Tag Archives: gtr

日産がNISMO.TVチャネルをYouTubeとコラボ。

New channel to take YouTube viewers behind the scenes of Nissan’s motorsport activity and showcase new NISMO-branded products

Launch of new TV channel on YouTube, NISMO.TV
Iconic Nissan GT-R race cars to carry YouTube branding
Content-focused approach to give unparalleled access to motorsport content
A fan-focused approach to help attract new fans to motorsport
New features to be added including live streaming

Yokohama, Japan – Today automotive innovator Nissan outlined a new collaboration with YouTube that will include the world’s largest digital content platform hosting a brand new channel to be known as NISMO.TV. Launching in April, NISMO.TV will curate, aggregate and commission global Nissan Motorsport and performance product content at NISMO.TV.

Nissan will capture its motorsport stories 52 weeks of the year and provide constant behind-the-scenes access to YouTube’s viewers. Projects such as Nissan’s experimental Le Mans electric prototype and gamer-to-racer GT Academy will see the focus of the attention alongside more traditional motorsport coverage.

Part of the collaboration will see YouTube branding feature on the cars of the NISMO Athletes as they compete across Europe in prestigious events in their Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 racing cars.

The YouTube Nissan GT-R will compete in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the new for 2013 FIA GT Series in the hands of the first winner of Nissan’s revolutionary driver discovery and development program, GT Academy. Lucas Ordonez has raced all over the world for Nissan since winning GT Academy in 2008 and for the FIA GT Series Lucas will be joined in the YouTube GT-R by Nissan regular Alex Buncombe and for the longer Blancpain Endurance Series races by one of the newest NISMO Athletes, American Steve Doherty, who completes the line-up.

NISMO.TV will follow the exploits of the NISMO Athletes – the GT Academy winners who have risen from being PlayStation gamers to real world racing drivers – illustrating that the transition from virtual to reality, from PS3 to podium, is now a bona fide route into the fiercely competitive world of racing.

Julie Kikla of YouTube commented, “We’re delighted to welcome NISMO.TV on to the YouTube platform. Working in the content space with Nissan creates an exciting new dimension to our existing motorsport content offering which is fast becoming a valuable genre.”

“By launching NISMO.TV on YouTube we’re creating a new template for leveraging motorsport content and taking it beyond the purist, on a truly global level. This new relationship with YouTube, like our collaborations with Gazprom Neft and PlayStation, shows what a new generation of motorsport-led marketing will look like,” said Nissan’s Director of Global Motorsport Darren Cox. He added, “Innovation is what Nissan does best and with YouTube we can go out there and break the rules when it comes to engaging with our audience: the current and future motorsport fans. There is no better platform for our content than YouTube so we are excited to see how far we can go with NISMO.TV.”

NISMO.TV is live as of Friday March 22, 2013.

NISSAN GT-R、FIA GTノガロ戦のPro-Amクラスでポディウムフィニッシュ

雨空のフランス南部で表彰台に
~ FIA GTシリーズ開幕戦 レースレポート ~
3月31-4月1日 フランス、ノガロ・サーキット

FIA GTシリーズ開幕戦が3月31-4月1日、フランスのノガロ・サーキットで開催されました。YouTubeロゴをまとったNISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3でエントリーしたルーカス・オルドネス/アレックス・バンコム組は、Pro-Amクラスで3位フィニッシュを果たしました。チームメイトで、日産が展開するゲーマーからレーサーを育成するプログラム、GTアカデミーを卒業したばかりのウォルフガング・リープ/マーク・シュルツイスキー組は、強豪がひしめく激戦の中、見事5位でフィニッシュしました。

レースが開幕される週末、雲に覆われる空の下、チームはノガロに到着しました。フランス南部としては珍しい天候でしたが、レース当日はさらに悪化。しかし、日産勢にとっては、これは有利な状況でした。ストレートで最も本領を発揮できるGT-Rにとって、コーナーの多いノガロは鬼門と言えますが、雨のおかげでツイスティなコースはウェットとなり、GT-Rが不得手とする側面の影響が少なくなるからです。

FIA GTシリーズでは、各戦の週末に2本のレースを行います。3月30日に行われた予選では、バンコムとオルドネスが決勝レースのスターティングリッドで好位置を獲得できる流れにつけていましたが、オルドネスが他車からヒット受けてリタイアしてしまいます。この車両のドライバーには、この行為に対して30秒のペナルティが科せられました。オルドネスはこのアクシデントにより、決勝レースを19番手からスタートしなくてはならなくなりました。#32 GT-Rのリープ/シュルツイスキーは、初めて挑むトップレベルのスプリントレースでの予選を、14位と手堅い内容でまとめました。

雨に見舞われた決勝レースは、セーフティカーが入ってのスタートとなりました。1周目をセーフティカーが先導した後、レースが始まりました。リープはステファン・オルテリからのチャージを退けると、その直後には、カルン・チャンドックにアタック。ゲーマー出身ドライバーと元F1ドライバーとの対決となりました。

一方、多くのベテラン陣がウェットコンディションの犠牲となりました。さらにレースリーダーもクラッシュを喫し、日産のゲーマー出身勢は順位を上げていきます。レースも中盤を迎え、リープから#32 GT-Rのステアリングを受け継いだシュルツイスキーはクリーンな走りでまとめ、総合14位、Pro-Amクラス5位でチェッカーを受けました。

オルドネスから#35 YouTube GT-Rのステアリングを託されたバンコムは、貫禄の走りを披露し、見事総合7位でフィニッシュ。Pro-Amクラスでは3位となり、今季のFIA GTシリーズの初戦を上々の内容で飾りました。

日産のグローバルモータースポーツディレクター、ダレン・コックスは「YouTube GT-Rのドライバー、アル(バンコム)とルーカス(オルドネス)は、素晴らしい走りを見せてくれました。まさにプロフェッショナルの実力で、期待通りの内容でした。予選レースでリタイアを強いられることがなければ、どこまで上位に上がっていたでしょうか。カルン・チャンドック、リカルド・ゾンタのような元F1ドライバーを抑えて我々のドライバーが活躍しているということは、彼らの能力の証し。その姿を目にできて、本当にうれしいです。

ウォルフィー(リープ)とマーク(シュルツイスキー)にとっては、とても難しいコンディションとなりました。昨年レースを始めたばかりのふたりが、この悪コンディションの中で冷静を保ってレースを走り切ったことは注目に値します。どんな事態にも慌てることなく、ふたりが共に素晴らしいパフォーマンスを発揮しました。アクシデントを喫したドライバーも多かった中で、マシンに傷ひとつつけることなくフィニッシュを迎えたのです」

NISSAN RACERS TAKE PRO-AM PODIUM AT NOGARO
Silverware brightens up a grey afternoon in the South of France

Lucas Ordonez and Alex Buncombe took their YouTube-liveried Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 to third place in the Pro-Am class of the FIA GT Series race at Nogaro in France today. Team mates Wolfgang Reip and Mark Shulzhitskiy, two of Nissan’s newest gamers-turned-racers, took a creditable fifth in class after competing in conditions that made it hard for even the professionals to keep all four wheels on the tarmac.

The teams were greeted by grey skies this morning when they arrived at Nogaro for the main race of the weekend. The weather hadn’t been typical for the South of France all weekend but it saved the worst for race day. This was great news for Nissan though as the GT-R is suited best to circuits where it can really ‘stretch its legs’ but the twists and turns of Nogaro were nicely watered down by the rain, which helped to put the GT-Rs back on a level playing field.

The FIA GT Series has two races each weekend. The qualifying race took place yesterday and it looked like Alex and Lucas were closing in on a good grid position for today’s big race, until Lucas was taken out by a BMW, whose driver later received a 30 second penalty for his actions. This left Lucas with a lot of work to do today as he had to start from 19th place on the grid. In the No.32 GT-R Wolfie and Mark finished a solid 14th in the qualifying race, turning in a quality performance in their first ever high profile sprint race.

Today’s main race started behind the safety car due to the rain. The safety car controlled the pack through lap one and then the race was on. Wolfie found himself having to hold off a charging Stephane Ortelli for a lap then not long after that it became Gamer vs. F1 driver when Wolfie was challenging Karun Chandhok!

With the wet conditions catching out the professionals and even the race leaders crashing into one another the performance of Nissan’s gamers was first class at Nogaro. Wolfie handed the No.32 GT-R over to Mark halfway through the race and the Russian GT Academy winner then had a clean run to the flag, taking 14th place overall and fifth in the Pro-Am class.

In the No.35 YouTube GT-R Alex had taken over from Lucas and was powering his way through to an incredible eighth place overall, which translated as third place in Pro-Am. A fantastic result for the first FIA GT race of the season.

Nissan’s Director of Global Motorsport, Darren Cox, commented: “That was a great drive by the guys in the YouTube GT-R; exactly the professional standard we would expect to see from Al and Lucas. Imagine where they could have finished if they hadn’t been taken out in the qualifying race! It’s always a great pleasure for us to see our guys racing against ex-F1 drivers like Karun Chandhok and Ricardo Zonta as it’s a very clear indication of their abilities.

“The conditions were very difficult for Wolfie and Mark. These guys only started racing at the end of last year so to come here and keep a cool head in these conditions is remarkable. They weren’t fazed at all and both put in very creditable performances and brought the car home in one piece on a day when many more experienced drivers didn’t.“

NISSAN GT-Rが氷上走行での世界最速記録を達成

SIBERIA, Russia – Russian race driver Roman Rusinov and auto journalist Andrey Leontjev pushed the Nissan GT-R across a frozen Lake Baikal, setting a new national speed ice driving record of 294.8 kph (183 mph).

The speed record on ice was a joint project of Nissan in Russia and LAV Productions company, taking place at Small Sea Strait – part of the Baikal water area between western coast and Ol’khon isle. The Nissan GT-R 2012 model year used winter non-studded Bridgestone tires.

The length of the track was divided into an acceleration part – 3.5 km, timekeeping part – 1 km, and breaking area – 3.5 km. The driving attempts were fixed and evaluated by a specially-created committee of the Russian Automotive Federation, and also a group of four judges from Yaroslavl, Omsk, Yekaterinburg and Moscow. The car starts from standing position and develops maximum speed on the distance of 1000 meters (1 km). RAF fixes average speed on this route.

The 540-horsepower GT-R production car had no modifications, running the 3.8-liter, V6 engine on the frozen surface of the world’s deepest lake in southern Siberia, with a result for the history books. Enjoy this video of their record ice escapade.

For more photos of the Nissan GT-R on Lake Baikal, check out our photo gallery.