Nissan Micra Cup: Racing for The Masses
Racing is expensive, that’s a fact. If you want to drive in any professional series, be prepared to spend a lot of cash: a NASCAR season can cost upwards of a million dollars, while running a Ferrari Formula 1 racecar for one year punches a $125,000,000 hole in the team’s budget.
If you want to experience the thrill of racing wheel-to-wheel in a specially-prepped car, but your name is not Villeneuve or Maldonado, Nissan has the solution for you: the Nissan Micra Cup.
Some of you will remember the Echo Pirelli Cup, a series that gave the opportunity to race in lightly modified Toyota Echos without breaking the bank. The Nissan Micra Cup will follow the same guidelines: first of all, all cars will be the base-model Nissan Micra S with the 1.6 litre engine and the manual transmission. MIA (a performance shop in St-Eustache) will then modify each car to give them a competitive edge: Nismo S-Tune suspension, racing seats, safety harnesses, modified exhaust, high-performance brake pads, roll cage, Pirelli racing tires mounted on Fast Wheels rims and the removal of lots of useless components (interior trim, back seats, airbags, carpets…). The race-ready car will cost $19,998. However, it won’t be road-legal anymore, so you will have to factor a transport fee into your spending (We estimate a $15,000 budget per season).
There will be 10 races per year, all taking place on tracks around Quebec. Those interested in learning more (and maybe ordering their very own racing Micra) can do so on the Nissan Cup website.