Nismo

Nissan Motorsport Ltd.

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Type	Private
Industry	Motor vehicles
Genre	Tuning/Racing
Founded	September 17, 1984 (September 17, 1984)
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Yasuharu Nanba Shoichi Miyatani
Products	Automobiles/automobile parts
Revenue	¥2.9 trillion per year
Number of employees	205
Parent	Nissan
Website	Nissan Motorsports Official International site

For the V8 Supercars known as Nissan Motorsport, refer to Nissan Motorsport (Australia)

Nismo (abbreviated from Nissan Motorsport International Limited (ニッサン・モータースポーツ・インターナショナル株式会社, Nissan Mōtā Supōtsu Intānashonaru Kabushiki-gaisha)) is the motorsports and performance division of Nissan. Formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departments, Nismo cars have participated in JSPC, JTCC, 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Daytona. They currently participate in the Super GT and FIA GT Championship, and in 2015 will compete alongside Audi, Toyota and Porsche in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP1 class, with the new Nissan GT-R LM NISMO.

History

In 1984, Nissan decided that it wanted to merge its two motorsport divisions, founded in the late 1960s, they were Publication Division 3, based in its Oppama factory, responsible for the needs of privateer teams and Special Car Testing Division, within its Ōmori plant, responsible for its factory operations. The company's intention following the merger was to specialize in sportscar racing, but it also provided support for teams competing in the domestic F3 series.

In 1988, NISMO built its first car, the Saurus for motorsport use for its one-make series. The following year they developed the Skyline GT-R for racing as well as building the 500 evolution editions for road use.

Products

Tuning kits

Nismo designs and manufactures a range of aftermarket performance parts for Nissan cars including Aerodynamics parts such as spoilers and diffusers, alloy wheels, engine and suspension parts.

Most Datsun, Nissan, and Infiniti branded cars have performance parts available from Nismo, either in production or as old stock. For example, Nismo sells parts such as unground cam billets, performance cams, pistons, etc. for the KA24E engine, which was used in the Nissan small pickup truck for several years and also used for the 1989 and 1990 model years of 240SX, a popular car among Import scene enthusiasts (especially Drifters) in North America.

In Japan, the V35 Skyline and Z33 Fairlady have both received several levels of Nismo tuning packages (E-Type, S-Tune, R-Tune, and S1 packages), with a full track spec Fairlady Z debuted at the 2005 Nismo Festival of Speed held at (formerly) Fuji International Raceway.

In February 2007, Nismo announced the launch of the Nismo 380RS. The Nismo 380RS is a factory modified version of the Nissan Z33 Fairlady Z tuned by both Nismo and Autech. Two versions were released, the first was a track-only model called the 380RS-C (C for competition), the second is a street model being sold at Nissan dealers. Both versions use a Nissan VQ series V6 engine, bored and stroked to 3.8L. The track-only 380RS-C makes 400 hp (298 kW), and the street version makes approximately 350 hp (261 kW). The Nismo 380RS was only sold in Japan.

Complete cars

A 2010 Nismo 370Z

When Nismo released the Skyline GT-R R34 V-Spec complete car, the Z-Tune, because there was a limitation in the number of parts, Nismo was only able to create 20 of them. The complete version sells for ¥17,745,000 (US$146,600, as of December 7, 2005) in Japan. However, the parts-conversion version, where the customer's Skyline GT-R's become the base car, sells for ¥13,125,000 (US$108,500, as of December 7, 2005). However, it is known that the GT-R Z-tune can exceed the US$180,000 price tag in car market. The engine is an RB28DETT Z2 (a normal GT-R engine with a stroked displacement of 2.8 liters & Nismo parts designed specifically for the Z2). All of the Z-Tunes have been sold already. The car weighs 1,600 kg (3,527 lb).

A 2015 Nismo GT-R

Nismo was also responsible for the R33 Skyline 400R and S14 Silvia 270R models. Both featured comprehensive modifications to the drivetrain, suspension, brakes, chassis, and aero work. Very limited numbers of both models were sold in 1997, and both command high resale prices even today. These models stressed Nismo's link to street car tuning, and were developed (as was the Z-Tune GT-R) at their Chiba City tuning garage. Nismo street tuned vehicles have been sold at Nissan dealerships for years, and come with full warranties.

Motorsports

A NISMO Skyline GT-R race car

Nismo cars have participated in JSPC, JTCC, 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Daytona. They currently participate in the Super GT as a team, and they are involved in other racing events such as V8 Supercars, FIA GT3 European Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship, as a supplier of Nissan racing cars and/or engines. They also have a pool of drivers, known as the Nismo Global Driver Exchange. This allows factory drivers the chance to race in big events such as the Le Mans 24 Hours, the 24 Hours of Dubai and the Bathurst 12 Hour.

For the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours race, Nissan has announced in June 2014, that Nismo will enter the LMP1 category to fight for the overall championship against Audi, Toyota & Porsche. Global Motorsports Director of Nissan, the man behind the GT Academy, Darren Cox had stated: "We [Nissan] have just announced that we are going back to LMP1 after the success in LMP2 with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th so we have decided to go and play with the big boys to race against Porsche, Audi and Toyota and we going to try and win Le Mans overall so that’s a big challenge for all of us and maybe we will have some GT Academy drivers driving some of those cars."

Following a disappointing performance in the 24 Hours, the program's remaining schedule in 2015 was pushed back, with the team intending a regular rebut in the 2016 season; however on 22 December 2015, Nissan announced that it was shuttering the program altogether.

See also

• IPL
• Autech
• Nissan

External links

• [1] Middlehurst Motorsport & Nismo Official Press Release
• Nismo official web site (Japanese), Japanese official web site for Nismo products.
• Nissan Motorsports, coverage and information on Nissan motorsports events. (English) (Japanese)
• Nismo USA official website