2016 Nissan Maxima Safety Car Makes Track Debut

At this year’s Bathurst 1000, the Nissan brand will pay tribute to its first-ever Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) as this year marks the 25th anniversary of that legendary win. The brand will be paying tribute by designing the #23 NISMO Nissan Altima V8, driven by Michael Caruso and Dean Fiore, in the same colors that adorned the 1990 Nissan Skyline HR31 that was driven to victory by Jim Richards back in 1990. Recently, Caruso sat down with Richards to discuss his memories of that historic win and how far the Nissan racing team has come in the past 25 years. Richards still has many fond memories of that time and that particular Skyline, so much so that he actually bought the vehicle to include in his personal collection. "Nissan is happy to celebrate 25 years since our first Australian Touring Car Championship title at this year's Bathurst 1000 by reviving another one of our famous motorsport paint schemes," said Nissan Motor Co. (Australia) Managing Director and CEO Richard Emery. "We were really pleased with the reaction to the Bluebird 'retro' livery that we campaigned at last year's Bathurst 1000 and we are confident that the fans will be just as excited to see the Skyline colors return to Mount Panorama this year. Jim Richards' 1990 ATCC title was the start of a dominant era for Nissan in Australian motorsport. It's fitting that 25 years later we salute Jim. He not only won Nissan our first ATCC crown, he is truly a legend of Australian motorsport. It's fantastic to see the affection that Jim still holds for the Skyline, so much so that he has bought the car and is racing it again. The GT-R R32 gets a lot of attention, even to this day, but the achievements of the Skyline HR31 should not be forgotten." Check out the full interview between the two racers in the video above and be sure to look out for the results of this year’s Bathurst 1000 taking place from October 8 - 11.

This upcoming weekend will be big for Nissan as the brand takes their all-new GT-R LM NISMO out for its first official appearance at Le Mans 24 Hours.  This new model was designed specifically for optimum performance on the Le Mans track  and so to finally be able to see how it stands up against the competition is truly exciting.  What makes this legendary weekend even more special is that the three of the nine drivers who will be sharing time on the track during the 24 hour endurance race will all be graduates from Nissan’s GT Academy. The three drivers for this year’s race include Lucas Ordóñez, who won the first-ever GT Academy, Mark Shulzhitskiy who was the first winner of GT Academy Russia and Jann Mardenborough was is the 2011 winner and easily one of the most well-known faces of Nissan Racing right now. Each of these drivers will be assigned to a different car that will include a three-man rotation throughout the 24 hours that the race will take place. Check out the videos below to learn a little more about each of these three impressive drivers. Jann Mardenborough: Mark Shulzhitskiy: Lucas Ordóñez:

Nissan is gearing up for the infamous 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, scheduled to take place this weekend at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France. In preparation for this extremely competitive and challenging race, the brand put a great deal of time into the redesign of the new GT-R LM NISMO that was built specifically for this race.  Recently, Jay Leno featured this redesigned custom car on his YouTube series “Jay Leno’s Garage” along with the model’s chief engineer Zack Eakin. In the video, we hear Eakin and Leno discussing what makes this model unique, most specifically the fact that this was designed as a Front Wheel Drive model which is very different from the typical rear Wheel or All Wheel Drive seen on most race cars in that category. Eakin then takes Leno on a tour of the model and explains the modifications that the team made when designing and building this model in order to ensure that it truly stood out against the competition. Later in the video we see Nissan GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough take this unique model out for a drive on a racetrack in Bowling Green, Kentucky as he tests out this model in preparation for the big race. Jann first explains what it feels like to be positioned inside this model and explains a bit more about how the GT-R LM NISMO works. He then heads out onto the track and offers viewers a look at the impressive power and handling that this model has to offer. See the full video above to learn more about the GT-R LM NISMO and look out for Jann and this model at Le Mans this weekend!