Michael Satterfield
The No. 83 Nissan GTP-ZX Turbo 1988-89 IMSA Championship car that is now part of the Nissan North America Heritage Collection took home the trophy for the Japanese Racing class at the 2017 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance event last weekend. The 850 horsepower race car was considered the pinnacle of IMSA’s golden era of factory racing in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This year’s event featured prototype racers from Japan, including a Mazda 767B, Toyota Gurney Eagle and the Prince R380.
Chassis #8801 was nicknamed “Elvis” because it was the king of the track in 1988, at one point winning eight races in a row against Porsche, Toyota, Jaguar, Ford and GM’s best prototypes. Its engine was based on a Nissan VG30 turbo found in the 300ZX street car (Z32) of that time period.
Amelia Island Award to the BRE Datsun 510
The Nissan Heritage Collection’s BRE Datsun 510 was given the Amelia Island Award on March 11, 2017. The legendary giant killer, winner of the 1971-72 Trans Am 2.5 class, spent time on the lawn at Amelia in the Japanese production-based racing cars, as well as at the Cars n Coffee event, where car designer Peter Brock and driver John Morton signed posters and books for the fans.
