Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo - Development

Development

In 1984, Nissan Motors named Electramotive Engineering as their official North American racing development arm in an attempt to establish Nissan in the United States following the use of the Datsun name. Nissan wished to use the IMSA GT Championship as a way of showcasing their technology, similar to what they had done at the 24 Hours of Le Mans beginning in 1983. Electramotive would be tasked with maintaining, modifying, and racing the cars. Nissan would provide the VG30ET motors, although Electramotive would aid in developing the engine for racing. For the chassis, Nissan and Electramotive would turn to Lola Cars International to construct their new car to their specifications.

The first three chassis, termed Lola T810, would be completed in early 1985. This initial year of competition was used for development of the new car in preparation for 1986. Electramotive would be tasked with modifying elements of the T810 to better adapt to the smaller tracks and shorter sprint races used by IMSA GT. This would lead to the cars being renamed GTP ZX-Turbos as their design was evolved beyond the initial T810.

Three more T810 chassis would be constructed by Lola and adapted by Electramotive by the end of 1987. Some of these cars actually shared their tub off of an earlier Lola design, the T710, better known as the Chevrolet Corvette GTP. However modifications to the cars would eventually extend to the point that Electramotive would begin to construct their own chassis to replace the older cars, no longer relying on Lola for the cockpit tubs. A total of five Electramotive-built tubs would be completed in 1988. Electramotive would later become Nissan Performance Technology Inc. (NPTI) in 1990, finally retiring the GTP ZX-Turbos once the new NPT-90s were completed halfway through the season.