This is a 1997 Nissan R390 GT1. Designed by Ian Callum, Tony Southgate and Yutaka Hagiwara, the R390 GT1 was a race car built to LMGT1 specifications for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and other related competitions.
Developed in conjuction with Tom Walkinshaw Racing, the R390 GT1 was purpose-built for racing, following in the footsteps of Porsche's 911 GT1 and Mercedes-Benz's CLK GTR, two racing cars that bore little similarities to their road-going counterparts. The car was powered by a 3.5L VRH35L V8 mated to a Xtrac 6-speed sequential; the engine made 641 BHP. Styling was led by Callum, with TWR's Southgate and NISMO's Hagiwara designing the mechanical and aerodynamic components of the car. The car itself used a number of components from the Jaguar XJR-15 and was built using the same cockpit tooling but with fairly significant modifications for GT1 compliance.
A single road car was built to develop the race car; it was never intended for sale although Nissan offered to build additional examples for $1m. The race cars only competed at the 1997 and 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans; three cars were entered in 1997 with only one finishing, while in 1998, four cars were entered with one of the R390 GT1s finishing third. Eight chassis, R1 to R8, were built; R8 is notably owned by former racing driver Érik Comas, who had the car converted to road-going usage by Andrea Chiavenuto over a period of two years.
Now this casting was designed by the late Ryu Asada and introduced in 2021 in the Factory Fresh segment of the mainline; it has seen five known releases, the last being this one in a 2-Pack. This is its first Premium release.
