Nissan must be wondering if its radical batmobile-lookalike concept car, the DeltaWing, is cursed after it was involved in yet another major collision.
Today, during a morning testing session at the Petit Le Mans, the Nissan DeltaWing was involved in a spectacular crash with a GTC class Porsche 911 race car.
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The brand has now declared the crash an 'assault' after releasing footage of the cars dramatically colliding.
The DeltaWing was struck in the left rear wheel after the Porsche reportedly lost control after driving on a kerb, sending the Nissan into a dramatic roll measuring 7Gs of g-force on telemetry.
The DeltaWing scraped along the road with its roll hoop momentarily before digging along the grass and hitting a wall sending it back on its wheels.
As painful as it looked the driver, Gunnar Jeannette, was taken to a medical centre but was released soon after with no injuries suffered.
Gunnar Jeannette understatedly commented: "Not the best of practice sessions, unfortunately".
He added: "While the damage looks to be bad in photographs, the car took the impact quite well. We have all the spare parts to fix it and we have an excellent crew that got to work straight away and had the car stripped down remarkably quickly".
The DeltaWing project was made with the goal of creating a racing car which could complete the famous Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, using only half the fuel and tyres required for other contemporary sport prototypes.
After many months of testing Nissan gave the DeltaWing its debut at the 2012 Le Mans race, however it didn't officially compete in any categories. Instead it was entered in a single reserved spot for experimental vehicles.
The 300bhp two-seater participated in the race where it lasted six hours and 75 laps before it was punted off the track by another car driven by former F1 driver Kazuki Nakajima. The DeltaWing collided with a concrete barrier, ending its race then.
A few months after that setback however the DeltaWing dusted itself off again and it was announced it would compete in this week's Petit Le Mans, a 10 hour race held at the Road Atlanta circuit in America.
Written by Stephen Goldasz
http://www.youtube.com/0watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uW7qaG9K2_c