F1technical.net

wesley123 wrote:In slightly different news, some more great words on the project:
http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/cox- ... amentally/

The one we weren’t expecting was the inability of the car to run the harsh curbs, which meant we had to keep the drivers off the curbs. You lose a significant amount of time not able to do that. But it was the right thing to be conservative as we didn’t want all three cars to be out with suspension issues early on.

This makes me wonder if there is anything that actually works on this car.

wasn't it BWM that had to retire their cars after less than 4 hours with something as simple was overheating
wheel bearings, only to come back the next year and win

Didn't Nissan have a rather significant structural issue when testing at Sebring earlier this year? They had to scrap the whole 3 days of testing because something broke that they couldn't fix.

To me it sounds like it's a bit too fragile, but without any data I can't say that for certain.

Regarding the hybrid system:

“That’s obviously something we’re going to go in a very different direction for 2016."

I still think they're considering a switch to a battery electric system.

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/futu ... er-review/

Nissan's future participation already in doubt.

I think that article suggests more that they're evaluating the future of the GT-R LM and not their future participation.

Yes, their participation has already been decided and I believe funding has already been completed for at least 2016.

These doom stories have already been circulating months before Le Mans, so this one is nothing new.

"Following the post Le Mans test at COTA Nissan decided to withdraw from the WEC until the car could be made competitive and that will include getting a hybrid system to work properly and that will likely be an electric drive system. Further aerodynamic and suspension development will also be conducted."

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/cars ... -lm-nismo/

Somehow I still cheer for this car... [-o<

Nissan GT-R LM NISMO to return to WEC in 2016:
http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/20 ... -02-e.html

...allegedly faster and more robust, but still without KERS (really disappointing )

I would be disappointed if they had abandoned the concept so soon. It must have shown potential in the initial designing stages to have made them follow through with the idea.

SteveRacer wrote:I would be disappointed if they had abandoned the concept so soon. It must have shown potential in the initial designing stages to have made them follow through with the idea.

I'm also glad they didn't abandon the project...I'm just disapointed they didn't manage to get KERS working yet. IMHO they probably will not be able to compete with other LMP1 cars without it.

Agreed, they need the KERS working to make the car 4WD, it's not only a power boost but also in terms of balance.

The press release says they are running without KERS at the moment... it doesn't say they won't have it next year; I think it is safe to assume that is one of the aims (remember; the car was always meant to be 4WD, it was only run in FWD configuration because they couldn't get the KERS system working in time)... They should have had plenty of time to get it up and running by the time the 2016 season kicks off.

I don't see them returning without a working hybrid system. It's such a disadvantage not having it that's it's fairly pointless for a manufacturer to compete without one.

Bad news....

Nissan admits failure and pulls GT-R LM Nismo from racing

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/12/22/niss ... -official/

Not surprising. It was announced with much fanfare and big claims about power levels which they, a year later, did not meet. It was a great experiment and maybe it was a solid way to go, sadly enough the project was a too big of jump for a team that has little to none(?) Le Mans experience and are developing something completely different with no benchmark whatsoever.

The project needed time and money, and if you still aren't anywhere near what's promised a year later, then it's no surprise management pulls the plug