Nissan Leaf-nismo RC
All-electric race car showcases elements that could find their way into Nissan’s future EVS
THERE ARE CURRENTLY JUST SIX LEAFNISMO RCS in existence – three of them in Japan, three in Europe. And that’s all there will ever be, say the bosses at Nismo. So there will be no road car to follow, and despite the fact that the letters R and C apparently stand for ‘Racing Competition’, there will also be no one-make series, no racing of the car anywhere in fact, not even in the forthcoming electric touring car series.
And if that makes the RC seem like one of the most expensive irrelevances in the history of the automobile, consider this: Nissan may have zero intention of taking this car any further as a whole, but certain bits of it will, it says, make their way into the company’s road-going EVS of the future. So essentially the RC is a mobile test bed for all sorts of good stuff that may one day make production, and this in turn means it is quite an important machine, given how the EV market is beginning to pick up.
We’ll come specifically to the more relevant aspects in a moment, but first some general info about the car itself. Even though it will never race, at its core the RC is a pure racing car, with a full carbonfibre tub, and a carbon subframe at each end. The suspension is by double wishbones with pushrods at all four corners, while the tyres are regular Michelin Pilot Sports, although in testing they tend to whack a set of slicks on to get the best times out of it.
The power unit is, of course, all-electric, while the gearbox is a straight-cut but single-spur racing item with a mechanical LSD at the back. So as with regular EVS there’s no changing gear as such. Instead you just climb in, press the throttle and keep on going, even though there are paddles on either side of the steering wheel due to the fact it’s been pinched out of a GT-R GT3 racer.
The RC uses just one lithium-ion battery, but a reasonably big one with 62kwh. This powers not one but two 120kw electric motors – one for the front axle, another for the rear. The combined maximum output is therefore 240kw, or 322bhp, with 472lb ft of torque. All up, the RC weighs 1220kg, so although the power-to-weight ratio isn’t wild, the torque-to-weight ratio is quite tasty. And remember, that 472lb ft is available from the moment you press the throttle, which initially makes the RC feel quite a lot like it’s powered by a naturally aspirated 8-litre V8.
The front-to-rear weight distribution is 43:57, so effectively the RC feels like a nicely balanced midengined car. The brakes are huge steel rotors at each corner, but there’s no ABS and no traction control. Plus, the RC has another trick up its sleeve in the form of a four-stage adjustable mapping system, tweakable via a simple dial on the steering wheel. This alters not just the power and torque outputs but also the proportion of drive that’s directed through each axle. This is probably the most obvious piece of tech that might make it into Nissan’s road
going EVS in the future. Or, possibly, the next GT-R.
In Map 1 the RC apportions the full 240kw exactly 50:50 between the axles. In Map 2 this drops to 200kw (268bhp), with 90kw going to the front and 110 to the rear. In Map 3 it drops again, to 180kw (241bhp), with 80 to the front, 100 to the rear. And in Map 4 you get 160kw (215bhp), with 60 to the front and still 100 to the rear.
Unfortunately it’s hosing it down when we get to drive the car on the Motogp circuit in Valencia, and the Nismo engineers are rather precious about their latest toy so I’m only allowed to drive it in Map 4 – with a somewhat tense Nismo driver as a passenger. Even so, and even in its least potent map setting, the RC feels pretty damn dramatic.
The way it accelerates so instantly, even with a mere 160kw, is so different to a petrolengined racing car. The acceleration just happens, immediately, yet unlike in a road EV it doesn’t then tail off. Instead the RC just keeps going, its gearbox and diff producing a quite phenomenal amount of din the faster you go. I can’t imagine what it would feel and sound like in Map 1, but the car’s chief engineer later admits that for most drivers the RC is actually quicker in Map 2 because it’s so punchy, while Map 1 is so wild, even in bone-dry conditions.
I’d like to be able to tell you more about the handling balance, the way the RC slides on the exit of corners and so on, but the wet conditions and my nervous passenger mean some prudence is required during my allotted laps. But even at fairly moderate efforts it feels decently balanced midcorner, very responsive on turn-in, and has 100 per cent traction at the exit due to it being four-wheel drive. The steering is light but also hyper-accurate. The brakes, however, are somewhat less impressive, with a tendency to lock up under even fairly mild application. But in the dry I’m sure they would be much better, much less twitchy.
The RC may appear to be little more than an impressive irrelevance, but even if just its switchable map control makes its way into a more potent road-going four-wheel-drive Leaf in the future, it will be worth it. E is starting to stand for ‘exciting’ as well as ‘electric’, no question, but we’d like more time in the Leaf-nismo RC, just to establish how exciting it can be.
Engine 2 x 120kw electric motors Power 322bhp Torque 472lb ft 0-62mph 3.4sec Top speed 138mph Weight 1220kg (268bhp/ton) Basic price n/a + Performance, clever mapping, potential as a rolling EV test bed - Twitchy non-anti-lock brakes; you will never be able to buy one evo rating ★★★★ ☆
‘Even in its least potent map setting, the RC feels pretty damn dramatic’