You’ve probably been hearing a lot about Nissan’s GT-R LM NISMO Le Mans racer in the past couple of weeks, and that’s due to all of the crazy technology that is hiding underneath the carbon fiber body panels.
When the car was first revealed in February, the world got its first taste of Nissan’s FWD Le Mans effort, and now NISMO TV’s web series, NISMO University, explains exactly how the aerodynamics of the car works. “To make a racing car go around corners faster, if you can use the hand of downforce to press it to the road, it means that the tires have more contact patch pressure,” explained Nissan LMP1 technical director and team principal.
The result of Nissan’s crazy aerodynamic practices is low drag and maximum downforce, which is exactly what they were looking for out of this unique opportunity. Nissan has completed the Le Mans test day, and now they’re just preparing for the big race that will be held in less than two weeks. We can hardly wait to see how this engineering marvel performs out on track.
On a side note, the GT-R LM NISMO is now available in Gran Turismo 6, and all you have to do is complete one lap at Circuit de la Sarthe, regardless of lap time, for it to be yours. Have fun with it!