Nissan to take on Ford, Holden in V8s

Rick and Todd Kelly will lead Nissan's factory V8 Supercar team. 

Nissan has confirmed it is entering the V8 Supercar sport it was once banned from.
Nissan will use V8 Supercars to try and propel itself to Australia's leading importer car brand.
Nissan Australia CEO Dan Thompson announced the Japanese brand's return to Australia motorsport this morning at Crown Casino in Melbourne.
The company will join forces with Melbourne-based Kelly Racing to develop a new Nissan V8 Supercar to take on Holden and Ford.
Nissan is being welcomed back "with more than open arms" according to V8 Supercars chairman Tony Cochrane, despite the Japanese brand being ousted from local touring car racing in 1993.
What was eventually called V8 Supercars was a category created to effectively get rid of brands such as Nissan; the Nissan GT-R was dominant over the Fords (Sierras) and Holdens (Commodores) of the day
Thompson says the deal to enter Australia's biggest motor sport category is designed to grow sales and underline the company's racing heritage, which includes the all-conquering GT-R of the early 1990s.
"We plan to use our presence in the series to strengthen our passenger car credentials in Australia," Thompson said this morning.
"Nissan believes that, alongside Ford and Holden, we possess the most convincing motorsport DNA and track history in Australia, making a V8 Supercars debut in 2013 an obvious initiative.
"We are targeting number one importer status in Australia and already making progress towards that as one of the country's fastest growing brands. V8 Supercars will boost that momentum."
The deal between Nissan and Kelly Racing was brokered by the team's chairman, and former head of HSV and the Holden Racing Team, John Crennan. He was influential in drafting the Car of the Future rules and it is believed had already had discussions with several other car brands about joining the sport.
Kelly Racing co-owners Todd and Rick Kelly have already begun preparing for next year's four-car factory-backed assault.
"Rick and I have had one clear goal that we have been striving for since we started Kelly Racing, that was to become a benchmark race-winning team with factory support," said Todd Kelly.
"The timing with Car of the Future has enabled us to engage a manufacturer and achieve that. We couldn't be happier to be a factory Nissan team and factory Nissan drivers."
Details about which car and engine the team will use haven't been revealed yet. Under the new-for-2013 Car of the Future rules Nissan will be able to enter a V8-powered rear-wheel drive sedan even if it doesn't have a road car with those specifications.
The most likely candidate for the Nissan racer is the Altima mid-size sedan which will replace the Maxima next year.
Todd Kelly confirmed that the engine will be sourced from Nissan's current V8 line-up, unlike the racing-specific Holden and Ford units.
The bore and stroke will have to be altered to meet the 5.0-litre regulations but the block and cylinder head will be from a production engine and include overhead camshafts instead of the pushrod setup used in the Ford and Holden race cars.
Kelly Racing will build the cars and engines in-house but have already held discussions with Nissan's motorsport division, NISMO, to get technical support.