The Nissan Micra Cup, billed as the cheapest car racing series in the world, is an unqualified hit. At the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières (GP3R), held earlier this month, the series’ 25 drivers thrilled the crowd with lap after lap of paint-trading, bumper-tapping, two-wheeled action. I (No. 24) was in the mix and came away impressed with the speed of the drivers and the dynamic characteristics of Nissan’s race-prepped grocery-getter. Crashes happen often and cars usually corner on two wheels.
The Nissan Micra Cup was designed as a racing series to extend the marketing push of a car that has a base price of less than $10,000. However, these race cars are not right out of the showroom - they have an additional $10,000 of extras.
In photos: Canada's least expensive car overhauled to race
The all-season tires have been replaced with racy Pirelli numbers.
Other significant modifications to the race version include the addition of a full roll cage and other safety equipment, as well as the inclusion of a Nismo suspension kit. This kit gives race teams the ability to adjust the settings of the front suspension to fine-tune the handling. They can also play with tire pressures, but attempting to adjust anything else on the Micra racecar is strictly verboten.
The 1.6L 4-cylinder engine and 5-speed manual transmission are sealed. A 1020-kg minimum weight limit is set in stone. And technical directors for the series are more than ready to uncover anyone looking for an unfair advantage—the penalty for a first offense is $1500, while a second transgression gets a driver booted from the series for two years.
Out of 25 cars in the field, I finished 19th in the first race and 14th in the second.
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