Since its introduction for the 2023 Super GT season, the Nissan Z NISMO GT500 body has represented the latest chapter of Nissan's top-tier Japanese touring car racing programme, succeeding the GT-R NISMO GT500 after two decades of GT500 competition. Spark Model has documented the No. 23 NDDP Racing entry from that 2025 campaign in resin at 1:43, fixing a specific moment in Nissan's ongoing factory motorsport ladder.
From Road to GT500: The Nissan Z NISMO RZ34-Based Race Car
The GT500 Nissan Z is built on the architecture of the RZ34-generation Nissan Z, homologated under the shared GT500 platform regulations that have governed the class since 2020. Under those rules, all three manufacturers — Nissan, Toyota and Honda — run a common 2.0-litre turbocharged engine format; Nissan's unit is the NR20A inline-4, producing approximately 500 hp to GT500 specification. The Z body arrived on the grid in 2023, replacing the GT-R NISMO GT500 that had carried Nissan's colours through the preceding era.
Car No. 23: NDDP Racing and Nissan's Development Pipeline
NDDP — Nissan Driver Development Program — is a Nissan factory-supported team and driver development programme entry in Super GT GT500. Katsumasa Chiyo is one of Japanese motorsport's more distinctive figures: a GT Academy alumnus who converted a gaming competition win into a sustained GT500 career. His 2025 co-driver Mitsunori Takaboshi is himself a product of the same NDDP programme, making the pairing a direct embodiment of Nissan's structured factory ladder from junior development through to full GT500 competition. The No. 23 ran the full 2025 Super GT GT500 championship calendar.
Spark Model at 1:43: Resin Construction and Livery Fidelity
Spark Model is a French specialist whose annual Super GT releases have become the reference series for the championship in 1:43. Each car is constructed in resin with photo-etched detailing, and livery reproduction is year-specific — the 2025 No. 23 NDDP entry is not interchangeable with the 2023 or 2024 versions of the same car. That specificity is the point: Spark's Super GT catalogue maps the championship season by season, car by car, making each release a precise document rather than a generic representation.
In the Display Cabinet: Placing the No. 23 in a Super GT Context
The No. 23 sits naturally alongside the other Nissan Z NISMO GT500 entries from the 2025 season — the No. 12 IMPUL Nissan Z and the No. 3 CRAFTSWORKS MOTUL Z — allowing a complete Nissan GT500 line-up for the year. Pairing it with the competing Toyota GR Supra GT500 and Honda Civic Type R-GT entries from the same season builds a full 2025 GT500 grid in miniature. Collectors following the NDDP story across years can also run the No. 23 back through earlier Spark Model Super GT releases, tracing the transition from the GT-R body to the current Z.
