Nissan R391
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The Nissan R391 is a
History
Following Nissan's return to sportscar racing in 1995, motorsports division
With major rule changes in the GT in 1999, major manufacturers were no longer able to build homologation specials which resembled prototypes more than true GT cars. Thus Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Panoz, BMW, and Audi turned to the prototypes class, either using open cockpit prototypes or closed cockpit cars which were actually evolutions of their former GT cars. Nissan, believing that a purpose built prototype would be superior to an evolved GT car, decided to go the route of an open cockpit.
For the R391,
Race results
At the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, Nissan planned to enter two R391s along with a third Courage C52 with the older VRH35L motor. In official testing for Le Mans in May, the R391s were able to set the 10th and 13th fastest times, beating out some entries from Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW, although they were not able to beat Panoz or their main rival, Toyota.
Come the actual race, Nissan was again quick, with one entry able to qualify 12th. Unfortunately, the other R391, while being driven by Eric van de Poele, crashed during the first qualifying session, damaging the car beyond repair. Van de Poele also suffered a broken vertebra in the accident, but would be able to recover. Thus Nissan would be forced to race with only a single R391.
During the race, the remaining R391 was able to climb its way up the field, running as high as 4th overall before an electrical problem[1] in the engine caused the car to be retired after it had completed only 110 laps.[2] Nissan's remaining entrant, their Courage chassis with the older Nissan turbo V8, was able to survive the race and finish a respectable 8th overall. However even this would be bested as Courage Compétition's entry, also using the older Nissan turbo V8, was able to finish 6th overall, eight laps ahead of Nissan's factory effort.
Later in 1999 the R391 would race again, this time at the invitational
Demise
Although Nissan was able to gain automatic entry to the 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans with their win at Fuji, Nissan officials decided that the motorsports program was no longer worth the cost, especially with Nissan attempting to restructure itself under new leader Carlos Ghosn. With only a single victory for their sportscar program since 1995, it was decided that Nissan would immediately end the R391 project in early 2000,[3] leaving Nissan's only motorsports program to be in JGTC. Nissan would therefore turn down its automatic entry to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
References
- ^ "Nissan GT-R LM NISMO LMP1 To Tackle WEC And Le Mans In 2015: Video". Motor Authority. Retrieved 2021-08-09.
- ^ "Nissan Legend Satoshi Motoyama Retires From Racing | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2021-08-09.
- ^ "Fuji 1000km 1999: The Toyota GT-One's final defeat". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2021-08-09.