Preamble: Nissan is still in the racing game. Despite trouble in the automotive markets. Much of their discoveries on the track have trickled down to their personal vehicles. The Turbo Nissan ZX is a perfect example of what goes on in developing on-the-edge technologies for the real world. To not have a race car team as part of your research and development arm, seems almost haphazard. Still there are some auto manufacturers that don't have a race team. Many Exotic cars don't, like lamborgini. How is it they can design such 'supercars', when they don't dare take it to the track, like Nissan and ferarri do?
There are few legends of race that are aptly titled for scary movies md802. However, in Ponoco, a developing Nissan GTP would earn the moniker: California Coffin. It all started in 1985, where famous driver, Tony a2z Adamowicz had a suspension failure in an experimental version of the ZX Turbo. a2z came off the banking and was able to nurse the Nissan to the pit area without causing significant damage to the GTP. He told me later that every time he never knew which item was going to break next on the car. Brian Redman mentioned that further development of the machine might be abandoned. The machine's primary sponsor was "California Cooler", however, everyone close to the monster called it a reputation as the "California Coffin".
a2z Tony was a brave driver in the early years of engineering of the Nissan GTP ZX Turbo. Many said the very same things regarding the early engineering of the famous Porsche 917K in the pre 1970's. Frightning, but both chassis needed time to develop into the championship machines they eventually became. a2z Tony regretted not being able to benefit from all of his previous testing and developing on the ZX Turbo. Politics kept him from harvesting the fruits of his development as a driver of this promising, yet frustrating machine.
What made the black Nissan GTP promising was that it had more aero downforce than any road racer up to this time MaxiDiag Elite MD802. At Leguna Seca, Tony a2z brought the Nissan to finish 11th, and at Sears Point Raceway, in 1986, the ZX Turbo finished 7th. Nevertheless, mechanical problems forced the car out of competition for the remainder of the season. One failure after another forced the Nissan Performance team to not participate in 24 hours at Daytona and 12 hours at Sebring. Debuting in Miami, the Nissan team continued to be plagued with mechanical trouble and failures. Finally, the machine finished in 7th place in mid-Ohio; its career best. Despite other successful future races, the Nissan ZX Turbo would continued to be trouble.
Late in 1987, The Electramotive team was able to improve the ZX Turbo greatly. Again, in Miami, the car out raced a Porsche 962 by 11 seconds. Unfortunately, the machine returned to its 'coffin' reputation, with clutch and several other failures, and an accident.
Tanabe gets his racing Tanabe drives a 93 Mazda RX7 for sport. He has learned many driving/racing techniques through his racer friend, Tony 'a2z' Adamowicz.Related Links
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