Nissan’s New V8 Supercar Hits the Track

The brand new Nissan Altima V8 Supercar has taken to the track for the first time, just days after it was first revealed in Melbourne, and um, yeah, we’re exicted about it. Australian correspondent Joel Strickland gives us more after the jump.

The Altima did its first laps at Calder Park Raceway, a race track on the outskirts of Melbourne, the track hosted Ken Block Gymkhana Tour in September last year.

With most of the Kelly Racing team in Abu Dhabi for last weekend’s V8 Supercar round. The driving duties were left to team co-owner and driver Todd Kelly.

Kelly is currently sitting out the rest of the season due to recent shoulder surgery, so his first few run were taken easy so as not to reinjure his shoulder.  He then handed the car over to Nathan Pretty to run more laps. Some comparisons were also run with one of the team’s current model Commodores.

The Altima, the first ever Nissan V8 Supercar,  is the first new V8 Supercar to be built in over 20 years. The Altima is the third car to be built to the V8 Supercars new Car of the Future (COTF) Program. The COTF program is very similar to Nascar’s Car of Tomorrow program.

The cars are all built off a control chassis which has been designed to help improve driver safety.

Other changes from the current model cars are Independent rear suspension, transaxle gearbox and increased tire size to 18 inches.

The team have chosen to use the production-based VK56DE engine in the Altima V8 Supercar, the same engine that powered Nissan to FIA GT1 World Championship glory in 2011. The VK56 engine also powers the all-new 2013 Nissan Patrol that goes on sale in Australia from 1 February 2013.

Now that the car has had its first run on the track, the team will now look at the data collected as they start work on the rest of the team’s cars.

Kelly Racing, which will be renamed Nissan Motorsport from next year, will be running four of the new Altima’s in next year’s championship.

The car itself will now be handed to V8 Supercars for them to complete aero testing against the Holden and Ford COTF cars to make sure they are all running a consistent aero package.

This testing will most likely take place at a RAAF Base in the Victorian Country town of Sale, the long runways are the perfect place to compare the different cars aero set ups.

There is still one more new COTF prototype to be released before next year, the Mercedes –Benz themed car from Stone Brothers Racing. There is currently no ETA as to when the covers will come off that car.

But come the Clipsal 500 Season Opening race in Adelaide in February 2013, all eyes will be on the series as the COTF cars will race side by side for the first time.

Until then, check out the video and gallery of the first ever Nissan Altima we’d actually buy.

Photo Credit: Nissan Australia

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