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  Nissan R86V      

  Article Specifications  
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Country of origin:Japan
Produced in:1986
Numbers built:4
Predecessor:March 85G Nissan
Successor:Nissan R87E
Author:Wouter Melissen
Last updated:November 07, 2010
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Click here to download printer friendly versionNissan gently rolled into Group C racing in 1983 by supplying an engine to Hoshino Racing for a privately run entry in the Japanese national series. The engine was a turbocharged 'four', which was mounted in a customer March chassis. Although the results were not very encouraging, Nissan's interest was sparked and in 1985 Nissan Motorsport or Nismo was established. Several new March chassis were acquired and fitted with a development of the V6 engine used in the United States by the Electramotive team.

As part of the increased efforts, Nismo co-commissioned a brand new chassis from March for 1986. The other commissioner was BMW of North America for their IMSA GTP campaign. Dubbed the 86G, the new sports racer was designed by former McLaren engineer Gordon Coppuck using sophisticated CAD/CAM computer software. The chassis was a monocoque constructed from aluminium sheets with a honeycomb core. The cars constructed for Nissan featured a lightweight titanium front roll hoop. A major departure from earlier March Group C and GTP cars was the adoption of side-mounted radiators, which allowed for much cleaner aerodynamics.

Four chassis with gearboxes were shipped to Japan for completion at Nismo's new facilities. Here they were fitted with the same Electramotive derived engine already used during the previous year. As stipulated in the IMSA GTP regulations, the V6 was based on a Nissan production engine. Group C had no such restrictions, so the engine could be thoroughly reworked. The biggest change was replacing the original cast iron block with an aluminium one. It was also fitted with twin Garrett turbochargers compared to the single turbo used in the GTP spec. On full boost the 3-litre V6 was reputed to produce around 1000 bhp. In race tune it was still good for close to 700 bhp.

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  Article Specifications