VIDEO REPORT: Onsite at Road Atlanta with DeltaWing Drivers, Designer

ATLANTA, Ga. – Nissan DeltaWing is coming back to finish what it started.  The fan favorite was knocked off course at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.  The resulting damage forced the car to retire from the race.  But the Nissan team rebuilt the car.

Now, engineers are testing it at the Road Atlanta track, site of the U.S. Petit Le Mans. The event is at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga., on Oct. 20, and covers a maximum of 1,000 miles or 10 hours, whichever comes first. This will be the car's first race in the United States.

"Our goal for the race is to do what we failed to do at Le Mans, which is finish.  That is 1,000 miles, 1600 kilometers, and that's always a grueling test," said Ben Bowlby, the car's designer.

Nissan's DeltaWing is ground-breaking in the racing world.  It is half the weight, horsepower and aerodynamic drag of typical race cars. This means it burns less fuel and requires fewer tire changes.

One of the drivers for Petit Le Mans, Lucas Ordoñez, said, "we are surprisingly fast.  We are on the pace of LMP2 cars at the moment. I am learning a lot and it is fun to be here." Ordoñez is Nissan's original GT Academy champion. The other driver, Gunnar Jeannette, hopes more American fans will come to cheer them on because it's easier to get to than Le Mans."Nissan DeltaWing is already kind of a fan favorite, so the more people we can get on our side the better."

Many thought DeltaWing could never compete at Le Mans.  It did. And, now Nissan's DeltaWing team is out to prove it can qualify, run fast, compete, and complete an endurance race. 

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