Once upon a time, Nissan decided to drive in the GT class. To do this, they first had to produce a road car as part of the race car qualification process. And so in 1998 they released a car they called a “diamond in the rough,” with the race car being the final, polished product. The road car Nissan R390 GT1 was born in 1998, a car that caused a sensation back then, because how often did you hear at least the words “Nissan” and “Supercar” in the same sentence back then?
Only one of these cars was ever made and Nissan never marketed it because of its exorbitant cost and even higher price tag, it had decided to sell it. It’s usually on display at Nissan’s headquarters in Japan, but occasionally it travels the world and is displayed at rallies and events as part of Nissan’s commitment to racing and supercars. Of course, today we know and love Nissan for the Z-cars too!
What’s the strangest thing about this car other than only one made but never sold? The Nissan R390 GT1 road car has been driven by millions of people. Do you want to know how
The beginnings of Nissan Racing
Via Pinterest
Nissan began running its cars on rails in the late 1980s, starting with the double entry of the R86V and R85V in 1986. The results weren’t too good, so Nissan knew there had to be a lot of work to do to them manufacture His cars match the competition, let alone overtake them. In 1990 Nissan was back at Le Mans with an R90CP and came in fifth overall. A sudden economic downturn in Japan ruined Nissan’s efforts in international racing for several years, and it wasn’t until 1996 that he returned to Le Mans with a Skyline GT-R LM. By this time, the competition on McLaren F1 GTR, Mercedes-Benz CLK GT and the Porsche 911 GT1 had also improved. Here too, Nissan had a lot of catching up to do.
So they turned to Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) for expertise on how to make their own GT racing car. At the time, Ian Callum was the design director there (now head of design at Jaguar) and he is the man behind the more iconic shape of the Nissan R390 GT1 – although the inspiration came from the Nissan models of the time.
Tony Southgate, TWR’s mechanic, provided his expertise to Yutaka Hagiwara of NISMO, and soon the car’s electrics, mechanics and aerodynamics were upgraded to take on the GT personality. The street car was first made to qualify and then the race car was further honed.
Fun fact: the “prize” was a cool $ 1 million!
The radical insides of the Nissan R390 GT1
Via Pinterest
The engine of the Nissan R390 GT1 was a 3.5-liter V8 with two turbochargers and an old friend that was also used in the R89C prototype. This time the engine was mounted longitudinally directly behind the driver and connected to a six-speed gearbox that transmitted the torque to the rear wheels.
The road-legal car developed 550 horsepower and made it fly from 0 to 60 mph in less than four seconds, at a staggering top speed of 220 mph. How this was legal on the road is not yet clear to us … Under GT1 rules, a single road car was made and then three racing cars for the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours were made. All three cars needed a lot of modifications because the ACO didn’t think they were right, and so the 1997 racing season did not go so well. The modifications resulted in all of the cars having mechanical failures as there was no time to test, which is why only one could finish the race and ranked 12th.
In the meantime, Nissan has continued to polish the cars, working on adding more downforce, reducing drag, and improving cooling.
The only road car had now been repainted from red to blue and also had a new chassis number. Four other racing cars were also made, and all cars now had a “long tail” – and the R390 GT1 cars to eight in total.
The 1998 R390 GT1 passed the ACO test with flying colors, and every car finished at Le Mans. All four were also in the top 10 and were third, fifth, six and ten. That made Nissan one of the coolest and most impressive automakers of the time.
After 1998, rule changes made the R390 GT1 obsolete, and so Nissan ever went into production. How did many people drive it then?
The single car driven by millions?
Via Reddit
The Nissan R390 GT1 has a one-to-one status yet has been driven by millions around the world. How? Well, thank you for appearing on several video games including Forza (for MS X-Box) and Gran Turismo (for Sony PS).
So it’s a little cool. While it has a permanent fixture in the Nissan Heritage Collection in Zama, Japan, it has traveled the world to attend many classy auto events. It made its appearance at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in 2019, and since then, many have wondered what if the multi-million dollar 1: 1 Nissan R390 GT1 had made it into production?
Sources: NissanNewsUSA, Hemmings
About the author
Arun Singh Pundir
(253 articles published)
Arun Singh Pundir was a longtime media crackerjack and spent most of his life in sales and marketing. In 2018 he officially switched and switched sides to editorial. He lives with his wife, two mischievous sons, and in his spare time is a car and motorcycle mother. Not that he has too much free time. He currently writes for HotCars on anything that has any number or type of wheels. He regards his Isuzu D-Max V-Cross, Suzuki Ciaz and Royal Enfield Classic 500 as the three current flames of his life. His dream is to drive around the world; even if it takes more than eighty days.
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