2022 Nissan Z GT500 race car revealed for Japan’s Super GT series
The new Nissan Z will go racing next year, replacing the ageing GT-R in Japan’s Super GT touring car series.
Nissan and its Nismo racing outfit have revealed their next-generation entrant into Japan’s Super GT race series, the 2022 Nissan Z GT500.
Replacing the GT-R – which is now in its 14th season of competition, having notched up 41 race wins – the new Z racer will compete in the top GT500 class of Japan’s flagship Super GT race series, essentially the country’s equivalent of Germany’s DTM (or, to a lesser extent, Australia’s Supercars series).
Images released by Nissan and Nismo show the Z kitted out in its full race-prepped attire, with a wider body, aggressive splitters and aerodynamic devices, a towering ‘swan-neck’ rear wing, and a vented bonnet to extract air from the engine bay.
GT500 regulations mandate the use of a 2.0-litre direct-injected four-cylinder petrol engine aided by a Garrett turbocharger, developing up to 485kW – a significant increase in power over the road-going Z’s 298kW/475Nm 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6.
Drive in the race car is sent to the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential transmission, with the vehicle (including driver and all 120 litres of fuel) required to weigh no less than 1030kg.
“The Nissan Z GT500 symbolizes Nissan’s spirit of taking on challenges and bringing excitement to life. Through our racing efforts we continue to innovate our cars and we race to win with the same daring we have displayed so many times over the years,” said Nissan chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta.
The new 2022 Nissan Z GT500 – which will make its championship debut for next year’s Super GT season, competing against the Honda NSX and Toyota GR Supra – replaces the GT-R GT500, in use in various forms since 2008, which itself succeeded the 350Z (or Fairlady Z) used between 2004 and 2007.
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