2022.12.04

First NISMO FESTIVAL held in three years! Some 30,000 Nissan fans gather to celebrate the GT500 and GT300 class Double Championship Titles at Fuji Speedway

　In its 23rd holding this year, the NISMO FESTIVAL boasts the longest history of the off-season fan appreciation events. Although the 2020 and 2021events had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the event was held again at Fuji Speedway for the first time in three years. Thanks to the double championship titles this year’s SUPER GT season for the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) in the GT500 class and the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Kiyoto Fujinami/Joao Paulo de Oliveira) in the GT300 class, this year’s event had an especially large turnout of some 30,000 Nissan/Nismo fans.

 

 

　This day’s event schedule began with a Parade Run for owners of Nissan production models that started at 8:00 in the morning. Next up were the Z-Challenge and NISSAN Histric Car Exhibition Race, these are user-participation exhibition races featuring historic Nissan cars, which filled the Fuji racing course with excitement from the appreciative fans who love their Nissan cars. Then, in a warm-up for the afternoon’s events, a spectacular array of famous cars, beginning with the Fairlady 240ZG that participated in races from 1973, the Fairlady Z cars like the XANAVI NISMO Z that participated in SUPER GT, the Skyline GT-R that took part in touring car races in the 1970s, the Skyline GT-R that raced in JGTC and SUPER GT, as well as the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3 that ran so strongly in the SUPER GT GT300 class. All of these GT-R race cars used this time to warm up for the afternoon’s events.

 

　After this session, the Welcoming Ceremony was held on the home straight. Gathering in front of the stands full of fans to receive their applause were all of the Nissan drivers and team managers that would be taking place in this day’s NISMO FESTIVAL, as well as the related NISMO staff and dignitaries such as the honorary members and executive advisors. Also, on hand to address the fans were the Executive Director overseeing the Nissan SUPER GT teams in the GT500 class, Motohiro Matsumura, and as representative of the drivers, Tsugio Matsuda (No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z).

   

 

   

 

　This was followed by the NISSAN MOTORSPORTS HERITAGE RUN event. As summed up in the official subtitle, “Z is back in the race,” this was a run that celebrated the race history of the Fairlady Z, including first of all the Fairlady 240ZG run in 1973, the Fairlady Z that raced in JGTC and SUPER GT and the latest model of the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL that performed so brilliantly on the SUPER GT circuit this year to win double titles in the GT500 class. Also, making an appearance as a display models only, were the Datsun 300Z that participated in IMSA competition in the 1990s and the IMSA GTO spec that Masami Kageyama and Yuji Tachikawa drove in the 1996 JGTC, much to the delight of the avid Z fans.

 

 

　Next to be held was a “KUNIMITSU TAKAHASHI MEMORIAL RUN” in honor of the late Mr. Kunimitsu Takahashi, who passed away in March of this year just before the opening round of the 2022 SUPER GT series. Today, Kunimitsu Takahashi is remembered as the manager of TEAM KUNIMITSU long participating in SUPER GT, but in his younger days he also made a name for himself as a motorcycle racer who won in the Road Race World GP, before turning to 4-wheeler racing in the 1960s. He also made great contributions as a Nissan works driver for models like the Nissan Skyline GT-R. Driving in this day’s memorial run were honorary member of NISMO, Masahiro Hasemi, who was a younger member of the Nissan works team with the late Mr. Takahashi in those days, and also Keiichi Tsuchiya, who was so inspired by “Kuni-san” in his racing career that he himself sought to become a race driver. These two drove the 1972 Skyline 2000 GT-R RACING CONCEPT car and the STP TAISAN GT-R type so closely associated with the late Mr. Takahashi. Also, on display on the pit road was the Nissan R382 driven by Kunimitsu Takahashi and Kenji Tohira in the 1969 Japan GP.

 

   

 

 

　The day’s main event was the NISMO GP 2022. This was an exhibition match-up of 15 race cars including the four NISSAN Z GT500 cars that competed in the GT500 class this season and the five NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3 cars that competed in the GT300 class, along with the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3, the Fairlady Z and the NISSAN Z GT4 CONCEPT that competed in the Super Taikyu series. To compensate for the difference in lap times between the competing cars, the Z GT500 cars were required to return to the pit, be jacked up and down again as well as changing drivers between stints, while the GT300 class GT-Rs and the Super Taikyu GT-R GT3 cars were required to simply do a pit road drive-through between stints. Even with this handicap, however, the speed of the Z GT500 proved to be overwhelming. This season’s GT500 class champion, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette), was able to score a triumphant victory in front of the fans in this exhibition race, but as a special fan-pleasing measure, the winning Hiramine was given a penalty for exceeding the speed limit on the pit road and made to hand-wash the engine of the car afterwards, much to the amusement of the fans in the stands.

 

 

   

 

 

　As the finale of the event, the participating drivers lined up on the home straight in front of the stands. Then this season’s GT500 class champion car No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z and the GT300 class champion car No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R made an appearance from the pit road onto the track, joined by the Super Taikyu ST-X champion HELM MOTORSOPRTS GTR GT3 car and the NISSAN LEAF NISMO RC 02, to run a victory lap. After they returned to the home straight, the cars were lined up amid the fans. Coming out of the NISSAN LEAF NISMO RC 02 was Sacha Fenestraz, who competed in SUPER GT this season and next season will compete on a Nissan team in Formula E.

 

 

 

　Then the drivers and managers of three champion teams were presented with bouquets of flowers in a ceremony of congratulations. Finally, the President and Chief Executive Officer of NISMO’s parent company Nissan Motorsports & Customizing Co., Ltd., Mr. Takao Katagiri, addressed the fans to officially express gratitude to them for another season of support, and to promise that NISMO and Nissan will be doing their best to promote motorsport again next season. This address brought the runs and driver appearances of the event to a close, but the fans were given free rein to enjoy more time on the home straight amid the champion machines, with many avid fans taking time to give the cars a good look-over to their hearts’ content.

 

   

 

   

Page Top