Nissan S-Chassis - Look At This S-Car Go

The success of the Silvia is largely attributed to price per power. Though the Japanese automakers blundered this when they brought the cars to the US, they nailed it in Japan. The car's pricing positioned it lower than their competitors but had the power potential to surpass any of the competition on the track at any time. This coupled with tremendous aftermarket support, not only from the Japanese tuning industry but also from their corporate motorsports division, NISMO. Cross-compatibility throughout the years refined tuning parts as time went on. As the popularity of the S-chassis began to skyrocket, an encyclopedia of parts was already available.

The S-Chassis in Motorsports
The FR layout of the S15 made it incredibly suitable for motorsports. Nissan utilized the chassis for a number of years in the JGTC GT300 class. Following suit, enthusiasts have pushed the limits with the chassis in all forms of racing. The S-chassis can be found on the dragstrip as well as on the circuit. Every year at the Tsukuba Circuit gathering, tuners come out to determine who has the bragging rights of having the fastest Silvia at RevSpeed's Super Lap Battle. There are always a couple teams that show up campaigning some sort of S-chassis, clicking off sub-minute lap times (that means really, really fast). Closer to home and on a more extreme level, Mazworx's drag S15 can be found clicking off 9-second passes on the dragstrip.

Aftermarket support for the S-chassis continues to shine to this day. There are more aftermarket suspension components for this car than any other car on the market. Support doesn't just stop there either. Motor mount kits are available to fit in engines like the RB26DETT (inline 6-cyl Skyline engine), the VQ35 (V6 350Z), the VH45 (V8 Infiniti Q45) and the LS1 (V8 Corvette).

In no other type of motorsport has the S-chassis reined supreme than drifting. This platform has successfully scored more wins (26) and more championships (5 out of 9) in D1. At the beginning of the 2010 season, there were 15 S-chassis entries in D1GP and 12 in Formula D. Even more convincing is that many drivers trace their roots back to S-chassis. The argument can be made about the AE86 Corolla, but the results speak for themselves. Ken Gushi, Ryan Tuerck, Chris Forsberg, Dai Yoshihara, Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Robbie Nishida have at one time or another been behind the wheel of a S-chassis.

Of the S-chassis based drift cars, no other has been more successful than the Auto Produce BOSS built S15. Originally piloted by Yasuyuki Kazama to a championship in 2005 and to a second championship by Youichi Imamura in 2009, this same car has racked up 11 first place finishes. Although it has gone through different combinations of engine setups and aerodynamics, this S15 has proven to be one solid performer. The man behind the development of this car, Auto Produce BOSS president Kazuhiro Fujioka, said, "The real advantage of the Silvia is its compact chassis design, extensive availability of parts and the driving position make it the ultimate drifting machine."