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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2017 SPORTS Nissan powers Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge for 14th consecutive year. Nissan’s commitment to ME off-road motorsport remains unrivalled TOKYO: ‘Build it and they will come.’ At least Australia at a time before the continent’s sur- many of its competitors wanted to exploit the that’s the theory, according to the movie, Field faced road network had been completed. This established connection between success in of Dreams. But when your “field” is thousands fact, combined with unseasonal rains which motorsport and success in retail sales. of square miles of inhospitable desert terrain turned the dirt roads into muddy tracks, effec- Consequently, its engineers were given the and your potential competitors are scattered tively made it, in part, an off-road event. These task of somehow fitting a 2.0 litre, in-line 6- far and wide across the globe and there is a factorsperhaps account for the 50% attrition cylinder engine from its large Gloria sedan vanishingly small local fanbase, just how do rate among a field that included works entries into its much smaller Skyline model. you “build” a sport? And even if you could from Volkswagen, Skoda and Toyota among Somehow, they managed it, which immedi- answer those questions there remains one last others. BothDatsuns, however, completed the ately vastly increased the power-to-weight problem: who will do the building? trial in 19 days and took a first and a fourth ratio of the little car. The engineers quickly In terms of building a platform foroff-road place in the up-to 1000cc class. You could say realised they had created something with motorsport within the Middle East, many this was Nissan’s first desert rally, as the route huge motorsport potential. They gave it the independent observers agree that Nissan took drivers across stretches of the unforgiv- name Prince Skyline 2000GT (S54) but in order deserves the credit for undertaking the heavy ing and unsurfaced Nulaboor desert. The fact for it to be eligible to compete in the GT II race lifting. Perhaps the most obvious manifesta- that both cars completed the event, suggests at the 1964 Japanese Grand Prix meeting at tion of this commitment is Nissan’s longstand- that there really is something in the DNA of Suzuka, they needed to build 100 production ing sponsorship of the event now known as Nissan that has always produced rugged, examples in advance of the race. That meant the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Powered by durable cars capable of soaking up tremen- burning the midnight oil to get all the cars Nissan. The company’s support for this iconic dous punishment. ready in time, but they made it with only a day race goes all the way back to its early years as or so to spare. the UAE Desert Challenge. Nissan, however BLUEBIRD TAKES FIRST OUTRIGHT WIN On it first outing at that race, this apparent- has been involved in motorsport in the Middle Thepublicity and resulting sales benefits of ly ordinary little 4 door family car earned itself East region since before the inception of this motorsport were made clear to Nissan a place in the hearts of all Japanese motor- gruelling test of man and machine and indeed through its successful participation in the sport enthusiasts by pluckily taking on the the company’s global motorsport heritage can 1958 Mobilgas Trial and slowly but surely the might of a fully race-bred and already highly be traced back to the 1930s, the decade in carmaker began to ramp up its presence on developed Porsche 904 Carrera GTS. It was a which it was created. the international motorsport scene. A first David and Goliath battle which the German appearance in 1963 at the East AfricanSafari contender ultimately won but not before a IN THE BEGINNING Rally - then one of the “Big Three” along with Skyline briefly held the lead, and with Skylines Adel Hussein Abdulla won the 2016 FIA T2 World Championship in his Nissan Patrol. It was in 1936 that Japan’s first purpose the British RAC and Monte Carlorallies - did taking all the places from 2nd to 6th. built motor racing circuit was created, the not produce instant success. However, before In 1966 Nissan acquired Prince and the on the scene selling cars since the 1950s - a the region” said Fadi Ghosn, Nissan Middle short-lived Tamagawa Speedway. Nissan the decade was finished Nissan would tri- Skyline model was absorbed into its line-up. time when there simply was no motorsport East’s Chief Marketing Officer. “The desert is entered its first ever motorsport event in the umph in its classat the Safari Rally, which at Over the following two decades Nissan steadi- to speak of in the Gulf region. Little by little, an unforgiving place, so our off-road vehi- first race meeting held there using a car built the time was considered the ultimate off road ly developed its motorsport abilities in the however, an embryonic off-road scene grew cles must be rugged, durable and reliable. out-of-hours by employees and based on a test of a vehicle. In 1970, Nissan fully estab- fields of rallying, touring cars and endurance out of the fun drivers were having taking Rallying is an incredible test bed for compo- production vehicle. In the race, they were lished its presence as a formidable force on racing, with operations split into two depart- their four wheel drive vehiclesinto the nents and our works prepared Patrols pro- beaten by a car built in a local machine shop, a the international rallying scene by winning the ments, one handling the development and desert and eventually an FIA vide us with invaluable data which enables situation that did not sit well with Nissan’s Safari Rally outright in the by-now fully devel- building of “works” or factory cars and the oth- sanctionedMiddle East Rally Championship us to build better cars for our customers. But founding President YoshisukeAikawa who was oped Datsun Bluebird 1600 SSS.The following er building cars for private customers. was created in 1984. It was through this equally, by encouraging motorsport in the in attendance. His disapproval of the defeat year Nissan consolidated that position, win- In 1984, the decision was taken to merge championship that Mohammed Ben Middle East we feel that we are promoting led to the creation of the Datsun Sorts NL75, ning the event outright again, but this time these two operations, which resulted in the Sulayem enjoyed the huge success which the region in the eyes of the world. Over the fitted with a 750cc DOHC engine complete with aDatsun 240Z. By the mid-1970s it was creation of the wholly owned, but separate allowed him to found the UAE Desert years the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge has with supercharger. This car, which triumphed the Nissan Violet that carried the flag for the Nissan subsidiary, Nissan Motorsports Challenge in 1991. As chairman of the brought world-famous motorsport legends at the next race meeting held at Tamagawa, is company in international rallies, achieving International Co. Ltd, abbreviated to NISMO. organising committee he has steered the such as Carlos Sainz, Ari Vatenan and the now considered to have been Nissan’s first major successes, especially in the Safari Rally NISMO got involved at Le Mans soon after event to the point where it has a global rep- late Colin McRae to the UAE. The presence of “works” competition vehicle. which it won outright five times. the company was created, and has at different utation in the motorsport world. Through its such figures here all helps to showcase the times continued the pursuit of this most elu- committed sponsorship of the event, Nissan country as a wonderful place to visit. In this AN INTERNATIONAL DEBUT NISMO CONSOLIDATES NISSAN’S sive of crowns, adopting novel technical has played a significant role in providing the way, we feel we are playing a wider role in The advent of the second world war sig- MOTORSPORT DNA approaches including different drivetrain con- long-term investment platform and behind- assisting in the development of the Middle nalled the start of a two decades long hiatus Since that those first heady days of off-road figurations and radical aerodynamic solutions the-scenes support which has enabled the East’s economy.” for Nissan from competitive motorsport, but success , Nissan has kept its foot firmly planted in the various GT and Prototype cars it has Desert Challenge to flourish. In addition to the financial backing which the company came back with a bang in 1958. on the accelerator in terms of both circuit rac- entered. This approach - creative, innovative, “Nissan’s commitment to motorsports in helps guarantee the viability of the event, In that year, two Datsun 210s named nick- ing and rallying participation, helped in no helping shape the very future of motorsport - the Middle East is intrinsically linked to our Nissan Patrols are the Abu Dhabi Desert named ‘Fuji’ and ‘Sakura’ were entered into an small part by the creation of its NISMO division is fundamental to NISMO’s DNA. desire to create vehicles which serve the Challenge’s official vehicle, being used in event in Australia, which at the time was in 1984. needs of our customers in what is one of the the preparation phase by the organisers to dubbed”the world’s cruellest rally.” The The genesis of NISMO was a small Japanese MIDDLE EAST’S OFF-ROAD harshest motoring environments on the map out the course to be followed by the MobilgasTrial was a 16,000km event that took carmaker named Prince.

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