Prince R380 History

The Prince R380 was conceived as Japan's first thoroughbred postwar racing prototype, designed to compete in — and win — the Japanese Grand Prix against factory Porsche entries. Prince engineers used a modified Brabham BT8 tube-frame chassis, clothed in an aluminum body, and fitted it with a bespoke 1,996 cc GR-8 DOHC inline-six producing more than 200 hp at 8,400 rpm. The car weighed approximately 620 kg and was capable of 270 km/h.

In late 1965, the R380 set five FIA E-class land speed records at the Yatabe high-speed oval, covering 50 km at 266.37 km/h and 100 km at 262.44 km/h — performances that announced Japan as a serious motorsport nation. At the 1966 Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway, four R380s faced three Porsche 906s. Yoshikazu Sunako won outright, with a second R380 in second place — the first outright Japanese victory in an international-class race.

Prince merged with Nissan weeks after the 1966 Grand Prix, and the car continued briefly as the Nissan R380. The original R380 is preserved in the Nissan Heritage Collection and is recognized as the starting point of Nissan's motorsport ambitions that eventually produced the GT-R.