Feb 10

Feb 10 VIN: the works / Nova Engineering Nissan R390 chassis R1

Ben Tyer

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Nissan - Nissan R390 - Nissan VINs - R390 VINs - Nismo - TWR - Nissan Works Cars - Nova Engineering

History of chassis R1

Chassis R1 was one of three Nissan R390 team cars that contested Le Mans Pre-Qualifying and the 24 Hour race in 1997.

Uniquely, it also did the same events in 1998, when it was loaned to the Nova Engineering team.

For 1997, R1 was allocated to a squad of three ex-F1 drivers: Riccardo Patrese, Aguri Suzuki and Eric van de Poele.

However, at Pre-Qualifying in early May, Nissan put their weight behind the sister car of Martin Brundle / Jorg Muller (R4) while the remaining two R390s were present to assure qualification but not push for the ultimate lap time.

Accordingly, Patrese, Suzuki and van de Poele ended the session 17th quickest overall and 13th in the GT1 class.

All three R390s had appeared at Pre-Qualifying in a plain black livery.

For the 24 Hour race, Nissan switched to a black and red colour scheme with each car backed by a different supplier. R1 ran with sponsorship from Unisia Jecs, an automotive electronics corporation partly owned by Nissan and Hitachi.

In the build up to the 1997 event, R1 proved the quickest R390 and qualified fourth.

Eric van de Poele briefly led the opening stages of the race, but it was not long before problems with the gearbox oil coolers started to affect all three cars.

Solder holding the coolers together was being melted by an exhaust that had been repositioned after Pre-Qualifying in order to accommodate the 125-litres of luggage space required by the GT1 regulations.

At one point, all thee R390s were lined up in the pits to have the offending units attended to.

With no permanent fix possible at the track, Nissan decided to withdraw R1 and R4 during the 13th hour so there would be enough spare parts for the best placed R390 (R2) to finish the race.

For 1998, Nissan rang modified Long Tail R390s in an attempt to claw back ground to manufacturers like Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota.

The works Nissan team ran a trio of brand new cars while R1 was rebuilt to the latest specification and loaned to Nova Engineering (one of the top Japanese sports car outfits).

R1 appeared at Pre-Qualifying in early May wearing a light blue livery identical to the other three R390s. Backing came from JOMO, the petrol brand of Japan Energy Corporation.

In the hands of Mauro Martini and Satoshi Motoyama, R1 set the 16th fastest time overall and twelfth quickest in the GT1 category.