Globally, Nissan’s motorsport efforts are still going strong, with GT Academy, Super GT, and numerous GT3 and customer programs alive and well. If there’s a big motorsport event abroad with iffy international broadcast coverage, Nissan’s often the one to put together an English-language stream for it. Yet North America seems to be a no-man’s land when it comes to major factory Nissan racing support.
With Nissan’s focus changing year-to-year and an apparent lack of willingness to spend much of their own money on anything motorsport-related, it can be hard to tell if anything they’re doing works.
Worse, Nissan North America’s slow and awkward withdrawal from being a major player in North American motorsports speaks to a dread every racing fan has: racing must make itself relevant to the masses to survive. We may be convinced that a car is cool because we see it on track, but more of us are in the market for a ran-when-parked 1987 BMW E30 than a new Altima.
It’s far too easy for manufacturers like Nissan—whose bottom line is more connected to Rogue sales than race results—to walk away, which they tend to do quietly and abruptly, if recent history still rings true. Racing is expensive, and relies on sponsorship and manufacturer involvement to keep going. The question now is if anyone at Nissan even cares enough about racing to continue to support it here.
(Jalopnik.com)
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