THE ELECTRAMOTIVE / NPTI NISSAN GTP ZX

Nissans have been raced for far longer than most people think. Additionally, the people who have raced them have also stayed remarkably true to the marque. In 1971 the BRE Datsun team comprised: John Morton and Pete Brock as drivers (John also worked as a fabricator with BRE), John Caldwell, who built the engines, and John Knepp, who looked after the gearboxes. The engineer in charge of the suspension was Trevor Harris and future aerodynamicist Yoshi Suzuka also worked for BRE. All these people would stay with Nissan and later take part in their triumph in GTP racing, being employed by Electramotive/NPTI.

Hand in hand with the commercial success of Datsun’s 240Z in the States came success on the racetracks. Various 240Zs were modified to take part in the GTU (Grand Touring-Under 2.5-liters) class of IMSA, starting in 1973. The most notable of these were driven by Bob Sharp, Paul Newman, Sam Posey, and a young electronics engineer, then employed by the Hughes aircraft company of California, named Don Devendorf.