Le Mans 24 Hours - Scrutineering 17

Nissan DeltaWing

We’ll have much more on the extraordinary, controversial and comment provoking Nissan DeltaWing later this week but for now let’s catch up with a couple of the drivers at Scrutineering ahead of one of the most anticipated debuts at Le Mans for many years.

Marino Franchitti:

“I’ve lost count of the test days we have had with the car but let’s not forget that it is still very new, a completely different concept and still absolutely unique.

“We’ve tested at Sebring, Snetterton, Magny Cours, Aragon and now Le Mans but there is still a long way to go in unlocking its potential.

“It is though an absolutely extraordinary thing. We are finding out more about it on every lap, but this early in its development a finish here at Le Mans would be amazing.

“The key really is almost to forget everything you know and understand about a conventional prototype. What we do know though is that fuel consumption is good and tyre wear is extraordinary!”

Michael Krumm:

“We have a lot to prove but this thing is extraordinary – if we can get 12 laps on our fuel load, which remember is only 40 litres, matched to what has proved already to be amazing tyre wear, then this car will have proved several points.

“From the driver's perspective it is even more amazing.  You basically bring all of the years of experience you have gathered in motorsport to this project then throw it all away and start again.

“Look at it this way - you are coming into the Porsche Curves at a very high speed and you just have to trust that Ben Bowlby is right!  It is an extraordinary experience, but you know what, he IS absolutely right. I have no idea how it does it but it just works!

“Of course there are frustrations with the project, it’s frustrating that we cannot actually compete with the LMP2 cars but of course we understand why.  It’s frustrating too that we have parts that would undoubtedly give us more speed but we have to balance that against reliability.

“When you are a part of this project though you soon retune your mindset to be excited by different aspects of the whole story. The potential is the most exciting thing and trying to adjust your natural process of problem-solving to a totally different concept is pretty astonishing too.

“The single most astounding thing though is that front end – How does it do it?  I can understand the cynics, they have a right to question something that is just so illogical, but believe me it works.

“One thing is for sure, whether they love it or hate it they are definitely going to see it!”