Video: How to push an 800bhp IMSA Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo
Imagine climbing behind the wheel of a 1988 Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo at the tender age of 23, before taking it around one of America’s finest circuits. A dream, right? Well it was reality for racing driver Theo Bean, who in 2016 had the opportunity to hop behind the wheel of his father’s 1988 Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo, and take on the 3.4-mile Circuit of the Americas.
Luckily for us, he also filmed the drive, providing an epic insight into life behind the wheel on the convoluted circuit. It is, in a word, wild, and more than capable of hanging on to the back of much newer competition.
The Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo was developed by Electramotive Engineering for the IMSA GT Championship, and contested between 1985 and 1990. Notably, it was the first car to beat Porsche’s 962 in the series, with Geoff Brahbam driving no. 83 to overall victory in 1988, before Nissan won both the 12 Hours of Sebring and the constructors’ championship in 1989 and 1990.
According to an interview given by the promising young driver, his father purchased this model from Nissan in the early 1990s, shortly after it was superseded by the NPT-90. This was the back up to Brabham’s championship-winning car, and as such was specified identically. Sadly we can’t hop behind the wheel of such a car quite so easily, so the video will have to do. For now.
Welcome to Goodwood Elevenses, a mid-morning helping of motoring-related amusement to help break up your day.
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