If I had a dollar for every good idea ruined by management pushing the engineers to cut corners and insist on releasing before it is ready I'd launch my own Le Mans entry

My favourite ever LM car. The true spirit of Le Mans. Shame Nissan abandoned the project. They were on the cusp of legendary.

Had they started off with an electric hybrid system sending power to the rear they could've had a winning concept. Having some power at the rear would've helped with slow-medium speed turns, acceleration onto the straight, and probably would've helped put some more load on the rear tyres to get more use out of them. Alternatively they could've leveraged the hybrid system to run a higher downforce setup without losing top speed. Just a shame they killed the project so fast, but I guess all Nissan has cared for in the past 2 decades is cutting costs.

I always remember that in teh winter of 14-15 there were lots of rumours about Nissan being 6 months behind schedule, which were always vigorously denied but by the time the car turned up at an event it was still clearly about that far behind. It's such a shame they never got the time to get a working hybrid in it, the whole project died without ever really getting the chance to actually test the core concepts underpinning it all.

This project was such a radical departure from everything in the last 40 years of motorsport that they had to completely unlearn and relearn everything they knew about racecar engineering. Naturally this requires a lot more time to develop than tried and tested concepts. Could Nismo succeeded with more time? Maybe. But Nissan GT-R LM will be forever be one of the most fascinating cases of "what could have been".

It feels like a sequel to the Mastercard Lola saga, a good concept kneecapped by a stupidly short development time imposed by the managers.

Such a promising concept. One of the bigger "what could have been" at Le Mans.

I remember Nissan making a huge deal of this car at the Super Bowl. They had made some waves before with the DeltaWing concept, that people agreed was a promising concept that didn't get to show its potential. Then they came to the Super Bowl with those ads saying that they're "here to take back what is theirs" or something like that. While showing a FWD race car, a radical and surprising concept. Since they had good history of race innovation (not just the DeltaWing, but also the GT-Rs), this was taken quite seriously, although with a pinch of salt. All of this made the faceplant of the 24 Hours of Le Mans sting that much more, and even if there might have been potential, it was all buried under volcanic layers of shame, disappointment and mockery. I'd love to see someone take over that concept, and try to make it work (same story for the DeltaWing), with more humility of course. But Nissan's pride cost these innovation their chance.

This is the best video on the GT-R LM I've seen. Thank you. So, the speed trap results suggest the inherent aero efficiency of the body design was as planned. Your video implies that the two critical points for the project were the failure of the mechanical hybrid system - which never worked - and Nissan management impatience by demanding it race before it was ready. Without working hybrid pushing power to the rear wheels, it was a purely FWD car that upset the total design and engineering concept, and therefore could never be competitive. Then, Nissan management lost faith with the concept before giving the team the time to work through the fixes. Would an electric hybrid energy system have worked in its place for 2016? Is this a design that was really only suited for Le Mans' unique mix of long straights and fast changes of direction? What has happened to Ben Bowlby since? Is his reputation trashed, or is he still highly respected?

I'll always be grateful for the GTR-LM as it was the car that got me into watching Lemans in the first place. As Nissan was live streaming the race with some onboard cameras and other stuff on their KZfaq channel

I think you missed a very critical point of the aero development of the car, and why the FWD layout was chosen. The rear diffuser was a heavily regulated design that was the same among all P1 teams. Where as the front splitter and diffuser area, much like the engine regulations, was nearly completely open and free for design. So the decision was made to exploit that area of the regulations, and make a massive front diffuser, with an extreme forward weight bias to match. That eventually drove the FWD layout, and the flow through tunnels to help with diffuser extraction and drag reduction at the rear. As well as making the rear diffuser significantly more efficient. Which is why at high aero loads, the car was fantastic at throttle pick ip, and mid corner speed, such as you described at the entrance of the Porsche Curves. I think the way you presented it, makes it sound like they just decided this was a great idea to try FWD and be different, and then engineer around it as they went. When in fact there was a solid interpretation of the grey areas in the rules that drove this design brief right from thr start. A couple of other things I think you also glossed over, is the fact that ToroTrak has never had a hybrid system that has worked as advertised. Even their system for commercial busses was grossly over promised, and heavily under delivered. It never ran with any reliability, or anywhere near the output power levels they claimed. During 2016, and the promotion of this cars racing program, ToroTrak gathered a massive amount of funding and investment money with multiple press releases about all the great things they would do with Allison, JCB, and a couple of CAT subsidiaries. By the beginning of 2017 the companies portfolio had nothing to show for, and by 2018 the company went into receivership. No FlyBrid system has ever been made commercially viable. With regards to the brakes. Part of the caster change in the car was due to a requirement to make room for thr larger caliper for the larger rotor. Likewise, the brakes themselves were not LPM1 spec brakes. But where infact new old stock of LMP2 assemblies. And were being pushed WAY out of their deaign specification. Which was why they were required to be changed so often. And in connection with that, thr spindle and tire chane meant the cara suspension qas being put through significantly more loading. And in the tests at Sebring, they damaged the chassis at the puck up points for the suspension, because of thr high shock loads. This was also one of the primary reasons why the cara were told to stay off the curbs at Le Mans, because there was concen that they would have another suspension failure on yhe chassis. And because of the increased shock to thr drivetrain on an already over stressed clutch, which much like the original brake package, was deaigned lighter and smaller with a hybrid system in mind. And lastly, the very final shot of the car sitting next to some trash, fenced off next to an industrial warehouse, was thankfully not one of the full race cars. It was just the static display model used for the auto show circuit. Less than 12h after this photo showed up online, this display model disappeared, and has never been seen again.

This car have insane tech under hood. 1250Hp and its FF! Mechanical energy storage i never heard about that,wow! 9:18 That is crazy!

I loved this car, the innovative design. The way it had the potential to obliterate the competition by doing everything “the wrong way”. I was gutted to hear that the Nissan management were short sighted and pulled the plug. I genuinely believe we were robbed of a genuine Le Mans Legend in this car.

A few other things to mention: 1) The electronics were terrible (presumably related to time pressure), so in the onboards you can hear how crude the traction control is, and how long it remains active after slow corner exits. 2) The pullrod front suspension (combined with poor electronics above) meant that when the drivers touched kerbs it would massively upset the front end, resulting in even more problems. 3) On at least a few occasions drivers would lock the front wheels up so severely that they stalled the engine and had to restart it. You can see an example of this in the night onboard video that's also on KZfaq at 0:27. I was a bit disappointed they cancelled this program, because I do think it had great potential. edit: One more thing: there was a HUGE amount of flex in the steering column too (visible from onboards), which probably wasn't reassuring for the drivers.

Saw them up close and personal, back at Le Mans '15. Truely great effort. Sad it didn't come to fruition.

My take on this design, where as the delta wing was a neat idea with genuine benefits, this seemed like it strayed more into the realm of an engineering fixation. Sounds like the actual fixation was the mechanical energy storage.

As others have said, really epitomising the Spirit of Le Mans. Such a brilliant design that would slide (ironically) into LMH perfectly. Maybe Nissan should look at a return with a conventional Hybrid system and no rear wing like the peugeot....

I liked that design a lot. The delta wing was so cool as well. Thinking out of the box.

Thank you very much for the video. You gave a lot of insight into the challenges of the hybrid (flywheel) system. Since Audi also used a flywheel, what was so fundamentally different that Audi's concept did work and Nissan's did not? Just the much, much higher KJ (energy) requirement? The challenges for Audi must have been similar. Also: There were once interesting rumours about Audi's fuel tank / fuelling pipe design that saved them time during pit stops, but can't find it anymore. Maybe worth a video? :) Liebe Grüsse aus der Schweiz!

Ben gave me my first job at Lola Cars about 24 years ago. He was a very smart man and very good engineer.

Hopefully one day someone revisits a similar concept: the possibility of a non-rear wheel drive car ever winning a 24h race is just too fascinating to ever give up on.

Great video, as always! I loved the look and concept behind the car when it was announced, and had great hopes for it. I would love a video about the Panoz Esperante GTR-1. It's my dream car.

A throwback to the '60's and '70's, when entrants were willing to think out of the box and try radical new approaches. If only they'd given it another year.....

I just stumbled on this video and I'm incredibly impressed just how much technical details were mentioned. This was a great insight about a car that I was very much interested in, thanks!

I followed the project from the first time I heard about it. When I learned that the hybrid system was a mechanical one I knew that the project was doomed for the time frame that was given. An electrical hybrid would have had much more flexibility in the long run imho. I loved the wacky concept, but it was not given proper development time and was rushed. Same can be said for the Peugeot this year, but their concept seems to work far better and I really hoped that they would take the win this year.

I especially went to the 15 24hLM race to see that car in action! I was a huge fan of the concept, exploiting the aerodynamic loopholes. I thought, getting everything working, it was a potential winner. Shame it was stopped, does anyone know where the remains of the cars are now?

5:43 Wow, that's impressive! I had no idea the Chief Engineer on this project was a baby...

Best video I've seen on this car!! Awesome stuff!

Such a Dorky looking car even compared to the delta wing cars, but you gotta love the outside the box approach for this car. Seeing the gap in the rulebook for the front aero is something that couldve made this car great.. if they began development earlier or just waited out a year. A shame really. My favourite LMP1 has to be the R18 Rp5 (the 2015 version). slightly more radical design but not quite as intense as the rp6. And the calm sound of the diesel engine is just top notch.

Thank you. I have been searching for a serious detailed information about this car for a long time.

If they had’ve gone with an electric system from the start the whole thing could’ve been a real winner. Some genius outside the box thinking undone by impatience and underdevelopment. Definitely one of the biggest “what if’s” in motorsport Shame this car is remembered as a failure and a joke because the ideas behind it were amazing and inspiring

This might be my favorite race car of all time! I was so so hyped about the idea from the start. Alone because of the pure bravery in taking on a massive challenge, and doing something really innovative and new. Seeing this video just makes it even more wonderful, because the potential was there. If it just had better management and a better hybrid system, it might have changed LMP racing forever! It will forever be the biggest “what if” in my book of motorsporting memories! 🏁

Such a shame that this didn't work out. It's my favourite Le Man's car ever, purely on the basis of the incredible outside thinking. Nissan's engineers and designers tried something totally different to everyone else, but Nissan management killed it with their impatience. If they had been able to get the mechanical flywheel system working, I can only imagine what a truly wondrous car they would have had.

I loved and still think the concept has great potential. As mentioned in the video, it was the Nissan top management that ruined the concept. Ben and his team simply didn't have the time they needed to finish the concept as they intended. There are several cars that I would to see them get revived today; 1) the Mazda Furai, and 2) is Nissan GT-R LM Nismo.

Great story. My favourite LM cars are the also / nearly rans from the 1960s. The DB-Peugeots, the Alpines, the Lotus 23, the 2 litre Lotus Elite, Marcos, the 275 GTB of Mairesse/Beurlys that finished 3rd in 1965, Could we have your observations on the fine work of the Glickenhaus team perhaps?

The front engine front wheel drive prototype LM car.... What a beast in that configuration

Honrstly I do wish it would have gotten a fair shout. Successful or not it would have been nice and interesting to see something completely different given fair development.

The Peugeot 9X8 skipped Le Mans 2022 and after a bad start in WEC in Le Mans 2023 they lead the race before the crash of the 94 car, a month later they got their first podium in Monza, if Nissan skipped Le Mans 2015 and entered later maybe it was going to be a really good car

Quality analysis as always

Getting a penalty for spinning the tires on pit exit is the most French rule I’ve ever heard of.

I was there the year this ran at Le Mans. It was a shame it didn’t quite work, I loved the left field design.

Love your intro

Damn I wish they continued this project, seems like so much innovation went into it but regulations and time wasn't on their side

This video confirms my suspicions, the cars were underdeveloped and never given the chance to fix the issues.

Brilliant analysis, thank you so much for the insight!

Excellent summary. Aerodynamically the design delivered, the top speed and cornering stability in the wet prove that. Sad that the crucial element of mechanical storage way its downfall. Any other options, even the Williams ElectroMechanical flywheel would have been better. To think that that electric would have given the recovery brake assist the front rotors needed help with, and solved the pit lane sendoff issue too. Did they pitch for too high a MJ class (8 MJ), and would a 'reliable' version at only 4 MJ last... a suspect the engine could have happily managed the strain of the then allowed increase fuel flow.

Nissan: - Go, produce a car in half the time required! Also Nissan: - Why is it so slow? We cancel the project! Wise decisions...

I can only have respect for the companies who invest in complete new concepts. I can fully understand the potential they saw. Shame they did not continue

Man I wish Nissan developed this more. Was a great out of the box concept. They basically pulled out of everything but Super GT afterwards.

I'm a Nissan guy, my first cars was a Nissan, etc. So this project was so exciting at the time and I'm sad to this day it was never given the chance to show what it's made of truly 😢 miss you nismo lmp

Man this car was so damn cool! A poster car! By far the coolest thing about it is the screamer exhaust spitting flames on the onboard cam. I hope Nissan somehow revives this philosophy some day.

Nissan corporate and the American side that was developing the car rather mismanaged everything. It's a shame really, the first iteration of the Porsche 919 was a disaster but it was fixed by totally revising the car and then making success. The team under Bowlby's leadership did pretty well considering all the problems they faced. It's been said that Nissan generally were arrogant and thought they could just turn up and win without much investment and it's hard to disagree with that generalization. A side effect of the car being very different is that Nissan chose to be fairly open about the car and with this had a remarkably good marketing and internet coverage over the car, maybe the best I've seen. I seem to remember the brand head of Nismo then, Darren Cox, answering technical questions about the car or the race effort in KZfaq livestreams. Probably raised the expectable a bit for online race coverage in general. Shame, the 2016 car looked nice. I really would contrast it to the 919 for how to come back from a troubled concept to one that can compete.

One of my favorites. In pretty much every racing game that has prototypes, I choose this one.

Similar to the Panoz Esperante story - just on a different level. They also had a Hybrid Version.

Je me rappelle de cette voiture au Mans 2015: elle n'a malheureusement pas fait long feu mais au moins Nissan a essayé de changer le game. Dommage qu'ils ont abandonnés ce projet...

I loved it and it was a shame from memory they blamed everything on the technical director. Bad planning by management was the reason why this car did not reach its potential. Who directed the exhausts through the duct work, would that aero?

It's a shame that Nissan kill it so early, it has potential, it just need some more time in the oven.

This car looked fantastic and I wish Nissan had kept developing the car

I think people were turned off because of its FWD, fair, but the engineering was excellent, that guy needs to be in an F1 team

Very brave maybe revolutionary considering history of Nismo Delta wing !

It was worth trying the concept. Seems that more money and time would have allowed it to perform a lot better.

It is by far my favourite in concept. But was doomed with all these shortcomings. They really did reinvent the wheel!

The top speed is not very good metric to use when comparing hybrid race car to non hybrid. The main benefit of hybrid engine over turbo or naturally aspirated engine (or even purely electric) is the capability to use the power when you need it. Or even more specifically, not use it when it is not optimal to do so. You want to get the fastest lap time so you want to accelerate hard out of turns to get to your top speed quickly. In other words use the hybrid power in addition to engine power to accelerate faster, not necessarily to raise your top speed. So the nissan might have had same top speed as the winning car but the huge difference is that the winning car could use its hybrid power unit to get to that top speed a lot earlier on the straights. So the nissan could take a 800m straight to reach that number whereas the winning car could do it in 400m and then just stay at that speed for the remainder of the straight.

Another great video, and a very interesting story B Sport. Thank you. A hugely ambitious project with some potential that was killed way too early I think.

Any new attempt at a competitive vehicle is genius in my book

So long story short, if they just chose a conventional hybrid system, a very large part of problems would have been avoided down the line

It just needed a second chance. Looka at Honda F1 engines given a second chance and holy shit where it has reached now

This was the sametime that wtcc was running the TC1 regulations, crazy fast and crazy stable, but nissan rush the whole project and show up at le mans with a car that wasnt even 50% complete

This LeMans regulation was very interesting!

One of the greatest attempts in the 21st century to think outside the box and progress motorsports formula.

Such a beautiful car indeed.

I remember trying it on gran turismo sport it was brilliant in high speed corners but bad in lower speed I didn’t know why was that happening only with this car as it was better than others in high speed corners but worse in lower speeds now I know

You got to praise Nissan on their motorsport inovations. Such cars!

It was both. It was a genius concept which was simply too ambitious for their tight time constraints, resulting in a veritable disaster.

These guys would re engineered the damn radiator cap if it brought them speed. Tip my hat to that kinda determination, skill and engineering!

It's a great design, just underbudget, under-developed & needlessly complicated hybrid system.

Dreamers, theorists, simulations, MB F1 2022.

Wouldn't it have made a lot more sense to use an electric hybrid system? You could have put electric motors in the rear wheels with torque vectoring without needing a driveshaft or extra transmission.

Man.. I wish this was a success. The management cannot see potential. Too bad

such an awesome looking car

No prizes for beauty

Fascinating. Its a shame they gave up.

I still love this car despite its failure simply because of the fact it's a front engined and front wheel drive LMP car for crying out loud. This and the DeltaWing are so different compared to the rest. They challenged the norm regardless of whether or not it would be successful. That's the kind of stuff motorsports needs to be exciting.

Considering all the hiccups this car had.. it did amazing. This car had no business racing Lemans in that condition but to even finish, I think that’s a win in my book.

Brilliant analysis of Bowlby’s work. The media simply rubbishes this car and the delta wing. The reality is somewhat different. You can see the management interfering in something they have no idea of. It’s probably the old thing of the Japanese scared to loose face. The fact that it’s 20sec per lap slower is hardly surprising when it’s 800 hp down on power.

I spend more than £4000 in 2015 just to watch this car at lemans. I was disappointed years later when i learned torotrak failures pretty much torpedoed nissan entire prototype program.

Now this is a longboi

I loved driving this car in Gran Turismo.

There quite a few cars with that layout. Cord 810, Citroen 2CV, Traction Avant, SM, DS, Renault 4, Renault 5 1 and some others.

Its nice that in Gran Turismo you can drive this car at its full potential

Dose anybody know what happend to the cars are they in a Museum or so?

I love it

Any updates on when will Nissan come back to Le-Mans?

You don't get to the winner's circle by playing it safe. Even if this program didn't win at its single race, Nissan and the team learned a lot about hybrid systems. The use of a flywheel for energy storage in a high-g, low-weight application seems really challenging. Not sure I'd want to sit next to one, tho.

I just learned that the mechanical flywheel in this car was housed inside a vacuum, because at 60,000rpm it’s going so far above the speed of sound that the sound energy alone would cause it to disintegrate. I mean that’s insane. If only they’d been given time to make it work. ☹️

i watched this car from Arnage corner at LM 2015 - it really was bad in the slow corners.

👍

We will not know because they didnt show up 2016 with a finished car. The 2015 car was not finished or ready.

Reminds me of Gran Turismo 5, FWD cars like Civics and Renaults had ~100hp more than RWD and AWD at any given PP (Performance Points, likr a BoP of sorts). You would easily overtake most competitors on the straights. Too bad they were never good enough in the corners.😂

In motorsport industry, teams so focused to get most out of what they had in such a short period of time and usually don't provide second chances. That's not different for Nismo. If they could have had a little bit more patient and time, I'm sure they might sort their problems out.