Back in 2005, when Nissan presented its GT-R Proto Concept, and I remember having a big laugh about the specifications Carlos Ghosn had promised, especially for the price announced. And when three years later, the official GT-R was launched I stopped laughing and started thinking how on earth had they done such a miracle. With a 0-100 km/h in 3.5 seconds, 480 horsepower from its twin-turbocharged 3.5 litres V6, a Nurburgring Nordschleife time better than the 911 Turbo, and the lot available at a cheaper price than a basic Porsche 911, I was stunned. Now Nissan’s just officially revealed their Nismo version of their GT-R at Los Angeles Motor Show. Text : Mickaël B. © Images : Nissan ©
So when I heard in 2012, that the Nismo department, which is Nissan’s racing expert, was getting its hands on the GT-R, I got very excited, already dreaming of a hardcore, almost GT3-ready, more powerful version of this already incredibly fast transportation machine. And I got even more excited once I stumbled across the announced specifications that Nismo were planning. Originally, the first rumours spoke about a 0-100 km/h time in 2 seconds, and a Nurburgring Nordschleife time in less than 7 minutes. These figures would have been better than any supercar ever built, putting the GT-R Nismo at the level of the LaFerrari or the McLaren P1.
Finally the Nismo GT-R has been revealed, and my excitement went down as I learned the official specs which have been yet revealed. Especially I was really expecting the Nismo to get under the mythical 7-minute barrier at the Nordschleife but it did “only” a 7:08:679 time, whilst driven by official Nismo pilot Michael Krumm. It is still a very fast time, but gaining at least 8 seconds around the green hell, moreover at this level of performance, seems almost impossible. You can check out Nissan’s official video :
Technically, the 3.8 liter twin-turbocharged V6 now copes with 652 Nm of torque and 600 horsepower, which isn’t that much different compared to the already impressive 550 from the standard version. To achieve this, engineers from the Nismo department improved breathing, optimised individual ignition timing control for each cylinder, upgraded the fuel pump and changed the turbochargers, for new GT3-used larger diameter ones. New exclusive suspension and dampers setup, as well as a 70 kilograms weight loss and exclusive Dunlop tyres are some other changes operated on this new GT-R Nismo. Aerodynamics have as well beeen improved, giving this car an additional 100 kilograms downforce at 300 km/h while improving the Cd value to 0.26.
I might be the only one who was expecting more, but I doubt it. More horsepower to ensure the 2 seconds from 0-100 km/h, more weight loss, for even better handling, and a more hardcore feeling. The Nismo version doesn’t seem that much lightweight as we can see in the Nurburgring’s video… Indeed all the electronic gadgets and tweaks which are completely useless in real life are still there, as the climate control. The seats doesn’t even seem to be that lighter to the standard ones, and the Nismo still has rear seats as standard. Very useful if you wanted a hardcore track-day ready car… Although no 0-60 time has yet been announced by Nissan’s officials, it would seem almost unbelievable if the Nismo gets under 2.5 seconds for this mighty time, letting it a slower car than the Bugatti Veyron.
