Nissan to electrify Le Mans
Endurance racing, especially the famously arduous Le Man 24-Hour held each year in central France, is one of the very toughest things you can do with a race car. It uses plenty of energy – both from the car in terms of fuel, and from the driver in terms of pure exhaustion from so-long stints of 100 per cent concentration.
But this new race car from Nissan, that's currently being tested by gamer-turned-racer, Lucas Ord��ez, is called the Nissan ZEOD and will be the first ever Le Mans race car to run only on electricity. It might look like a white rocket from the future, and if they make it work and make it competitive against the traditional fossil fuel cars, then the Nissan race engineers really will have looked to the future. Time will tell.
For the time being the car is undergoing plenty of track and powertrain testing and evaluation, with Nissan yet to fully commit on the type of electric-only powertrain they will end up using. At this level, and for the number of laps needed at race pace, the powertrain will need to be the very best of the best of what's available now.
Still, if it goes as good as it looks, Nissan could be onto a winner!
Posted by Louise Clark 