Nissan is taking the Frontier off-road racing. The automaker has unveiled a Frontier off-road concept that’s running this weekend in the NORRA 500 race in Mexico.
Built in partnership with Forsberg Racing, the race team started by successful drifter Chris Forsberg, the mid-size pickup truck will compete in a stock-vehicle class. It still features some modifications for its desert-racing duties, though. These include a lift kit and high-performance suspension kit from Nissan’s Nismo performance division, 17-inch beadlock wheels with Yokohama Geolandar M/T G003 tires, rock sliders, and off-road lights.
There are no apparent changes under the hood. Since its 2022-model-year redesign—its first in 17 years—the Frontier has been offered only with a 3.8-liter V-6 producing 310 hp and 281 lb-ft of torque, and connected to a 9-speed automatic transmission. That engine was introduced in the 2020 Frontier.
The NORRA 500 takes competitors from Ensenada across the Baja to San Felipe, and then back again to Ensenada. Nissan has plenty of history in this part of the world. Nissan Hardbody pickups raced and won the legendary Baja 1000 in the 1980s. Nissan recently launched a Hardbody Edition that brings some of the styling of the original truck to the modern Frontier.
Following the race, the Forsberg Racing-built Frontier will be displayed in as-raced condition at the 2023 SEMA show, which runs Oct. 31-Nov. 3 in Las Vegas. Nissan will have other concept vehicles on display, with full reveals coming closer to the show’s opening.
Forsberg Racing and Nissan have collaborated on some wild SEMA concepts in the past, including a V-8-powered Frontier and an Altima drift car. But while these were running vehicles, they weren’t designed for competition like this latest Frontier.