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After 2 years with the old Skyline GTR, Nissan decided that it would take on Porsche with a proper GT1. Aiming to become the second Japanese Manufacturer to win Le Mans outright, Nissan developed its R390 with the help of TWR and renowned designer Tony Southgate.

In 1997 (a year where even McLaren stuck a low drag "longtail" on the back), Nissan chose a low downforce light weight set-up.
The plan was to create the same corner stability with a lighter car and better "mechanical grip".
With the smaller restrictors straight line speed would also be better.
Come Pre qualification their speed was indeed phenomenal, even though as Martin Brundel noted dryly " Tthe car was still a real handful in the twisty stuff".

With the June race ran under higher temperatures, Nissan couldn't match their may qualification times. Worse was to come as one by one all R390's suffered gearbox cooling trouble. After a promising start 12th place was all that Mr Walkinshaw and his crew could salvage.

1998 and Nissan was "back with a vengeance", TWR had worked hard on the R390's reliability and had done a "McLaren" by adding a 13 cm "longtail. In full endurance mode the Nissans concentrated on race set-ups while the likes of Mercedes, Porsche and Toyota gunned for pole.
Their reliability no longer an issue, Nissan played a waiting came in the race. The only problem was that with Toyota and Porsche pressing each other on, the R390's race pace was just a bit too slow.
After 24 hrs the leading Nissan crossed the line 4 laps behind the winning Porsche, but at least it could make it a formation finish with the other R390's.

Nissan R390(LM GT1 1997):
Length: 4590 mm, Width: 1990 mm, Height: n/a, Wheelbase: 2710 mm


Models for Nissan R390
Manufacturer Model Scale Dimensions (LxWxH) Wheelbase Front spur Rear spur
Renaissance LM 98 #31, # 32 1/24 99.9x89.0x44.0 99.9 85.0 86.0
Renaissance LM 98 #33 Jomo 1/24 99.9x89.0x44.0 99.9 85.0 86.0
Tamiya LM 97 n°21 1/24 99.9x87.0x46.0 99.9 85.0 85.0



Resin Transkit for Tamiya Nissan 390
TransKit contains a longtail body moulded in resin, a new decal sheet and some photo-etched detail parts.
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All other parts need to come from the Tamiya kit.
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