Run the tape measure over the bodywork of Nissan’s just-launched Altima V8 Supercar race car and you have the all-new Altima mid-size sedan road car which goes on-sale late this year.
The Altima will replace the current Maxima as Nissan’s up-scale sedan and the racing version’s bodyshell measures-up identical to the road car (except for a couple of millimetres extra width at the rear wheel-arches) - unlike rival Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon racers in the new ‘Car Of The Future’ format which are sized substantially different to the road cars.
A creation of Nissan’s world-acclaimed Southern California design studios in La Jolla (just near San Diego) the all-new Altima presents as a very slick styling job and as we can see in the racing version, is surprisingly spacious. Altima is already giving the Toyota Camry a run for its money in the U.S. mid-size sales race.
Nissan unveiled its four-car factory race team in spectacular style today in Melbourne and Car Showroom was there. Unlike the Altima road cars, the racers employ modified versions of the 5.6-litre V8 engine fitted to the just-launched all-new Nissan Patrol SUV.
The team is a collaboration between NISMO, Nissan’s Japan-based factory racing operation, and Australia’s Kelly Racing (brothers Todd and Rick Kelly will be behind the wheels of the two Jack Daniel’s-backed Nissan Altimas while James Moffat and Michael Curuso will drive the two Norton-backed machines).
It’s now just over 20 years since Nissan was forced out of Australian Touring Car racing after a two-year string of successes (including back-to-back Bathurst 1000 wins) with the awesome Nissan GT-Rs (nick-named ‘Godzilla’). Local Holden and Ford teams couldn’t match the GTRs on the race track and threatened to withdraw unless the high-tech Nissan racers were banned.
But after 20 years of restricting local racing to just Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon, V8 Supercars management decided the show needed new players and the ‘Car Of The Future’ technical changes have resulted in both Nissan and Mercedes-Benz joining the action which kicks-off in a few weeks with the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. No doubt the irony is not lost on veteran racer Fred Gibson whose team steered the factory-backed Nissans to such success in the 1980s before being told virtually overnight and with no consultation that his multi-million dollar operation was just too slick and too fast for the local V8s.
“The 2013 V8 Supercar Championship is an important part of the Nissan Altima’s marketing strategy. Australian new car buyers will have an entire year to get to know the Altima name and shape before it goes on sale later this year,” revealed Bill Peffer, Nissan Australia’s CEO.
