VIN: the works Nissan R390 chassis R2

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History of chassis R2

For the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours, Nissan entered a team of three R390s.

The cars were designed, built and run by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR).

Chassis R2 was allocated to ex-F1 driver, Erik Comas, and long-time Nissan sportscar favourite, Kazuyoshi Hoshino.

At Pre-Qualifying in early May, only chassis R4 (driven by Martin Brundle and Jorg Muller) was gunning for an out-and-out lap time. The other R390 crews were simply instructed to ensure they qualified.

R2 ended up twelfth quickest overall and eighth fastest in the GT1 category.

All three cars had attended Pre-Qualifying in a plain black Nissan livery.

This was switched to a handsome black and red colour scheme for the race five weeks later.

Each car was sponsored by a different Nissan affiliate; R2 was backed by Calsonic which specialised in automotive air-conditioners and heat exchangers and was part owned by Nissan.

For the race, Comas and Hoshino were joined in R2 by Masahiko Kageyama who had raced Nissan’s R33 Skyline GT-R LM at la Sarthe in 1995 and 1996. They started 21st on the grid behind R1 (fourth) and R4 (twelfth).

Unfortunately, all three R390s were beset by problems in the race.

TWR had run the cars in Pre-Qualifying without the mandatory 125-litres of luggage space required by the GT1 regulations. To increase the car’s luggage capacity, TWR subsequently re-routed the exhaust system. However, a lack of pre-race testing meant the problems that would arise from this modification were not apparent.

It turned out that the repositioned exhaust melted the solder that held the gearbox oil coolers together. It was a problem that could not be fixed at the track.

At one stage, all three cars were lined up in the pits having the offending units attended to.

In the 13th hour, the decision was made to retire R1 and R4 so that R2 (the best placed R390) would have the parts it needed to finish the race.

R2 was therefore the only R390 that finished in 1997. After two gearbox rebuilds, it placed twelfth overall and eighth in the GT1 category.

Afterwards, R2 was sent to Japan to be displayed alongside its sister cars at Nissan’s Heritage Collection.

Notable History

Black Nissan livery

04/05/1997 IND Le Mans Pre-Qualifying (E. Comas / K. Hoshino) 12th oa, 8th GT1 class (#23)

Black & Red Calsonic livery

15/06/1997 IND Le Mans 24 Hours (K. Hoshino / E. Comas / M. Kageyama) 12th oa, 5th GT1 class (#23)

Nissan Heritage Collection

Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Nissan - https://www.nissan-global.com