Naming the g-nose

[gnosez]

During the car show Mr. Matsuo told me a story about the final shakedown of the latest front end aero work with him driving 500 kms at 200kph late one night to see if this version would keep the nose down at speed.

I asked him if there were any pictures of the earlier front end aero styling and he said he would email me them once he got back home.

He then went on to say the A, the B, and C noses, etc. didn't work as well as the G nose.

So Alan, please jump in and help me as I have never heard this portion of the story behind what we call the g-nose. His comments to me were quite clear as to what they called the earlier versions.

As to keeping the front end down, I took my 240 out on the track at the Nashville Super Speedway and got it up over 130. The front end was planted and stable with steering inputs that felt similar to those at speeds under 70mph. I'd say it worked...

[zKars]

Amazing story! It is easy to think too deeply about the "why" of naming things, especially when you are in that situation.

It would have been even cooler if it had taken them 26 attempts to get it right! (think about it.....)

[HS30-H]

He then went on to say the A, the B, and C noses, etc. didn't work as well as the G nose.

So Alan, please jump in and help me as I have never heard this portion of the story behind what we call the g-nose. His comments to me were quite clear as to what they called the earlier versions.

Just a thought - but did he mention Versions D, E and F.....? Seven shots at getting it 'right' is a fairly low batting average, isn't it?

As far as I've been told, the 240ZG was given the 'G' suffix in it's name as a reference to its so-called "Grande" nose. You can see this spelled both "Grande" and "Grand" in Nissan documentation, but it was also called the "Aerodyna" nose ( short for 'Aerodynamic" of course ) in official docs.

I've never heard any stories that it was actually a 'Version G', and that story seems a little bit too convenient to me. If a 'Version F' had been decided as the final version, would they have had to come up with a nickname starting with the letter F...? In any case, Matsuo san wouldn't have been the one tasked with naming the product. That wasn't his remit.

Do you think it's possible that a little something in the story got Lost In Translation? Matsuo would of course talk about versions by giving them letters ( A,B,C,X,Y,Z or whatever ) and/or numbers ( logically staring with 1 ) as they would probably have done this at Nissan too. There could have easily been a Version A, B and C of what was to be called the 'Grande' nose - so both could be correct.

I'm up in Hokkaido on holiday at the moment, and will be stopping over in Tokyo for a few days on the way back. If Matsuo san is home by then, I might ask him to clarify. If he's recovered from his trip, that is..... :classic:

Alan T.

[gnosez]

Alan, I agree completely with your thought that it would have been pretty lucky of them to get it right in so few shots at the apple. Of course they might have stopped when it was "good enough" due to any number of reasons.

I too have seen the "Grande" name used but wondered if this was an after the fact naming.

Any additional info would be greatly appreciated as would pictures of the other gnose versions.

Enjoy your holidays....

[cbudvet]

Our early attempts at a tractor beam went through several preparations. Preparations A through G were a complete failure. But now, ladies and gentlemen, we finally have a working tractor beam, which we shall call... Preparation H. On the whole, Preparation H feels good.

carl