Nissan possesses a storied history in North American motorsports, particularly when it comes to its iconic Z. Its sleek 240Z claimed more than a couple of SCCA championships starting back in the ’70s, and who can forget Paul Newman’s iconic Planters Peanuts Trans Am car of the late ’80s? But over the past decade or so, the brand slowly faded away from North American pro racing grids, leaving race fans wondering when it’d be back.
Finally, it’s here: After debuting its latest race-ready creation in 2022, the Z Nismo GT4, Nissan has returned. And not just in the grid. Like other manufacturers, the brand itself is in the paddock, ready to help its customers with parts, man power and data.
The Rig Is Here
The revamped program made its debut earlier this season at SRO’s Sonoma event. Soon after, at Sebring, a Z stood atop the podium.
Nissan’s current focus is SRO America’s Pirelli GT4 America series, a direct descendent of SCCA’s Pirelli World Challenge, a series that saw its fair share of 370Zs a decade ago.
Dean Case, Nismo USA’s PR representative and a veteran of the indus-try, told us that the brand would be at the Sonoma season opener this April en masse with a semi rig full of parts, engineers–the whole nine yards. He wasn’t exaggerating: a Nismo-branded hauler sat between the media center and podium, ready to photobomb all weekend long.
Sonoma was the hauler’s debut, too. The program has scaled up since the GT4 Z’s single-team debut last year. In fact, more than 100 members of Nissan’s employee motorsports team at the brand’s technical center at Farmington Hills, Michigan, helped stock the truck before the season.
“We acquired the hauler this year, and our entire motorsports team spent two days cleaning it, organizing it, stocking it, getting it ready, inspecting the rig itself to make sure it was safe to put on the road,” explains Greg Nelson, GT4 Motorsports Program Manager. “And that was all volunteer, after-work hours.”
The first level carries the usual drawers and cabinets filled with smaller parts, everything from bolts to electronics. Then there’s a long table lined with engineers typing away on laptops. Upstairs is where larger parts live, such as bodywork, wheels, suspension components, engines, and even a fresh body in white.
Well, at least there…
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