01-14-2009 11:39 PM

To coincide with the launch of the 370Z, Nissan of Japan has launched a new minisite chronicling the racing history of the Fairlady Z on four continents.

Straight out of the box in April 1970, the Z was sent off to war, at Japan’s Nippon 6hrs, which it won. But this was no ordinary Z; it was the Fairlady Z432, a JDM version with the straight six from a hakosuka Skyline GT-R hidden under the hood.

In North America, Nissan took the 1975 IMSA GTU championship with the car pictured here. In Africa, it won the Safari Rally while in Europe, Nissan 350Zs competed in the Nürburgring 24hrs.

And as you may recall from our older post, it also makes a mean drag racer. Is there any form of motorsports the Z isn’t capable of succeeding in?

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Hmmm...maybe I need to re-boot the computer. "Legend of the Z" seems to be missing a legend of history. Alan, do you want to comment on this? The site is all Japanese and I can't read most of it. What is the 1983 Fairlady Z shad in Coca-Cola livery? Group C? What happened to the 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973-on championships?

It's in English too.

http://www.nissan-motorsports.com/ENN/NISSAN/HISTORY/Z/content01.html

Hmmm...maybe I need to re-boot the computer. "Legend of the Z" seems to be missing a legend of history. Alan, do you want to comment on this? The site is all Japanese and I can't read most of it.

I think the pages are a 'Work In Progress'. There's an ENGLISH tab at the top right if you go to the original source, and if you look at the 'NISMO History' pages you can see that they have lots of spaces reserved where they can insert more specific history pages.

Personally, I think it's going off half-cocked to publish interactive pages with such a lot of gaps that are going to be gradually filled. I think it would be better if they finished it before launching it........

What is the 1983 Fairlady Z shad in Coca-Cola livery? Group C?

That's the LM03C 'Fairlady Z Group C' in its 1983 Fuji 1000km World Endurance Championship race livery. It was a Gr.C car built by the Le Mans Co. with lots of input from Nissan and NISMO, and run by Haruhito Yanagida's CENTRAL 20 team with sponsorship from Coca Cola Japan. Chassis was a folded alloy monocoque - typical of the period - built in Japan ( utilising a fair few Formula 2 March parts, as far as I remember ), and engine was a turbocharged LZ20 giving 570ps.

I wouldn't take the 'Fairlady Z Group C' part of the name too seriously, as Nissan were running a 'Skyline Group C' and a 'Silvia Group C' around the same period that also had very little in common with the roadgoing Skyline and Silvia. The names were just part of a marketing connection, and it made sense for Yanagida's CENTRAL 20 team to run the Fairlady-badged car as his career, and his company, had become synonymous with the Fairlady brand - as it indeed still is today.

Pete Block, Japanophile

It WAS a computer re-boot that did the trick. All my questions answered! Thanks for the pic, Alan.