18 Oct 2012

Nissan Deltawing spectacular crash - video and photos

The Nissan Deltawing, fan favourite at Le Mans this year, has been assaulted by an errant Porsche at testing for a Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta.

The Deltawing, driven by Gunnar Jeannette was overtaking a GTC Porsche when the Porsche veered into the Deltawing, causing it to roll.

Jeannette suffered a 7G impact in the crash but escaped without injury.


The innovative Deltawing ran in the 56th garage (for innovative cars) at the 2012 Le Mans race but was hit by a Toyota and ended up in the barriers. Heroically, the driver Satoshi Motoyama then tried in vain to get it back in the race by tearing off parts that were hindering it and trying to fix the steering but to no avail.

Have a look at the video below. It's a pretty spectacular crash and Jeannette's head is perilously close to the ground but ultimately the roll hoop saved him.  In something of an understatement Jeannette said, "Luckily, the guys built a very strong car. While the damage looks to be bad in photographs, the car took the impact quite well. We have all the spare parts to fix it and we have an excellent crew that got to work straight away and had the car stripped down remarkably quickly."