Nissans at the 2017 Dakar

In an annual exercise in self flagellation I will recount what Nissans there are at this year's Dakar.  Every year it seems the numbers dwindle further and without Jurgen Schroeder and a few South African Nissan efforts at this year's Dakar the numbers are even smaller.

#315 Emiliano Spataro--Actually in a 4WD Renault Duster powered by a Nissan VK56.  In this same vehicle Emiliano finished 16th in the '16 Dakar so a top 20 finish should be possible.  He finished 14th on Stage 1 earlier today.

#334 Facundo Arduos--A teammate to the #315 effort and also in a sister 4WD Renault Duster with a VK56 powerplant.  Facundo is a Dakar rookie and his codriver has never finished a Dakar in five prior attempts.  While the vehicle has a top 20 in it, they are best served acting as a water carrier for the #315.  They finished 33rd to start the race.

#337 Ronald Basso--The highest ranked true Nissan is a 4WD Nissan Navara managed by JCB Racing.  Ronald has finished 25th and 37th in the '13 and '10 Dakar races along with three other DNFs so he has the experience necessary to perform well.  They finished 36th today.







#377 Carlos Alberto Villegas Aguero--Another 4WD Navara here from Jaton Racing this time but diesel here vs. petrol.  Carlos has one prior Dakar under his belt though DNF'd in '16.  They finished 69th on the day.


Annnnnd....that's it.  There is #359 of Gerard Tramoni which is a Navara by its body but contains a Chevrolet LS series V8 at its heart so I don't really count that...

V8 Navara Takes Third in South Africa...

In the Donaldson Cross Country Motor Racing Championship.  This was in Production Class T and driven by Luke Botha and codriven by Andre Vermeulen.  The event (Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race) brakes down into two races, each of near 500km and is a brutal test of some of the best Rally-Raid drivers this side of Dakar.

The Red-Lined Motorsport team consistently fields four or more V8 powered Navaras (Frontiers) in the Donaldson series and also sends a handful of cars to the Dakar the past few years.

https://www.facebook.com/sacrosscountryracing/

Finishing Nissans of the 2016 Dakar

Not that there were that many of them...and the best performing Nissan wasn't wrapped in Nissan clothing at all as it wore a Renault badge.  The best Nissan Frontier of the event suffered a bad crash on the second to last stage of the event and DNF'd...As we've seen in recent years...the Nissan marque has dwindled at the Dakar.  Our last best hope is from the Redline Motorsports guys in South Africa who continue to build great Rally Raid vehicles designed around a V8 Nissan engine at a price appropriate for serious privateers while providing event support as well.  So here they are...the Nissan finishers of the 2016 Dakar.

17th Place, #317, Renault Sport Argentina, Renault Duster (Nissan VK50 V8), Emiliano Spataro

18th Place, #308, Renault Sport Argentina, Renault Duster (Nissan VK50 V8), Christian Lavieille

36th Place, #375, Red Line Racing Team, Nissan Navara (Nissan VK50 V8), Sean Reitz

40th Place, #363, Revival Aventures RS 13 Nissan (4L Nissan), Jean Philippe Theuriot

Three other Nissan Navaras, one Nissan powered Renault Duster and one Nissan powered buggie were DNFs in the '16 Dakar.

Nissan Navaras Coming to Dakar 2015....

Coming to the 2015 Dakar will be a handful of new South African built Nissan Navaras possessing a V8 engine.  These trucks are still in a bit of a development/testing phase as they have only run a handful of races in SA in '13 but they are now coming of the jigs on a regular basis and being sold across the world.  We'll see how they compare to the Toyota HiLux run by Giniel de Villiers during the South African offroad season as Thomas Rundle (who finished the Dakar this year in his borrowed HiLux) will be running the V8 Navara all season long.  If you would like to purchase one, learn more about them or perhaps race one in South Africa you can contact Terence Marsh at: terence@redlined.co.za

Some info provided by Terence here:
 

We have built 4 of these to date with the 5^th one currently on the jig which is for a German customer and is scheduled for delivery in February 2014 (update--already delivered in late December/early January). The 6^th chassis which is currently at laser cutting is for an Australian customer and is scheduled for delivery in July 2014.

The base model race unit which is built to FIA and Dakar specification sells for $295,000 US dollars.

·       This unit includes the mounting points for the on-board jack system but excludes the system itself – it uses the same system as the Toyotas.

·       The unit comes with 8 Reiger dampers which are then available in 3 different variances/options.

·       The price listed above excludes the air-conditioning system which is an optional extra.  Fiberglass body is produced in house.

These cars have been purposely built with Dakar in mind and we will have at least two at the 2015 Dakar and 3 or 4 race cars at the 2016 Dakar. Three of our race cars have successfully been tested in our local championship this year and have covered in excess of 8,000 km of rugged and tough terrain with ease. We have worked closely with our Partners at Reiger suspension to get the optimal performance and handling out of the race car and can comfortably say we have achieved this. We have introduced several performance upgrades for the engine package through the year and are now comfortable that are perfromance is up there with the best in the world – the Infiniti FX50 engine has proved to be exceptionally strong and more importantly very reliable!

Please feel free to visit our website at www.regentracing.co.za to get some more insights and photos of the race cars as well as have a ‘virtual view’ of the race car within our video section.

Should any of the guys on your side require any further information or assistance regarding the above they can feel free to contact me on my email address or my mobile number which is listed below.

We are also happy to accommodate international drivers who would like to come out to South Africa and compete in one of our National events – we basically provide a ‘arrive and drive’ package for these customers which includes all the necessary testing together with one of our Championship events in a V6 powered Nissan Navara (ex Dakar car).

Technical specs:

Engine: Nissan VK50VE (from the Infiniti FX50)
Engine Capacity: 5.0L V8
Power Output: 390hp @ 6500rpm and 500nm @ 4400rpm
Gearbox: Sadev 6 speed sequential
Suspension: Double wishbone front and live rear axle
Shock Absorbers: Reiger
Engine Management System: Motec M800
Competition weight: 1975kg
Fuel Capacity: 480L
Wheels: 16 x 7 Evo Corse
Tyres: BF Goodrich

 

2015 Nissan Titan To Get Cheap (?) Commercial Version

One of the (many?) things missing from the current and first generation of the Nissan Titan was a stripped "commercial" version.  Engine options were limited to only a single V8 and decontented models were non-existent.  For this reason the Titan was almost never shopped as a vehicle for your local plumber/carpenter/tradesman of any kind.

Nissan recently began trying to target that market with its series of NV model vans that cater to these customers and that are based upon the Titan's underpinnings.  Still a stripped down, basic, full size truck was lacking.

Not so for the '15 Titan which will apparently get both a "premium" version with the new V8 diesel but a stripper version (with a V6?  Or perhaps the current V8 with a mid grade version with an improved petrol V8?).  Given the quality construction and overall durability of the Titan, a very basis version of the 2nd Generation Titan could be shopped right alongside your basic F150s and Silverados and Rams--and hopefully drive some conquest sales of the fully packaged versions.

Fleet Trim Titan to be offered...

Nissan Takes Out Kangaroo at Bathurst 1000

The poor kangaroo is about the only thing Nissan vehicles took out this weekend at the classic V8 Supercars event held in Australia.  The return of Nissan to the series has not been nearly as successful as original hopes had been with both two car teams struggling to break into the top ten, let alone podium or winning positions.

So as the season winds down and the V8 Supercars attacked their most famous track for 1000 kilometers and 161 laps, its only fitting that their season will be best known for an incident that occured early in the race and had no impact on the eventual outcome.

Twenty laps into the event the #7 Altima of David Russell hit a track hopping kangaroo.  The impact occured at 160 kph.  The driver had zero chance of avoiding the hit according to reports and no video has been released of the impact.  The kangaroo reportedly survived the impact and hopped away.  An image of the results can be seen here as well as video of a kangaroo on the track during the race...just no video of the accident itself.

This is not the first time this has happened at the Bathurst 1000 as back in 2004 a near identical incident took place in nearly the same spot.  Drivers were told before the event that fences surrounding the track had been raised and culling efforts in the local area had taken place to help prevent such impacts.  Guess that needs a bit more work...

Nissan Titan Diesel Details!!

Are you ready for this!?!?  It appears the next gen Nissan Titan will have not just one diesel choice but two!!  Details are still coming it but it appears that there will be a turbo diesel 4-cyl as well as a monster eight cylinder Cummins diesel!  First numbers I've seen flying around are 500 ft. lbs of torque and 300 HP.  Very nice!!  We will continue to update!!

Update: Link to the Nissan release below and there is no mention of a turbo 4-cyl...just the turbo 8-cyl which will be 5 liters in size produce OVER 300 HP and have "mid 500" ft. lbs. of torque...

Nissan Announces Turbo Diesel Titan... 

Finally!! 2014 (or '15) Nissan Titan Spy Shots....

Its about time!!  In existence since 2004 the Nissan Titan has remained virtually unchanged for nine years now which is an eternity in the automotive world.  Ford, Dodge, Toyota and Chevrolet have all gone through at least two additional generations of their full size trucks in that time for comparison.

Part of this was driven by Dodge's bankruptcy and restructuring which killed the codevelopment of the next generation of the Titan back in '07/'08.  So Nissan was forced to start from scratch and on its own.

Word of the next generation Titan has been all behind the scenes and fairly quiet.  We still have no details and until now, no photos, which is rare for such a high profile model that is anticipated to be introduced to the world in early '14 as either a '14 1/2 or a 2015 model.  What Nissan has stated is that everything is on the table for this model.  Diesel engines, regular cabs, stripper models, varied bed lengths, etc.  Evidently those getting this spy shot saw three of these Next Gen Titan mules on the road at the same time with at least one of them towing what looks like a fairly substantial load.  The grill looks much more squared off than the current generation truck and reminds me of a Ford SuperDuty or the Nissan NV cargo van.  Here's hoping for a lot more photos and details to come out as we go forward!!

First Next Gen Titan Spy Pics...

Classic Rally Cars Up For Auction...

This is over in the UK at the Silverstone Race Retro & Classic Car auction.  There are a bunch of interesting vehicles included in this lot, a number of which have stage Rally chops.  If you're reading this in the US, just get that boat transport lined up...some of these look worth it!

How about a 1970 Porsche 911 that has been kitted out Safari Rally style and has actually been run by Jimmy McRae in testing and finished 4th in class in the '05 East African Safari?

Or how about a road rally, factory Triumph TR7 with a V8 transplant?  This one has a great pedigree as well, having won and run in numerous rallies throughout the UK.

This next one has no REAL rally history but is in homage to the rallying history of Lancia.  This 1990 Lancia Delta Integrale is pristine and "only" 10-15K pounds.

Another road rally car here.  A limited edition Ford Escort "Mexico" with a strengthened shell, Rally Sport suspension and bolt in roll cage.

A police car converted into a Mini Rally car for this next one.  A 1967 Austin Mini Cooper S was originally built to police specifications but has since been converted into a classic Rally car and has competed across the UK before being stripped down and restored.

Now here's a classic worthy of a "Rally" in its title.  A 1985 Ford Sierra Cosworth.  This is an actual factory racer with the proper "works" registration number and extensive and extremely successful history.

A 1967 Lotus Elan that has been, like a number of these classics, converted to Rally duty.

And lastly, another Triumph TR7 that was originally put into privateer Rally use in the late 70's but has been since restored and comes with full FIA compliant papers for Classic Rally use.

The auction has many more vehicles up for sale, mostly UK/European brands and has a more extensive listing of the details of each of these beautiful vehicles.  The sale is later this month.

Silverstone Auction...