1987 Nissan R88C Pilots: A. Grice, M. Wilds, W. Percy Team: NISMO Nissan Motorsport Race: 14th overall (C1 class) at Le Mans in 1988 Ebbro - 43681 (diecast)
Published 09/27/17
NISMO is the motorsports and performance division of Nissan, and formed in 1984. One of the objectives of the division was to get Nissan cars into C class motorsports. In 1985 NISMO developed the R85V and it was the first works car to race at La Sarthe, in 1986. For the following year the car was further developed into the R87E, but the car still didn’t deliver consistent results. For the 1988 season the R88C came as substitute for the R87E.
The new car had a tweaked body and (specially) an improved V8 engine instead of the V6 used before. The new power plant was the Nissan VRH30, a 90º V8 with 32 valves and 2996 cm³ of displacement, twin turbo-charged, that delivered around 750 hp in race tune. The chassis was the same aluminum tub built by March for the R87E, but with a longer wheelbase to accommodate the bigger engine. In theory, that also should help in stability at Mulsanne-speeds.
This R88C #32 (chassis #87G-2) was born in 1987 as a Nissan R87E. It first raced at the Fuji 1000 km, and then at La Sarthe in the same year (but DNF). For the 1988 season NISMO upgraded the car to R88C specs and at Le Mans managed a 14th place overall (13th in C1). I would say this is a standard Ebbro model: nothing fancy but honest-to-God detail level for a great price. As always, aerials are far from Spark-good but no broom handles, therefore I’m okay with them. Spark also offers this one, but obviously at a higher price. So an in all an honest model of a not very successful car. But, for the Le Mans nut, quite interesting.