One of the strongest competitors from IMSA’s Camel GT series in the late eighties, the GTP ZX-Turbo was a rocket ship on the straights and absolutely glued to the racetrack in the corners. Big power, gobs of torque, and ludicrous amounts of grip thanks to the ground effects working beneath the car gave it the credentials any championship-winning prototype needs, but a change in the rules at the time gave the car a slight edge over the competition.

In 1988, IMSA began to limit engine output by instating a 57 mm-diameter inlet restrictor, and while this cut roughly two-hundred horsepower, the production-based Nissan VG30ET engine was tweaked to produce greater torque lower down in the rev range, and therefore the wide prototype could be driven very quickly around the hairpin bends at so many of the street circuits featured in Camel GT.

Nissan’s GTP ZX-Turbo: flame spitting and wastegate chirping galore.

Despite the brutal power, the rear tires managed to put it down very well. The overriding handling issue with the car was slight understeer, and since the car needed a very stable aerodynamic platform to get the ground effects to work, the front springs would have to be very stiff – no questions. Therefore, to get the car to turn in, Geoff Brabham would employ a little bit of toe-out at the rear to aid rotation.

The GTP ZX-Turbo won the driver’s championship in 1988, 1989, 1990, and the constructor’s championship in the latter two of those years. The combination of grunt, reliability, and Brabham’s superhuman talent behind the wheel made those years of prototype racing all the more fun despite the dominance, since everyone had their targets set on the Nissans and the rate of development was very high. Perhaps, even with a team winning most of the events, racing can still be interesting. It certainly helps to have that soundtrack, though.