Nissan in ALMS 2002 or 2003?

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Part of a Interview with Scott Atherton the head of the ALMS Series. It talks about a possible return to motorsports for Nissan in the ALMS Series.


TheRaceSite.com: Can you discuss any of those manufacturer commitments?

Scott Atherton: "The things that have been announced: there's a new Cadillac program that's on line. We haven't seen anything formal from our friends at Audi, but all indications are they're coming back to defend their championship. There's a couple of new Panoz that are coming together for next year. We’ve heard a lot out of the Riley and Scotts and the Dyson Racing Camp. There's at least one if not two Ferrari racing teams that are coming. The Nissan engineers who've been attending our races almost week after week, and again we haven't seen anything formally, all indications are that they will be joining the series. There's a lot of real positive energy going on. We look for the car counts to be up. We've had quite a few teams that have run other series contact us and say, based on the schedule that we presented and the television package that we've got, it's an easy choice.We're cautiously optimistic."

I hope Nissan returns to Road Racing. What do you guys think?


You can read the entire interview at http://www.theracesite.com/index.cfm?pagetype=2&form_article=2561

[RainMeister]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial[/img]quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Only99X:
Part of a Interview with Scott Atherton the head of the ALMS Series. It talks about a possible return to motorsports for Nissan in the ALMS Series.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's good to hear. I've heard rumours elsewhere that Nissan is already planning an assault on the Grand Touring Class with the 350Z to compete with the BMW M3, Callaway C-12R, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, and Porsche 911 GT3-RS. Given that they already supply engines for the Prototype 675 class, I would presume it's a simple matter of dropping this engine into the new Z. RM

[Mav1178]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial[/img]quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by RainMeister:


That's good to hear. I've heard rumours elsewhere that Nissan is already planning an assault on the Grand Touring Class with the 350Z to compete with the BMW M3, Callaway C-12R, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, and Porsche 911 GT3-RS. Given that they already supply engines for the Prototype 675 class, I would presume it's a simple matter of dropping this engine into the new Z. RM<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

But this probably won't happen with ALMS or Le Mans, since that would put Nissan into the same awkward position as BMW last year, with a race M3 GT-R and no production road car (and major complaints from other manufacturers).

Plus, the new Z has yet to establish itself with any sales figures, so I doubt Nissan (with its current Revival Plan) could introduce a race-spec Z street car so soon...

-alex

[Black2Forty]

But wasnt the problem with the M3's because they were using the motor out of the M5. I can understand that argument, if you drop a totally different motor into the car it's not quite the same car. I would think as long as Nissan made it similiar 2 the road going variant, it should be cool. Now the sales figure/cost aspect of it is a good point. But what better way 2 show all the skeptics that this is a kick a$$ car, and it CAN compete with the best in the world.

[Mav1178]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial[/img]quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Black2Forty:
But wasnt the problem with the M3's because they were using the motor out of the M5. I can understand that argument, if you drop a totally different motor into the car it's not quite the same car. I would think as long as Nissan made it similiar 2 the road going variant, it should be cool. Now the sales figure/cost aspect of it is a good point. But what better way 2 show all the skeptics that this is a kick a$$ car, and it CAN compete with the best in the world.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No no no.

ALMS and Le Mans rules specifically state that any car in the GT class must have a road going version of the car, produced within one year of the car's initial introduction into the race series.

When the M3 GT-R was introduced early last year, BMW had no production version of that car with the SAME ENGINE. That was Porsche's main complaint.

My whole argument was about Nissan potentially having a souped up version of its most important new product offering, so close to its introduction. I can see the LMP675 engine in a Z in a few years, not this year.

Plus, Nissan has no road version of their LMP675 engine, and with their current marketing strategy and engine offering I highly doubt that they would offer such a road engine, when there are no real sports cars other than the Z from Nissan.

-alex

[VR4]

It's alright, they'll just do what they did to the R390, make one road version, and have it for sale.

[Black2Forty]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial[/img]quote:</font><HR> My whole argument was about Nissan potentially having a souped up version of its most important new product offering, so close to its introduction. I can see the LMP675 engine in a Z in a few years, not this year. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
But would they be able 2 run a Z with the 3.5L engine? I would really see how that would be a valuable marketing tool if they can bring a serious competitor to the track in the same year as they bring the car 2 market.

[Mav1178]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial[/img]quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Black2Forty:

But would they be able 2 run a Z with the 3.5L engine? I would really see how that would be a valuable marketing tool if they can bring a serious competitor to the track in the same year as they bring the car 2 market.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, if the VQ can match the power output of the Porsche 911 GT3's and BMW M3 GT-R's, then perhaps the car can be competitive.

I think Nissan is taking a right step in taking part in Le Mans GT class, if they officially announce it. To go anywhere past that would ruin a good thing...

-alex

[Mav1178]

Actually, with a 3.5 liter, 350HP engine, and a diet chassis of about under 2800lbs, the car can be competitive!

-alex

[**DONOTDELETE**]

actually, i heard that for alms there has to be 500 production cars for it to be a 'manufactured car'....thats why bmw is planning on sellin 500 limited edition m3's with the m5 motor in 2003...not sure how true this is, but i read it in a brief article about alms in an older f1 mag...

[Mav1178]

Originally posted by racerdx:
actually, i heard that for alms there has to be 500 production cars for it to be a 'manufactured car'....thats why bmw is planning on sellin 500 limited edition m3's with the m5 motor in 2003...not sure how true this is, but i read it in a brief article about alms in an older f1 mag...<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial[/img]If this was true, then BMW would actually be racing in ALMS.

But with the new rules that the FIA put in for 2002, BMW has chosen to withdrawn its M3 GT-R from ALMS competition.

-alex