BUCKET LIST: Nissan Heritage Centre, Japan

With the motorsport world on hold, and travel bans in place for Australia, you might be forgiven for contemplating a future escape.

Speedcafe.com has worked to develop a list of dream places, events and experiences for fans of motorsport and motoring for you to tick off your Bucket List.

Every Wednesday we’ll provide information, media and facts on some of the best ‘automotive’ themed getaway ideas from Australia, New Zealand and around the world.

NISSAN HERITAGE CENTRE: ZAMA CITY, YOKOHAMA, JAPAN

Like most legendary global car brands, Nissan takes an enormous pride in its history which dates back to the formation of its original business called DAT, later to become Datson and then Datsun, before evolving into Nissan.

While a must-do for Datsun/Nissan fans around the world, this Nissan Heritage Centre is a terrific point of difference and off the main tourist list for those visitors to Japan with an interest in automotive and motorsport history.

The Nissan Heritage Centre is at Zama in Yokohama about an hour’s drive South-West of Tokyo. 

The 5,60sqm facility features a range of displays which cover off Nissan’s product history back to the 20s and 30s as well as the company’s advancements in technology and design.

The automotive collection follows the development of the sportscar evolution of the 1960s and 70s including the first Skyline 2000 GT-R, Datsun Bluebird and the Z cars from the fairlady to the 300ZX.

There is also the Nissan R380 which set no less than seven world speed records in 1967.

There is an extensive motorsport collection which includes a Datsun 1000, nicknamed “Fuji” which was driven to a class win by Yasuhara Nanba, Kazuaki Okuyama and Australian Bruce Wilkinson in the 1958 Mobilgas round Australia trial.

Ironically, that event was won by the legendary Eddie Perkins, the father of Larry Pekrins and grandfather of Jack, in a Volkswagen.

There is the Nissan R91CP which won the 1992 Daytona 24-hour with Masahiro Hasemo, Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Toshio Suzuki at the wheel.

Also the Nissan R390GT1 which was driven to third place at the 1998 Le Mans 24-hour by  Aguri Suzuki, Masahiko Kageyama and Hoshino.

If you do a little digging you can find further Australian connections including one of Geoff Brabham’s IMSA winning cars from the US and a Nissan GT-R driven to a win in the 1991 Spa 24-hour by David Brabham, Andes Olofsson and Naoki Hattori.

A tour of the Heritage Centre includes a 20 minute video, a 25-minute guided tour and 45 minutes where you can roam the exhibits.

There are more than 400 cars part of the collection, with about 300 on display at any one time.

The centre is obviously focused on the local market so for those that really want to get into it an interpreter would be handy.

Getting to the Nissan Heritage collection takes some advance planning and tickets need to be booked through an on-line form on the website. Tickets are on a first come, first serve basis.

The form is currently not available because of the Coronavirus pandemic, but will be available as soon as there is a plan to reopen the doors.

CLICK HERE for a gallery of the Nissan Heritage Centre (pics: Paul Ryan).

VIDEO: The Nissan Heritage Centre

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