Nissan's Greatest Car... Was SOO Good It Failed

[Music] why should someone care about Nissan is it their Z cars is it the S chassis drift Legends of the 90s or no maybe it's because of the GTR Zilla well what if Nissan did something even more special and what if this car actually completed what the GTR failed to do in its prime well it's a real car and there's only one of them in existence this is the Nissan project that lived and died at the hands of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans it's one of the greatest cars ever made this is the Nissan r390 funny enough the r390s tail doesn't start with Le Mans in fact it begins with another Nissan a car you all know well the Nissan GTR you see Nissan and more specifically Nismo the manufacturer's racing division was always a juggernaut out on track in the beginning of the 1990s Nissan's Group C program had found three consecutive wins at the 90 91 and 92 all Japan Sports prototype series and just before finishing that run Nissan had completed another hat trick in the 89 90 and 91 Seasons at the imsa GTP championships and by then none other than Godzilla was beginning to tear up the slightly slower yet violently entertaining Touring Car Championship the series that also saw the likes of the E30 M3 and the Mercedes-Benz 190e Cause worth in racing quotes the gtr's infamously successful Motorsport run in the early 90s gave Nissan the confidence to enter an even crazier GTR into the race of all Races 20 24 Hours of Le Mans with their r33 GTR LM which by the way is the best sounding car in Forza Horizon 4. the Nismo team would set their sights on a Le Mans track they hadn't been to in four long years but they noticed a problem early on that problem would be the Europeans the GT1 class at Le Mans was home to cars like the Ferrari F40 GTE the McLaren F1 GTR and most importantly the Porsche 911 GT1 oh and don't forget the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR all of them outpace Nissan's GTR come race time and another year later in 96 the skyline had further proven itself after the 1996 season things got even more dire all thanks to Porsche their 911 GT1 race car was fiercely antagonistic and right in Nissan's way to Le Mans Glory but the 911 GT1 was more than just a fast highly competitive car it changed the way GT1 was done from the development you see all manufacturers competing in the series needed to build at least one homologation card for the street and in a rule bending but Tech legal move but took it upon themselves to start backwards from what everyone else was doing they developed a purpose-built race car first with little thought for a production model and then toned it down for the necessary road legal requirements after all the racing development had been done a bold move that actually held up with race officials but simultaneously made Porsche Enemy Number One at Le Mans the following year the team gunning for it the hardest was Nismo in a closed Corridor in Nissan's Development Center their top Engineers went to work on a brand new car that would not only attempt to Dethrone Porsche but also prove to the world that Mazda and their 787b wasn't the only Japanese company worthy of Lamar Glory the task was colossal but Nissan was up for the challenge Nismo collaborated with Tom walkenshaw racing and together they aimed to build an Extraordinary Machine a car that could compete with the world's best a car that was reliable stable Nimble and above all fast it was the Nissan r390 the r390 wasn't just constructed it was a machine that was meticulously crafted at its heart a potent three and a half liter V8 engine taken straight from Nissan's r89c race car that had previously run in the class C Racing Series now tuned to dish out an impressive 641 horsepower it replaced the dated iron block in line sixes that had been used in GTR race cars it had lightweight alloy head with four valves per cylinder a magnesium block and was specifically designed to have an extremely low center of gravity but the genius of the r390 wasn't just about brute strength if they'd learned anything from the Mazda 787 project it's that the body and structure had to work together seamlessly Nissan hired Ian Callum to design the Bodywork of the r390 Callum now gets his reputation from designing some of the most stunning modern cars for Jaguar and in fact much of the underpinnings of the r390 came directly from an old Jaguar the xjr15 a car that had won two Le Mans races just a few years prior its carbon monocoque was used as the base for the r390 and remained an inspiration for the Project's overall goals now with a proper Foundation the r390 was set to be a purposeful functional race car to put the r390 wasn't just a race car it was a symbol of endurance of resilience state-of-the-art Telemetry systems relayed crucial data in real time while a stiff inboard suspension set up absorb the brutal demands of the racetrack huge 14-inch carbon brake rotors pulled speed out of the r390 hard and laying over them was a set of beautiful BBS racing wheels turn 18 up front and 19 Outback the race version had lower ride height stiffer spring rates and larger Wheels as well as the full 641 horsepower whereas the road car had a mere 550 and unlike Porsche's cunning little reversal of the rulebook Nissan instead completed a full Road car prototype before cutting a single piece of it for its race version regardless Nismo sights were set firmly on the grueling and unforgiving pavement of Le Mans welcome to Le Mans 1997. this isn't just a race it's a 24-hour endurance trial a test of metal and Machinery it's here that manufacturers across the globe converge their eyes set on a singular objective victory but unfortunately the 97 race would unveil Nissan's critical mistakes and they suffered to say the least a misread rule book caused the race-going r390 GT ones to fail their initial inspection before the race even started there was a problem with the amount of airtight luggage space requirements on the three competing Nissans which meant the team had to redesign space near where some pretty important cooling systems existed and despite posting the fastest qualifying lap of the weekend two of the three r390 GT ones got dnfs after overheating their Transmissions the remaining car placed at 12th overall crossing the line with a fried transmission as well but it was the spirit of endurance that Shone through in 1998 the r390 GT1 sprinted to an enviable third place finish after a refresh design added more downforce better aerodynamics and a particular focus on the rulebook guess it really helps to read the rules huh but finally Nissan had done enough to get their name etched in the history books of Le Mans but to the Chagrin of Nismo fans this would Mark the inevitable end of the r398 tire after all of Nissan's tumultuous efforts to succeed on track they knew that the podium at Le Mans was as far as the r390 project would go as we mentioned the road car prototype was built first before eight following GT1 versions were created for the two-year Le Mans stint and this is the only one the sole example of what this Japanese company saw in themselves this was all Nissan needed to do to gain their homologation ticket into Le Mans and after that they stopped it is rare that a major manufacturer builds just one of its homologation cars even though this series required just the one even the near bankrupt Porsche built 20 road legal 911 GT1 strassen versions for customers rumor has it there was one r390 GT1 example that was converted to be road legal but no more have ever seen a public Street this single r390 marks the premature end for this car but the beginning of a one-of-one legend that represented years of development and hard work for a company that didn't know if it would survive through the 90s due to financial issues the r390 was a magnificent symbol of time when the only constraints for those of vision and audacity a vehicle that not only encapsulates the thrilling Spirit of Motorsport but also reminds us of the untapped potential of human imagination and Ingenuity and without this car taking on such bold engineering challenges Nissan may have never paved the way for this car to exist when it did it's the r390 and other race bread cars like it that set the course for future high octane success coming out of Nissan if you liked this video hit the like button and subscribe to Ideal for more Automotive stories just like this one coming along very soon my name's Trav this has been ideal and I'll see you all in the next one

Channel: Ideal

Views: 69,679

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Id: zkjtvlgAT2E

Length: 9min 10sec (550 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 08 2023