The Nissan Sunny GTI-R - Close, but no cigar

We take a closer look at the Nissan GTI-R, a car that looked to have all the traits of an outright rally winner, yet ultimately failed to deliver the goods

Nissan and rallying have a long and fruitful association, one which stretches right back to the ‘60s, through the ‘70s and into the early ‘80s. Cars like the Datsun 240Z and Violet earned a reputation for toughness and reliability, traits which no doubt helped in their success on long distance tests of endurance like the classic Safari, an event Datsun-Nissan won 4 times. Their Group B challenger, the 240RS, didn’t exactly cover itself in glory, but everyone assumed this was nothing more than a blip in form and that they’d return to their winning ways with their Group A car, the Sunny GTI-R.

The expectation that Nissan would soon return to winning ways wasn’t merely because of its track record (though that undoubtedly played a part), rather because the production-based values underpinning the Group A regulations were precisely what Japanese manufacturers had been clamoring for for years. It was also noted that Nissan pulled out all the stops in the run up to the GTI-Rs launch, with teams of engineers flown around the world to test various components to destruction, all in an attempt to ensure that their new challenger would be on the pace from its stage debut.

Much like many of the rally cars covered here, the GTI-R looked the part, and a quick glance at its spec would’ve led you to believe it could’ve been a world beater. It was compact, rugged, and came from a company that knew what it took to win, yet it somehow never did. Quite why the Sunny never enjoyed its moment in the sun is down to several factors, most notably cooling and, interestingly, Nissan itself.

Unlike the Group B rules which preceded them, Group A regulations were far more stringent and restrictive, and pinned competition machines to their road going equivalents in a tight and tangible manner. Though this did keep costs down and allowed the FIA to keep manufacturers on a short leash, it also meant that extensive homologation specials had to be built if a car firm wished to take part, and that a rally cars basic spec was largely set in stone from the moment homologation was granted. This wouldn’t have been a problem had Nissan not saw fit to mount the already inadequately sized intercooler on top of the engine, a position which ensured it would soak up as much of the engine bay heat as possible, severely limiting its effectiveness and ability to make decent power. This decision ensured that the Sunny would forever be a good 50bhp down on its Group A competition and meant that overheating was an almost constant battle. It didn’t help that it was on the portly side and that the complex four-wheel drive system could prove troublesome.

Nissan themselves didn’t exactly help the situation by demanding victories from the very beginning, something that simply wasn’t going to happen when the GTI-R was facing off against the likes of the Delta Integrale and Celica ST165. It scored a 5th place on its debut on the the legendarily gruelling Safari, a result which should’ve been greeted with applause from all corners, but all Nissan could muster was a half-hearted shrug.

Development continued throughout 1991 and the car began to get faster and more reliable, yet the factory’s impatience meant that nothing short of crushing, outright victory was going to cut the mustard, with even fastest stage times falling short of the expectations of the Nissan top brass. It took just a few short months for Nissan to totally lose patience and throw their rally toys out of the pram, and by the end of 1992 the Sunny’s works career was all but over, its best outright result having been Stig Blomqvist’s 3rd on the Swedish Rally.

A Group A failure of the highest order then, one made all the more apparent thanks to the fact that, on paper at least, it should’ve been a winner. The one plus point to be taken from the whole debacle? The Sunny GTI-R gave a young Tommi Makinen his first taste of four-wheel drive rallying, something he turned out to be rather good at…