By 1968 Toyota had had enough of losing their home country’s biggest race — the annual Japan Grand Prix — to Nissan. They had just debuted the nation’s flagship sports car in the 2000GT, but it was getting trounced by the Prince/Nissan R380, a purpose-built race car that had no street-legal counterpart.
Word on the street was that Toyota was developing a new race car, a dedicated race machine from their top secret Division 7. That car, of course, would become the incredible Toyota 7, a 3.0-liter V8 strapped to a wing with wheels. Nissan knew that its dominance with the R380 and its Prince-developed 2.0-liter straight-six was about to come to an end, so they set about developing its successor, the R381.
As the day of the 1968 Japan Grand Prix approached, however, Nissan was running short on development time and knew the R381 would not be finished my the day of the big showdown. The only thing they were more certain of, in fact, was that they were hell-bent on preventing a Toyota win. So they hit up Moon Equipment Company (Mooneyes) of Japan for a 450-horse 5.5-liter small block Chevy, strapped legendary Hakosuka works driver Moto Kitano behind the wheel, and won the day.
By the following year Nissan had finished its in-house motor for the R382, and it was a doozie. The 600-horse, 6.0-liter V12 ruled the 1969 race, sweeping the podium with a 1-2-3 win and coming in three seconds ahead of the 4-5-6 Toyota V8s.
By 1970, concerns about emissions prompted both Nissan and Toyota to pull out. With its two biggest players gone, the Japan Grand Prix was canceled, to be reborn again the following year as a Formula race. The age of unlimited prototype machines had come to an end.
At the recent NISMO Festival at Fuji Speedway, the legends of these Nissans was relived by fans and drivers alike. Looking on at the storied machine in his Russian hat was none other than Yoshikazu Sunako, the driver of the number 39 Prince Skyline at the history-making 1964 Japan Grand Prix.
We will have more from the NISMO Festival, including Super Silhouette racers, and a new line of scale models. To be continued…
“…and a new line of scale models.”
You have my full and undivided attention.
Ben, your next book needs to be the definitive guide to Japanese race car history, in English.
I would buy that book.
I’d buy 4 and give three away as gifts.
You guys are too kind. Writing the last one was one of the most stressful things I’ve ever done so I think the chances of it happening again are pretty slim!
Your book just arrived in the mail yesterday, Ben; I can’t wait to read (memorize) it!..
Great article. Gorgeous cars!