Professional motor racing is a bipolar world, for drivers as well as cars. It offers a venue for innovation, but sometimes for a manufacturer it can be like throwing a car into a pool and hoping it will swim. The 2015 GT-R LM didn't swim or float. Rather, it was pulled by its front-wheel-drive mess down into the abyss of motor racing failure. To Nissan's credit it's tough to know when to try new things in racing. What better way to test a radical new setup than against five time consecutive Le Mans winner Audi? Cynics would say this leap was peppered with audacity.

Not only throughout the Le Mans 24 Hours were Nissan engineers biting their fingernails hoping for their cars to cross the finish line (only one did it by the way), but apparently instead of going head-to-head against front-runners like Porsche and Audi the GT-R was fighting teams from the middle to the back of the grid. This apparently was due in part to the fact that its unconventional setup was very front heavy, as opposed to blame being solely put on a front drivetrain. All isn't for naught though, as Nissan will still be very much in the running next year as an engine supplier for LMP2 cars. Unfortunately the GT-R will be absent, hopefully making a triumphant return in the future as a competitor and not just as a seat filler.