[Nominal266]

So I finally had an awesome opportunity to see a newer Nismo for myself at a local car meet in Virginia, USA. The very first thing I did was look at some of the aerodynamic bits on the front of the car. (I love aero, so I normally look hard at modern vents and ducts to see which ones are functional)

So normally with fender ventilation, the inner fender liner will be vented to match the paired external fender. As an example, this is the case on the Porsche GT2/GT3 RS and last gen Dodge Viper models.

But the Nismo, to my surprise... NOPE! Just the same fender liner as a base model. Which had me scratching my head. Was this vent even functional?

So I looked around the internet and found this official video from Nissan:

At the 0:48 mark, a brief diagram implies that the fender uses air channeling via the front bumper. Is this really the case? I am already skeptical because the diagram also outright lies about another aspect of the aero. It shows air coming in through the left side dummy duct that is blocked off from factory. I even took pictures of this duct on the Nismo to be sure.

What is going on here? Is there some wizardry going on under the hood that we can't see? Why does Nismo do this so differently from other cars?

 

[crepr12]

Interesting find, so Nissan flat out lied in the Video graphics...smh

 

[shawnb86]

in the video he mentions the fender vents are to let hot air out the engine. could be why the image show red for the air flow coming out the fender vents

 

[Nominal266]

Yeah, I heard that too, it just seems so unusual to use fender vents for that purpose. Why not ventilate the engine bay in some other way? (Additional hood venting?) Fender vents are traditionally for reducing wheel well air pressure. I guess I would have to take a look inside the engine bay and see how the air is channeled or routed. But I am still a little annoyed that the animation/graphic shows air flow on the dummy duct.

Furthermore, the GTR doesn't really suffer from engine cooling issues. You know what does suffer from overheating? Transmission cooling! Guess where they could have put a useful duct for transmission cooling?! Right where they lied about there being a duct!

 

[MC]

yeah this has come up before when the vents were first shown a few years ago. so it seems they arnt to prevent lift like true racing vents but just some type of heat extractor. the idea I guess is it doesnt need different fender liners because the low pressure the car creates from the aerodynamics pulls the heat out from the engine. but im also confused as they arnt actually connected to the the engine bay? but hey most importantly they look really cool right?

and yea the dummy duct has been a thing since 2008 as its just to aesthetically match the oil cooler duct. you would think with 14 years and a couple facelifts they could have found a use for it to be real

 

[MC]

if anyone wants to try these out they are 11K a side

2021 Nissan GT-R COUPE GT-R NISMO 3.8L V6 GR6 TT Fender - FCA00-6HTKE - Genuine Nissan Part

Fender. 2021 Nissan GT-R COUPE GT-R NISMO 3.8L V6 GR6 TT. Genuine Nissan Part - FCA00-6HTKE (FCA006HTKE)

parts.nissanusa.com

 

[Nominal266]

Thanks for the response MC! Glad to hear I'm not the only one who found this bizarre.

11k a side is ridiculous! Yeah, I hung around the meet a little bit trying to find the owner to ask if he could pop the hood, but several hours went by and I could never find them. Oh well, maybe another time. Just so very unusual. I think Nissan was trying to chase a design trend but wanted to minimize R&D and new parts costs? Idk...

One of the earliest mods that I got on my 2017 was actually the HKS transmission cooler. Aside from the fact that it really does help, it's so aesthetically pleasing (and great for those with symmetry OCD) to see both ducts open and temperatures reduced on track. I think somewhere in the budget of that $22k fender kit, they could have worked out a $4k transmission cooler.