The new GT500 Z car begins competing in April, 2022. (Image/Nissan)

When Nissan finally revealed the all-new Nissan Z sports car back in August, we couldn’t wait to see it in track fighting trim.

As it turns out, neither could Nissan.

Now those are fender flares. (Image/Nissan)

Earlier this month, Nissan showed us the Nissan Z GT500 race car that’ll campaign in the 2022 Super GT Series—a Gran Touring race league that represents the top level of Japanese sports car racing. The reveal comes just as the 2021 Super GT season wraps up.

The new Z will replace the outgoing Nissan GT-R race car seen here in Super GT competition. (Image/Nissan)

The timing makes prefect sense, as Nissan had previously announced that it would be the last year for the GT-R Nismo GT500, which has campaigned in the Super GT series for over a decade already.

It’s easy to see the lines of the roadgoing Z car underneath the extra race aero here. (Image/Nissan)

And this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Nissan spec-out a Z (or Fairlady) for race duty. From the original Datsun 240Z to the twin turbo 300ZX, Nissan’s Z-badged sports cars have seen plenty of track time.

Nissan’s Z cars are no strangers to the racetrack. Here’s one of the more famous rides—a 300ZX driven by none other than Paul Newman. (Image/Nissan)

Devised long before the public got to see the roadgoing Z this past August, this new race car was under development for over two years. Nissan hopes the slippery profile of the new Z will be beneficial on the racetrack.

We’ll find out soon enough, as the 2022 Super GT Series kicks off this April.

(Image/Nissan)

Keywords
motorsports, Nismo, Nissan, Super GT
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Author: Paul Sakalas

Paul is the editor of OnAllCylinders. When he's not writing, you'll probably find him fixing oil leaks in a Jeep CJ-5 or roof leaks in an old Corvette ragtop. Thanks to a penchant for vintage Honda motorcycles, he spends the rest of his time fiddling with carburetors and cleaning chain lube off his left pant leg.