Race cars aren't known for their gas-sipping qualities.

The Nissan Leaf Nismo RC is a little different. Not only is it one of a handful of race cars in the world that emits no more pollution than its road car equivalent, but it's rather more silent than the production Leaf too.

And quicker, of course. That's what Leaf owners found out during passenger laps at Nissan's Oppama test track.

The laps were in honor of the Leaf's second birthday celebrations, which took place recently.

Leaf owners were happy to mingle at the event, but we suspect most were excited for the opportunity to ride in the race car. After all, it isn't every day you get to fly around a race circuit at high speed.

The concept uses a 80-kilowatt, 207 lb-ft electric motor for a top speed of 93 mph. Acceleration is significantly quicker than the production car, even if the top speed isn't--60mph reportedly arrives in under 7 seconds.

Surprisingly, it uses the same 24 kilowatt-hour battery pack as the production car, but that's where the similarities end--the Nismo RC is rear-wheel drive, wider, lower, longer and 40 percent lighter.

There's no dedicated race series for the car though, and we've not heard further plans for a Nismo road version either--so for a lucky few, the Nismo RC passenger ride is as close as they'll get to an officially customized Leaf.

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