Patrol V8 for Nissan V8Supercar

Nissan has revealed the engine that will power its four-car factory Altima attack on the 2013 V8Supercars (V8SC) championship. As expected, it is a modified 5.0-litre version of the VK56DE engine that is found in the new generation Patrol 4WD destined for Australian sale in early 2013.

And in a shot at its opposition, Nissan is happy to point out the VK56 will be the only production engine raced in the championship -- as Ford and Holden use racing-derived units. However, the obvious riposte is the production Falcon and Commodore have V8s engines and drive their rear wheels, unlike the road-going front-wheel drive V6 and four-cylinder Altima sedan that goes on-sale in Australia in the second half of 2013.

The V8SC engine, which carries ‘Powered By Nissan’ on its cam covers, was revealed this morning in the brand new engine shop at Kelly Racing’s Braeside (Vic) state-of-the-art headquarters, where Nissan’s return to Australian touring car racing after a 20 year absence is being prepared..

Team owner and lead driver Todd Kelly and Nissan Australia CEO/MD Bill Peffer did the honours.

“Everyone involved in Nissan Motorsport is proud of the fact that we will race a production-based engine and that we will truly be ‘Powered By Nissan’,” said Todd Kelly, the team’s technical chief.

While the new engine was shown off, there was no official estimate of the horsepower it will produce, or when it will first run in anger in an Altima V8Supercar. But as V8Supercars is parity formula, the DOHC alloy block 32-valve V8 will be equalised against the pushrod iron block eight valve Chevrolet and Ford SVO 5.0-litre V8s used by the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon opposition at about 650-660hp.

The Nissan engine has been sleaved and the bore and stroke adjusted to reduce its capacity from 5.6 to 5.0-litres.

While there are widespread rumours within the V8Supercar industry that the Nissan Motorsport effort is running well behind its original development schedule, it is expected the first of six Altimas under construction will still test in October.

The first round of the 2013 championship will be the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide next March.

There is no doubt the Kellys, who are swapping from Holden, have taken on an enormous technical challenge to make the Clipsal grid. Like all other V8Supercar teams they must develop their cars to 2013 Car of the Future regulations, but they are the only operation that must also develop a new engine, body and aerodynamic package.

Delays in finalising regulations and getting hold of control components have not helped any team, but have simply magnified the task for the Kellys, Nissan and Nissan’s global motorsport division, Nismo, which is providing technical support to the project.

Recently, the spotlight was also thrown on the Kelly’s engineering structure when English motorsport veteran Tony Dowe left his post as performance director to join Walkinshaw Racing (which runs the factory Holden Racing Team and Supercheap Auto Racing). Mind you, it’s been a two-way street, with former Nismo and Walkinshaw employee, Shigeru Kugimiya, now at Kellys working on the engine project. In fact, there are numerous ex-Walkinshaw staffers employed at Braeside, including former HSV chief John Crennan, who is team chairman.

Nissan Motorsport must also finalise its 2013 drive and sponsor lineup. While the Kelllys are a lock, almost certainly in cars that will continue to be sponsored by liquor company Jack Daniel’s, it is doubtful either Holden-contracted Greg Murphy or pay driver Karl Reindler will return.

Drivers linked to the seats include Michael Caruso and James Moffat, the son of touring car legend, Allan.

Pepsi Max, which sponsors Murphy’s Commodore, is also leaving the team to become naming rights sponsor at FPR, factory Ford team.

The VK56 engine, which is made at the Nissan facility in Decherd, Tennessee in the United States, also powers the Nissan Titan, Armada and Pathfinder, as well as the Infiniti QX, all of which are sold in the North American market.

The Nismo-developed version of the VK56DE powered the rear-wheel drive Nissan GT-R FIA GT1 entry to a FIA GT1 World Championship. Another engine from the Nissan VK family, the VK45DE, has claimed victory at the Le Mans 24 Hour sportscar race in the LMP2 category and was formerly used in the Nissan GT-R entries fielded by NISMO in the Super GT Championship.

The Kellys secretly imported a second-hand VK engine from the USA in mid-2011, months before the deal with Nissan was finalised, so they could start development. It was dubbed ‘Project Boat Engine’ because curious staff were told it was to power Todd’s speedboat.