Nissan Celebrates First Year of Deltawing in New Video

The NissanNissanJapan, 1932 > present159 models
6957 photos
12 videos
DeltawingNissan DeltaWingJapan, 2012 > present19 photos
3 videos
raced just twice in 2012 but was perhaps the most written about car of the year. Planning for the project began in 2009, but the final assembly did not come until early 2012. The concept was to see if a car could have similar times to an LMP2 car with half the power, twice the fuel economy and half the tire use. 

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Deltawing qualified in 29th place, which was in the lower portion of the LMP2 cars. It retired after 75 laps after a safety car period. Kazuki Nakajima in the Toyota TS030 tried to pass the Audis ahead of him as the green flag came down but hit the Deltawing beside him. The Deltawing went off track and was not able to be restarted. The collision also seemed to have caused damage to the Toyota's electrical system, and it retired a few hours later. 

The car did prove itself at Le Mans. It competed with the top LMP2 cars in the world and would have likely finished in the middle of the pack if things had stayed like they were.

Things were uncertain for the rest of the year whether the Deltawing would race again. Finally, it got its second chance to compete at Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on October 20. After a horrendous crash during practice that flipped the car and forced the team to rebuilt most of it just before the race, the car performed fantastically. While it was not classified as a points-scoring car, it would have finished fourth in the LMP2 class if it had been.

Nissan has created a video looking back on the Deltawing's first year of competition. The Deltawing will race in the American Le Mans Series next year.