Page 1 of 1 For the manufacturer's Group C campaign, Nissan relied for many years on British specialist constructors like March and Lola. Having raced Nissan engined Lolas during the 1989 and 1990 seasons, the Japanese manufacturer took further development in-house. The engineer in charge was Yoshitaka Suzuka, who was responsible for the aerodynamics of the GTP Nissans that raced in North America.
The first fruit of this change of policy was the R90CP, which still used Lola-built R89 chassis. The CP in the name was a reference to the Oppama plant where the car was developed. The influence of Suzuka was clearly visible as the R90CP effectively merged the design philosophy of the Nissan NPT-90 with the Lola chassis. The nose was more upright, while the tail featured fins on the rear fender. Mounted between the fins was the more elaborate rear wing.
The sole R90CP was raced alongside the Nissan-supplied R90CKs during the 1990 season. It proved particularly successful in the Japanese Sports Car Championship (JSPC), which Nissan won that year. At Le Mans, seven Nissans were entered including the R90CP. While a R90CK claimed pole position, the Oppama plant Nissan was the most competitive, finishing fifth overall with an all-Japanese driver line-up.
Buoyed by the results of the Suzuka prepared R90CP, Nissan Motorsport set about building a R91CP from scratch. This was built around a carbon-fibre composite monocoque constructed in Japan. The suspension was in-board through push-rod actuated springs and dampers. The hugely powerful twin-turbo VRH35Z V8 engine was carried over from the earlier Group C cars. The aerodynamics package included many subtle changes. The most obvious was the centrally mounted rear-brake cooling intake.
Nissan had intended to enter a team of R91CPs at Le Mans but uncertain economic and geopolitical conditions prompted a focus on the JSPC. As in 1990, Nissan won the driver's and constructor's trophy. Early in 1992, a R91CP was driven to outright victory in the Daytona 24 Hours. Suzuka created one more evolution; the R92CP. The 1992 season saw another JSPC title sweep but the Group C Nissans did race at Le Mans again.
It is believed that Nissan built five Group C cars from scratch. With three JSPC titles and an outright victory in the Daytona 24 Hours the Oppama plant cars were the most successful of all Group C Nissans. Page 1 of 1
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For the manufacturer's Group C campaign, Nissan relied for many years on British specialist constructors like March and Lola. Having raced Nissan engined Lolas during the 1989 and 1990 seasons, the Japanese manufacturer took further development in-house. The engineer in charge was Yoshitaka Suzuka, who was responsible for the aerodynamics of the GTP Nissans that raced in North America.