This week’s Wednesday Want is a little different from usual. Normally it involves our team plucking a car from our thousands-strong Car Suggestions forum and giving it some time in the spotlight, but this week we’ve found something truly special in the classified adverts and thought it really deserved some attention. You can check out past Wednesday Want entries right here.
Out of all the bizarre LeMans cars to hit the track in recent years, one of the weirdest is the DeltaWing. With its unique shape and rule-bending engineering, it’s a piece of racing history. And now you have the chance to own it.
Even with the checkered past of the DeltaWing, it’s still a fairly cool concept.
The original design for the DeltaWing was a prototype chassis for use in the Indy Car series. That contract ultimately went to Dallara, leaving the strange design without a series to call home. With help from Don Panoz, some changes were made to the DeltaWing and it eventually hit the LeMans Series circuit.
It entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012 in the experimental class. Unfortunately, around hour six, the DeltaWing ran off the track thanks to an incident with a Toyota Prototype. Despite a desperate attempt to fix the car, in the end, it retired from the race.
The team attempted the Petite LeMans later in 2012 with Gran Turismo racing driver Lucas Ordóñez at the wheel. With better luck, this time around the DeltaWing finished the race and ended up fifth overall.
From there the DeltaWing platform went on to compete in several full seasons in the American Le Mans Series, United SportsCar Championship, and North American Endurance Cup.
Unfortunately, in 2017 the DeltaWing could no longer race due to a change in regulations.
Now DeltaWing Racing is offering up DeltaWing Coupe Chassis #001 for sale. Even if it’s unable to race, it would still make a fantastic addition to anyone’s collection.
Using an Elan 1.9 liter, turbo I4, the DeltaWing puts out 350hp and 270lb-ft of torque. While this doesn’t sound like much, the extreme light weight of the 1,360lb car makes it plenty fast. The team claims that the top speed is 200 mph and rockets from 60–160 mph in just 11 seconds.
The unique aerodynamics provide ample downforce. This allows the car to pull 2.5 G’s in the corners.
While the concept was still in its infancy when regulations sidelined it, the DeltaWing definitely paved the way for future unique designs. This outside-the-box thinking is what will win races like LeMans in the years to comes — especially as regulations change.
If you want to own a piece of racing history, the DeltaWing can be yours for $375,000. A fully functioning, bespoke race car for the price of Lamborghini Aventador seems like it could be a good deal for someone out there.
See more articles on DeltaWing and Wednesday Want.
