INFINITI, F1 and Your Garage

There is a phrase that’s often used to justify manufacturer participation in motor sports that has it, “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday.”

This was particularly the case when NASCAR ran what were “stock cars,” as in cars that were almost like those held in stock at dealerships.

Perhaps there is some of that thinking going on at INFINTI, the premium vehicle manufacturer that’s part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

INFINITI has been part of the Renault Sport Formula One Team activities for the past several years. But let’s face it, even if an F1 car wins on Sunday, there is nothing like it in a Renault or INFINTI dealership on Monday.

At this year’s Geneva Show, perhaps thinking of the way to derive some additional traction from its F1 participation, INFINTI announced “Project Black S.”

This is based on a Q60 sports coupe that has been modified in a number of ways, including utilizing an abundance of carbon fiber for mass reduction, putting on a titanium twin-exhaust system, and developing new 21-inch lightweight alloy wheels.

This past Sunday Pirelli, the official tire supplier of Formula One, announced that it is collaborating with INFINTI on Project Black S, providing the tires to wrap around those 21-inch alloys.

What is most notable about the concept is the idea of utilizing a variant of the hybrid system that is being used in F1 cars, supplementing the 3.0-liter V6 twin-turbo that the Q60 uses.

In F1, there are two types of motor generators and a lithium-ion battery pack used to make up the “energy recovery system.” One of the motor generators collects kinetic energy from braking; the other is fitted to the engine turbocharger and gets heat energy from the exhaust gases. The energy is stored in the high-rate discharge battery pack, which is subsequently used to both turn the crankshaft and spin the turbo turbine blades.

The intention of Project Black S is to determine the viability and market acceptance of what could become “Black S” variants of INFINTI vehicles, vehicles that would be equipped with “genuine motorsport technology.”

After all, they’ve got to find some way to justify that motor sports participation, don’t they?