Nissan has built a 400bhp+ Safari Rally Z Tribute for SEMA

Last year Nissan built the one-off Juke Hybrid Rally Tribute to pay homage to Edgar Herrmann and Hans Schüller’s 1971 East African Safari Rally winning 240Z. In all honesty, it wasn’t a great tribute.

This is though. Nissan has now teamed up with Tommy Pike Customs to build this Safari Rally Z Tribute for this year’s SEMA show. Excellent stuff.

Of course it’s based on the current seventh-generation Nissan Z, but it’s now been lifted by two inches and fitted with custom KW Safari suspension. There’s new 17-inch Nismo wheels and chunky off-road tyres too, as well as extra underbody protection and Nismo spotlights. We love spotlights.

There’s been some engine work too. We’re told that the 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 is now putting out more than the standard 400bhp thanks to a Nismo track exhaust system and a cold air intake. There’s also a carbon fibre engine cover and a new clutch and flywheel. Oh, and it’s a manual too. This thing should be excellent fun.

Come on then Nissan, time to put this into production to give the Porsche 911 Dakar something to worry about.