Nissan Unveils Engine for Australia's V8 Supercars Championship

MELBOURNE – Nissan has taken the wraps off the engine that it plans to use in next year's Australian V8 Supercars Championship, with Nissan Australia CEO William F. Peffer, Jr., and Kelly Racing's Todd Kelly unveiling the engine in Melbourne this week.

Nissan, which last raced in the Australian Touring Car Championship 20 years ago, will be the only manufacturer to use a production engine in the V8 Supercars series.

The VK56 engine, which is made at the Nissan facility in Decherd, Tennessee, in the United States, powers the Nissan Titan, Armada and Pathfinder, as well as the Infiniti QX, which are all sold in the North American market.
It will also feature in the 2013 Australian version of the Patrol SUV.

"The VK engine is something that powers engines on vehicles around the world right now," Peffer said at a press event. "This technology which we use in road cars will transform under the harshest conditions of everyday racing."

The NISMO-developed version of the VK56DE powered the Nissan GT-R FIA GT1 entry to FIA GT1 World Championship victory in 2011.

For the Australian series, many areas of the engines will be adjusted to comply with V8 Supercars technical regulations.

The engine has been 'sleaved' and the bore and stroke adjusted to fit within current V8 Supercars regulations, resulting in a reduction in engine capacity from 5.6 liters to five liters.

"It's going to be a pretty special day in a week or two when we fire it up for the first time," Kelly said.

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