No rearview mirrors for Nissan at Le Mans
The historic 24 Hours of Le Mans race is this weekend, and Nissan has been hard at work with their experimental ZEOD race car. Nissan is the first manufacturer of the modern era to run a lap of the Circuit de la Sarthe without rear view mirrors during testing this week.
The ZEOD race car is part of the Garage 56 program, which allows manufacturers and private entrants to compete with a car that has new technology not seen before at Le Mans. Nissan’s ZEOD uses a 400-hp three cylinder engine with a hybrid powertrain, which will allow the car to run the first ever all-electric lap of the famous circuit.
A car without rearview mirrors is unusual at Le Mans, as they have been required for all other entrants for years. Nissan instead is using a Smart Mirror, which uses rear facing cameras and radar detection to give a better view to the driver of upcoming traffic. If another car is coming up quickly, arrows of different colors will be shown on the onboard display alerting the driver.
The unique system has the capability to differentiate between cars that are closing in quickly, and those that are keeping a similar distance behind or falling back. Also, the rear view camera will provide a better view than a conventional mirror, as there are no obstructions or blind spots due to its position.
Darren Cox of Nissan said the system should help improve the Smart Mirror in road going cars from Nissan, such as the Nissan Rogue which will soon have the system available as an option. He said by proving the system in a 180+ mph race car, they can easily adapt it for use in a road car.
Sources:
http://www.hartenissan.com/nissan/rogue/hartford