Nissan's little rocket is out on its own

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

Nissan never did bring its Micra small car into New Zealand. Not officially anyway. There are a few used imports around, but in the late 1990s Nissan reckoned the price of the new Micra landed here would be prohibitive.

The latest development of the Micra won't make it here either: there's only one such model.

It's called the Micra R ... "which is what you'll be screaming when this mid-engined, mad little car rockets you to 100km/h in less than five seconds and on to a 245km/h top speed," says Nissan in Britain.

The Micra R started life as a concept car at this year's Geneva motor show. But its British designer, Christopher Reitz, didn't want it to end up in a concept car graveyard.

So he asked the head of Nissan in Britain, Brian Carolin, to breathe life into it.

Carolin got together with Ray Mallock Ltd, which ran Nissan's British Touring Car Championship campaign in the late 1990s, and the R was born as a roadgoing rocket.

"From nose to tail the R is unlike any Nissan Micra ever produced," says Carolin.

"You won't find an engine under its bonnet, just a radiator and a fuel tank. And the Micra's rear sliding seat has been binned in favour of a 265bhp (198kW) fully race-prepared engine. It's still got the Intelligent Key system, though."

The R is based on a three-door Micra 1.4-litre SX. Most of the body was removed so that RML could match the styling of the concept car, including pulling out the wheel arches by 100mm and copying the Nissan Motorsport red and silver paint job.

The engine is a derivation of the 2-litre unit that powered the winning BTCC Primera. It sits beneath an aluminium honeycomb cover with a glass porthole that allows a glimpse of the carbon fibre camshaft covers. Power is transmitted to the rear wheels through a Hewland six-speed gearbox with sequential shift. The short racing exhaust exits centrally at the rear through a big bore pipe.

The R's 18-inch alloy wheels are equipped with cross-drilled 350mm front and 330mm rear brakes from Brembo, who supply the stoppers for the Nissan 350Z and Skyline GT-R.

Inside, the driver and passenger sit low in racing seats and aluminium sheeting replaces carpet. There is no air-conditioning but there are three cup holders, even though the car can only seat two.