Nissan will celebrate its first Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) title by running a spectacular ‘retro’ livery on its #23 Nissan Altima V8 Supercar at this year’s Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama on 8-11 October 2015.
The #23 NISMO Nissan Altima V8 of Michael Caruso and Dean Fiore will race in the same colours as the 1990 Nissan Skyline HR31, 25 years after Jim Richards used the Skyline to win the 1990 championship.
“It was awesome to hang out with one of our sports legends, Jim Richards during the photo shoot. I loved chatting with him and hearing his stories, It gave me an even greater appreciation of the amazing success he had with Nissan in the 90’s. I hope the fans love the look of our car as much as we do and we can do it justice with a great result”.
Richards raced the Skyline in six of the eight rounds of the 1990 ATCC. Richards switched to the new Nissan GT-R R32 for the final two rounds of the1990 championship, but crucially, two of his three round wins that year were with the Skyline HR31.
Richards was so fond of the Skyline that he recently purchased the car for his own collection and now regularly drives it in historic touring car events. Richards also flagged the 1990 colours as his favourite factory Nissan livery.
The 1990 ATCC crown was the dawn of a dominant era for Nissan in Australian motorsport, with the Nissan GT-R R32 going on to win both the ATCC and Bathurst 1000 in both 1991 and 1992 in the hands of Richards and team-mate Mark Skaife.
Richards is one of the greatest drivers in Australian touring car history, is a V8 Supercars Hall of Fame member, four-time Australian Touring Car Champion (two with Nissan, 1990 and 1991) and seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner (two with Nissan, 1991 and 1992).
Check out Michaels chat with Jim Richards https://youtu.be/TAEEyFeQvpQ
