IMSA: Nissan's steep learning curve

The Tequila Patron ESM team and its partners at Nissan have a lot of ground to cover over the three-day Roar Before the 24 test.

Its brand-new Nissan Onroak DPi, built on the Ligier JS P217 chassis with stylized bodywork and a GT3-derived 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 engine from the fire-breathing GT-R road cars, arrived on Dec. 21 – later than desired from Onroak's facility in France – and the veteran ESM team wasted no time in starting its track testing program.

Although two days at Sebring allowed ESM and Nissan to work out a number of electronic and oiling kinks, the team has yet to run the curvaceous cars in anger. And with rival DPi manufacturers Cadillac and Mazda a month or more ahead with on-track testing, it means the Florida-based team will use the Roar as more of an extended learning opportunity than an attempt to coax maximum speed from its cars.

"We're just here to do as many laps as we possibly can," ESM driver Ryan Dalziel told RACER.

ESM hired veteran sports car and IndyCar engineer Kyle Brannan to work with the Nissan Onroak DPis this year, and according to the Californian, the chassis and engine have plenty of potential.

"It's a true prototype; everything is extremely modern," he said. "It has a nice torsion bar front suspension, the rear suspension is a rocker arrangement with the third spring, and they've worked hard to package the motor in as cleanly as possible. It's a road car engine, and it's the first time it has been in a prototype, so we're still learning a lot about it; there are pressure sensors and all kinds of other sensors everywhere, but you can see how nicely everything has been done."

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