MARCH NISSAN 86S Overall victory in the 1985 Fuji 1000 kilo-metres against World Championship oppo-s

Overall victory in the 1985 Fuji 1000 kilo-metres against World Championship oppo-sition in addition to successes in the Ameri-can IMSA sports car series prompted the Nissan Motorsports division (NISMO) to commission a state-of-the-art chassis from March Engineering in which to field its vic-torious FB30 V6 engine at Le Mans in 1986.

March's aluminium honeycomb monoco-que chassis, designed by Gordon Coppuck, incorporated classic wishbone front suspension with rocker arms and lower wishbones at the rear. Both ends were sprung by Koni coil spring/damper units and AP 13 inch disc brakes were mounted outboard with single four pot AP calipers and Ferodo pads. The bodywork was fashioned from carbon fibre and Kevlar with twin side mounted water radiators and twin air/air intercoolers ventilated by ducting through the doors. An oil cooler was mounted on top of the gearbox with its own duct behind the cockpit roof. Aerody-namically, the car featured a wedge shaped nose with minimal perforation and a short tail with a high, twin pillar mounted rear aerofoil. Sixteen inch Dymag wheels were shod with Bridgestone tyres.

The engine was a 60 degree V6 based on the 300ZX road car engine. Blown by two Garrett Ai Research turbochargers, the 2960 cc unit was reputed to produce more than 1000 bhp in qualifying trim. The block was of cast iron with aluminium heads, titanium being used extensively to keep the weight down. There were two over head camshafts per cylinder bank with two valves and one spark plug per cylinder. The engine had been developed in America by Electramotive of El Segundo, California and used Bosch fuel injectors and a Nissan EECP 16 bit microprocessor (as used on the Turbo 300ZX) in an Electramotive en-gine management system. In race trim power was quoted as 700 bhp at 8000 rpm.

Great potential was apparent in early test-ing but some concern was caused by the 'on-off switch' characteristics of the engine which seemed to lack a mid range. At the 1986 Le Mans test day the car was fifth fastest overall despite running only spo-radically due to teething troubles.

For the race a single 86S chassis was entered along with an older 85G March production chassis which was over 100 kgs heavier than the purpose built car. In prepa-ration for the meeting NISMO hired Keith Greene, one of the most experienced and respected of sports car racing team manag-ers, with James Gresham of March sharing duties with him. On paper the team looked very strong. Alas, a catastrophic clash of cultures reduced the whole effort to a farce.

The Japanese drivers on the team ignored the directions of Greene, ludicrous scenes being enacted in the pits. In the race the new car was retired with an incurable en-gine vibration in the eighth hour while the 85G made it to the finish, in 17th place also having encountered engine problems.

The 86S returned in 1987 having been sold to the Japanese Tom Hanawa and was entered by Italya Sports. The car had an Electramotive engine and embarrassed the factory at the test weekend by lapping faster even though the works cars had new V8s at their disposal. In qualifying for the race the 86S was damaged when it was in collision with a slower car and hit the ar-amco. Rebuilt, it qualified slower than the works cars. Raced by Olofsson/Ferte/ Gonin, the Swede got the car into tenth place in the early stages before Gonin crashed during the night. The V6 engine appeared again in '88 in a newer chassis.

NISSAN Specifications.

86S - 1986 60 degree V6 Honeycomb monocoque 3.0 litres Suspension: Iron block wishbone front Fuel injected rocker arm rear 12 valves Engine semi stressed s.o.h.c. March gearbox Twin turbo Ground effect car 700b.h.p.