Somehow it seemed appropriate to re-run this story from DSC back in November 2007 today!
Define ‘lucky’, OK, define lucky in terms of a life experience, or more particularly, define lucky in terms of an experience to do with your enthusiasm for things automotive.
One group of American Nissan ‘Z’ car fans got the opportunity to do exactly that recently, after an extraordinary visit was organised to the home of the object of their desires…
… as Travis Rogers, one member of their party explains:
“We knew we were going to meet ‘Mr K’, Yutaka Katayama, recognised as the father of the world renowned Nissan ‘Z’ car series, but what we didn’t know is just what they had in store for us.
“A group organised by ‘Mad’ Mike Keller was invited to meet Mr K, but what we were greeted with was extraordinary! On the first day we were allowed to sit in on a Nissan board meeting and then we were taken to one of their main showrooms, where Nissan had arranged for six of the brand-new, as yet un-launched at that time GT-Rs, for us to take an insiders view of.
“We knew that the following day we had a lunch arranged with Mr Katayama, but what we didn’t know was that this would be three hours long, a really personalised private dinner, the final course though was a mysterious trip to what had been described to us as something at Zama that “used to be a production facility”. OK so we thought we were going to be shown an old factory but when they opened the doors, WOW!!! Then they told us we couldn’t go in!! Followed immediately by a grin and an “Only kidding!!”
We were given plenty of time to explore the unbelievable collection they had in there. Absolutely everything had a reason for being in there, from the very earliest cars through the Mid-4 concept car and up to the one and only, million dollar roadgoing Nissan R390. Amazing, something I’ll remember for ever.”
That’s not all that the storage facility held but for dsc readers, let’s just summarise that this amazing collection holds copies (and in some cases almost all survivors of) every significant JGTC / Super GT, Group C, GT1 and LMP car ever fielded by Nissan.
It’s great to see that there are people within major corporations like Nissan who understand the enthusiasm of those who buy their products. Let’s wait and see what the near future brings in terms of corporate commitment to extending that line of cars with a racing heritage, in a quite extraordinary collection.
