Friday, September 6, 2013

Nissan to Showcase ZEOD RC Electric Race Car at Fuji WEC [VIDEO]

Japanese fans will have the first opportunity to see the Nissan ZEOD RC in action when the car makes its public on-track debut at this year's Fuji Speedway round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Running in pure electric mode, the Nissan ZEOD RC will undertake demonstration runs on October 18, 19 and 20 - all three days of the Japanese round of the WEC. The Fuji demonstration was announced today at the Nissan 360 global media event in California.

The ZEOD RC (Zero Emission On Demand Racing Car) will make its race debut at next year's Le Mans 24 Hour. The global leader in electric vehicles for the road, Nissan will trial variants of new electric drive train technologies as part of its intended future return to LM P1 competition to challenge for overall victory at the world's most prestigious endurance race.

Nissan's two-time Japanese SUPER GT champion Michael Krumm will drive the car at Fuji. Krumm was part of the driver line-up for the Nissan DeltaWing program in 2012 and also finished third in the LM P2 class this year at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Krumm competes for Kondo Racing in the SUPER GT championship in Japan alongside Hironobu Yasuda. In addition to his SUPER GT and Le Mans schedule, Krumm also recently tested a Nissan Altima V8 Supercar in Australia for the factory Nissan team.

"It is certainly going to be a very unique experience to go that fast with electric power - especially since Fuji's main straight is nearly a mile long.

"Fuji Speedway is such an historic venue - it's actually pretty fitting that the ZEOD RC will have its first public runs here because this car certainly has the opportunity to change motorsport history.

"We're only doing a demonstration run but I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of top speed we'll see on the straight."

"To be able to do that at such a great venue like Fuji Speedway, only 90 minutes away from the home of NISMO [Nissan's motorsport arm and a partner in the development of the ZEOD] in Yokohama, was too good to pass up."

The internal-combustion motor that will form part of the ZEOD's powertrain is not due to run in the car until January.

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