Take Ben Bowbly, a former Lola engineer, and set him loose, tell him to build a car without any restrictions. He will come up with the DeltaWing.
Which somewhat looks like a batmobile.
The main idea behind the concept is that shedding weight on the car, while making the body more aerodynamic, will enable you to use less resources over a set distance. Nothing revolutionary there. Except the triangular shape of the DeltaWing looks counterintuitive. Like it would flip over at Turn 1.
All the complicated physics explaining how it turns boils down to three simple words : it all works.
"Well, obviously, the front wheels steer," chief designer Ben Bowbly explained to Autoweek.com.
"And the front wheels have a very long lever arm to the center of gravity and the amount of mass, the amount of weight, on those tires means that the contact-patch pressure load, per square inch if you like, is the same at the front as it is at the rear."
"So it's all in tune. So the result is that the front has the ability to cause the car to change direction very quickly. But then, somewhat unique to here, the majority of weight transfer, like 97 percent, occurs across the widely-spaced rear tires."
The car is set to make its first race appearance at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans edition, since it was granted a special entry in order to promote the project.
Which somewhat looks like a batmobile.
The main idea behind the concept is that shedding weight on the car, while making the body more aerodynamic, will enable you to use less resources over a set distance. Nothing revolutionary there. Except the triangular shape of the DeltaWing looks counterintuitive. Like it would flip over at Turn 1.
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| Will it or won't it work? (Photo: Highcroft Racing) |
All the complicated physics explaining how it turns boils down to three simple words : it all works.
"Well, obviously, the front wheels steer," chief designer Ben Bowbly explained to Autoweek.com.
"And the front wheels have a very long lever arm to the center of gravity and the amount of mass, the amount of weight, on those tires means that the contact-patch pressure load, per square inch if you like, is the same at the front as it is at the rear."
 |
| DeltaWing front and rear tires somewhat disproportionate (Photo: Michelin) |
"So it's all in tune. So the result is that the front has the ability to cause the car to change direction very quickly. But then, somewhat unique to here, the majority of weight transfer, like 97 percent, occurs across the widely-spaced rear tires."
The car is set to make its first race appearance at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans edition, since it was granted a special entry in order to promote the project.