Nissan's 2014 NISMO Festival was a Blazing Success!

Earlier this month, Nissan wrapped up their 2014 NISMO Festival, and this year’s annual event was a big one. As the 30th anniversary of Nissan’s motorsports tuning arm, the Japanese automaker spared no expense in celebrating all of the very, very fast vehicles that their firm has made.

This year’s NISMO event was held at the renowned Fuji Speedway. We’d already mentioned one piece of news that came from this event, which was that of the possible new engine options in the next-gen 370Z. But, this was such a big year for Nissan – what with their GT500 GT-R taking the Super GT Championship, and the Japanese premiere of the new production-ready Nissan GT-R – that no non-Japanese reader should be deprived of the excitement.

The fanfare kicked off with the 2014 NISMO parade (below), which is a 100-car line of dressed-up NISMOs that make a round on the track to introduce the Festival.

Then there were the usual fan-favorites, like the Nissan GT-R and 370Z NISMO drifting displays, where drivers show off the right way to take a corner.

At any festival explicitly designed for speed freaks, a race or two is to be expected, and this year’s NISMO Festival didn’t disappoint. For instance, several of Nissan’s Super GT drivers showed off test laps on the new GT500 GT-R. And nobody at the event missed the finale race – the GT-R CTE Cup, which is made up of identical GT-R R35 models all aggressively competing for first place. And for the serious motorsport fans, there was also the NISMO Grand Prix where Japanese racers brought out their GT-R and Z’s for fearsome head-to-head competition.

Even outside of the track, this year’s NISMO Festival was a truly awe-inspiring event. It’s easy for us Western readers to forget just how vast the NISMO lineup has become, since many models are exclusively available in Japan. These include