Darren Cox: “The DeltaWing is a test bed for Nissan”

Powered by Nissan, the DeltaWing will make its debut next June at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With a 1.6 liter turbocharged engine specially designed for the occasion, the director of Nissan Europe says that this prototype will constitute a test bed for innovation. This project could also accelerate the transfer of technology between competition cars and road cars. “ Nissan will supply the engine and we will mainly focus on the advantages of direct injection technology and turbocharging, explains Darren Cox. The gearbox will be extremely innovative. It will use a torque vectoring system, which is quite unusual for a competition car. But this kind of technology can easily be transferred to production vehicles »

However, innovating sometimes means taking risks. “ At Le Mans, the DeltaWing will only have one chance, continues Cox. It would be enough for a competitor to hit us to see our efforts destroyed. This is also the “charm” of Le Mans. But whatever happens, we will have learned a lot. And Le Mans could also be the start of something much bigger. Nissan is revising its global motorsport strategy. We will analyze the new technical regulations (which will come into force in 2014. Editor’s note) concerning the LM P1 category. Nissan could be more interested in this discipline ».

The DeltaWing will make its first public outing today at Sebring, during a static display.