A look inwards Nissan’s incredible motorsport HQ
TG was granted very special access to Nissan’s top-secret shed. And it was excellent
“How much? That’s unlikely to tell,” Nissan’s Kazuo Hioki laughs. TG has asked him to quantify the net worth of the cars tucked inwards a nondescript, secret warehouse in Zama, and he’s fighting to count.
It’s unlikely, but you get some idea from just one of the astonishing machines on display. The R390 GT1 car that took part at Le Boy’s in 1998, for example, is estimated to be valued at well over £1 million. Another, the original Skyline GT-R, is worth a stratospheric amount too.
Zama of course, will ring a bell to anyone with a passing interest in Nissan’s history. It’s the heritage warehouse northwest of Yokohama in the Kanagawa prefecture that’s home to around four hundred fifty cars covering more than eighty years of Nissan’s road and racing heritage.
It’s not open to the public, but Nissan has granted Top Gear very special access. “It opened five years ago,” Hioki-san tells us. “Before this warehouse, all the cars were just stored in car parks and the like. Most likely not the best conditions – out in the open air – so we very first moved inwards the building across the street, and then here.”
A team of four mechanics look after the cars on a day to day basis, but they’re not commenced or run very frequently, only being moved for events and shows (like the latest Nismo festival). Hioki-san – who commenced his Nissan career way back in one thousand nine hundred sixty nine and was a former Nismo director – tells us it took around forty years to build the collection of road cars, of which around sixty per cent were acquired through donations directly to Nissan.
Donations from people like the royal family, and those who want their ancestry preserved. “We’ve had people come into our office telling, ‘my granddad used to own this car, so please look after it’, and we do,” he laughs. The motorsport stuff of course, belonged to Nissan anyway.
It’s an astonishing setup, ranging from things like a one thousand nine hundred thirty three Datsun twelve Phaeton, original GT-R, and even a Mid4 prototype. But it’s the racing machinery that’s the real show-stopper.
“The most valuable of the racing cars has to be the one thousand nine hundred ninety two Daytona winner,” Hioki-san explains. He points towards the beautiful R91CP. “But my individual favourite has to be the Primera racing car. That was my baby,” he smiles.
“That, and of course, the R32 GT-R that won at Spa…” he trails off. That’s the blue ‘Calsonic’ car that we witnessed at the Nismo festival recently, where it wasn’t so much being paraded to the Nismo fans, but rather hustled around Fuji speedway on three wheels.
We could go on for days recounting the excellent stuff on display, but we won’t. Rather, we’ll leave you to this gallery of Nissan’s classic racers. Which one is your favourite? Have a click through, and then let us know in the comments below.