Tata Super Nano by JA Motorsport

Mid-engined BMC Minis? Seen ’em.

French hatchbacks with a V6 engine? Played out.

Factory-built Aston Martin Cygnet city car, with a V8? For sale.

One-of-one motorcycle-engined Tata Nano? Go on…

In 2014, the Tata Super Nano made its debut, following a time-honoured template that’s been honed for decades. For home mechanics, racing teams, and manufacturers alike, stuffing too much motor into a small car has been a longstanding tradition. 

This JA Motorsport build is different from many others for a few reasons.

What got me is this: the Super Nano is simply a promotional tool.

The day jobs at JA Motorsport center around being a large, successful racing constructor and racing team.

Who has raced for JA Motorsport? Felipe Drugovich, current Aston Martin Formula 1 reserve driver and 2022 F2 champion. Mick Schumacher, former F1 driver. Other winners for JA include Jamie Chadwick, and Pietro Fittipladi…

Notably, this wasn’t the first time JA Motorsport stuffed a Tata with too much engine. You may have missed it, but in 2006 it created the Tata Indica Silhouette.

Featuring a 330 horsepower Nissan V6 engine stuffed where the rear seats should have been, with widened suspension, tires, and enough bodywork to properly look the part, I’m here for the Indica Silhouette. 

(Based on an Instagram post from 2023, the Indica Silhouette is still here for us, too.)

Next, the Super Nano’s go-fast parts and (some of) its roll cage are taken from parts used in JA racing cars. Formula car wheels, MRF ZLO slick tires, brakes, F3 dampers for the suspension — all borrowed from JA Motorsport’s decades of winning expertise within the junior category series, as both a constructor and a racing team. 

With all of that chassis and racing know-how, all Super Nano needed was an engine.

The regular Tata Nano has its 37 horsepower engine in the rear, why mess with a good thing? The rear engine bit, not so much the 37 hp…

JA’s choice of engine was from a Hayabusa motorcycle, giving 230 horsepower at the wheels as reported by a company rep. Weight is 800 kg.

Redline? Fourteen thousand revolutions per minute.

It’s much more fun to spell that out.

(In case you’re curious, JA Motorsport is a subsidiary of Jayem Automotive, a large design and engineering company in India with clients in several industries, including aerospace.)

I’ve found a different and more informative video, below, where a JA Motorsport representative goes through the Super Nano, explaining how it was intended to be an affordable racing car for India.

Story continues after sources…