After finishing behind a Porsche 906 in the 1967 Japan Grand Prix at Fuji, Prince Motor Company (now owned by Nissan) went back to work developing a more powerful successor to the 380-2.
Sakurai's team initially designed a 5 liter V12 engine, which would hopefully produce over 600 horsepower, nearly triple the output of the 380-2, but neither Prince nor Nissan had any experience with such an engine. Starting from scratch, development of project GRX would take over a year.
In the meantime, the bodywork of the 380-2 was lengthened at the rear, flattened to cover the engine, and ended abruptly with a kamm tail, which was the common aerodynamic trend of the time. The car remained a Group 6 prototype for many months until the Toyota 7 debuted with an open cockpit. Toyota were basing their car on FIA Group 7, known internationally for Can Am and Interserie. Immediately after seeing this, Sakurai scrapped the aero of the 381 and started over with a Group 7 design. Things like headlights and spare tires would no longer be required.
Likely inspired by the Chaparral 2E and 2F, the 381 featured tall mounted wings above the rear wheels. Taking the design one step further, the left and right wings operated separately to help during turns.
With everything else complete, it was obvious the V12 would not be ready in time for the 1968 Japan Grand Prix, so Sakurai was forced to order multiple Chevrolet big block V8's from America to be placed at the back of the chassis. The 5.4 liter engines created "only" 450 horsepower, but this was enough to outpace every Toyota 7, Lola T70, and the Porsche 910 which finished 2nd. Overall, Nissan took 5 of the first 6 places.
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4 июл 2024
