Franchitti tests DeltaWing in the rainposted in LMANS18 | 04 | 2012
BATHGATE'S MARINO FRANCHITTI has given his pioneering Nissan DeltaWing sportscar, which he will drive in this year's Le Mans 24-Hours, its first wet weather test.
The Scot has already tested the car extensively in America, where the car was built by Highcroft Racing, Dan Gurney and Panoz.
But this week he swapped the sunshine of the States for the torrential rain at Snetterton in Norfolk.
"Mother nature really did us a favour today, because it was great to get a run in the wet," Franchitti said today.
"The day allowed us to try the wet tyres in a real world situation: we didn't have to wet the track at all, it was a proper wet, rainy day.
"It'ss really given us some important data and provided our tyre supplier, Michelin, with some clear direction for future development."
And Franchitti, who shared the day's testing with Michael Krumm, could only smile at the way the weather unfolded in favour of the German.
"Michael got to try the car on a drying track," he laughed, "while I basically got monsoon conditions. It was just like being back home in Scotland."
See more photos of Marino driving the Deltawing at Snetterton
Franchitti's radical DeltaWing racer features half the weight, half the horsepower and half the aerodymamic drag of a traditional Le Mans sportscar.
And not only does it sit on front tyres which are only four inches wide, the experimental prototype is powered by a hugely innovative 1.6-litre Nissan DIG-T turbo engine.
The Scot conducted most of the morning running in conditions which ranged from damp to extremely wet
Having only previously conducted some brief wet track running on an artificially damp track at Sebring, with the help of a water truck, the Snetterton test was an important step in the development of the car's wet tyres.
"The whole Nissan DeltaWing team is still on a massive learning curve," Darren Cox, general manager for Nissan in Europe, said.
"Testing in the States was a stable, predictable way of doing the initial groundwork but this exciting car is going to be racing in the French countryside.
"Today, the whole team got a taste of the conditions they may well face on June 16/17.
"It may not have been much fun in the Norfolk rain, but it's about the best thing that could have happened for a project and a car that will face an enormous challenge just to make the end of the race."
Watch our video of Marino driving the DeltaWing ... in the dry
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Jim McGill