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As expected, profiles are identical, with both versions getting bulging rear quarter panels that meet swooping side skir...
27/10/2022

As expected, profiles are identical, with both versions getting bulging rear quarter panels that meet swooping side skirts that first aim down, then forward and along the flanks before meeting a vented front with a sharp line that helps define just how wide the fender is. The look is certainly more aggressive, though I feel like that defining fender line should have continued in some form along the door and toward the quarter panel to help with visual flow. Though the designers squeezed out a bit more attitude and what looks like increased girth, it should be noted that dimensionally, there's not a big departure from the previous generation model in both width and length. The same style mirror is used on both and even the wheels, at least with these 2 debut versions, are the same. The new aluminum roofline is a tad lower than before and shaves off a few pounds from the place you least want any sort of additional weight.

Turn 14 Distribution, the performance warehouse giant which supplies aftermarket goods globally and prides itself on sto...
25/10/2022

Turn 14 Distribution, the performance warehouse giant which supplies aftermarket goods globally and prides itself on stocking its partners complete product lines has announced that it will serve as the title sponsor for Evasive Motorsports' Tesla Model 3 Performance campaign at the 2021 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Turn14's Director of Marketing, Daryl Sampson states, "Turn 14 Distribution's goal to be an industry leader is consistent with our involvement in this project. We love the sound and emotion of internal combustion engines but recognize and support the increasing growth of the EV and hybrid market by the OE's. Evasive Motorsports sees this, too, and we are happy to partner with them on this effort." Piloting the Model 3 is Turn 14-sponsored athlete and wheel ace, Dai Yoshihara, a talent who's competed and realized success in drift, time attack, and hill climb events.

We close our trip down Nissan's race car memory lane with what the OEM calls the first "GT-R," this '69 Skyline 2000GT-R...
23/10/2022

We close our trip down Nissan's race car memory lane with what the OEM calls the first "GT-R," this '69 Skyline 2000GT-R, a high-performance sedan purpose built for touring car racing that came with the world's first four-valve dual overhead cam (DOHC) engine for production cars, the 2.0L S20 straight-6. The platform was reportedly a bit too much car to handle for most hobbyist racers, but we like to think that just speaks to how much of a beast the GT-R has always been. Fun fact: if you spot a Hakosuka build and see it has a "PMC-S" sticker, that's a reference to Prince Motorist Club Sports, a group of motorsports-loving Prince owners back in the '60s, Prince being the OEM where the Skyline model originated.

Modern prototype sportscar racing began for Nissan in the '60s with the Prince R380A-I (top photo above), an aluminum-bo...
21/10/2022

Modern prototype sportscar racing began for Nissan in the '60s with the Prince R380A-I (top photo above), an aluminum-bodied Brabham BT8 chassis fitted with a 2.0L GR8 inline-6 and constructed to beat Porsche and everyone else in the '66 Japanese GP; it was also the last Prince race car before the company merged with Nissan. The R38X platform pivoted to Group 7 racing a couple of years later, which was another categorization that seemed to encourage ridiculous builds; it had no limitations on engines, tires, aero or dimensions, so long as the car had room for two seats and was enclosed in bodywork. That freedom led to wild machines like the R381 (bottom photo above) in '68, which sported a 443hp 5.5L Chevy V-8 and active split rear wings, and the R382 in '69, a car with a nearly 600hp GRX-III V12.

The decade ended with Violets taking center stage in Nissan's rallying ambitions and proved to be a worthy successor to ...
19/10/2022

The decade ended with Violets taking center stage in Nissan's rallying ambitions and proved to be a worthy successor to the Bluebird and 240Z. This one was one of two Violets to win the Southern Cross Rally in Australia at the end of the '70s, and a similarly L20B inline-4-powered A10 is what driver Shekhar Mehta used to begin his four-peat of the Safari Rally.

The '80s had Super Silhouettes, but the '70s launched Tokusyu Touring Car racing, more commonly referred to as TS race, ...
17/10/2022

The '80s had Super Silhouettes, but the '70s launched Tokusyu Touring Car racing, more commonly referred to as TS race, a special series of support competitions at Fuji International Speedway that featured little cars with little engines (well, maybe not so little for Japan in the '70s). Like Silhouettes, these things were wildly popular, and Nissan through its Datsun brand did incredibly well in the motorsport, especially with FR Sunny Coupes like the ones above, which won TS championships from '71 through '74 and also in '77, '79, '80 and '82.

The '80s were a culmination of sorts for Nissan rally racing. In the early part of the decade the Violet continued to sh...
15/10/2022

The '80s were a culmination of sorts for Nissan rally racing. In the early part of the decade the Violet continued to shine, especially in the hands of Shekhar Mehta, who drove a Nissan A10 (first as a Datsun 160J, then as a Violet GT) to four Safari Rally titles in a row, concluding with the victory in '82 when the Group 4 ruleset was phased out. The latter wins came with LZ20B 2.0L inline-4 power in the engine bay, but that same year everyone got a glimpse at the future with the S110 and its FJ motivation. An S110 Silvia finished third (with an LZ20B) in the '82 Safari Rally, while over in the WRC the above S110 240RS was built for a little something called Group B competition, outfitted with a 2.3L FJ24 generating 240hp plus from the factory. Later in the '80s, VG30 V-6-powered 300ZX and S12 Silvia made a splash in rally.

So much love is heaped on '90s cars that Super Silhouette racers of the '80s nearly always get overlooked, but dude! The...
13/10/2022

So much love is heaped on '90s cars that Super Silhouette racers of the '80s nearly always get overlooked, but dude! These things are cool! Super Silhouettes were short lived (raced just in the early part of the decade) and built to Group 5 "Special Production" touring car rules, meaning they were production vehicles with their native engine blocks and limited to 3.0 liters of displacement, and that's pretty much it. Teams could go as crazy as they wanted with every other part of the machine, and by the looks of it they often did. We even read that some engines could reportedly make more power than Formula 1 mills of the time.

As you can probably tell from the ton of sports car prototype racers in the photo gallery, Nissan was heavily involved i...
11/10/2022

As you can probably tell from the ton of sports car prototype racers in the photo gallery, Nissan was heavily involved in both Group C-/GTP- and GT1-spec competition on an international scale in the '90S; they were running in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship (JSPC), IMSA in America, and the World Endurance Championship/World Sports-Prototype Championship/FIA Sportscar World Championship (so many stupid names) in Europe. Chassis first came from Lola Cars and March Engineering before Nissan started building them on their own and depending on ruleset came with everything from twin-turbo V-8s to the naturally aspirated V-12 you'd find mounted in P35 prototypes. Much success was had in these machines.

The '90s marked the end of the road for Nissan's involvement in the World Rally Championship, even though privateers con...
09/10/2022

The '90s marked the end of the road for Nissan's involvement in the World Rally Championship, even though privateers continued to champion the brand in the WRC and elsewhere well into the future. In the early '90s, Pulsar GTI-R compacts like this one from '92 led the charge, mainly because of the turbo SR20DET under hood (which engineers turned up to make nearly 300hp) and its ATTESA (Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All) four-wheel-drive system.

Since touring cars are in Nissan's '90s racing DNA, endurance racing is as well, and for it the automaker and its accomp...
07/10/2022

Since touring cars are in Nissan's '90s racing DNA, endurance racing is as well, and for it the automaker and its accomplices at NISMO used as their primary weapons Skyline GT-R of both the R32 and R33 variety. The ZEXEL BNR32 ran the Spa 24 Hours in Belgium from '90 to '92, while the no. 23 BCNR33 GT-R LM beneath it (a special version of the R33 GT-R) was part of a two-car 24 Hours of Le Mans effort by NISMO in '95 and '96. It rocked a 2.8-liter RB26 that made almost 600hp and kept its AWD configuration; its counterpart, the no. 22 (buried in the photo gallery), had a somewhat different approach to the French enduro classic, with power from a Group N-spec 400hp RB26DETT and a RWD setup.

In general, touring car racing was pretty big in the '90s around the world and Nissan even saw successes outside of Japa...
05/10/2022

In general, touring car racing was pretty big in the '90s around the world and Nissan even saw successes outside of Japan. In the British Touring Car Championship, for example, this SR20DE-motivated Primera GT killed the '99 season, winning an impressive 13 out of 26 races competing against the likes of Volvo S40, Renault Laguna, Vauxhall Vectra, Ford Mondeo and Honda Accord.

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