, abbreviated as Nismo, is a division of Nissan Motorsports & Customizing focused in motorsport and performance-oriented car models for Nissan. Nismo was initially a company, , formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departments, being the in-house tuning, motorsports and performance subsidiary of Nissan. It has competed in JSPC, JTCC, the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

and the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layo ...

. They currently participate in Super GT,

GT Racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

and Formula E. Nismo ceased to be a company in April 2022 by being merged with sister

Autech is a Nissan Motorsports & Customizing division focused on tuning and converting Nissan cars. Autech was a subsidiary company of Nissan from its establishment in 1986 to 2022, when it was merged with Nismo. History Autech was founded in 1986 ...

into a new Nissan subsidiary, Nissan Motorsport & Customizing.

History

The Nismo story began in 1964 when a local company called Prince Motor Company realized that they could boost their sales by going into the competitive motorsport business. Nismo’s first competitive motor sport debut was on May 1, 1964, in their first race they ended up coming just short however it was bitter sweet as the Skyline took all positions from 2nd to 6th. In 1988 the first dedicated race car by Nissan debuted, and saw incredible performance in circuit races. This vehicle was the iconic Nissan Skyline R32, sporting the GT-R badge. In 1984, Nissan decided that it wanted to merge its two motorsport divisions, founded through the 1960s, they were (known as Publication Division 3), based in its Oppama factory, responsible for the needs of privateer teams and (Special Car Testing Division), within its

Ōmori is a district located a few kilometres south of Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan accessed by rail via the Keihin Tohoku line, or by road via Dai Ichi Keihin. Ōmorikaigan, the eastern area of Ōmori, can be reached via the Keikyu line. Ōmori is one o ...

plant, responsible for its factory operations. The company's intention following the merger was to specialize in sportscar racing, but it also provided support for teams competing in the domestic F3 series. In 1988, Nismo built its first car, the Saurus for motorsport use for its one-make series. The following year they developed the

Skyline GT-R A skyline is the outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city’s overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land. City skylines ...

for racing as well as building the 500 evolution editions for road use. The R34, the R32’s generational grandchild was the first car to be produced with a V-Spec. Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500 ver

In December 2021, Nissan said it would merge Nismo and sister company

(a tuning and conversion operation) into a new company called ''Nissan Motorsports & Customizing Co., Ltd.''. The merge was completed on April 1, 2022.

Products

Products include the GT-R, 370Z, Sentra, Frontier, and the Juke Nismo. Soon to be added to the range is the hatchback Nissan Pulsar Nismo and the electric

Nissan Leaf The , stylized as LEAF, is a compact five-door hatchback battery electric vehicle (BEV) manufactured by Nissan. It was introduced in Japan and the United States in December 2010, and its second generation was introduced in October 2017. The Lea ...

Tuning kits

Nismo designs and manufactures a range of aftermarket performance parts for Nissan cars including

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dy ...

parts such as spoilers and diffusers,

alloy wheels In the automotive industry, alloy wheels are wheels that are made from an alloy of aluminium or magnesium. Alloys are mixtures of a metal and other elements. They generally provide greater strength over pure metals, which are usually much softe ...

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

and

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspende ...

parts. The 2017 Infiniti Q60, being much criticized for its mild exhaust sound, about six months after its introduction had a specially tuned Nismo muffler made available through

Infiniti is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Nissan. Infiniti officially started selling vehicles on November 8, 1989, in North America. The marketing network for Infiniti-branded vehicles included dealers in over 50 countries in ...

dealers as an aftermarket item. Most

Datsun Datsun (, ) was an automobile brand owned by Nissan. Datsun's original production run began in 1931. From 1958 to 1986, only vehicles exported by Nissan were identified as Datsun. Nissan phased out the Datsun brand in March 1986, but relaunche ...

, Nissan, and Infiniti branded cars have performance parts available from Nismo, either in production or as old stock. For example, Nismo sells parts such as unground cam billets, performance cams, pistons, etc. for the KA24E engine, which was used in the Nissan small pickup truck for several years and also used for the 1989 and 1990 model years of 240SX, a popular car among

Import scene The import scene, also known as the import racing scene or tuner scene, is a subculture of modifying mostly Japanese-import cars, particularly in the United States and Europe. History Car modifying has been popular among youths in the US, espec ...

enthusiasts (especially Drifters) in North America. In Japan, the V35

Skyline A skyline is the outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city’s overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land. City skyline ...

and Z33 Fairlady have both received several levels of Nismo tuning packages (E-Type, S-Tune, R-Tune, and S1 packages), with a full track spec Fairlady Z debuted at the 2005 Nismo Festival of Speed held at (formerly) Fuji International Raceway. In February 2007, Nismo announced the launch of the Nismo 380RS. The Nismo 380RS is a factory modified version of the Nissan Z33 Fairlady Z tuned by both Nismo and Autech. Two versions were released, the first was a track-only model called the 380RS-C (C for competition), the second is a street model being sold at Nissan dealers. Both versions use a Nissan VQ series V6 engine, bored and stroked to 3.8L. The track-only 380RS-C makes , and the street version makes approximately . The Nismo 380RS was only sold in Japan.

Production cars

The first Nismo-branded car was the 1987 Skyline R31 GTS-R

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles ...

evolution special limited to 823 examples. This was followed by the 1990

Nismo of which only 560 were produced. Both cars featured weight-saving, aerodynamic, performance and reliability improvements necessary for the rigours of Group A competition. The next Nismo release was the Skyline GT-R R34 'Z-Tune'. Intended to celebrate the 2005 20th anniversary of Nismo, the 2003 cancellation of R34 production meant that Nismo was only able to create 20 cars, all based on second-hand V.spec units purchased back from customers with less than 30,000 km on the odometer. The Z Tune sold for (, as of December 7, 2005) in Japan. However, the parts-conversion version, where the customer's Skyline GT-R's become the base car, sells for (, as of December 7, 2005). Due to rarity the GT-R Z-tune can exceed in the car market. The engine is an RB28DETT Z2 (a normal GT-R engine with a stroked displacement of 2.8 liters & Nismo parts designed specifically for the Z2). The car weighs . 2014-03-04 Geneva Motor Show 1196

Nismo was also responsible for the R33 Skyline 400R and S14 Silvia 270R models. Both featured comprehensive modifications to the drivetrain, suspension, brakes, chassis, and aero work. Very limited numbers of both models were sold in 1997, and both command high resale prices even today. These models stressed Nismo's link to street car tuning, and were developed (as was the Z-Tune GT-R) at their Chiba City tuning garage. Nismo street tuned vehicles have been sold at Nissan dealerships for years, and come with full warranties.

List of Nismo-branded consumer vehicles

Japanese Grand Prix

In the 1960s, Nissan competed in the

Japanese Grand Prix The Japanese Grand Prix ( ja, 日本グランプリ, Nihon-guranpuri) is a motor racing event in the calendar of the Formula One World Championship. Historically, Japan has been one of the last races of the season, and as such the Japanese Gran ...

sports car race.

IMSA GT Championship

Nissan joined the

IMSA GT Championship IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States, and occasionally in Canada. History The series was founded in 1969 by John and Peggy Bishop, and Bill ...

in 1979, where it competed in the GT classes with the 240SX, 280ZX and 300ZX. From 1985 to 1993, they entered the main GTP class with the GTP ZX-Turbo and NPT-90.

Geoff Brabham __NOTOC__ Geoff Brabham (born 20 March 1952) is an Australian racing driver. Brabham spent the majority of his racing career in the United States. Racing career CART He raced successfully in CART early in his career, finishing 8th in 1982, 19 ...

won four GTP drivers championships with Nissan from 1988 to 1991, and the manufacturer won the 1992

and the 1989, 1990 and 1991 12 Hours of Sebring.

World Sports Prototype Championship

Nissan R88C front-left 2012 Suzuka Circuit Time Machine Exhibition

In the 1980s and 1990s, Nissan raced at the

All Japan Sports Prototype Championship The , abbreviated as JSPC, formed by the Japan Automobile Federation, was a domestic championship which took place in Japan for Group C and IMSA GTP prototype cars and also featured cars that were eligible for touring car racing in its earlier y ...

and

with sports prototypes such as the R88C, R89C, R90C and R391. They claimed the 1990, 1991 and 1992 JSPC titles, but they never won at Le Mans. Notable Nissan drivers in this era include

Masahiro Hasemi is a former racing driver and team owner from Japan. He started racing motocross when he was 15 years old. In 1964 he signed to drive for Nissan. After establishing himself in saloon car and GT races in Japan, he participated in his only Formula ...

Kazuyoshi Hoshino is a Japanese former racing driver and businessman. Motorsport career Hoshino's nickname was . He won the Japanese motocross national championships in the 90cc and 125cc classes for Kawasaki in 1968 before switching to cars as a Nissan facto ...

Masahiko Kageyama is a former racing driver from Japan. He participated in the Japanese Grand Touring Car series in the top category between 1993 and 2002. Kageyama won the inaugural Japanese Grand Touring Car championship, in the Nismo Nissan Skyline GT-R R ...

and Toshio Suzuki.

Touring Car Racing

In the 1980s, the manufacturer entered the

Fuji Grand Champion Series The ran from 1971 to 1989. It was a drivers' championship in Japan and was originally for 2 litre Group B6 cars. The series was started in 1971, and all races were held at the Fuji Speedway circuit. History In its formative years, cars elig ...

with Group 5 Bluebird, Skyline and Silvia silhouettes and the

Japanese Touring Car Championship The Japanese Touring Car Championship (abbr: 1985–1993: JTC, 1994–1998: JTCC, officially known as All Japan Touring Car Championship, ja, 全日本ツーリングカー選手権, link=no), was a former touring car racing series held in Japan. ...

with production Skyline models. In the 1990s, Nissan competed in Supertouring championships around the world with the

Nissan Primera The is a large family car which was produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan from 1990 to 2007, for the markets in Japan and Europe. In Japan, it replaced the Auster/Stanza, and was exclusive to '' Nissan Prince Store'' locations. In North Am ...

, winning the 1999

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

with

Laurent Aïello Laurent Aïello (born 23 May 1969 in Fontenay-aux-Roses) is a French former Auto racing, race car driver, most notable for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans, 1998, the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in 1999 Brit ...

Supercars Championship

From 2013 onwards Nissan competed in the Supercars Championship with

Kelly Racing Kelly Grove Racing (formerly known as Kelly Racing and Nissan Motorsport) was an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. The team made its debut in 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series, 2009, and raced Holden ...

fielding four Nissan Altimas. The factory backing concluded at the end of 2018, although the Altimas continued to be privately entered in 2019.

International GT Racing

Nissan_GT-R_Nismo_GT3_2015_Bathurst_12_Hour

In 2009, Nissan entered the

FIA GT1 World Championship The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. It featured multiple grand ...

with a Nismo-developed

Nissan GT-R The Nissan GT-R (Japanese: 日産・GT-R, ''Nissan GT-R''), is a high-performance sports car and grand tourer produced by Nissan, unveiled in 2007. It is the successor to the Skyline GT-R, a high performance variant of the Nissan Skyline. Alt ...

. Krumm and

Lucas Luhr Lucas Luhr (born 22 July 1979) is a German BMW factory racing driver, currently competing for BMW and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the GTLM category of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship. Early career Born in Mülheim-Kärlich, Luhr ...

were 2011 drivers champions. Since 2011, Nismo has produced the GT-R GT3, which has competed in the

Blancpain Endurance Series The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports Gr ...

. Nismo has also developed production class Nissan GT-R cars for the

24 Hours of Nürburgring 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

. They also have a pool of drivers, known as the

Nismo Global Driver Exchange The Nismo Global Driver Exchange (also known as the Nismo Global Athlete Program) was an initiative from Nissan and Nismo to share driving experience from various motor racing categories around the world. The program was launched in February 2013 ...

. This allows factory drivers the chance to race in big events such as the Le Mans 24 Hours, the

24 Hours of Dubai The Dubai 24 Hour Race is both a sports car and touring car automobile endurance race held annually at the Dubai Autodrome. It was inaugurated in 2006. Entrants and participants As with all races in the 24H Series, promoted by Dutch promoter C ...

and the Bathurst 12 Hour.

Prototype racing

Nissan Motorsports - Nissan GT-R LM Nismo -23 (18860958202)

Nissan's first

LMP1 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were crea ...

Hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

which was unsuccessful and caused Nissan and Nismo to withdraw Le Mans entirely. From 2011 to 2016, Nissan is involved in the FIA World Endurance Championship and

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...

as a LMP2 engine supplier. They have had success with

Greaves Motorsport Greaves Motorsport is a British racing team, currently competing in the European Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2006, Greaves Motorsport, founded and run by Tim Greaves, entered the Le Mans Series (LMS) for the first time, r ...

Signature Team Signatech, formerly known as Signature, is a French auto racing team and racing car constructor that competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The team won the FIA European Formula Three Cup in 1999 with Benoît Tréluyer. It won the F ...

OAK Racing OAK Racing is an endurance racing team specialising in sports prototypes based in Le Mans, France. In 2013 it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP2 class and the 2013 FIA WEC World Champion drivers and teams on LMP2 class. In 2012 the team con ...

, TDS Racing, G-Drive Racing and SMP Racing. In 2017, Nissan entered the

DPi A Daytona Prototype International (DPi) was a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the International Motor Sports Association's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as their top class of car, acting as a direct replaceme ...

class of the

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

with

Extreme Speed Motorsports Extreme Speed Motorsports was an American auto racing team based out of Riviera Beach, Florida. Founded by Scott Sharp and Patrón CEO Ed Brown, the team competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Tudor United SportsCar Championship, a ...

. Nissan announced in June 2014, that Nismo will enter the LMP1 category to fight for the FIA World Endurance Championship against

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

and Porsche. Following a disappointing performance in the

2015 24 Hours of Le Mans The 83rd 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 83e 24 Heures du Mans) was an 24-hour automobile endurance event for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 10 to 14 June 2015 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, close ...

, the program's remaining schedule in 2015 was pushed back, with the team intending a regular rebut in the 2016 season; however on 22 December 2015, Nissan announced that it was shuttering the program altogether.

Current teams

Super GT

GT500 *

NISMO , abbreviated as Nismo, is a division of Nissan Motorsports & Customizing focused in motorsport and performance-oriented car models for Nissan. Nismo was initially a company, , formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departmen ...

* NDDP Racing with B-Max Engineering *

Team Impul Hoshino Impul Co., Ltd., (known as Impul) is a Japanese automotive aftermarket company based in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. Founded by Nissan's factory driver, Kazuyoshi Hoshino, the company exclusively produces aftermarket parts for Nissans, such as bod ...

* Kondo Racing GT300 * GAINER * Bosou Ryo Michigami, Drago Corse * NLIZZ Racing * Kondo Racing

Super Taikyu

ST-X (GT3) * MP Racing * HELM Motor Sports * GTNET Motor Sports ST-3 (GT4) * Okabe Jidosha Motorsport * FKS Team Fukushima * MAX Racing

FIA Formula E

* DAMS, Nissan Formula E Team

Current factory drivers

Racing results

Formula E

References

External links

Middlehurst Motorsport & Nismo Official Press Release
Nismo official web site
, Japanese official web site for Nismo products.
Nissan Motorsports
coverage and information on Nissan motorsports events.
Nismo USA official website

Nismo official website
{{Automotive industry in Japan Nissan in motorsport Official motorsports and performance division of automakers Automotive companies established in 1984 Japanese auto racing teams World Rally Championship teams 24 Hours of Le Mans teams World Sportscar Championship teams Super GT teams FIA World Endurance Championship teams Formula E teams European Rally Championship teams Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters teams FIA GT Championship teams Japanese racecar constructors