Discussion
Your mother wouldn't like it
(Filed: 24/01/2004)
Nissan's mild-mannered shopping trolley has been transformed into a mad, mid-engined racetrack refugee. Paul Hudson reports
When it comes to heavily modified hatchbacks, the Max Power generation and their garish, body-kitted Vauxhall Novas, Peugeot 205s, Volkswagen Golfs and the like seem to have it covered. The Nissan Micra, shopping trolley of choice to a much more — how shall we say — mature breed, doesn't get a look-in. It's perceived as dull. So dull that no amount of body-kitting, bass tubes or even nitrous-injection can make it remotely exciting. Until now.
Quite what Nissan UK had in mind when it commissioned respected motorsport specialist Ray Mallock Limited (RML) to make the bog-standard Micra interesting is a mystery, but the resulting Micra R is so special that even the Max Power crew would be speechless.
It started with Nissan's in-house styling exercise for a sporty Micra, but somewhere along the way the thinking became severely warped. Not content with tweaking a standard, front-wheel-drive Micra until it hurt, RML threw away almost everything except the bodyshell and created a wild, track-bred machine with the engine relocated from the nose to between the rear wheels. Not just any old engine, but a 2·0-litre Nissan lump left over from the RML-prepared Primera that won the 1999 British Touring Car Championship. It develops 265bhp — the most powerful standard Micra has 88.
"Racer for the road" is one of the biggest clichés in motoring, but in this case it's correct — the Micra-with-attitude sailed through a Single Vehicle Approval (SVA) test and is fully road-legal. It still looks like the standard car in silhouette, albeit one that's been severely lowered, while extended wheel arches and striking silver-and-red paintwork barely prepare you for the radical surgery beneath.
The four-cylinder, dry-sumped engine and six-speed Hewland competition gearbox are slung low between the rear wheels, so there's no boot. The fuel tank has a new home under the bonnet, a space it shares with a monstrous bracing strut and the air reservoirs for the front dampers. Inside, the Micra R is filled with a complex roll-cage, high-backed racing seats with five-point harnesses and polished metal flooring. The instrument binnacle is occupied by a racing-style LCD display. Apart from a nifty, black suede-effect finish, the dashboard is pretty much standard Micra, right down to the air-conditioning and electric window switches.
Oh, there's also a large red button in the centre of the facia. Press it, tickle the right pedal and you're rewarded by the grumbling cacophony that is a racing engine at idle. With BTCC stalwart David Leslie alongside to make sure this unique machine remains in one piece, I'm ushered on to the Silverstone circuit.
It needs at least 3,000rpm to get going. Bang the sequential gearbox lever forward and the car shudders with pent-up aggression. Feed out the clutch then forget about it as the manic Micra sprints for the track with a chirrup from the rear tyres.
Not surprisingly, it sounds very sporty, despite being silenced to meet road regulations. Feels it, too, thanks to the firm, race-car suspension. But the exhaust is almost drowned by the extraordinary transmission whine, which abates for a millisecond as you tug the lever to engage second without recourse to the clutch.
It corners flat, with tons of grip, although there's some shimmying from the rear as you floor the throttle to launch you down the next straight. The turn-in to corners is astounding — those wide tyres might provoke an initial heaviness but at speed the steering is perfectly weighted and the car changes direction with alacrity. Along the back straight, the mad Micra is into its stride and powering towards the red line, accompanied by a glorious waft of petrol and synthetic oil from the thrashing lump behind. Just as well they left in the air-con.
The huge Brembo calipers and vented discs are also racing items. There's not much progression to the pedal but, in conjunction with the sequential transmission, the brakes make the Micra R great for attacking the tightest corners. You can balance the car on the throttle and it's easy to correct slight slides. It is a bit of a beast in some respects, but so benign in others. The delicate balance between brutality and finesse required to drive it well is what makes it addictive.
Nissan UK says that if this unique Micra R spawns a road-going version it will be merely a body-kitted standard Micra — the cost of the mid-engined malarkey would make replicas uneconomic. Maybe they won't bother, hoping that the Micra's new-found street-cred will endear it to the Max Power crowd. Quite what other drivers will make of it is anybody's guess but, to quote the famous 1971 MG Midget ad, your mother wouldn't like it.
Taken from:www.motoring.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2004/01/23/emfmic23.xml
It sounds pretty tasty, even if it is a Micra, pity then that there's a hope in hell of it being made.
Phil
(Filed: 24/01/2004)
Nissan's mild-mannered shopping trolley has been transformed into a mad, mid-engined racetrack refugee. Paul Hudson reports
When it comes to heavily modified hatchbacks, the Max Power generation and their garish, body-kitted Vauxhall Novas, Peugeot 205s, Volkswagen Golfs and the like seem to have it covered. The Nissan Micra, shopping trolley of choice to a much more — how shall we say — mature breed, doesn't get a look-in. It's perceived as dull. So dull that no amount of body-kitting, bass tubes or even nitrous-injection can make it remotely exciting. Until now.
Quite what Nissan UK had in mind when it commissioned respected motorsport specialist Ray Mallock Limited (RML) to make the bog-standard Micra interesting is a mystery, but the resulting Micra R is so special that even the Max Power crew would be speechless.
It started with Nissan's in-house styling exercise for a sporty Micra, but somewhere along the way the thinking became severely warped. Not content with tweaking a standard, front-wheel-drive Micra until it hurt, RML threw away almost everything except the bodyshell and created a wild, track-bred machine with the engine relocated from the nose to between the rear wheels. Not just any old engine, but a 2·0-litre Nissan lump left over from the RML-prepared Primera that won the 1999 British Touring Car Championship. It develops 265bhp — the most powerful standard Micra has 88.
"Racer for the road" is one of the biggest clichés in motoring, but in this case it's correct — the Micra-with-attitude sailed through a Single Vehicle Approval (SVA) test and is fully road-legal. It still looks like the standard car in silhouette, albeit one that's been severely lowered, while extended wheel arches and striking silver-and-red paintwork barely prepare you for the radical surgery beneath.
The four-cylinder, dry-sumped engine and six-speed Hewland competition gearbox are slung low between the rear wheels, so there's no boot. The fuel tank has a new home under the bonnet, a space it shares with a monstrous bracing strut and the air reservoirs for the front dampers. Inside, the Micra R is filled with a complex roll-cage, high-backed racing seats with five-point harnesses and polished metal flooring. The instrument binnacle is occupied by a racing-style LCD display. Apart from a nifty, black suede-effect finish, the dashboard is pretty much standard Micra, right down to the air-conditioning and electric window switches.
Oh, there's also a large red button in the centre of the facia. Press it, tickle the right pedal and you're rewarded by the grumbling cacophony that is a racing engine at idle. With BTCC stalwart David Leslie alongside to make sure this unique machine remains in one piece, I'm ushered on to the Silverstone circuit.
It needs at least 3,000rpm to get going. Bang the sequential gearbox lever forward and the car shudders with pent-up aggression. Feed out the clutch then forget about it as the manic Micra sprints for the track with a chirrup from the rear tyres.
Not surprisingly, it sounds very sporty, despite being silenced to meet road regulations. Feels it, too, thanks to the firm, race-car suspension. But the exhaust is almost drowned by the extraordinary transmission whine, which abates for a millisecond as you tug the lever to engage second without recourse to the clutch.
It corners flat, with tons of grip, although there's some shimmying from the rear as you floor the throttle to launch you down the next straight. The turn-in to corners is astounding — those wide tyres might provoke an initial heaviness but at speed the steering is perfectly weighted and the car changes direction with alacrity. Along the back straight, the mad Micra is into its stride and powering towards the red line, accompanied by a glorious waft of petrol and synthetic oil from the thrashing lump behind. Just as well they left in the air-con.
The huge Brembo calipers and vented discs are also racing items. There's not much progression to the pedal but, in conjunction with the sequential transmission, the brakes make the Micra R great for attacking the tightest corners. You can balance the car on the throttle and it's easy to correct slight slides. It is a bit of a beast in some respects, but so benign in others. The delicate balance between brutality and finesse required to drive it well is what makes it addictive.
Nissan UK says that if this unique Micra R spawns a road-going version it will be merely a body-kitted standard Micra — the cost of the mid-engined malarkey would make replicas uneconomic. Maybe they won't bother, hoping that the Micra's new-found street-cred will endear it to the Max Power crowd. Quite what other drivers will make of it is anybody's guess but, to quote the famous 1971 MG Midget ad, your mother wouldn't like it.
Taken from:www.motoring.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2004/01/23/emfmic23.xml
It sounds pretty tasty, even if it is a Micra, pity then that there's a hope in hell of it being made.
Phil
www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=7423
That was launched back in October. A good publicity stunt, but nothing else.
That was launched back in October. A good publicity stunt, but nothing else.
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