Right Hand Drive Nissans at Le mans 24hr

[4129R]

I have just heard that Nissan have right hand drive cars at Le Mans so that their drivers can rest their left foot in the space to the left of the pedals, as there is no space for this in a left hand drive car, as the left foot would hit the wheel arch.

Now to all of you over the other side of the pond, that is another reason why RHD is better !

I must convert 4129R soon. At present I have to make sure I wear shoes with narrow soles, otherwise I get to hit too many pedals at the same time.

So presumably Colin Chapman worked out that if he restricted the height of people who could drive a Europa to about 6'0", their feet would be narrow enough to fit in the well.

Clever man !

[EuropaTC]

I think it was Graham Arnold who said Colin used to design the early cars to fit him exactly, and he was 5'9" or thereabouts. I'm 5'8" (on a good day    ) with size 8 feet, so not surpisingly they're good for me. Although even so I used to drive the Europa to work in narrow training shoes and change them for something more formal in my office !

Brian

[4129R]

I am 5'9" and size 9 feet !

As 4129R is LHD, I have noticed this left foot, nowhere to put it problem, but on my other big toy, which is RHD, my left foot has space to rest.

Until I heard the explanation just now on Eurosport, I hadn't considered the LHD/RHD foot problem, but I suppose it is obvious.

[Roger]

Many sports-racing cars were RHD, like older Ferraris, Maseratis, etc., because European race circuits tend to be clockwise and the driver is therefore on the inside of the circuit.