Nissan · 1992–present

Nissan P35

The Nissan P35 was a planned Group C car built by Nissan Motors for competition in the World Sportscar Championship. Developed by Nissan Performance Technology Inc. (NPTI), which had formerly raced under the name Electramotive in the United States, the cars were intended to be completed by the middle of 1992, with competition starting in 1993. However economic troubles for Nissan led to the cancellation of the project soon after testing of the first cars had begun, meaning that the P35s never raced. During the development of the P35, Nissan's own motorsports division, Nismo, began work on a modified P35 design that would be adapted to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. This car, known as the NP35, would be allowed to race only once before it too was cancelled. These would be the final prototypes built by Nissan until 1997.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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Development

At the end of a strong year in the 1990 World Sportscar Championship season for Nissan's R90CKs, it was decided that the company would leave the championship to instead concentrate on the R90CPs in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship (JSPC) and GTP ZX-Turbos in the IMSA GT Championship in North America. Regulation changes in the World Sportscar Championship would have required Nissan to abandon their turbocharged engines in place of newer, advanced naturally aspirated units, as well as design all new cars to handle them. Nissan reversed their plans in 1991, partially because JSPC was beginning to allow the newer Group C cars that could outpace Nissan's older cars. Nissan turned to Nissan Performance Technology Inc. (NPTI), the company's North American motorsports arm which had run their IMSA GT Championship program. The company was tasked with developing a new car while Nissan Motorsport (Nismo) in Japan would develop an all-new engine to fit the regulations. Designed by Yoshi Suzuka and Trevor Harris, the P35 bore little resemblance to NPTI's GTP cars given the very different regulations as well as differing airflow requirements that needed to be taken into account. The water radiator was placed in the nose with inlets for brake cooling situated there as well, the engine inlet was placed above the cockpit. The side ducts located in the horizontal face of the side pods took air to the oil coolers (and also had a unique boundary layer suction feature). A low rear wing was also used, although a dual rear wing was briefly tested. The chassis of the P35 was intended to be built from carbon fibre, yet the initial test chassis were built from a hybrid of aluminium and carbon to save time, due to NPTI's lack of experience with building carbon chassis. For an engine, N

Racing history

The P35 was tested various times during 1991, with Bob Earl doing most of the driving. Tests included runs at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and on the road course at Daytona International Speedway. However the P35 never competed in any races, and one copy was moved to Japan to be stored in Nissan's Zama, Kanagawa facility. The NP35 on the other hand would actually race, although only once. The final race of the 1992 JSPC season (and what would become the final JSPC race before the series was dissolved) was at Mine Circuit, and Nismo entered their lone NP35. Competing in their class against the Toyota TS010 and Mazda MXR-01, the NP35 would be the slowest car in qualifying, five seconds behind the pole winning Nissan R92CP. The race itself would see many mechanical problems for the car, although it would manage to finish the race. Of the finishers, it was ranked last and 25 laps behind the winning TS010. Following this race, the NP35 would not race again, moving into storage alongside the P35. Nissan occasionally brings it to exhibition events, namely its own annual Nismo Festival. The X-250, built by John Christie and some former members of the defunct P35 program, from P35 Chassis number 1, also only ran one race, the 1997 12 Hours of Sebring powered by a Ferrari 348 engine, built by Robin Smith, a fellow countryman of Mr. Christie. There, the car suffered electronics problems after only 21 laps and was listed as the first car out of the event. The X-250 never raced competitively again but is raced in historic racing. Chassis number 2 of the Nissan P35 is now housed in Coventry University's Motorsport Engineering Workshop. The car is used as a training vehicle for students on the university's renowned BEng Motorsports Engineering Degree.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.

Specifications

name

Nissan P35/NP35

Manufacturer

Nissan

Production

1992

Transmission

6-speed sequential

Class

Group C race car

Layout

MR layout

Engine

VRT35 (3499cc), 70 degree V-12

Designer

Trevor Harris (chassis design), Yoshi Suzuka (aerodynamicist)

Specification summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Measured facts from Wikidata (CC0). Check the linked sources for citations.

More photos

Sources

• Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1123588CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
• Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_P35CC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1159031159 · retrieved 2026-10-01
• Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NP35_001.JPGCC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo: 160SX · retrieved 2026-10-01
• Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.

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