Nissan Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Bathurst Win

Oct 2, 2015

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.