As the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) comes to a close, with a win for the Porsche 919 Hybrid (Dumas/Jani/Lieb) on the track at Interlagos, another manufacturer is working in the shadows.
This manufacturer - currently developing a car compliant with the LM P1-H class specs and who in 2015 will go up against Porsche, Audi and Toyota - is Nissan. Among the various experiences of the Yokohama house at the 24 Hours of Le Mans figures an IMSA GTS class victory. That year, two Nissan 300ZX Turbos put the fear in the prototypes.
A few months earlier on February 6, 1994, the model won the 24 Hours of Daytona and so it was as true outsiders that the Japanese monsters descended upon La Sarthe. The two imposing cars were entered by Clayton Cunningham Racing and entrusted to drivers Steve Millen, Johnny O'Connell and John Morton in the No. 75, and Eric van de Poele, Paul Gentilozzi and Shenji Kasuya in the No. 76. Though on paper their main rival was Team Artnature's Mazda RX-7 GTO, the only other competitor in the IMSA GTS class, in reality the Nissan 300ZX Turbos were after the cars in the LMP1/C90 class.
Qualified 9th and 12th respectively on the starting grid, the blue, red and white cars met with different fates. Indeed, while the No. 76 was forced to retire early after 25 race laps following ignition issues, the No. 75 sister car finished that 62nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans brilliantly in fifth place overall and won the IMSA GTS class.
This Nissan 300ZX Turbo, in the hands of its owner, former driver Steve Millen, took the track once again this summer for the Monterey Motorsports Reunion, a classic event organized at the Laguna Seca track.