Nissan will be showcasing an important part of its racing heritage at the upcoming Monterey Historics this August.The No. 75 Nissan 300ZX that won the IMSA GTS class at the 1994 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be on display alongside the new NISMO 370Z and NISMO GT-R.
In honor of Nissan’s sweep of the LMP2 class at Le Mans this year, the automaker will revive the race car that won its class at the famed enduro 20 years ago. 2014 also marks the 25th anniversary of the fourth-generation Z-Car, which went on sale in July of 1989.
Though it resembles a streetable 1994 300ZX, No.75 is actually a chromoly tube-frame chassis with completely custom aluminum bodywork. It shares the same DOHC 3.0-liter twin-turbo engine found on the street legal version, albeit tuned to a monstrous 800hp and backed by a 5-speed transmission with Hewland race gears.
Not only did it win Le Mans, but an identical sister car also won that year’s 24 Hours of Daytona and the overall IMSA with driver Steve Millen behind the wheel. Thanks to those efforts, Nissan captured the overall IMSA GTS Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ championship that year.
Pierre Loing, vice president of product planning at Nissan USA said, “It’s also fitting that it will be sharing the paddock space with our new 600-horsepower Nissan GT-R NISMO – which might just give the No. 75 a run for the money today.” All vehicles will be on display at the 2014 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California August 14 through 17.
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