The art of selling automobiles is a difficult one, as consumers have a wide range of choices in a crowded marketplace. Not surprisingly, when it comes time to sign on the dotted line, would-be buyers often get edgy when they realize that they are making one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives.
For decades, the marketing mantra ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ confidently guided many of those decisions, as consumers were convinced that their new car would be as much a winner as the race version of it was on the track. Automakers did nothing to dispel this belief, convinced that if their race teams had success on Sunday, customers would flock to their showroom on Monday.
Nissan has embraced this concept by putting substantial financial and marketing support behind the Micra Cup, a spec race series that uses its popular Micra subcompact as the sole entry. In collaboration with the JD Motorsport Organization, Nissan Canada established a regional 10-race schedule sanctioned by Auto Sport Quebec; 2015 marks the first-ever Micra Cup competition series, which kicked off in May and concludes this weekend as part of Circuit Mont-Tremblant’s Fall Classic.
Each racing weekend included a 30-minute practice, a 30-minute qualifying session and two 30-minute races. As all the cars are identical, success is entirely in the hands of the driver.
What makes the Nissan Micra Cup appealing to competitors is the same thing that makes the street version of the spunky little runabout so appealing to consumers: the low cost of entry. The 2015 Micra represents the lowest-priced new vehicle offering in Canada, with a base price of $9,998, and for just over double that you can purchase a track-prepped version to go racing.
The cost to compete in the Micra Cup requires another $20,000, most of which is gobbled up by entry fees, servicing and maintenance, and consumables like tires and fuel – but this is a relative bargain in the world of motorsports, especially for a series that is being run as professionally as this one.
Montreal-based race shop Motorsports in Action was contracted to prepare and maintain a fleet of Micras for track duty after renowned professional racer Jean-Francois Dumoulin helped Nissan evaluate and develop a racing version of the popular hatchback.
Make no mistake, the cars running in the Micra Cup are real racing machines, and the level of competition displayed on the track has proven that the diminutive commuter car is both nimble and quick.
The cars used in the Nissan Micra Cup have been stripped of their interiors to both reduce weight and make way for the specialty equipment required for racing. Safety upgrades include an FIA-approved racing seat with five-point harness, a roll cage, fire suppression equipment, front and rear tow hooks and a window net.
Running in anger requires the car to be fitted with high-performance brake pads, lightweight racing wheels fitted with Pirelli racing compound tires, a performance exhaust system and a Nismo-engineered suspension.
Under the hood, however, resides the same double overhead cam, 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine that you would find in the engine bay of a stock Micra S. This peppy little powerplant produces 109 horsepower and 107 lb.-ft. of torque. While that doesn’t sound like a lot, after getting the opportunity to experience one of the race-prepped cars on the track, I must admit that I came away mightily impressed. The torque band is relatively wide and the engine likes to rev, so rowing through the five-speed gearbox in a manner that lets you kiss the redline proved very entertaining.
The presence of the sticky Pirelli tires, Nismo suspension and up-rated brakes left me feeling confident enough to deliver some pretty quick laps in short order. The car felt composed at speed, and handling was very precise for a front-wheel-drive platform originally engineered to be economical and practical rather than enthusiast-oriented.
Nissan Canada, JD Motorsport and the wizards at Motorsports in Action managed to develop a low-cost but serious race car that provides both rookie and veteran racers alike a safe and effective tool with which to display their driving talents. This might also help Nissan Canada move a few cars, as well.
