Nissan’s entering the 2007 Super GT race championship in Japan with this ferocious looking 350Z, a car which makes history by being the first works-backed 350Z to have V8 power.
Yes, folks, a V8 350Z, the stuff of dreams for many Zed fans, but the eight cylinder 4.5-liter engine is only for the track. We hear there are absolutely no plans for production, unfortunately.
The Super GT championship is massive in Japan, drawing huge crowds and making for spectacular 30-40 car racing. It’s the nearest thing Japan has to NASCAR and Toyota, Nissan and Honda field works-backed teams each with a strong determination to win.
The Nissan 350Z (known as the Fairlady Z in Japan) has always run a 3.0-liter twin turbo V6 in Super GT’s top GT 500 class, with power restricted to around 500 bhp.
Nissan’s motor sport arm, NISMO, won the team championship three times between 2003-2005 going this V6 route. But in 2006, against the odds, it was a TOM’s entered Lexus SC430 that took the coveted team title.
The key to the Lexus’ unlikely victory was its big normally-aspirated V8 engine. The air restrictor rules are reputedly more lenient with atmo engines over turbos, hence Nissan’s switch to the Infiniti-derived 4.5-liter V8 for the coming 2007 season, ditching the seemingly smaller and lighter forced induction VQ30DETT V6 in the process.
A total of five 350Zs spread across four teams will contest the nine-race 2007 Super GT Championship which kicks off at Suzuka on March 18.
source: windingroad.com
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