Having a part fail on a race car is just something that happens. Sometimes the driver is lucky and the part is inconsequential, barely impacting their ability to keep racing. Other times, it makes you park the car immediately. And in the rarest case, it helps set a lap record at one of the most famous races in the world.
The 1990 Nissan R90CK was like many of the Group C cars turning laps in the ’80s and early ’90s, which is to say, between massive downforce and similarly substantial horsepower, it was wicked fast. Factory-supported efforts could produce 700-800 horsepower from 3.5-liter V-8s being pressure-fed by twin turbos. The prototype class has always been about pushing limits, and during the qualifying of the 1990 edition of Le Mans, a mechanical failure on the turbocharger waste gates pushed boost levels even higher and put driver Mark Blundell in charge of what many estimate to be over 1,000hp while on track for qualifying.
This was the first year for the chicanes in the Mulsanne straight, forcing drivers to check up twice over what was previously a nearly four-mile drag strip. The idea of the chicanes had been around for some time, and a French team entered in 1988 specifically to set the fastest speed down the Mulsanne. The more-streamliner-than-road-racer car set a wild 253-mph record. With the way the straight subsequently was cut up, there was no way anyone would get anywhere close to that. Blundell and his overboosted R90CK still managed 238mph. With the chicanes. And on race tires rather than special qualifying tires.
Blundell won a coin flip to be the driver to qualify the car. The car had been temperamental all week, but when it mattered, in the perfect set of conditions that dusk gives Le Man qualifiers—cool air but a warm track and still enough daylight to see—everything lined up perfectly. Well, only because Blundell ignored the radio call for him to enter the pits to allow the team to address the overboost issue, instead unplugging the radio and going out for a flier of a lap.
That lap came out over six seconds faster than the next car. That’s a massive amount of time even on the 8.5-mile Circuit de la Sarthe. It set the lap record on the new track layout and managed to pencil the R90CK into the history books despite Blundell and his teammates retiring their car after just 142 laps, just under half the distance covered by only finishing R90CK, which placed 17th.
Even more interestingly, the R90CK piloted by Blundell is still out on track and racing with other Group C cars. Goodwood Road and Racing just posted a video talking with the current young driver as he raced at Spa Classic held on the Spa-Francorchamps track. Hearing and seeing the car still getting pushed is truly awesome, but it really only further the lore of knowing that even as wild as it looks currently, there is still so much more speed hiding in that car.
