Altima Mk. II

The Nissan Altima (Gen2) was the Mk. II evolution of Kelly Racing / Nissan Motorsport's factory Altima, raced from 2017 to 2019 on the category's second-generation platform. It carried on from the Car-of-the-Future Altima (Mk. I & II) and was Nissan's last works car in the championship, running alongside the Gen II ZB Commodore and Mustang.

Gen2 — the same chassis, freer rules

The 2017 Gen2 regulations kept the Car-of-the-Future control chassis underneath — the common safety cell on its 2822 mm wheelbase, independent rear suspension, a rear-mounted transaxle (Albins, then the Xtrac P1293 control unit from 2019), the AP Racing control brakes behind 18-inch control wheels, E85 control fuel and the single-make Dunlop tyre — but opened up what could sit in it, broadening the engine and body/aero rules to let new shapes and powertrains into the category. For the Altima that meant a continuation of its distinctive Nissan running gear rather than a wholesale change.

The Nissan V8

The Altima's engine remained its signature. Built in-house by Kelly Racing / Nissan Motorsport at Braeside with NISMO support, it was a VK56DE — the all-aluminium DOHC, 32-valve quad-cam V8 from the Australian-market Patrol — destroked from 5.6 to the ~5.0-litre control displacement, dry-sumped and revving to the regulated 7500 rpm. It was the only quad-cam engine among the makes in the modern era, and unlike the customer-engine arrangements common elsewhere it was developed and assembled by the team itself.

Body & aero

The race car wore the four-door Altima silhouette on the Gen2 aero platform. Its place in the era's technical story is a specific one: in the 2019 aero-parity dispute the Altima was the reference car — after straight-line testing the Mustang and Commodore were ordered to shift their centres of gravity to match it (March 2019). The 2019 rules also banned twin-spring dampers (reverting the field to a single linear spring) and ran three homologated damper makes — Öhlins, Sachs and Supashock — that teams were still free to valve. As with all control-era cars the aero sat inside a common downforce and drag target set by the rules, so no per-car aero figures are published here.

Run-out

The Kelly brothers' programme carried Nissan's factory backing through the Gen2 years, but the manufacturer wound down its support at the end of 2019; the team continued into 2020 with Mustangs, closing Nissan's chapter in the championship.

Sources: Gen2 control-formula and control-parts records (transaxle, brakes, wheels, damper rules) — Grade C; Nissan VK56-derived engine base — Grade C/D. The 5.6-litre figure is the road VK56; the race unit was destroked to the ~5.0-litre control formula. For its championship record see the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.