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You’ll need to embrace a mashup of letters and numbers to digest the insanity housed within Ben Bowlby’s 6-foot-wide by 15-foot-long Nissan creation.

It’s an LMP1. And not just a normal LMP1, but an LMP1-H. The H is for Hybrid. It conforms to the rules created by the ACO, the French sanctioning body that runs the LM24, aka, the Le Mans 24 hours, and will race there and at the rest of the World Endurance Championship governed by the FIA.

It’s FWD in terms of which end the IC – internal combustion – engine sends its power. It’s designed to be AWD, thanks to the H propelling the front and rear wheels. It’s a TTV6 – a twin-turbo V6, with DI – direct-injection. And its 3.0-liter engine was not, as some have suggested, originally envisioned as a Formula 1 powerplant.

It was originally targeted to have 2000 horsepower, but that figure has been tamed to something in the 1250-1500 region, with the IC contributing just over 500hp and the hopefully 8MJ H Flybrid system offering up the other 750-plus hp.

Put it all together and we have an ACO LMP1-H that’s FWD, AWD, featuring a 3.0-liter DI TTV6 with an 8MJ H, dubbed the GT-R LM NISMO, that will race in the FIA WEC.

http://www.racer.com/wec-le-mans/item/113079-wec-nissan-lmp1-tech-talk-with-ben-bowlby

Cat and pigeons comes to mind, the logic seems to work but the reality will be some test. Genuinely interested in seeing the results in a race environment.

Scott Andrews racing in FF support for Bathurst 12h - pretty impressive outqualifying a Lambo and a Porsche....

12h of Bathurst livestream:

http://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/live-int

I like Nissan being brave, but imo they shoot way to high. Too much money in publicity, too little in the car. Atm I give the car 4 hours before it strands somewhere round Le Sarthe.

It's basically the platform for the new hybrid GTR, sure the power output won't be anywhere near as high but Le Mans is the ideal test for the project. I think they'll surprise a few people

Reliability is the key, especially for publicity. And I just can't see that for Nissan after the ZEOD debacle. Just hope the engine is similar enough to the race proofen VR38. I'm not for Audi winning Le Mans again, but see Porsche as the most realistic.

I would really like to see Mark Webber and Porsche win this year at Le Mans.

A bit late to write, but:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oapIvh43gg
Blancpain Endurance Series 2015 - Silverstone

45 mins left. Too bad #23 Nissan had a crash so it's relatively far back right now

Thanks Sobis!

Quote from Sobis :

A bit late to write, but:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oapIvh43gg
Blancpain Endurance Series 2015 - Silverstone

45 mins left. Too bad #23 Nissan had a crash so it's relatively far back right now

With so little time left, I rather wait for the upload of the broadcast on GTWorld - it's SRO's official channel... Not only do they stream every part of every Blancpain Series event (practices, qualifyings and races of both Sprint and Endurance Series) via youtube, you can go there and watch practically right after the stream ends in case you missed one or want to catch up. I wish more series would do that...

Nissan had good (highest) topspeed in practice:
http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/Results/05_2015/03_LE%20MANS/85_FIA%20WEC/201505311400_Test%20Practice%202/15_EventMaxiumSpeed_Test%20Practice%202.PDF
but not by that much...and lap times are quite bad still.
I read somewhere they have no special qualifying tires, so maybe in race will do bit better than it appears now. At least it would be cool to see that...but more likely retire and then "trololo but look we totally had great topspeed!"

Well nobody have any qualifying tyres so it doesn't change anything actually. Quickest lap in Le Mans are done early in sunday morning (around 6 a.m) when the track finally catch some grip and that traffic get lower.

Top Speed doesn't mean that much as all the hybrid LMP1 have some fuel usage limitation per lap so they have some ceiling at the end of the straight. What is more useful is to look at the acceleration zone, and well that Porsche is damn quick!

Yes, but one goal of the strange layout was less drag and that helps with both speed and fuel.
Hm at http://www.lemanslive.com/Tyres it says "Michelin has three slicks for the LMP1 cars"
As I understood Nissan only has one type. (plus wet of course)

Will be setting off for LeMans on wednesday. First year going there in person

Anyone hosting a stream like the last years?

You may check out the lfs irc channel, I'm sure there is something there for racing enthusiasts.

These are my predictions, and yes, they're not very original, but hey. Usually, any car I pick ends up blowing up or crashing, so I'm going safe.

LMP1: #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro [Audi Sport Team Joest]
LMP1 privateer: #12 Rebellion R-One - AER [Rebellion Racing]
LMP2: #38 Gibson 015S - Nissan [JOTA Sport]
LMGTE-Pro: #51 Ferrari 458 Italia [AF Corse]
LMGTE-Am: #98 Aston Martin V8 Vantage [Aston Martin Racing]

I think Porsche has a big chance to win the LMP1 class this year.

Nissan will win every category.

LMP1: #7 Audi, Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler, Benoit Treluyer
LMP2: #26 G-Drive Racing, Sam Bird, Julien Canal, Roman Rusinov
GTEPro: #51 Ferrari, Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander, Giancarlo Fisichella
GTEAm: #98 Aston Martin, Paul Dalla Lana, Mathlas Lauda, Pedro Lamy

Nooo what a shame for the Aston Martin just 45 mins to go

Wot a bunch of want to win plonkers.....

Kiwi's in P1 & P2, oh, and some F1 drivers but........
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11465274

New Zealander Earl Bamber has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and in doing so emulated the last great Kiwi victory of Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren in 1966. This event is regarded as one of the hardest and most difficult long distance endurance races to finish, let lone win.

Not only did Bamber emulate a great win at the oldest sports car endurance race in the world, fellow Kiwi Brendon Hartley, along with Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard, crossed the line in second. When Amon and McLaren won, another Kiwi Denny Hulme too followed them home.

And, I do believe that Haydon Paddon and John Kennard got a second in the latest WRC round...

And, what a phuq up, it took another Kiwi to save the organisers from looking like total tossers......

Rally Italy Sardinia organisers were almost left red-faced for not having a New Zealand flag on hand following Hayden Paddon historic second-placing overnight.

Rally organisers obviously weren't expected Paddon to finish on the podium and didn't have a flag ready for the podium presentation.

It wasn't until a New Zealand fan came to the rescue to ensure Paddon and co-driver John Kennard were properly represented on the surrounding flag poles.

It would have been a let down for Paddon who ably demonstrated his star potential having secured a history-making, career-best second place.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11465261

And here's Haydon in training winning the 2015 NZ Rally Otago with a 30 yr old BDA Escort against the likes of Ken Block and Alister McRae. And the NZ Rally drivers etc.... Watch and enjoy......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqx9cH_r9ig

TV3, Rally NZ, Rally Otago ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_OnMHy3vEg

24h of Spa. Go Nissan!

Livestream: http://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/live
Nissan's livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO3u-ovVnvM
Live timing: http://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/live#live-timing