Nissan has declared itself ready to take on the world's best sports car manufacturers after revealing a glimpse of its Le Mans challenger - the Nissan GT-R LM NISMO - during the commercial break for Super Bowl XLIX.
Last year's Super Bowl was the most watched television programme in US television history with over 110 million viewers. The 2015 game was therefore the perfect opportunity for Nissan's "With Dad" commercial to air for the first time, revealing the much-anticipated Nissan GT-R LM NISMO, the car that will take on the best in the world in the race to glory at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
In a bold move, the Japanese manufacturer has interpreted the sport's technical regulations in an innovative way, producing a front-engined, front-wheel drive car that is powered by a V6 3.0-litre twin turbo petrol engine and a kinetic energy recovery system.
The new car will contest the LM P1 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the highest category in world sports car racing. Starting at Silverstone, U.K., on 12 April, the series travels around the world to Spa in Belgium, onto the Le Mans 24 Hours and Germany's Nurburgring, before going global with races in the U.S, Japan, China and the Middle East.
The FIA World Endurance Championship is the ultimate proving ground for automotive companies as technological gains on the track can carry through to road cars. Racing car engineers are facing the same challenges as road car engineers as the spotlight falls on energy efficiency. With more technical freedom than Formula 1, the LM P1 engineers have ample opportunity to innovate.
The intensive test programme for the Nissan GT-R LM NISMO that began in Arizona last year continues this week at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, where the team is making the most of the warmer climate of the Southern US. Nissan’s LM P1 drivers will be revealed soon.
