was required to handle the heat and tension placed on the part. CRP USA introduced Windform SP to the DeltaWing engineering team for consideration. Windform SP is a composite polyamide based carbon-filled material.
Windform SP has excellent mechanical properties and an added advantage of increased resistance to shocks, vibrations, deformations, and most importantly, Windform SP is resistant to absorption of liquids and moisture.
The packaging constraints required for the location of the engine within the chassis requires some creative design. The runner lengths attach at the base of the plenum and form a complex structure that would be extremely difficult to build without using advanced manufacturing techniques.
Windform SP’s toughness and heat deflection properties allow the part to be built and then raced in the endurance series. The engine is run under boost, so experiences pressure variation in addition to the vibration and temperatures changes associated with engine cooling.
The new Manifold is very special. The performance gain for Deltawing is huge and therefore seen them overtake LMP2 cars in brute pace and is only out-dragged by much more powerful Daytona Prototype competition (DP).
The car runs a 6-speed EMCO gearbox with paddle shift. The Clutch is a Tilton 3 Plate Carbon-Carbon design with a limited slip diff on the rear axle. Beingrear wheel drive and with the engine placed near the back, the car has great traction out of turns.
For an aerodynamic gain, Deltawing decided to implement a closed cockpit for improved flor efficiency. The arrow like front-end has reduced front length so therefore the coefficient drag number is a lot less than a normal race car. This has therefore made the car very fast in a straight line.
The chassis is a three piece construction. The rear wing and diffuser working as one piece, the survival-cell the second piece and the front nose cone the last. It’s still a monocoque construction which see tubular steel tubes coated in Carbon Fibre panels.
Suspension sees double wishbones all round which are a steel construction. The front sees unequal coil over shock units to lower wishbones. Rear suspension also sees unequal length, with pushrod and rocker actuation of coil over shock units. Both front and rear are 4130 heat-treated thin wall tubular steel welded construction designs for added strength - due to the 28% front/72% rear downforce levels.
Come this calendar year, the team embarked on improved aero. The team designed a new front wing of the nose cone structure; consisting of one simple main plane, with one outer end plates. To improve performance the team added an inboard fence which helps with keeping the flow consistently smooth and layered.
The wing produced more down-force and helped improved flow streamlines to the back of the car, resulting in a lot of pace on faster circuits. At the rear you can see the normal width of a car which has also been designed with aerodynamics in mind.
The engine radiators are mounted very low in the rear side pods, mounted just above the drive shafts of the car. Turbo cooling is from an intercooler in the left hand side of the car with most of the engine management system in the right hand side, behind the radiator. Each radiator cools one side of the engine bank, so two combustion chambers has one radiator.
Furthermore, DeltaWing added an
additional winglet on top of the cockpit for added stability. They also added a huge dorsal fin on the rear engine cover so that the car meets specific FIA crash tests.
Deltawing have also been running an updated diffuser which sees a gurney flap lining the trailing edge. By creating a low-pressure drag area behind the flap, it increases the effectiveness of the wing because low pressure pulls high pressure towards it. This means that for a specific drag trade-off you gain more down-force from the wing. By slotting the elements on a gurney you could perhaps increase the net pressure gain.
Furthermore, DeltaWing could also be using a slat method of retrieving
downforce. You can allow the diffuser to operate at a higher angle of attack without inducing wing stall, which means you can curve the diffuser side walls more aggressively for increased expansion of air flow. This should also see the rear end of the DWC13 more planted and stable.
One sides of the original Deltawing concept is the use of wing mirrors, the Le Mans spec car was never designed to run with them, but was forced to for safety issues, despite using a rear view camera mounted on the centre console. There is a notable result of drag increase of this ultra-slipper body.
With new FIA rules regarding 2017 LMP2 class, the DWC13 doesn’t have much time left to race its heart out. But fear not, there will be a road going version of the DeltaWing, which sees the shame bodywork being put forward for a sports car from Nissan.