The History of Nissan’s Motorsport Success
Nissan, Toyota, Subaru, Mazda and Mitsubishi: all successful in motorsport in their own right. But Nissan had arguably the greatest success on the track. Here are five examples of Nissan’s racing success across rallying and circuit racing.
1988 Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo This model entered the GTP Series of the US IMSA GT Championship. In 1988 Brabham won the Driver’s Championship with it. The V6 engine is a modified VG30ET. California-based Electramotive Engineering developed and raced the vehicle, winning the Constructor’s Championship in 1989, 1990 and 1991. Originally built on a Lola chassis, it was updated to a Nissan chassis from 1986-89. It produced over 480kW from its 3-litre engine and weighed just 860kg.
Datsun Fairlady 240Z The No.5 car was driven by R. Aaltonen and J. Todt , coming in 3rd overall in the 41st Rallye Monte-Carlo in January 1972. The snow and ice of Rallye Monte-Carlo really test the drivers, and it is accepted that front-rear configuration cars are hard to manage, so when it came in 3rd this car made waves through the rallying scene. Helped too by the brilliant achievement of winning the Safari Rally in the previous year, the number of Z rally cars in Japan increased. The car displayed reasonable power, with 158kW on tap.
Gloria Super 6 The first-generation Gloria (BLSIP) used the same body as the Skyline. In September 1962, it received a full model change to become the type S40. In 1963 the Super 6 was launched with the first domestic OHC engine, and received notable places in the second Japan GT (1st and 2nd in its class). The 1320kg vehicle was powered by a 104kW 1988cc engine.
1966 Prince R380-I Having been narrowly defeated by Porsche in the 2nd Japan GP (1964), the Prince Motor Co., Ltd. went full-out to develop Japan’s first real racing car. The 1965 Japan GP was cancelled, so the R380-I’s first race was the third Japan GP at Fuji in 1966. Porsche was defeated by Sunako’s No. 11 car, winning the championship. H. Oishi’s R380 (No. 10) came in 2nd place. At a featherweight 660kg and with 147kW the car was fast. The 2-litre engine was a 6-cylinder in-line DOHC.
1967 Nissan Violet The unassuming Nissan Violet showed its colours in the 18th African Safari Rally, taking the top of the podium in 1970. Eight years after its debut, it was both the class and category champion. In August 1967 the third-generation Bluebird (510) was launched. In 1971 Nissan repeated the feat with another Violet in the 19th African Safari Rally. In fact, Nissan monopolized the first four places!
Vehicle histories are easy to fabricate, so it’s essential to get a vehicle history check if you are thinking of purchasing any Nissan, especially one that has been raced. Nissans, particularly the Skyline and 200SX, are common in drifting and are often represented in drifting games
Comments