Yes, Still At NISMO OMORI...but that could be a good thing?

Long time readers will recall when I had my car at Mine's to receive its new engine - that took a long time too. The latest news is that I'm still trying to get an estimate on certain work I want done but I've been told very apologetically by Takasu-san at NISMO that vendor that they use for part of the work is booked solid but they are trying to get my car taken care of as soon as they can...

Meanwhile, my friend Alessandro sent over some photos which I will share here. (Thanks! And yes, I may have an opportunity to drop into NISMO for some work related business next week in which case I will make sure I check out my car in person...)

First, he dropped into NISMO today to inquire about some work on his second car (Z33) and was kind enough to make sure my car was still there.

Nice white V-Spec there as well...wonder what the engineless car is??

Second, as I was too busy to attend this year's R's Festival, he was kind enough to send me these photos of NISMO's R33 demo car - not sure if it's called the Grand Touring or the Clubman Race Spec but in any case they had this car at the Festival, with an interesting new prototype part.

Such a nice clean engine bay! Gives me some ideas...

Note I've annotated the photo with 2 arrows - one green and one red.

For the GREEN one, I'm interested in why NISMO engineers chose to leave this space uncovered. Usually the cooling (slam) panel extends all the way across, if not including the space behind the headlights like the Garage Defend version, then at least covering the space between the headlights. It seems to me that leaving the space open like that defeats the purpose of having the panel there.  I am guessing that NISMO needed that space there to allow enough air to enter into their new prototype carbon air intake, OR this was done because the panel was not allowing heat to dissipate well (this is a claim I've heard about the full width Garage Defend panel from the guys at Mine's, Nissan Prince Tokyo and NISMO).

As for the RED arrow, I'm curious as to why this tube like thing needs to be there - Ale told me it was to allow for space for the radiator bracket - but it appears to actually block airflow into the intake.  My guess is that, as a prototype part, this was done as a quick solution to accommodate the bracket, a quick and easily solution in order to get the part made in time for the R's Festival.  I'm hoping that if this part goes into production, then the space for the bracket will be molded more closely to the bracket.

Let's take a closer look:

Obviously not true NISMO quality... look closely

As Ale explains in his post, up until now upon installation of the NISMO inlet pipes, the instructions have been to take a heat gun and literally soften the ABS plastic OEM airbox cover to allow for re-fitment over the pipes (which are taller than the OEM).  I did this as well (actually, I had Sugimoto-san at Nissan Prince do it as he had a proper heat gun) back when I installed the pipes.

Looking closely at the photo above, while the carbon at first glance looks quite gorgeous, I see what look to be bubble in the clear coat. And what's that weird molding residue on the left edge there right in front of the cut out?

So as a believer in function over form, I'm curious as to whether this is indeed an improvement or just for looks. Something I will inquire into next time I'm at NISMO, hopefully soon. If this actually provides for objectively better breathing, then my car's overly long stay at NISMO will have been worth it!