Nissan’s new World Endurance Championship LMP1 program has experienced delays that will keep the front-engine cars from competing a week from now at Silverstone, and again at Spa in May, but according to Nissan Motorsports boss Darren Cox (LEFT), the extra time is being put to good use.

With its GT-R LM NISMO in need of more testing mileage ahead of its big debut at June’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the GT-R LM NISMO’s carbon fiber monocoque requiring modifications to pass its crash tests, Cox says one hurdle has been cleared and significant progress is being made with the other.

“I think it’s very widely reported that we failed one element of the crash test. It is one element,” Cox told RACER. “Of course, if you fail one element, the test stops and you have to go back and make improvements and re-test on that element. Then we went through the second time with flying colors. We’ve passed the crash test. My understanding is that a number of the high-profile programs across P1 have failed crash tests but they don’t publicize it. If you’re going to be open to the public, you’ve got to be open to the public all the time. That’s what we’ve decided to do. Good, bad or indifferent. But I hope people respect us for that.

“Nothing is perfect and we are showing our imperfections in public, as well as hopefully telling a good story. The downside of being open to the fans and telling the fans what you’re doing is they hear about the good stuff but they also hear about the bad stuff. I think those of us in the industry know that we’re not the first, and we certainly won’t be the last, who have failed a crash test.”

With the GT-R LM NISMO done with crash testing certification (LEFT: Nissan P1 co-designer Simon Marshall stands atop the car after passing its final crash test; image courtesy of NISMO), the front-wheel-drive twin-turbo V6-powered Hybrid prototype and its Indianapolis-based team have been busy developing the car in America.

“There’s a lot of happiness that we’ve completed crash testing, that’s enabled us to crack on with testing,” Cox continued. “Again, we’d much rather be racing than testing, but we’re making the most of that window of extra testing. We were testing for two days last week, which ended up being one due to weather, and we added a day this week so we’ll be testing for three days this week. And then testing again yesterday. It looks like it’s going to rain again. We’re going to tough it out and do some wet weather testing.

“Then we’ve got at least four more days in the U.S. before we pack up and go over to Europe. Yeah, it’s not plan A, but, as someone that’s close to both of us once said, it’s all in the recovery. We think we’ve got the best plan and the best course of action to make the most of the cards we’ve been dealt.”

Reducing the performance gap to the established Audi, Porsche, and Toyota factory P1 programs is the primary goal for the Nissan team in the span between now and the June 13-14 24 Hours of Le Mans. Optimizing the GT-R LM NISMO’s FWD power delivery, handling, and ERS harvesting will continue to take place, along with perfecting the car’s unique aerodynamics.

“I think the funny thing is that everyone is worried for us about how we’re going to handle setting the car up and not getting understeer and not getting good traction out of the corners,” Cox explained. “It dawned on me today as I was talking to the guys: It’s just a racing car. We’ve got enough engineers around us that can engineer a racing car. A rear-wheel drive car will start out normally oversteering; it’s designed like that, and people have done enough rear-wheel drive cars to set the car up initially to do that. It is just exactly the same. The engine is in the opposite position and it’s driving on the other tires.

“I’m so pleased everyone is worried about us, but it’s just a racing car, guys. We’ve got enough people on the program, Brandon Fry or Ricardo Davila, or Ben Bowlby; they know how to set racing cars up. There are different challenges to setting up a front-wheel drive than a rear-wheel drive, but it’s not rocket science. It is, as per usual, getting the most out of the package you’ve got there. We think, as we have said before, there are compromises with front-wheel-drive and there are compromises in rear-wheel drive. We will just maximize the opportunity we’ve got and reduce the compromises.”

Although the team has yet to declare its megajoule class, Nissan is expected to compete at the initial 2MJ level while its rivals race with 4, 6, or 8MJ.

“We have gone a different direction on the KERS – which has meant we’re learning, and our learning curve is also steep, and that’s normal,” said Cox. “We believe that the potential of the package that we have as a whole is the right thing to do. Will we unlock it in the first year? Absolutely, we won’t. And Audi, they’ve been doing it for 15 years, they been running hybrids for a long time, and only now are they going up to the second [4]MJ class.

“Those, guys, the Goliath to the rest of our Davids, haven’t mastered the 8 MJ class yet, so who should expect to beat? Yes, the KERS system is challenging, as it is for every manufacturer that has got a KERS system in their racing cars in the championship. The great thing is the testing we’re doing at the moment is we are of finding performance. That is our focus for the testing we’re doing at the moment in the U.S. That is brilliant. That we’re actually finding performance.”

With his base in the UK and the team set to move its operations to England, the WEC season opener at Silverstone would have been a welcoming environment for Nissan’s P1 program to make its debut.

“We’re disappointed about Silverstone, of course, but we’ll do lots of stuff for the fans,” Cox noted. “We’ll make sure that the drivers are more accessible than they would be. We’re doing things like fan forums. We’ll have a show car on display. Of course, we’ll have more cars – certainly engines – on the grid than anybody else that weekend with all the LMP2s and LMP3s. It’s just the two important ones aren’t there.

“By skipping the first two rounds, we’ve got a set testing and development plan now designed to have our cars better prepared for the big race. We’re confident we’ve got now time to be ready for Le Mans and we’ve got our plans and we’ll adapt it if we need to.”