Here's The Super GT Version Of The Nissan Z

Having initially unveiled the all-new seventh generation Z car back in August, Nissan is bringing back the race-readied iteration of the Z moniker to Japan’s leading performance car series for the first time since 2007.

The Z-GT500 - which was revealed at Fuji Speedway - will be tasked with returning Nissan to championship-winning ways, having not tasted success since the Nismo pairing of Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli were crowned victorious with the GT-R in 2015.

‘’We are entering the 2022 Super GT series with our all-new Nissan Z GT500 car and our huge passion for motorsports,’’ said Nismo CEO and president Takao Katagiri. ‘’We hope that our fans will continue to passionately support the Nissan and NISMO motorsport teams.’’

The last two Super GT cars introduced by Nissan - the sixth generation Z GT500 and the GT-R GT500 - both won the title in their maiden seasons, so the latest car to emerge from Nismo’s skunkworks department will have a lot to live up to.

Nissan’s Chief Operating Officer, Ashwani Gupta, said: ‘’The Nissan Z GT500 symbolizes Nissan’s spirit of taking on challenges and bringing excitement to life. Through our racing efforts we continue to innovate our cars and we race to win with the same daring we have displayed so many times over the years.”

The new Z GT-500 is also the first of a triumvirate of new Japanese Super GT cars appearing over the coming months, alongside the reworked Honda NSX Type S and refreshed Toyota Supra, and will be expected to build on Nissan’s hugely successful history in racing.

The retro-inspired Z-Proto upon which the Z GT-500 is inspired will be launched in American dealerships during the spring of 2022, and arrives as a direct competitor to the likes of the Porsche Cayman, the Toyota GR Supra (or the BMW Z4 that it’s not at all based on), as well as the Audi TT.

Packing a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 which churns out roughly 400bhp, and is capable of accelerating from 0-60mph in just 4.5-seconds, the seventh generation Z model will be the most brutish one yet. If its statistics are anything to go by, its athletic GT-500 counterpart should put on a good show in the next edition of the Super GT, which begins on Saturday 16th April 2022.

The Super GT has a smaller engine with fewer cylinders (a 2.0-litre inline-four), but it’s significantly more powerful, providing 650bhp as dictated by series regulations.

What are your thoughts on the all-new Nissan Z GT-500?