Rick Kelly has been kind enough to share a driver’s eye view of a lap around Mount Panorama. Recorded with a GoPro camera mounted to his helmet you can see and hear what it’s like inside the Nissan GTR Nismo GT as he posts a very tidy 2:04.8s lap. Check it out after the break.
The #32 Nissan GTR Nismo GT3 has just set the fastest time in Practice 3 at the Bathurst 12 Hour. At the wheel for this afternoon’s flying lap was Bathurst rookie Alex Buncombe who set a time of 2:06.5958. That’s a bit off this morning’s pace when David Russell set a GT3 practice record with his 2:05.9397 lap during Practice 2 in the #23 Lamborghini Gallardo.
From that morning session here is an onboard video with V8 Supercar ace Rick Kelly driving the GTR. He lapped in the low 2:07s and said it was his second fastest-lap ever around the 6.2km Mount Panorama circuit.
Nissan has just confirmed details of the MY11 changes made to its all-conquering GT-R. No car can show its face these days without LED daytime running lights, you see.
Of course, Nissan’s engineers went further than that, also trimming 10kg from the GT-R’s portly weight. Fuel consumption has been improved, along with a reduction in CO2 emissions. Minor tweaks have also been made to Godzilla’s suspension and brakes. These are complemented by new forged alloys from Rays.
Inside gets a once over, as well. Usual stuff like a revised instrument panel and nav display have been thrown in. But there are big changes, too. The steering wheel emblem now has “a new velour-like coating, expressing a glossy texture”. Amazing!
Outside has seen some cosmetic tweaks, notably the front spoiler can now feed in more air. These revisions also increase downforce by about 10%. Two new exterior paint colours—Jet Black and GTBlue—have been added to the colour palette.
However, the big news is more power. Quite a bit more actually. At its initial launch the GT-R had 353kW/588Nm. Well, now the little (big) Nissan that can boasts 390kW/600Nm. That’s quite a significant increase.
Australian deliveries for the MY11 model are expected from March next year.
Another day, another leak. This time details of the Nissan GT-R Spec-V have surfaced on the net. The details are claimed to be confirmed specifications and suggest an official reveal for the Spec-V (or V-Spec, whatever tickles your Godzilla bone) will be 8 January 2009.
From what we can see on the GTRblog website there’ll be lashings of carbon fibre, lightweight 20″ forged aluminium wheels, carbon brakes and a moderate 9kW power upgrade, among other things (full list after the jump). Surely that power increase can’t be right, but that’s what the GT-R experts are saying, so we’ll run with it for now.
We probably won’t get the Spec-V in Australia at all, or for a very long time if we do. But the predicted base price in Japan is Â¥15,750,000 (approx AU$265,000). That’s over AU$100,000 more than the GT-R’s Australian list price. Ouch!
Source: GTRblog.com
Nissan’s Nordschleife-busting R35 GT-R is about to get better. The upcoming V-Spec has been confirmed by Nissan and speculation suggests February 2009 for an official release, although nothing has been officially announced. It has been suggested, though, that the GT-R V-Spec could be revealed at the 12th annual Nismo Festival to be held at the Fuji Speedway later this month.
Shown above testing at Germany’s Nürburgring Nordschleife back in April, the V-Spec is expected to include the goodies from Nismo’s upgrade package, which has already been released for standard GT-Rs. The package includes undertray aerodynamic enhancements, light weight alloys and a titanium exhaust. The V-Spec will also employ carbon fibre body panels to help reduce overall weight and power is said to be increased by as much as 75kW. Such an improvement would take the GT-R V-Specto around 430kW (approx 575hp).
The regular GT-R retails for AU$148,800 and with speculation the V-Spec could be as much as Â¥15M, Australian pricing could begin around AU$240,000. That’s assuming the V-Spec gets an official Australian release.
The V-Spec looks like being an astonishing car. Porsche must be wondering what on earth they have to do next!
Well, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock you’ll be well aware of the hype and publicity created by the Nissan GT-R. Now, in an official capacity at least, the GT-R will be heading down under. The country that gave the car its Godzilla nickname (courtesy of Wheels magazine) will be in Australian Nissan showrooms in April 2009. Okay, a select few Nissan showrooms—the GT-R will be sold at just 11 Nissan High Performance Centres.
The GT-R will be available in two specifications, GT-R ($148,800) and GT-R Premium ($152,800). The Premium model doesn’t add any extra power, just a few bling items like smoked alloy wheels, better sound system and the like. There will be a choice of six colours, Super Silver, Vibrant Red, Gun Metallic, Black Obsidian, Titanium, and Ivory Pearl.
Orders will be taken at the Australian International Motor Show from 9 October. For Nissan’s full release and a massive image gallery, comprising of 30 pictures at 2000x1320px, make sure you read below…
A few days ago a Porsche official made the extraordinary public claim that Nissan cheated when setting the GT-R’s amazing lap of 7 minute 29 seconds around the Nürburgring Nordschleife. And now Nissan is fighting back defending its honour. Read the story in full at AUSringers.com.
Or you can watch the lap below and decide for yourself…
Just how much power does the Nissan GT-R actually have? The official Nissan figure tells us the car has 352kW (see below), or around 480bhp. Nissan’s reported 7:29 Nürburgring lap time has generated enough hype, histrionics and humdrum to whip internet forums into a lather the world over. To be honest, a lot of the criticisms of the GT-R’s Nordschleife lap time, such as the alleged misrepresentations by Nissan (different start and stop points, rolling start), were made by uneducated Americans who only started hearing about the Ring when their auto makers decided corners were actually here to stay. The published video of the GT-R’s lap follows the same start and finish conventions as any other “officially” published Nordschleife Time Attack lap, yes, even including the rolling start.
However, it seems, not all stereotypes are created equal as this article on the New York Times blog explains. Albeit, ironically, using 400m of dead straight tarmac to prove its point. A fairly basic estimate of horsepower can be calculated by using a car’s weight and its drag strip trap speed (the speed with which a car crosses the line). If we take the NYT at their word a GT-R weighs 4000lbs (1814kg) and can reach a speed of 122mph (196kph) on a traditional quarter mile drag strip (400m). Crunch the numbers and you end up with a figure of around 565bhp (420kW). That may explain why Nissan reckons the GT-R can get around the Ring faster than a Corvette Z06 (7:43), which weighs significantly less and has an official power figure above the GT-R’s.