The winner for Michelin’s ‘Le Mans 2030’ global design competition, which looks at how a potential endurance racer from Infiniti could look in 14 years, has just been announced.
Created by Chinese designer Tao Ni, the futuristic Infiniti race car has been envisioned to not only be faster than current prototypes , but safer, too.
Ni’s creation has the ability to race by itself at night, leaving the day to the driver. In a 24-hour endurance race like Le Mans, this would help to dramatically reduce driver fatigue and, if the autonomous system were advanced enough, make it safer.
Design wise, the concept is unlike any current race car and has aerodynamic bodywork that entirely covers all four wheels. It also includes advanced air tunnels beneath the skin to produce huge amounts of downforce and numerous wings, fins and air intakes.
While it is extremely unlikely Infiniti will enter a factory team into LMP1 racing in the future, it will be interesting to see if autonomous racing gains traction in the coming years, particularly following the introduction of the Roborace series.
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