The 2012 Le Mans 24 Hour race is now deep into the night and has just past the 12 hour mark. Sadly the morning brings bad news for the Nissan DeltaWing. Driven by Satoshi Motoyama at the time of the incident, he was pushed off track and into the wall by Kazuki Nakajima in the #7 Toyota TS030 Hybrid.
There was heavy traffic when the crash took place, caused by the field being bunched up following a restart from a period under Safety Car conditions.
Perhaps the only positive from the impact is that it gives Nissan some real world feedback on the safety of the lightweight chassis.
After the break we have a couple of videos showing the before and after. Ultimately the little Nissan that could was forced to retire.
7 replies on “Toyota punts Nissan DeltaWing out of Le Mans”
That really sux. I’m gonna punta camry into the wall on the M2 this arvo
Do us a favour and punt a Prius please, it was a hybrid Toyota involved.
Well done to Highcroft Racing and All-American Racers for making the DeltaWing happen, just because Nissan threw them an engine and some cash for the naming rights does not mean those who did the hard yards on it should be ignored.
It really shouldn’t have been in the way of those four LMP1 cars battling though, considering they were all racing for the win and for World Championship points. Perhaps the experimental non-classified car next year should be shifted to the back of the queue for a safety car restart, and allowed to resume racing only once the queue had sorted itself out.
Dave, that is a bit harsh. The Nissan was completely out of the way of the LMP1 cars and was off the racing line. He did as much as he could have, but I reckon the odd shape of the car contributed to this one.
[…] followed the Davidson crash and on the restart the #7 Toyota, with Kazuki Nakajima at the wheel, clipped the Nissan DeltaWing forcing the experimental Nissan into eventual retirement and Nakajima into the pits for lengthy […]
Odd shape, light weight…and perhaps the narrow front track all contributed to this.
Once, the concern at Le Mans was about speed differentials, but both the Nissan and Toyota accidents show how small size/weight cars come off second best, especially if they are not in the field of another driver’s vision.
[…] crashing into the wall, driver Satoshi Motoyama tried valiantly for an hour and a half to repair the experimental car so […]
Fk you Toyota I’m going compression brake past every GT86 I see on the road in my Datsun 240z