Gallery: the best photos from 2015's incredible Nismo Festival

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.

It’s not just Ferrari who likes to give itself an end-of-year pat on the back, as over in Japan, Nissan has the Nismo Festival.

It’s an annual jamboree that takes place at Fuji Speedway, two hours south west of Tokyo and in the shadow of the sublime Mount Fuji. Think of it as Japan's answer to Ferraris World Finals, just with more excitable commentary and bowing.

But unlike Ferrari’s faltering F1 season, for Nismo there’s genuine reason to celebrate.

Over the past year, Nissan’s racing offshoot hasn’t just dominated Super GT, Blancpain and Bathurst with race-spec GT-Rs (ahem, and failed at launching a competitive LMP1 team), but morphed from a dedicated motorsports department into a road car brand that’s taken off at a tremendous rate.

Back in 2012, boss of Nismo Shoichi Miyatani wanted to take the brand from being a money-spending motorsports arm into an active part of the Nissan brand DNA. The plan was to use their nous to sprinkle the portfolio with standalone go-faster options a-la RenaultSport, AMG, M Division etc.

And since launching the Juke Nismo in 2012, the road-going Nismo brand has ambitiously made six full-fat products in the last three years, as well as light trim packages for domestic markets such as the Elgrand luxowagon. We want one of those quite badly.

But having gone from selling near as nothing in 2012, Nismo is now spitting out over 15,000 cars a year. It’s all in an attempt to become profitable enough in order to self-fund its racing programmes – probably to feel less guilty about spending a mountain of Yen on a defective and over ambitious LMP1 programme.

But Nismo Festival precedes these financially-fueled activities. It spawned out of romping race cars that became legends and attracted a cult-like fanbase. It’s just now these adoring fans clog up the car parks with Nismo road cars, proving they practice what they preach.

Bleeding off the expressway and into the circuit you see a mind-blowing ‘best of’ Nissan’s back catalogue. There are R32, R33 and R34 Skylines in every state of tune possible, as well as enough drool-worthy 240Zs and grandpappy 'Hakosuka' GT-Rs to get an Instagram hashtag trending. 

But the main draw is the on-track action. Using any excuse to roll out the old-timers and GT academy alumni, Nismo lets them blow the dust off the exhaust trumpets of some of the most iconic Japanese race cars in history.

For a large portion of Generation X petrolheads, the sight of the crazily cambered Calsonic Group A R32 Skyline (the car responsible for the legendary Godzilla nameplate), searing bumblebee coloured Pennzoil R34 JTCC and Xanavi-liveried GT500 car all pounding round Fuji is a throwback straight to Gran Turismo.

But trust us, ditching the control pad and pixels for the real thing is knee-weakeningly good. Primarily because everything is given the beans. All the beans. You just have to turn up your speakers and look at this video of GT Academy graduate Al Buncombe to see what we mean .

The old stuff doesn’t hang around either. From the revolutionary R381 and R382, to boxy Seventies touring cars complete with slammed rides, blanked headlights and jutted oil-coolers haphazardly hanging off the front, everything has a crack at thrashing round the track.

It’s not without a splash of Japanese zaniness, though. That comes in the shape of the ‘Circuit Safari’.

Nope, it isn’t hopping out in an old Landie trying to spot an antelope at Fuji’s Coca Cola Corner. Instead it’s a Japanese ritual where school coaches trundle round the track while the race cars pelt past at full chat.

It’s an exercise that would cripple a UK health and safety department with apoplexy. But it's incredible. Nothing gets you closer to the racing as being buzzed by a GT500 car doing 190-odd miles per hour while you get massively in the way.

But where the Ferrari World Finals feels like it’s something the owners have to do (mainly because their mates are doing it), Nismo Fest feels like something owners want to do. 

It’s a sensation abundantly evident at the trade stalls surrounding the circuit. They’re a buzz of bring-and-buy jumble sales with enough Skyline-shaped jigsaw pieces to make a whole car.

But what the Nismo Festival and Ferrari World Finals do have in common is that they embody the brand and country they represent.

In Italy, it’s craziness and poor scheduling rounded off with some F12tdf donuts and crying. At Fuji, in a very traditional Japanese way, the event was humble, friendly yet still an undoubted spectacle.

Even so, just like the World Finals, it’s one hell of a way to put a full stop to another year of motorsport.