Nissan Wins the Taupo 1000!

 

Well, a Nissan engined vehicle at the least...

In truth Nissan may have won a number of classes at the Enzed Taupo 1000 two weeks back but the New Zealand racing sites don't post the type/engine of the vehicles involved like most sites/series do.  Still, the winning buggie of Clim Lammers was powered by a Nissan V6 as many of the buggies in both New Zealand and Australia are.  The event drew a record 125 entries and were an exceedingly eclectic mix of near the equivalent of Class 1 and Trophy Trucks to your more typical Class 9 buggies to a stock Subaru car and stock Kia Sportage/Suzuki (??) and a number of "Rock Racer" style, short wheelbase SUVs and pickups.

Of particular interest to me were the number of Nissan Patrols entered (still wish we had these available here) and the modern V6 Cooper Tires Nissan Pathfinder of Jared McGilvray.  Really up armored and impressive for its heft and "stock" nature, Jared and his Pathy would finish 4th in class and 31st out of 125.

Also of note here is that despite these photos, which were all taken near the finish line, the course was actually single track for the majority of the race, heading through tight forests and mountain paths.  Truly beautiful territory.  And one to which I have a standing invitation to race in during the 2015 edition of the Taupo 1000 (an event held only once every two years).  World class in nature the Taupo runs 1000 kms for the top competitors and is recognized as being in the same class as a Baja or Dakar or similar top flight event.  The Taupo Facebook page is where the results and TONS more photos and videos can be found.  Video shown here is a cool, rearview shot so you can see the conditions and terrain.