Interesting stuff on ALMS...and the future Sebring (??) and Le  Mans
project for
DeltaWing.

http://gordonkirby.com/categories/columns/theway/2011/the_way_it_is_no294.ht
ml

Ron  G

These guys are clueless  :)

http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/le-mans-deltawing-to-build-lmp1-car-for-20
12-24-hour-race/

Lateral  weight transfer on the front would be ludicrous just for one of
many  problems. No down force. My prediction it will never get past testing
if  hardware is ever built.

Don Fuller and Csaba should be able to tell you  that... both being
graduates of my race car engineering school  :)

http://www.rotaryeng.net/who.html

http://www.rotaryeng.net/AIAA-Paper.pdf

http://www.rotaryeng.net/Road-and-Track-69a.pdf

On  and on :)

Paul Lamar



There are several aspects of this Delta thing that bring on much
eye-rolling but just one of them is this: It should be fairly easy to take some old
race car -- wouldn't much matter what -- and cut off the conventional nose
and fabricate some narrow front end, knock off some approximate body work
and do  a little quick and dirty testing, just to sort of investigate the
fundamental  concept.  But, with all the big bucks being thrown at this, as far
as I  know nobody has done that.  This thing violates every principle of
downforce and weight transfer, so far as I know, in existence.  I can't
imagine being a driver and trying to outbrake somebody on corner entry and
having this thing darting all over the place.

All the "half the drag" arguments sound just like all the "twice the
downforce, half the drag" claims we used to hear in the '70s about the latest
aerodynamic wonder and none of it ever proved true.  Even when Trevor  Harris
did the original Shadow he was aiming at taking a big leap in projected
development down a predictable path -- lower the center of gravity  and reduce
the frontal area -- and there were huge developmental issues on  details
just to make the concept drivable, let alone competitive.

As I remember, just a couple of issues with that car meant that the
realities of engine intake, exhaust, cooling and lubrication resulted in the
frontal area going back to just about where everyone else was anyway, and the
little tires and tight bodywork severely limited the size of the brakes.
And that was done by a guy who knew what he was talking about.

If this Delta is the greatest thing since sliced bread then I say  build
the sumbitch, put a fast guy in the seat and see what he does with  it.  So
far, all I think they have are lots of pictures and a roll-around  mock-up.
And a bunch of wild-eyed amazement from people who don't know  anything about
race cars.

I do understand why other people are getting involved, though.  There  is
probably some money from somewhere that's being thrown around.

Just my opinion.

Love and kisses --

Uncle Don