Nissan GT-R – More Power for Godzilla

As it came to the market, the Nissan GT-R quickly earned the nickname « Godzilla » because of its gigantic performance envelope and its relatively affordable cost, resetting the price/performance benchmark for the industry.  The new GT-R and GT-R Nismo, revealed at Nissan’s headquarters in Yokohama one day before their official debut at the Tokyo Auto Show, add again to their resume with improvements to their horsepower ratings, aerodynamics and chassis, all the result of endurance racing in the GT3 class for Nissan at the Nurburgring 24 hrs in 2012.

Is it fast?

In one word: yes.  Nissan is very proud to announce that the new GT-R Nismo, equipped with a Track Pack featuring Öhlins shocks and benefiting from a curb weight reduction of 143 pounds, has gone around the famous old Nurburgring circuit in 7 minutes 8.69 seconds, an exceptional performance for a production car whose price should ring in below the 200,000 US$ threshold. To put this time in context, let’s recall that the new Porsche 918 Spyder, available for a mere 845,000 US$, has managed a lap in 6 minutes 57 seconds on the same circuit.

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What’s new?

The power rating goes up from 545 to 595 horses at 6 800 rpm and max torque is now rated at 480 lb-ft thanks to larger diameter tubochargers that were developed for the GT3 racing car and modifications done to the air intake and ignition. The body is now bonded with a high performance adhesive on top of being welded, the shocks and springs supplied by Bilstein adopt new calibrations and a 17.3 mm hollow anti-roll bar at the rear help reduce roll in the twisties.
The GT-R Nismo features a carbon fibre rear wing mounted to the trunk and a front bumper made of the same material, both contributing to a 100 kg downforce increase at 300 km/h and a slick drag coefficient of 0.27. The car wears black alloy wheels in a six spoke design and is available in a flat dark grey colour especially developed for it. The “race car” theme continues inside, with carbon-fibre Recaro seats (only available in Japan and Europe, sadly) and a sport three-spoke steering wheel covered in Alcantara with contrasting stitching and a red band up and center on the rim. An on-board telemetry system will allow data download to evaluate the driver’s performance.

The new Nissan GT-R will be available in Japan, North-America and Europe in 2014 and will be considered as a 2015 model in Canada, while the GT-R Nismo will follow a bit later for the 2016 model year in North America.