Nissan announced that the Z will serve as the official safety car in the Super GT race series in Japan for the 2022 season. The specially prepared vehicle is based on a production-spec Nissan Z but features a number of updates to comply with its new role. It gets two extra pairs of LED lights on the front grille and on the rear bumper, in addition to the traditional roof-mounted light bar. The body is painted in yellow, with contrasting black accents (roof, wheels, bumper inserts, and more).
Inside the cabin, the safety car got a new
pair of carbon-fibre bucket seats with racing seatbelts that will provide
better support to the driver and the front passenger while going flat out on
the track. The automaker didn’t mention any mechanical upgrades, so we guess
that the vehicle will be fitted with the stock twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6
producing 400 hp.
The duties of a safety car include
pre-race inspections of the track to make sure everything is ready for the
race, and of course leading the race when accidents occur. For this reason,
sportscars are a fitting option, offering adequate performance to lead a pack
of racecars, even though the latter will always be significantly faster than
any street-legal vehicle.
The Nissan Z safety car will make its
first public appearance on the first round of the 2022 Super GT season, hosted
at the Suzuka Circuit on May 29. Besides donating the safety car, Nissan is
also competing in the Super GT with the Nissan Z GT500 racecar which replaced
the old GT-R GT500 after 13 years on duty.
