Nissan’s New IMSA Prototype Is All Curves And Nightmare Fuel With The Heart Of A GT-R

Ever wondered what the thing that goes bump in the night would look like in race car form? Behold the new Nissan Onroak DPi in all its naked carbon fiber glory, which we swear isn’t a giant GT-R powered mechanical fish-being from an alternate dimension here to eat your face.

This is Nissan’s entry into the world of DPi cars—the new spec which competes in the highest Prototype class in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. A 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 derived from the engine in the GT-R powers the big beast, according to Road & Track. Its curvaceous body is based on the Onroak Ligier JS P217 global LMP2-spec chassis, but with the custom bodywork that IMSA allows in DPi.

While it looks like a campy-Batmobile if a campy-Batmobile was ever cool, it also looks like a Nissan prototype that might have some chance at success. Nissan did well with the previous global LMP2 spec and tends to make a quick car when they’re not trying something wacky like front-wheel-drive or a rejected IndyCar proposal.

That being said, Nissan’s car is behind in testing compared to the two other main DPi cars. The Mazda RT24-P and Cadillac DPi-V.R have both been testing for over a month, yet the Extreme Speed Motorsports team took the Nissan DPi out for the first time yesterday at Sebring. Oof.

We’ll see some familiar faces driving ESM’s two cars, too. In addition to the full-season driver Scott Sharp, Ryan Dalziel, Ed Brown, and Johannes van Overbeek, noted beast Pipo Derani and Ayrton’s nephew Bruno Senna will join them for the longer races on the schedule, per a Nismo press release. Porsche 919 driver Brendon Hartley will join ESM’s No. 22 car as a fourth driver for Daytona.

Regardless, at least it looks pretty intimidating in its mostly-naked carbon fiber. Please don’t eat my soul, Nissan DPi.

Story by: Blackjack.jalopnik.com