Nissan announced that the Z will serve as the official safety car in the Super GT race series in Japan for the 2022 season.
The specially prepared vehicle is based on a production-spec Nissan Z but features a number of updates to comply with its new role. It gets two extra pairs of LED lights on the front grille and on the rear bumper, in addition to the traditional roof-mounted light bar. The body is painted in yellow, with contrasting black accents (roof, wheels, bumper inserts, and more).
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Inside the cabin, the safety car got a new pair of carbon-fibre bucket seats with racing seatbelts that will provide better support to the driver and the front passenger while going flat out on the track.
The automaker didn’t mention any mechanical upgrades, so we guess that the vehicle will be fitted with the stock twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 producing 400 hp (298 kW / 405 PS).
The duties of a safety car include pre-race inspections of the track to make sure everything is ready for the race, and of course leading the race when accidents occur. For this reason, sportscars are a fitting option, offering adequate performance to lead a pack of racecars, even though the latter will always be significantly faster than any street-legal vehicle.
The Nissan Z safety car will make its first public appearance on the first round of the 2022 Super GT season, hosted at the Suzuka Circuit on May 29. Besides donating the safety car, Nissan is also competing in the Super GT with the Nissan Z GT500 racecar which replaced the old GT-R GT500 after 13 years on duty.
