MOTORSPORT: Nissan still mulling V8 Supercar future

A surprise-free roll-out of the new Gen 2 V8 Supercar technical regulations will provide Nissan Australia with the best chance of convincing its superiors in Japan to back an ongoing assault on the category post-2016.

That’s the summation from the managing director of the Nissan Australia, Richard Emery, who has been in Japan twice in the last few weeks for discussions on future of the three-year-old program, which currently campaigns four V8-engined Altimas in the championship via Kelly Racing.

Emery said he was encouraged by the response of NISMO (Nissan Motorsport) to the Gen 2 rules, which allow engines other than V8s and body styles other than four-door sedans to race in the category from 2017.

“The first conversations with them (NISMO) were relatively positive,” Emery told motoring.com.au. “They didn’t show me the door and say they were not interested. It was more about ‘so what are the rules going to look like in 2017 and what options do we have?’.

“They were asking proper technical questions to get their head around the technical area and to be honest they wouldn’t have been asking those questions if they weren’t half interested.”

While Emery has said the Altima is likely to continue as Nissan’s race vehicle into the Gen 2 era if the green light to continue is gained, the question of whether to stick with the predominantly locally-developed 5.0-litre version of the VK56DE engine, or swap to an off-the-shelf item -- most likely a twin-turbo V6 -- is still to be answered.

And that is a big issue for both Nissan and Kelly Racing, which have invested millions in an engine that is only now approaching competitiveness against the rival push-rod V8s from Holden and Ford.

The VK engine was developed without dispensations such as a flat-plane crankshaft gained by engines from Mercedes-AMG and Volvo when they were introduced in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The Nissan engine has scored a single race win, while the Benz engine campaigned by Betty Klimenko’s privateer Erebus outfit has won twice and the Volvo four races.

“The last thing I can have is NISMO saying ‘OK we think this (V8 Supercars) is a chance, we have got an engine here’ and then in April or May next year V8s put a rule in-place and NISMO go ‘hang on a second, what are you talking about?’ Those are the sorts of things I am trying to get covered.”

The Gen 2 technical regulations were covered off in a white paper issued to the teams earlier this year, but Emery said there was still much clarification and detailed explanation required, which he planned to go to category CEO James Warburton seeking.

“There are a lot of things that aren’t written in the white paper that are in-between the lines that they (NISMO) want to get some feeling around.

“I will talk to V8 Supercars about how they can help me give them a full briefing.

“NISMO is keen to make sure they have full knowledge and some of those things are unfortunately unsaid or undefined yet.

“I am going to talk to James (Warburton) about V8 Supercars providing some technical briefing beyond what’s written on the piece of paper so NISMO can start to get their heads around it.”

NISMO, which is Nissan’s global motorsport and high-performance vehicle division, initially had little interest in the Australian V8 program when development started in 2012, but has been much more involved in the last two years.

Emery has previously told motoring.com.au that Nismo and Nissan’s global commercial and marketing arms must both be fully committed for the V8 program to continue.

“No-one is going to say yes or no until some of those things come together over the next month or six weeks,” he said.

“It’s a promising first step. That’s a good way of putting it.”

One supporter of the program, Englishman Darren Cox, recently left his role as global marketing chief of NISMO, but this is not believed to be a hindrance to a potential green light for 2017.