Why Did Nissan Abandon Le Mans? | Nissan R390
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- Nissan has had a chequered history at Le Mans. The R390 was the company's first earnest attempt at a Le Mans win since the end of the Group C era in 1990, but it was up against tough competition. This is the story of the Nissan R390 GT1.
#Nissan #LeMans #Racing
It's a shame we never got a small run of R390s produced. It has always been one of my favorite GT1 cars, specially with the blue Calsonic livery and the orange wing! I spent hours trying to get mine in Gran Turismo 2. But the 97' in black and red is also stunning!
It would have been talked about like the clk gtr and the 911 GT1 Strassenversion if they had made a few. As you say its a real shame they didn't
Well we did get the engine though, most Mclarens, especially the p11 platform like my 650s have this nissan twin turbo v8
It's one of my favorite cars to drive in Forza.
@@mzivtins for real? that’s mind blowing
@@zhila5958 Yeah for real, mclaren bought the engine design from TWR, and together with riciardo engineering change a few bits and threw it into the Mp4-12c, 650s, 675lt and P1 before it was then revised to a 4.0 for the 720s onwards :)
I absolutely love the use of music from the Gran Turismo series. Gives me serious nostalgia.
Same here, I believe the intro was from GT 2.
"power was restricted to JUST 550hp" 😂
Love road versions from this class.
Yes, because of the nature of jdm engines, they misbehave at high hp.
Nissan did get the last laugh against Toyota at the 1999 Fuji 1000km, when its R391 LMP beat the Toyota GT-ONE in an exhibition race.
Very interesting and detailed look - shame it didn't have longer to be developed really.
Did you know Nissan likes to use number 23 as the Japanese for 2 and 3 is Ni and San?
Thanks! I didnt know that, that's a very interesting bit of trivia!
Nissan and undercooked endurance cars are a duo to stand the test of time.
No wonder they never came in 1st place. They named their brand Ni and San. 2nd and 3rd. Not “ichi” for 1…😂
Really cool fact tho! I’m glad I know this now😎🤙🏼
@Jack Davis, if you're right, it's probably the reason the GTP ZX Turbos it entered in IMSA racing years ago were numbered #83 and #84 instead of #23 and #24 .
mclaren now uses a derivitive of the r390 v8 in their road cars aswell in case you didn't know
No way ??
One important side note to the R390 is the fact that there exists a second "road car" since 2022. Érik Comas, a Nissan works driver heavily involved in the R390 project was promised a road going version for his efforts, but he never received one since the project was canceled. He bought the last produced race car tho, sporting the number 30, fully restored it and made it road legal with the help of Andrea Chiavenuto. Its registered with a fitting "M24ANS" plate and was on display on some events since. The story of this car alone would be worth a whole video.
Promissed (not even guaranteed) 1 car for 1000. Dude... go wash yourself. When we made stuff outselves we owned ALL of it, and exchanged the excess. Capitalism is what makes your poorer that middle-easterners.
👌🏿Gran Turismo music in the background, brings me back , this was one of my Favorite cars on GT-4
I'm surprised no one has tried to make kit-car versions of the R390 or even a full scale replica like how a few years ago someone managed to make a full scale replica of the Sauber Mercedes C9 just from a 1:32 scale model, I do hope we get something like that so we can hopefully see just how fast the R390 could have been as all we have are the interpretations of it from Gran Turismo and Forza.
This was an awesome race car. Too bad Nissan didn’t play Le Mans long enough
Well, they did return in 2015 with their FWD vehicle, but I'm pretty sure that was some marketing stunt of something. I'm no engineer, but there is no way in hell that thing was gonna beat the 919s and R18s. I hope they return in the LMH class with something hopefully a bit more sensible.
@@potatogirlcultist19 yeah whoever came up with the design of the GTR LM surely got fired shortly afterwards. I get that Nissan was trying to be bold but everyone knew that car wouldn’t pan out. I find it so weird that Nissan, once a Motorsports powerhouse, is now somewhat irrelevant in Motorsports. Toyota and Honda/Acura have taken over the mantle of Japanese Motorsports
You shoujd do a video on the pikes peak Saab 9-3
That thing was crazy! AWD, stock saab engine block, lots of power and crazy power
It’s a Swedish Suzuki escudo!
I'll look into that! Sounds fascinating
The R390 GT is my favorite "supercar". I know some people consider it a borderline "hypercar" due to performance numbers,...but it's hardly important to me. It's a work of art is what it is. The lines and form are simply beyond gorgeous. Really wished they would've did a small batch of production models.
Gotta love the grand tourismo music. Great memories
The editing for this video was perfect.
Thanks! Glad you liked it
Thank you for that!
Since you’re becoming a Le Mans specialist here’s a couple of suggestions for future study:
Matra Simca v12
Alpine Renault A442 /78
Welter Meunier P88 (405kph on Mulsanne)
Sauber Mercedes C9
Keep up with the great work
I'll add those to the list!
Love that red wine colour. The blue was my favourite in Gran Turismo. Nice video. Keep up the good work.
i didn't realize the bones of this engine were around even before this platform. My understanding is this engine STILL underpins the powerplants of all modern, turbocharged McLarens... a fact they aren't too keen to advertise.
Thank you for these, I've always wondered what story has been w some of the more obscure or unique lm cars
Glad you enjoy them!
I've only seen R390's on the Nissan brochures and in GranTurismo 2 and the reason why I remember this car so much was because how GranTurismo ruined it's V8 sound 😭😭😭
Solid video! Only correction, the GTR-LM used a modified RB26, aluminum block/head straight 6.
Just found out about this car and thought it was such a beauty I had to learn more about it. This was the 1st video I clicked on and you helped me understand it more
Love the Gran Turismo 3 soundtrack playing in the background.
Your channel should be bigger. The algorithm brought me here, it's perfect for watching while I do work.
I thought the car was so awesome when I used to race with it in racing games, it's sad that it didn't have such a successful history.
Nissan didn’t leave after 1998. In 1999 they built and races the R391 in the LMP class. Poor results meant they dropped the program for 2000
I use to talk a lot with mechanics and engineers at the racing shop they had in Carlsbad CA. during their three IMSA championships with Bradham driving. What a great bunch of people. I delivered their propane as well as Don Prudhomme and other racing shops. Many shops were there because of the track, TransAm and IMSA DelMar race.
Well, the other reason Nissan didn't build more road R390s was that they were treading the bankruptcy line in this time period. Copying Toyota's moves hadn't panned out, and Carlos Ghosn (pronounced "phone", because nobody ever bothered locating the proper pronunciation for his surname) wasn't on with the company yet. His triple 5-year plan hadn't been officially proposed.
I love the Grand tourismo music. Great touch!!
It took me a while to realise it, but Nissan is quite the daredevil when it comes to trying things. I mean, the 4x4 Skyline, the Delta wing, that frontwheeldrive monstrosity… Okay, they didn’t invent all of it and it didn’t always work, but they dared try it for real. Odd how you don’t think of them like that, but they’re a bit of a Citroën in designing racing cars
Amazing video all around, thank you sir!
You forgot the 391 which wasn't so fast at all in 99 and thats why they left. But very nice video!
Also I think the 390 was maybe a lot better then we all know. It was the fastest GT1 in 98 in the prolog of the race and were therefore havily nerved. Also, because of the 97 failures their drivers of all four (!) cars were told to not go for fast laps during the race at all. This was until the last 1,5hs were they suddenly showed their full potential by driving seconds (!) per lap faster than the Porsches, BMWs and even the Toyotas (which is believed to be the fastest GT1/GTP car). I still remember not knowing how they found the pace in the last hours and even more so, why they didn't do it earlier in the race. They were too far down the road to get a win by then. Why did they kept back so long? All cars finished yes, and that clearly was the goal. But I think, considered the last minute issues with the Toyota and the very early withdrawl of the Mercs, BMW sneaking a win luckily, this win also could have been Nissans.
It was very likely, then
The gran turismo music is a nice touch
this car is so gorgeous
They still raced an LMP car in 1999, the R391...
I still cant believe this Car is not in Gran Turismo 7 Yet. I Loved it in Gran Turismo 5.
amazing GT music ;-)
Gran turismo music in the background love it
As TWR ran the program, you’d be interested to know that the monocoque was essentially a Jaguar XJR -15 tub.
The LeMans race where Nissan had to add luggage space to the rear quarters resulted in overheating. The Toyotas got around that rule by stating the luggage trunk was filled by the fuel cell.
Love how this video opens with Gran Turismo 2 - East City. So fitting for Nissan. lol
I love the gran turismo background music...
Good video, may I ask why you opted for the figure of 550 bhp rather than 350bhp? I've heard both been given and apparently Nissan says ~350 is the correct figure.
I have also seen that Nissan claimed the power output to be 350 bhp, that being said the consensus seems to be that 550 is the more likely figure, especially given that it uses exactly the same engine as the Le Mans spec car. I can't be sure though
I find it very hard to believe that 350 bhp would be anywhere near enough for an 1100kg car around La Sarthe.
Having the race engine detuned to just 350bhp for the 'run' of homologation vehicles, would have made Nissan's top speed claim ridiculous,@@paulreilly3904.
Even if just over 1200kg, the claimed / theoretical top speed of 350+ km/h would be impossible with that comparatively modest engine output.
Yeah just going on pure gut feeling, but I doubt it was 350bhp, it might be some kind of “gentleman’s agreement” quote, kind of like how they said all road cars were no more than 276bhp I believe, maybe 350bhp was the race car/supercar gentleman’s agreement limit. Which of course the Japanese were famous for flat out lying about various cars, saying they’re 276bhp when they’re way more. I think the R32 skyline was over 300bhp and I’m sure they said 276bhp for that one too.
@@itsmrlonewolf Nissan were the biggest offenders with breaking the gentleman's agreement. All the GTRs from the R32 onwards had 300+HP. I believe 306 for the R32, 325 for the R33 and 330 and later 340+ for the R34.
Gran Turismo 2 PS1 Memories
I Have The Red Version of the R390 Road Version
In GT2
I've Upgraded it and now it gives more than 800HP
engine of this is now in the mclarens. M838T and M840T and the M630 engines designed based from the R390 v8 enigne
Love the old school Gran Turismo music!
Now that V8 engine is in mclaren road cars
I know I can't be the only one that laughed when the Porsche on fire clip popped up.
Good video as always. However, the CLK at 0:56 is a CLK LM not a CLK GTR.
Nissan raced the R391 LMP literally next year after GT1 died
It's bloody sad that Nissan didn't do a run of these breathtaking cars.
The company would've reaped the benefits of having a stunning halo car for decades.
Duh.
That was good timing for recommendation - I just got this car in Forza Horizon 4...
Nissan should give it another try considering the fact that Mazda and Toyota ( after a lot of failed attempts) won there. The Dominance of the r32 skyline in group a touring car racing in the late 80s to mid 90s is proof enough that their have the capabilities to beeing sucessful in Motorsport.
The problem now isn't Nissan, it's Renault
R390 is probably best looking out of all... CLK GTR also looks good.
West City/America BGM
Oh you also used East City BGM
What is the background music? Is it a remix from GT4? Sadly I missed a couple GT games
They built two road cars one was the blue longtail and the other was red short tail
From what I've read the longtail 1998 car was a re-build of the short tail 1997 car, there was only ever one, they just modified it to meet 1998 homologation regs.
@@automobilistic interesting because I've also read the there are 2 but from what you are saying they information was mixed up through years of misleading information but thanks for replying
@@automobilistic also you should start a discord I would happily join I've been a subscriber sense the Toyota gt1 and maybe before that
I like that idea! That's something I will certainly consider
@@automobilistic also you made two Toyota gt1 videos that are exactly the same
To end up 3rd the 2nd year was a great feat
Glad to see the xjr 15 getting the fame it deserves
Thanks for spelling Porshe the right way.
great video, but if you’re going to use bg music put it through a high pass filter or just avoid anything with a lot of high hat… sounded like a cd was skipping in the bg and was super distracting.
Thanks for the feedback, I'll pay closer attention to this in the future
I once read somewhere, probably in a granturismo txt, that that one roadcar didn’t have a fueltank. They just didn’t bother cos it was never gonna drive anyway. It sounds odd and I don’t have confirmation, but I want to believe it. Just to highlight the idiocy of homologation roadcars. Remember grB? Those roadcars never sold, they were just sitting there in the factory parking lot, rotting away
Is that Gran Turismo music I hear?
SUCHA BEAUTY....WISH THEY WOULD HAVE MADE A SHIT LOAD OF THESE
WAY COOLER THEN THE GTR
Apparently they were bordering on bankruptcy at the time so it wouldn't have been financially viable. Plus the price tag would've been substantial to the point that if it did go into production, it would still hold the record for most expensive Nissan production car.
I saw the '98 road car at the Peterson Automotive Meusum 4 years ago. My fucking jaw dropped. I couldn't believe what I saw.
Wow! I'd love to see that thing in person at some point. Thats a great one to tick off the list!
@@automobilistic BTW, big fan of your content. The Toyota 7 video you made blew me away with the amount of graphic information that I never knew about.
@@joepesce7091 Thanks! Really glad you enjoy the content! :)
Corr the Porsche in marlboro colours looks super
They returned the year after 98 with the R391?
Nissan don't left le mans in 1998 , they create the nissan r391 for the 1999 year and run lemans with her
Never knew there was a road car, even if just the one. I assumed they just didn't bother.
We need a video on mercedes clk gtr
You what’s speed,gt1s’losing to the gtps’. Car rhyme of the day
The engine that Mclaren bought the IP for and all of their road car engines are now based on.
Hardly a legend, they drop it because it failed
Can you do video in Nissan GTR-LM Nismo?
I'll add it to the list!
Nissan shot themselves in the foot in the middle 2 late 90's. They had such and opportunity 2 rank up there with Toyota as far as quality but they decided 2 cut corners far 2 much for profit.
What is the difference between the R92 & R390 Nissans??
The R92CP was a Group C prototype, and the R390 was a GT1 car. They raced at different times in different classes and the only thing they had in common was the engine.
Stealth b6 needs a video assignment
I beat EEEEEEVERYONE with the R390 on Grand Turismo 2. It just destroyed everything. Mainly because of the incredible controlled braking. From 160 to 40mph in a second. Then,....the break neck acceleration exiting the corner. The midrange power band of that car on the game, was kind of unrealistic. It literally would out pull EVERTHING. Even the Pikes Peak monster.
What was your tune? I find it hard to believe anything apart from the TVR Speed 12 can come close to the Escudo.
@@ShiningJudgment666 What was my tune??? 😂😂😂Bro??? That was YYYYEARS ago. Plus,.....it depended greatly on what track I was on and what was sitting beside me. The Escudo had absolutely nothing for that car. It was geared to short. And while the TVR was powerful,.....it was much to unstable and unpredictable. You can think whatever you want sir. But there are plenty of witnesses in my circle that saw me set record after record in that car. And NOBODY,.....and I do mean NOBODY could beat me. Nobody. Hands down baddest car on that game.
@@theariesexperiment4642 The road cars were both powerful but lacked the handling physics of full blown race cars while the race cars lacked the top speed for faster tracks (they were still fast though). They certainly shined on faster tracks. The Speed 12 is unstable to begin with but a tune that curbs the instability and snap oversteer makes it a weapon. You probably also have to start in 2nd or 3rd gear to prevent wheelspin on launch. PS1 Gran Turismo physics were a little busted to be fair. First things you'd do for race cars is max the downforce and raise the ride height because seemingly the ride height isn't affected much as long as you've got good downforce. Though downforce goes out the window for any non race modified cars.
So if you bring a gt1 car from 20 years ago, it would be faster than 765lt and sf90.
In top speed, yes, but otherwise the older cars just don't have the technology. Not to mention the power.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
As you're making cars inspired by cars originating from video games, how about the fictional El Niño from NFS3?
Hi! Fictional cars arent really what this channel is about, but thank you for the suggestion :)
And what about the R391? Nissan still competed at Le Mans in 1999…
I looked some off your Videos now and Dude…its not a Carvideo without Car Sound!!!
well check the 1999 LMentry list
so r390 wasnt a failure at all. The team just didn't have time to make it happen, just like 2015
That's what really kills me about Nissan. They do some awesome stuff followed by not so awesome. Only 1 road going...😠. Or don't bring the skyline State side 😠. Or at least put that sweet motor in the 300zx or Maxima 😠. Same with the patrol 😠. The list goes on and on with all the great stuff they had overseas or better models and motors never given to the USA. They wonder why certain car manufacturers have insane fan following and they do...But a sad fan base 😥 when you look at what could have been.
Blame European manufacturers and Motorex.
59 minutes ago
You have to sell a lot of boring cars to make one that wacky.
Nissan was left after 1999 le mans. Not 1998
Ah yes, the japanese father of mclaren nowadays.
Love how they always had go v8 to win races. Yet the ricer boys claim the 6 is more better choice 🤣
Myth. And it's going to be BUSTED (like any quranic outlaw).
A COPY OF PEUGOT OWO
Nissan used to be cool…. They suck now
Now Mazda and Nissan makes more boring cars than Hyundai. What a shame.
Still remember sitting next to this car (blue one) in traffic back in the day, obviously it was on the back of a truck and not driving.
Legend? Lol. Never won a race.
It likely wouldn't have that status if it wasn't for Gran Turismo to be fair. And it is pretty good in those games.
LEGEND OHHHH
Fun Fact the Block from this V8 is in our favorite super and hypercar it has a Signature Whipsnap on the up Shift yup u guessed it Mcalren uses this V8 block (heavily modified and updated ofcourse but it's a Nissan V8 none the less
Because japan win european cry and change the rules.
prollybcus its ugly asf