Le Mans to the Fore

At the beginning of February, Nissan made a pretty bold announcement when it revealed it would return to competition at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with a front-engine LMP1 racer. And, as if the fact that this flies in the face of 53 years of mid-engine Le Mans winners isn’t enough, Nissan doubled-down on their bet with the added quirk that the new car will also be front-wheel drive. I hope the company can commercially tie this in with a relaunch of the Back to the Future franchise.

As counterintuitive and wacky as Nissan’s gambit may sound, there is a method to the madness. According to Nissan’s technical director, Ben Bowlby, the rulesmakers at Le Sarthe have so hemmed in what can be done to the rear aerodynamics of an LMP1 car now, that Nissan decided to turn its creative minds toward where the rules are less stringent, i.e., the front.