Delta Wing Discussion ONLY

[wewantourdarbyback]

Coverage in a national newspaper

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...al-belter.html

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by wewantourdarbyback

Coverage in a national newspaper

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...al-belter.html

The title.

IS this the future of sportscar racing?


If so, time to take up something else.

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally Posted by davehenrie

Since it was originally designed as a Road Course compatible car, (some of the very first vids were at a sim Mid Ohio Course) it should turn. But then you have to ask if the Indycars are on par with prototypes. Because it was designed to replace the current Dallara indy thing.

At any venue where IndyCar and the ALMS ran a twin bill, IndyCars were faster by at least a second or two, so YES, they would be on par with the prototypes for speed...even a little quicker...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

The title.

IS this the future of sportscar racing?


If so, time to take up something else.

I don't think it's the future at all, especially as Porsche have announced their return, unless they bring something as radical as the D-Wing to LMP1.

[davehenrie]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

At any venue where IndyCar and the ALMS ran a twin bill, IndyCars were faster by at least a second or two, so YES, they would be on par with the prototypes for speed...even a little quicker...

Thanks for the info Tim!

[joeb]

I was just thinking about this car and I was wondering one thing, money. The theory of the car is to be half weight, take half the power, and have half the drag. So with all those halves, does the price (compared to a current LMP1 car) drop in half as well?

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by joeb

I was just thinking about this car and I was wondering one thing, money. The theory of the car is to be half weight, take half the power, and have half the drag. So with all those halves, does the price (compared to a current LMP1 car) drop in half as well?

Panoz is involved to make profits....

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Panoz is involved to make profits....

That's what I figured. If Panoz is in charge of manufacturing and distribution, then I'm sure they will make only certain parts eligible as in LMPC and control who sells said parts.

[AGD]

Dagys just send out a Tweet saying that there are high hopes that the Delta Wing will be homologated as an LMP1 in the future (2014?). Dagys will have more on the topic tomorrow.

Maybe then the Delta Wing won't be a spec class? But if it is homologated as a LMP1, I hope other light weight cars are homologated as well and not just the Delta Wing or else it will become a spec sub-class within a class. That would be pathetic. Anyway, criticize me if you want, but I hope the thing massively fails next year. The thing is hideous looking and I don't like the potential of it becoming some sort of spec car at Le Mans.

[gttouring]

I have toagree lmp 900 and 675 were supposed to be on equal footing essentially and it didn't really work- then lmp1 and 2 and lmp c. This would be more of the same

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by AGD

Dagys just send out a Tweet saying that there are high hopes that the Delta Wing will be homologated as an LMP1 in the future (2014?). Dagys will have more on the topic tomorrow.

Maybe then the Delta Wing won't be a spec class? But if it is homologated as a LMP1, I hope other light weight cars are homologated as well and not just the Delta Wing or else it will become a spec sub-class within a class. That would be pathetic. Anyway, criticize me if you want, but I hope the thing massively fails next year. The thing is hideous looking and I don't like the potential of it becoming some sort of spec car at Le Mans.

I hope it fails, but I hope it doesnt take the lives of drivers and spectators to prove the car is a failure. If I were a Black Ops spectator on the Mulsanne next year Id be very, very careful.

Best thing would be for the car to fail to start the race at all, and considering Panoz is involved, I would not be at all be suprised if that happens to be the case.

[davehenrie]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

I hope it fails, but I hope it doesnt take the lives of drivers and spectators to prove the car is a failure. If I were a Black Ops spectator on the Mulsanne next year Id be very, very careful.

Best thing would be for the car to fail to start the race at all, and considering Panoz is involved, I would not be at all be suprised if that happens to be the case.

Panoz is only involved in the construction aren't they? Highcroft will be running it. I don't think the DW can be any more of a spectacular failure than the AMR1 is. With Highcroft, they at least will have a solid team to sort out the car before LM. Now, if what I recall from MM, Panoz has laid off all of their car building crew. I would suspect they may have more trouble meeting construction deadlines rather than seeing the car fail miserably on the track.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by davehenrie

Panoz is only involved in the construction aren't they? Highcroft will be running it. I don't think the DW can be any more of a spectacular failure than the AMR1 is. With Highcroft, they at least will have a solid team to sort out the car before LM. Now, if what I recall from MM, Panoz has laid off all of their car building crew. I would suspect they may have more trouble meeting construction deadlines rather than seeing the car fail miserably on the track.

You bring up a good point about Panoz and possible construction deadlines, it will be interesting to see when this thing (not a car) actually races, Im suspecting either Sebring or another early ALMS race.

[AGD]

I thought Dan Gurney/AAR was building the car and Panoz is supplying some of the materials.

[davehenrie]

Originally Posted by AGD

I thought Dan Gurney/AAR was building the car and Panoz is supplying some of the materials.

yeah, that would have been a clearer way to explain it. Involved in the parts supply. thanks

[HJJ]

Originally Posted by AGD

I thought Dan Gurney/AAR was building the car and Panoz is supplying some of the materials.

Gurney/AAR is building the first car for Highcroft. Any cars that make it into production, they will be built by Panoz with parts distributed through Newman-Haas.

One question in the packaging, does this thing have transverse engine? There looks to be no room at the back of this thing where the driver roll hoop ends and the back of the car, like a proper mid-engine sports car. I also have to think that this thing is going to flex like a top fuel dragster? Duncan says it will be testing in December, so we will see soon enough.

[JAG]

It's more substantional than a typial single-seater tub.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by HJJ

Gurney/AAR is building the first car for Highcroft. Any cars that make it into production, they will be built by Panoz with parts distributed through Newman-Haas.

Yeah? That's interesting. That does not make a lot of sense for AAR as it seems that it would be pretty expense to tool to build one car. It almost seems like Gurney is just a token to get the project more attention if that is the case. On the other hand, I could understand why Panoz would want to cover his rear in case nobody wants to buy this thing (which is hopefully what will happen).

EDIT: Does Carl Haas have distribution rights to Panoz cars? I think he has North American distribution rights to Orecas or at least the FLMs.

EDIT2: I just read Dagys' article from today and it looks like AAR is building at least two of these things.

[HJJ]

Originally Posted by AGD

EDIT: Does Carl Haas have distribution rights to Panoz cars? I think he has North American distribution rights to Orecas or at least the FLMs.

Yes. Since the days of the DP-01 ChampCar.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by AGD

It almost seems like Gurney is just a token to get the project more attention if that is the case..

That is what I have felt since it was announced.

[JAG]

Dayton was on an online show the other day, on it he said they are investigating homologating the DW into P1 and are looking to run the car in the WEC as well as ALMS.

There isn't yet an agreement with the ACO to run in the WEC, but I guess that will come as it needs to be demo'd in race conditions before Le Mans.

[TRuss]

Fingers crossed that they won't.

[Félix]

Originally Posted by TRuss

Fingers crossed that they won't.

I'm just curious; what are you in favour of then?
-factory cars? yeah they're amazing, but they nuke the competition until it's can't even be called a competition, and they show up in small numbers, if at all
-privateers in old cars? meh. and you need a good economy for that to work
-pro-am rules??
-spec prototypes?

From where I'm standing, it's the most exciting project in prototype racing (and pretty much the only one) and the mainstream attention it can grab is a very good thing. Yes it looks like a pénis on wheels but a team of serious characters running it is getting me more excited than 2014 or the "competition" that's going on right now....

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by TRuss

Fingers crossed that they won't.

That's a shame, if it happens, as I think Le Mans will prove to be a much better platform for the D-Wing than Indy would ever have done.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by Félix

I'm just curious; what are you in favour of then?
-factory cars? yeah they're amazing, but they nuke the competition until it's can't even be called a competition, and they show up in small numbers, if at all
-privateers in old cars? meh. and you need a good economy for that to work
-pro-am rules??
-spec prototypes?

From where I'm standing, it's the most exciting project in prototype racing (and pretty much the only one) and the mainstream attention it can grab is a very good thing. Yes it looks like a pénis on wheels but a team of serious characters running it is getting me more excited than 2014 or the "competition" that's going on right now....

I'm with TRuss on this one. Ok, the thing is so ugly that I kind of hope this program fails just because of that. I'm also not sure how this thing has any road relevance either in design or with future applications. Lighter is faster? Duh? Just bring back LMP675 then!

There are bigger problems with the situation though. There is a serious possibility that the DeltaWing could become some sort of spec subclass within LMP1. That would not be good. It seems that Don is trying to use his power and connections to force a way to get this car in a favorable position so he can make some money selling his products. That's not good. Not good at all. I may be way off, but it just seems like the Delta Wing people got desperate after the IRL rejected them (too ugly for the IRL! there's a warning!) and decided to grease up Don in order to force the issue.

Ok, the announcement got some publicity from the motoring press, but Paul Drayson's odd ideas get publicity from those same rags as well. Does anyone think that anyone will follow his creations?

But, ugh, even with philosophy and politics aside, the thing is just sooooo ugly! It even makes the Abruzzi look reasonable. That's enough for me to reject Don's latest erection!