The concept, initially proposed by Don Panoz, creator of the American Le Mans Series, was a simple one: half the weight, power and aerodynamic disturbance compared to a traditional prototype in order to consume less fuel and tyres. Not so simple... 

Despite a tight schedule, the DeltaWing was present at La Sarthe in 2012. It's tiny size made a huge impression, but the lack of development was clearly evident in terms of performance: the No. 0 car started the race at the rear of the LM P2 class on the grid.  Development driver Marino Franchitti, Michael Krumm and Satoshi Motoyama would quickly encounter technical issues, but it was an incident caused by a competitor that eventually led to the car's retirement on Saturday night.  Although the Le Mans experience was over, the Petit Le Mans was just around the corner, as final round of the 2012 ALMS season, with a totally new driver lineup. Lucas Ordonez and Gunnar Jeannette would do more than just take the chequered flag, they would punctuate their participation with a fifth place finish. It was good momentum to have going into the 2013 ALMS season. But, except for a good finish at Road America, new drivers Katherine Legge and Andy Meyrick would be unable to recreate that Road Atlanta performance, despite the arrival of an all new closed-top car.  

This new car, called the DeltaWing Coupe and constructed by Don Panoz's Elan company, will take part in the new American series the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, following the merger between the ALMS and Grand Am, in 2014. The following video shows off some of the unique specifics of the DeltaWing ahead of the opening round of the championship, the 24 Hours of Daytona, held on January 25-26.

See more videos at www.lemans-tv.com.

Marjory Berkache et Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translated by Rainier Ehrhardt / ACO