You’d be excused for thinking Ben Bowlby is utterly and incurably insane. After all, he’s the same brain behind the Nissan Zeod RC and the All American Racers DeltaWing, both of which shocked the racing world with designs that are as orthodox as bringing Grandma to the strip club. His latest unconventional creation is the wild-looking 2015 GT-R LM Nismo, a prototype hybrid racer with aspirations to compete (and win) at Le Mans. Sure, it looks outrageous, but the craziest thing about this car is the front-wheel-drive powertrain that lies underneath. What, then, is the method behind the madness? This three-and-a-half minute video seeks to explain.
Now, I just want to state at the off that I have nothing against FWD, at least in principle. In fact, some of my favorite cars use the front wheels for turning, stopping, and going (the Civic and Integra Type-R both come to mind), and there are tons of successful FWD race cars out there (just look to the world of rally for examples). But when it comes to competing in LM P1, one of the most cutthroat racing categories in the world, I don’t think I’m alone in having doubts about the efficacy of FWD.
Not so with Bowlby’s team. They are completely transparent about the advantages they expect to gain from using a FWD platform, so hit play or read on to learn more.
Continue reading for the full story.
Why Is The GT-R LM Nismo FWD: Video originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 11 May 2015 16:00 EST.
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