These days, there are supercars and hypercars everywhere, all of which offer scintillating performance and a cool factor that is difficult to imitate. But very few cars are based on true racing machines. That wasn't the case in a bygone era when monsters like the McLaren F1 LM and Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR ruled the roost. Japan also tried its hand at creating road-legal racecars, and one of the most famous was the Nissan R390 GT1, a legend of Nismo history.
Penned by celebrated designer Ian Callum, only one roadgoing version was ever made, although its 3.5-liter engine formed the basis for the McLaren V8 that is in circulation today. Luckily, Nissan isn't hiding it in a museum for all eternity and brought it out to wow the crowds at Concorso d'Eleganza, at Lake Como's Villa d'Este.
The 3.5-liter twin-turbo V8 produced 550 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque back in 1998, all of which was channeled to the rear wheels via a six-speed sequential transmission. It weighed roughly the same as a current-gen Mazda MX-5 Miata, tipping the scales at just 2,420 pounds, which translated to a 0-60-mph sprint time of 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 220 mph. The quarter-mile could reportedly be dispensed with in just 11.9 seconds - not bad for something designed for endurance racing.
Sadly, Nissan never followed through on its promise to bring it into mainstream production, and this remains the only example ever made. If only something this cool could be made from the current Nissan GT-R.
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Thought I’d step out of my comfort zone and have a casual race against the AI in the Nissan R390 GT1 in Automobilista 2, but to be honest I was barely hanging on to this thing. I went full send at the last corner of the last lap to secure the final podium position… Fun times.
Nissan R390 GT1, 1998. In order for Nissan to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans under the grand tourer rules it was necessary for them to build a least one road-going version of the R390. They built just one, powered by a mid-longitudinally mounted Nissan VRH35L twin-turbo 3.5 litre 90° V8 and claimed to be capable of 220mph