This is not just a Nissan Deltawing racer with a roof. This, according to Nissan, is the ZEOD RC, the world's fastest electric racing car - capable of more than 300km/h - and it's being shown in public for the first time in the paddock of the Sarthe Circuit on the eve of the 90th Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race.
The ZEOD RC (Zero Emission On Demand Racing Car) will make its race debut at next year's Le Mans 24 Hour, as part of a programme testing new electric drive train technologies as part of its intended future return to LM P1 competition and, eventually, a challenge for overall victory at the world's most prestigious endurance race.
Back in February this year the Le Mans organisers, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, invited Nissan to compete in the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours under its 'Garage 56' rule - an extra place on the grid for cars that showcase new and innovative technology.
WORKS TEAM
It will be run as a full factory Nissan/Nismo international programme with a team of engineers from Japan, Europe and the US, headed by newly-appointed Nissan director of motorsport innovation Ben Bowlby, who previously worked on the DeltaWing project in 2012.
Nissan vice-president Andy Palmer explained:
“The ZEOD RC will allow us to develop our electric-drive capabilities using the toughest endurance race in the world as a mobile test bed, to gauge the potential of our planned LM P1 powertrain.
“It's a natural progression from the Leaf road car and the Leaf RC prototype - and the technologies developed through the ZEOD RC programme will form part of future innovations for Nissan road cars.
“The ZEOD program is designed to test and develop multiple technologies and evaluate how they could be used for a future LM P1 class return to the Le Mans 24 Hour, including a 'zero emission on demand' option where the driver can switch between electric and petrol-powered drive, in addition to pure electric power and other new technologies that we still have under development.”
CHALLENGING TEST BED
Nissan launched the Nissan Leaf RC in 2011, a racing car using the same 85kW electric motor as the road car. Current battery technology doesn't provide enough energy storage capacity to race a pure electric car for 24 hours, but Bowlby believes the development of the ZEOD will be an important step in the “electrification” of future racing cars.
“Developing a car like this provides an incredibly challenging test bed for what could be highly-effective options for road cars of the future,” he said. “Over the next twelve months we will be testing a number of different drive trains, as part of a longer-term goal of developing a system and a set of rules for this type of technology, together with the ACO, best suited to competing at the highest level of this sport.
BOLD MOVE
The chassis team has concentrated on packaging and aerodynamic efficiency that will not only provide high performance but also high levels of energy efficiency - the goal for all global automakers.
“A large part of our work in the coming months will be to discuss with the ACO future opportunities for the 'electrification' of the Le Mans rules in the future and work towards delivering appropriate technology.
“Garage 56 is a bold move by the ACO to encourage testing of untried components and systems for future competition use; it's the most forward thinking promoter in Motorsport today.”
While the ZEOD RC won't turn a wheel until the third quarter of 2013, Nissan is well-represented in terms of conventional racing cars at this year's 24 Heures du Mans - 15 of the 22 LMP2 entries have Nissan engines.