a testbed of innovation for Nissans.”
Nissan DeltaWing concept originator and designer, Briton Ben Bowlby, says the engine is the right weight, has the right power and is phenomenally efficient.
The Nissan DeltaWing is unlike any other racing car currently on track. The driver sits well back in the car, almost over the rear axle and looks ahead down a long, narrow fuselage to narrow twin front tyres, specially created for the car by tyre partner Michelin. With a rear-mounted engine, the car has a strong rearward weight bias, which makes it highly manoeuvrable, while its light weight and slippery shape make it far more efficient.
 Its innovative design and forward-looking technology have encouraged the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), the organisers of the famous Le Mans 24 Hours, to invite the car to run in this year’s race from ‘Garage 56’, the spot in the pit lane reserved for experimental cars. As it doesn’t conform to any existing championship regulations, Nissan DeltaWing will not be eligible to challenge for silverware and will carry the race number ‘0’.
The Nissan DeltaWing was built by Dan Gurney’s All American Racers organisation. The new car continues the California organisation’s legacy as a race car constructor which has included 157 different cars built – earning major victories in Formula 1, sportscars and the Indianapolis 500.
The first two Nissan DeltaWing drivers to be confirmed are British racer Marino Franchitti and Nissan’s reigning FIA GT1 world champion Michael Krumm.