The first-ever Nissan Festival felt like one big car meet, and that’s a great thing

Clark-based automotive events that focus on the brand seem to be all the rage nowadays, with notable manufacturers like Toyota Motor Philippines kicking it all off with the Toyota Gazoo Racing Philippine Cup (formerly known as the Vios Cup), centering it around the one-make race (OMR) series. 

Mazda Philippines, with its Mazda Fan Festa PH, follows the format of its Japanese counterpart (also called the Fan Festa) by integrating elements that involve its community of owners and enthusiasts, and eventually, its race series. Now, Nissan Philippines has dipped its toes into this with the first-ever Nissan Festival, but with a slightly different approach.

Taking place last February 1 at the Clark International Speedway, the first thing we saw was that the parking was packed. It was a bit surprising to see several modified Nissan Z and GT-Rs hovering around the outside, but that’s a good thing—more than 1,700 owners from car clubs and fans registered to join this event, making it the largest official gathering of Nissan car clubs in the country.

If you’ve ever been to a car meet in Japan, you know that Nissan vehicles, specifically Skylines, Silvias, and Fairlady Zs, are some of the most popular models to pop up, and that’s what it felt like as soon as you entered the paddock area of the speedway. Sans the scorching hot weather, of course.

With a curation of vehicles thanks to various Nissan car clubs and the Stance Pilipinas community, some of the rarest Nissan vehicles made their appearances to the public, with models such as Skyline GT-Rs of various generations, including R32s and a single R33, an incredibly clean R34 V-Spec, multiple R35s that also included a USDM T-Spec, and a C110 “Yonmeri” (four-door) Skyline that’s a work in progress.

Of course, other cars such as locally sold S14 Silvias (or 200SX), Stagea and Cefiro wagons, Fairlady Zs (240 and 280Z included), extremely rare Silvia S15 Variettas, made up the rest of the heritage vehicle lineup.

You could see other vehicles ranging from preserved, clean builds to outrageous builds, including a “Habibi-spec” Y61 Patrol with a built 4.8-liter straight-six engine, local models, and even potential future models as the X-Trail e-Power and Ariya, were on display.

This event was also a way to highlight local custom builds from the community, including different interpretations of Nissan Zs by QUICCS (Juanito Maiquez), with a Z Nismo with a street-art-inspired graffiti wrap, a clean build done by BanaweBoy (Alex Lim), and a widebody heritage-inspired Z by Carlos Divino on display, alongside customized 4×4 models in the Patrol, Terra, and Navara.

The icing on the cake involved guest appearances by the likes of Marlon Stockinger, Matteo Guidicelli, and others, but the most anticipated was Hiroshi Tamura, the “Father of the GT-R”, as he gave spirited and enthusiastic lectures about his past and philosophies on cars to fans, alongside giving extremely lucky participants shotgun rides within the Clark International Speedway.

While this event may not have anything to do with motorsports, it was a way for Nissan Philippines to flex its extensive heritage and fanbase in the country, but also to give back and recognize its community of owners, too. Plus, with how successful this was, we’re hoping that the company will work and refine this formula into a yearly affair.

^{Photos from Julian Panlilio, Sam Surla, and Nissan Philippines}