Nissan Based Classic Dakar Entries...

Lets face it…Nissan has always been an “also ran” in the Dakar…coming close a few times but never taking the top spot in the world’s best endurance race. That said…with the opening of the Dakar Classic category the last few years it has brought out some cool vehicles from mothballs and I like to track them and see pictures of them. So here with the official release of the Dakar ‘23 entry lists we can see what we have for this edition. They’ll be up against the usual range of Mitsubishi Pajeros, Landcruisers, Fiat Pandas, Rothsport Porsches, etc. but are represented in surprisingly good numbers with many coming from the Italian firm of Tecnosport who is sending a whole range of Nissans over for the Dakar Classic as you can see in the car hauler picture at the bottom…So without further delay, here are your Nissan based Dakar Classic entries for 2023 and a few photos of the vehicles.

• Team # 722 Nissan Pathfinder Valentina Casella

• Team #729 Nissan Patrol GR Y61 Gian Paolo Tobia Cavagna

• Team #748 Nissan Patrol K260 Luis Pedrals Marot

• Team #749 Nissan Patrol GR Y60 Radek Vavra

• Team #750 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) Urbano Alfonso Gherardo Clerici

• Team #754 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) Francisco Javier Benavente

• Team #757 Nissan Patrol Y60 Jean-Christophe Moine

• Team #767 Nissan Terrano 2 (Pathfinder) Dutschler Gian Enrico

• Team #773 Nissan Patrol 260 Asier Duarte Rodriguez

• Team #790 Nissan Terrano 2 (Pathfinder) Garosci Riccardo

• Team #792 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) Lorenzo Piolini

• Team #796 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder)

• Team #806 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) Peter Schey

Dakar 2022 Nissan Results

We’ll wrap up here what the end results were for this year’s Dakar….all in all not bad. A fair showing for a grossly undersupported marque that continues on with supportive fans, privateer builders, and durable vehicles of both a current and historic nature.

First we have the Classic category which ran on a completely different track than the primary racers but still covered thousands of miles of desert terrain at speed. 10 of the 11 entrants finished which is really solid and the top Classic finisher was the the Nissan Patrol of team #806 who finished 38th

#719 Nissan Terrano of Maurizio Traglio finished 68th of 129 finishers

#751 Nissan Terrano of Francisco Javier Benavente withdrew and DND’d on Stage 8 of 12

#753 Nissan Patrol of Michel Blanc finished 43rd of of 129 finishers

#759 Nissan Terrano of Luciano Carcheri finished 88th of 129 finishers

#761 Nissan Patrol of Gian Paolo Tobia Cavagna finished 49th of 129 finishers

#767 Nissan Terrano of Giacomo Clerici finished 111th of 129 finishers

#770 Nissan Patrol of Guido Dallarosa finished 82nd of 129 finishers

#795 Nissan Patrol of Eje Elgh finished 46th of 129 finishers

#806 Nissan Patrol of Luis Pedrals Marot finished 38th of 129 finishers

#819 Nissan Patrol of Noemi Rodriguez Moreno finished 55th of 129 finishers

#828 Nissan Patrol of Francesc Termens finished 59th of 129 finishers

Then we have the big boys in the full on real Dakar…

#291 Nissan Patrol of Ibrahim Almuhna, finished 72nd of 72 finishers!! Way to close it out with a finish!

#280 Nissan Proto of Jose Manuel Salinero, DNF’d and withdrew on Stage 4

#272 Nissan Patrol of Silvio Totani, finished 60th of 72 finishers!

#265 Nissan Navara of Markus Walcher, finished 44th of 72 finishers!

#267 Nissan Navara of Daniel Schroeder, finished 36th of 72 finishers!

Classic and other Nissans at Dakar 2022

Well…another year, another post on this topic. I thought I might have exited this space a bit due to recent events but we can get to that some time in the future. For now it appears I’ll still be tied to the Nissan offroad racing community in one fashion or another. So off we go.

2022 appears to be a bit better than 2021 with a number of decent entries in the primary class of “cars” but also sees a huge influx of Dakar entries in the “Classic” class as well…so at least we have a bunch of teams to follow and pictures to see even if the results won’t be at the top of the standings.

So off we go…First up are those Nissans in the “car” class and running against the big boys of the sport. Here we have:

#291 Nissan Patrol of Ibrahim Almuhna

#280 Nissan Proto of Jose Manuel Salinero

#272 Nissan Patrol of Silvio Totani

#267 Nissan Navara of Jurgen Schroeder (who was replaced by his son Daniel Schroeder due to Covid)

#265 Nissan Navara of Markus Walcher

Nissans running in the "Classic” class are as follows:

#719 Nissan Terrano of Maurizio Traglio

#751 Nissan Terrano of Francisco Javier Benavente

#753 Nissan Patrol of Michel Blanc

#759 Nissan Terrano of Luciano Carcheri

#761 Nissan Patrol of Gian Paolo Tobia Cavagna

#767 Nissan Terrano of Giacomo Clerici

#770 Nissan Patrol of Guido Dallarosa

#795 Nissan Patrol of Eje Elgh

#806 Nissan Patrol of Luis Pedrals Marot

#819 Nissan Patrol of Noemi Rodriguez Moreno

#828 Nissan Patrol of Francesc Termens

Classic Nissans at the 2021 Dakar--Results!

So with no “real” Nissans in the 2021 Dakar, all we were left with was those entered in the Classic category which did not face the full brunt of the Dakar and while not easy by any means was a bit disappointing. When Chinese manufacturers field more than a dozen entrants and Nissan not a one? There is trouble abrewing…

Still, seeing these old gals out and playing was good and represents a time when Nissan was putting forth its best efforts. Now? The flag is left to be flown by privateer efforts like Redlined Motorsport out of South Africa who did not enter vehicles this year largely due to Covid…Hopefully they will be back in ‘22.

So what did we end up with in the Classic category?

Well, the first and only Classic category vehicle to drop out was the Mercedes G320 (Gwagon) of Carlos Sanchez on Stage 10…so at least all the Nissans made it to the end, right?

Finishing positions?

Well, there were 24 starters overall, 23 finished the Classic Dakar course.

Francisco Benavente of Spain in his Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) finished in 18th overall with a high of a third place finish on Stage 5.

Luciano Carcheri of Italy and his Nissan Patrol were extraordinarily consistent in their finishing—never higher than 7th in their stage finishes but also never lower than 16th. They finished an excellent 7th overall.

Annnnd…that’s it. The whole kit and kaboodle of Nissans in this year’s Dakar. A few nice shots came out of it of the Nissans racing but…kinda few and far between. Here’s to a great 2021 in hopes that Redlined continues to build their customer base and we get some more Nissan racing efforts that aren’t watered down, spec, Sentra racing on tarmac…please Nissan…give me a break…

Till then? Some of us will soldier on…

New Gas Intake for Race Truck...

Well, we’re still working on making improvements. The Texas race revealed a number of areas where the design of the truck could be improved. One of the most grossly obvious was in the fuel intake. Having replaced the stock fuel tank with a fuel cell moved the location of the fuel supply higher in the vehicle but left the intake in the same spot (the stock fuel door). This caused a major leveling out of the line that takes the gas from the fuel door to the new cell location. The change was significant enough that if the truck was on even just slightly unlevel ground (tipping towards the driver’s side) or even level ground, that the fuel would not flow to the cell and would back up towards the filler neck, washing out and making it appear that the cell was full when in reality it might very well be empty…A major issue as it left us with an empty tank yet no way to get fuel into the cell at one point.

Solving this was relatively simple—we have removed the idea of using the stock filler location and moved it up to a secure spot off of the cage itself. This creates a significant angle down to the cell which will eliminate the prior issue. Problem now? Short people. They may need a stepstool to refuel the truck….but as Randy Newman says “Short people ain’t got no reason to live” right? ;)

Classic Nissans at Dakar 2021

Well…it looks like Dakar will happen…maybe…possibly….hopefully…kinda…

With no fans at any point—even more limited than last year’s first Saudi edition—and less coverage and everyone focused on other events, Dakar 2021, if it occurs, will be about as under the radar as the world’s biggest and most difficult motorsports event can get.

One item of note about this year’s version is the inclusion of the “Classic” class. Not fully racing the event but not just a media tour, the Classic Class is intended to bring out older vehicles that have participated in or are designed to mimic those vehicles that have previously participated in, the Dakar. It really shows off some epic, rare and unusual vehicles. The full list of vehicles entered—both in the Classic and regular classes—has not been released but is expected to come this Wednesday November 25th. We’ll see the full list of Nissans entered at that point but already there are a few here in the Classic Class to follow and drool over.

First is the #225 Nissan Patrol of Lucian Carcheri

Second is the #220 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) of Francisco Benavente

There are also a number of other super interesting vehicles listed so far in the Classic Class including a faux-Rothman Porsche, a little Skoda sedan (one a female centric American effort and the other co-piloted by an American surfshop owner and prior Dakar bike finisher respectively) and a couple Sunhil buggies which I am in love with the looks of. We’ll be back to cover what the total of Nissan entries are after Wednesday’s announcements…

Nissans at Baja Portalegre 2020

Rally Raid goes on regardless of Covid and worldwide disruption. I have my concerns about whether Dakar is going to happen in early 2021 but many organizations are pushing forward with events including the Baja 1000 coming up in Mexico, a host of rally raid events in Europe and South America over the past month or so and upcoming two events in the Middle East. So…some of us have gotten on with the business of living life….

Baja Portalegre is a big annual event that has a fairly lengthy history and brings out some big names. This year it was Dakar regulars Bernhard Ten Brinke and codriver Tom Colsoul taking home the win behind the wheel of a top flight Overdrive Toyota Hilux.

Nissans didn’t take the win (unsurprising!) but did have a number of respectable showings in what looks like a particularly wet and sloppy event. Five of the 29 finishers were behind the wheel of Nissans. Three of these were Navaras and two Pathfinders, finding themselves in 14th, 18th, 21st, 26th and 29th places out of 29 finishers. One Nissan ended as a DNF being the Navara of Nuno Tordo. Of additional note is that the 18th place finisher in Ronald Van Loon and 21st place Stefan Carmans were both VK56 Navaras manufactured by the RedLine Motorsports effort from South Africa who continues to produce these high end vehicles for Privateers across the globe. Photos of some of these vehicles in action at the Portalegre below.

Baja Russia Northern Forest Rally 2019

Just a quick blurb…

First event of the 2019 FIA World Cup for Cross Country Bajas…the only snow and ice rally-raid on any schedule. It usually has a relatively small entry list given how remote it is in Russia as well as the uncomfortable conditions. Other events on the schedule are in Spain, Italy, UAE, and Jordan among others. Most of the entrants are from Russia and the surrounding areas.

This year saw 33 entrants with a mix of UTVs, pickups and full Dakar-size "trucks”. Among these were some four Nissans with two Nissan Patrols, one Nissan Navara and one Nissan NP300 pickup. The two Patrols were under the control of some Turkmenistan drivers while the Navara was from Romania and the Transcarpatic Rally Team while the Pickup was under Russian control by the Uspenskiy Rally Tecnica team.

Roads were tight and technical and fully studded tires were allowed and you can see that narrow profiles were the order of the day.

Results after the five stages ended with a Fin (Fins and snow, right?), Tapio Lauronen, taking the win in a “Mitsubishi Pajero”. The best Nissan of the event ended being the #215 Patrol of the Muhammetmyret Gurbanov in 17th of the 20 finishers. The other Nissans finished 18th and 19th with the Navara not taking the checkered flag.

Nissans at the Kameel 250

This is a “warm up” race in South Africa before the larger National events kick off in March. Think of it as a “regional” event with a decidedly lower key atmosphere.

Still the race brought out some big guns, particularly on the Nissan side of things. Terence Marsh and the Red Line Racing team brought two of their top flight Navara’s out to race while other older Nissan Frontiers and even some old Datsuns were entered as well.

The Red Line Navaras finished 1 and 2 in their class, not much of a surprise given there were only three in their class but more importantly out of 43+ entries of all kinds finished 2nd and 15th overall. Oh, and the old green Datsun here also won its class—please note it leaf sprung front and rear ends…what a joy to race that thing!!

Enjoy the pictures and if you want to see more of what South African offload racing looks like go to the event’s Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Vryburgmotorclub/?tn-str=k*F

Nissan Truck Sales January 2019

And we’re off!!

and walking…

Nissan corporate is in disarray if we are being honest. Ghosn and others under indictment and in jail…others fleeing the company before they get fired…Renault unsure of what to do with its position and influence on the company, its ownership of Mitsubishi still rudderless and sharply declining sales across the board in the US with a portfolio of generally good quality but uninspiring models…ugh…Oh…and the Next Gen Frontier? Likely not out soon enough to blunt the rush of small truck buyers who are scooping up the new Ford Ranger in droves (2,153 sales in January and likely to increase exponentially in February)

So Nissan truck sales in January ‘19? A mixed bag but perhaps better than Nissan as a whole in the US. Nissan sales overall were down 20% from January ‘18.

Nissan moved 6,062 Frontiers…a near 3% increase from a year ago and again, stunning for a 15 year old platform, and the most its moved in this period since ‘16.

As an FYI, the total Frontiers moved in ‘18 of 79,646 was the second highest annual figure EVER for this generation…only 2016 saw more Frontiers sold…all of which is COMPLETELY without marketing or any real push by the manufacturer…The highest ever sold for the Frontier came in the previous generation in 2000 with about 109K sold.

The Titan? Well….again and again I read in the press—”its a great truck with good quality but overlooked even when compared to Toyota’s Tundra”…well…there’s a reason for that…Nissan brought it out to minimal fanfare and has since largely orphaned its support. When you are bombarded with Ford, Chevy, Dodge and even Toyota adds 24-7 on their trucks you can’t compete for share of mind. Nissan has refused to acknowledge this.

Titan sales in January were just 3,031, falling well short of ‘18’s 4,051 which came on the heals of a strong College Football tie-in campaign. It does however mark the 2nd highest # of units sold since 2015 with only last year selling more.

Nissans at Dakar 2019--Final Results

It’s been a week or so since the dust settled (literally) and we can assess the results of the few Nissans who entered this year’s Dakar.

Both Jurgen Schroder and Shameer Variawa withdrew from the Dakar on Stage 5 of 10 due to its difficulty and repairs needed to the vehicles while on the stage causing them to time out of eligibility. Both were able to repair their vehicles and restart the event after “Rest Day”.

Shameer made it to Stage 8 where it hit something in the “fesh-fesh” that prevented him from continuing and ending his Dakar. His biggest hurdle he admits is the dunes and deep sand and has a lot of learning to do. His navigator also feels he has learned a lot after making some mistakes early on. The #429 Nissan however showed some real speed, running in the top 40 when healthy. This bodes well for Shameer’s future given this car has only been run a handful of times to date. Shameer also states that he will be back at the Dakar in this vehicle for 2020.

Jurgen Schroder also restarted after Rest Day and also was taken out before seeing the finish line. I had expected it to be Jurgen to make it to the finish in his Nissan if any did given his lengthy experience and prior Dakar finishes. Unfortunately engine issues ended their rally on Stage 6.

Last but certainly not least is the #419 of Thomas Bell. A Dakar rookie in a new car this South African team pressed on through some really tough circumstances including an accident on one of the transit roads that required Thomas to go to the local hospital, get checked out and medically cleared to reenter the race, get back in the race car and go on and finish the stage. The team finished 57th out of the 66 entrants to finish the event out of the original 99 starters in the care category.

So that’s it for this year. At least there were some Nissan entries and none were using “old” cars…all were in current generation T1 race cars which is good news. Also good news is the high level of business that Red Line Racing out of South Africa has for these cars…they are churning them out constantly and while not many go to Dakar they are spreading across the globe in a number of Rally Raid events due to their cost effectiveness. Red Line has new versions of the race Navarra/Frontier coming out later this year as well—one a solid axle rear end version and another a twin turbo version…should be great stuff!

Congrats to Thomas Bell and Red Line Motoring for the fantastic finish!

Nissans at Dakar 2019 Update

So it could be worse….

With only three Nissans running there really wasn’t much hope of a great finish but there has been some sign of future success.

Of the three, two are still running.

The #319 of Jurgen Schroder, the most experienced and battle tested of the three teams has been forced to bow out after Stage 6. Engine issues had taken them out on Stage 5 but with repairs to the vehicle they were able to restart the race on Stage 6 to contest the 2nd half of the Dakar. It was not to be. Stage 6 saw a return of engine troubles and this time they could not be repaired. Reportedly some sort of crankshaft failure that melted a sensor (at least that is the Google German translation.

The #429 rookie team of Shameer Variawa running their Frontier/Navarra in only its second event had issues on Stage 5 that prevented them from properly finishing the stage but were still running. The effected the minimal repairs and restarted Stage 6, again with the intent of contesting the 2nd half of the Dakar which is a new rule in ‘19. Prior Dakar’s had banned racers from running at all once they failed to finish a stage. Now there is a limited, one time “restart” allowed though such racers are relegated to a different class and cannot contend for the overall win. Still Variawa is running well, finished Stage 7 in 5th out of the 24 cars restarting under these rules and stands in 10th overall for those who took advantage of this new rule.

Lastly there is the #419 of Thomas Bell. This Nissan is still running and still in the big event, not having any serious mechanical or navigational issues that put them out of the event. Stage 7 saw the South African team finish the day in 50th place and running as high as 34th. Overall they sit 54th out of the 61 teams still running (99 started the event) with two three stages left.

Overall? The two rookies are still running which is a big deal and all have equipped themselves well, showing the platform does have potential and can run in the top 30-40 in this event. Nissan still needs more entries to really be a force but as always…we’ll take what we can get.

Nissans at Dakar 2019

Been following and posting this info for the past few years and 2019 is no different.

Three Nissan Navaras in this year’s Dakar, all coming out of the same Red Line Motorsport shop in South Africa. Two drivers are newbies to Dakar while one is an old hat.

Today, 1/8 marked the second day of the race…after an 80+ km “warmup” stage yesterday, today was about 350kms. What is really interesting this year is that near 100% of the racing over 10 days is done on the sand and in the dunes of Peru vs. the dirt/gravel and WRC like roads in recent editions. This puts a priority on route finding and sand skills.

The old hand, Jurgen Schroder in his #329 Navarra finished 37th out of 94 listed finishers and now sits in 36th overall in the event.

The newest entrant and one who may have the fastest effort once he gets a bit of experience is the #429 of Shameer Variawa who came across 66th today moving to 65th. He had trouble with navigation, a puncture and his starter today, so just finishing at all today is a win.

Lastly is the #419 Navarra of Thomas Bell, also in his first Dakar finishing 61st in the second stage, also improving his standing to 58th for the event.

Prior statistics say that only one of these entries will finish the event but I’m hoping for better as while navigation will be tough throughout the event the sand should create fewer impact related stress on the vehicle—though perhaps greater strain on the engine given having to keep tire spin and revs up in order to get through the deeper sections. I’ll keep updating as the race goes along and including photos as I find them.

December 2018 Nissan Sales

So let’s not kid ourselves…we only care about trucks or maybe SUVs…if they’re cool.

Nissan released its final number for both December and its full year 2018 results. Overall Nissan sales were up more than 7.5%but that didn’t offset earlier declines and overall ‘18 results were down some 6% from ‘17. This isn’t necessarily terrible given how strong the whole industry was in ‘17 and ‘18 truck results were what I’d call “acceptable”.

December was another exceptionally strong month for the Frontier, moving 7500 trucks bringing ‘18’s results to about 80,000. Given this is a now 13+ year old platform that showed a 7% growth over ‘17, Nissan execs have to be wondering why they would ever bother replacing it…Hell, why not introduce a new model and continue to market a down-contented “classic” Frontier as they have with the Rogue in the past?

The Titan? Oh the Titan…as an owner of a ‘17 Titan (and Frontier, and Pathfinder) I root for this truck but despite the money Nissan spent in developing it and what a quality truck it is—strong engine, good quality, good amenities, solid towing and cargo, good gas mileage, etc. Nissan just hasn’t seemed interested in promoting it outside of the occasional small sponsorship. People just truly don’t realize the value the truck is given its 100,000 mile warranty. And so…its December sales were only 4,600+ units bringing its ‘18 total to about 50,500 which is down from ‘17’s 53,000. There is just too much competition in this segment for Nissan to let it sit without major marketing backing.

So that’s it for the month and year…we’ll see what ‘19 brings…maybe the intro of the next Frontier?