This one-of-a-kind machine is the only road-going variant of the Nissan R390 LeMans racecar series. It usually lives locked away in the Nissan’s Zama museum in Japan so we were very fortunate to have it attend the Amelia Island Concours 2019. Every vehicle ever looks stunning on bright green grass under Florida sun.
The design is a thing of great beauty, even if the nose detailing is dull and this road variant lacks the giant rear wing of the racecars.
The 3.5-liter V8 shoots 550 fiery horsepower out the rear bumper edges on command from inside the leather-wrapped cabin. We thought that red leather dashboard was a nice, lux touch but in truth leather was probably the easiest material to use to wrap the CFRP dashboard structure of the racecar.
The R390 might have been better-known had it performed better on track. Alas, the Porsche 911 GT1‘s swept the floor with the humble entries from Japan.
Even so, this road variant is a gorgeous piece of engineering and a priceless part of Nissan brand history. And since front woeful front-drive Nissan entry the 2015 GT-R LM NISMO failed out spectacularly and in flames at LeMans… it may be many many years before Nissan returns to race in France’s legendary enduro.
Check it out from all angles below.
1998 Nissan R390 GT1 – Amelia Concours 2019 Highlight
Tom Burkart is the founder and managing editor of Car-Revs-Daily.com, an innovative and rapidly-expanding automotive news magazine.
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