Nismo Does The GT-R
A sequel to the Z-tune?

Nismo has always had its way of doing things. Unlike AMG or M-sports they have always approached the fine-tuning of Nissan sports cars in a bit of a different way, so rather than producing Nismo versions of production models they have always stuck to offering aftermarket tuning parts and packages for cars like the Skyline GT-R and Silvia. Every once in a while, they released limited edition models, like the S14 Nismo 270R and the BCNR33 400R.  Then in 2005, three years after the BNR34 was put out of production, they built a very limited run of Z-tunes. It’s all been a bit inconsistent – disorganized even- an unmistakably JDM approach to the hush hush tuning that was going on in the nineties and early 2000s. The 280PS gentleman’s agreement was probably at fault here, so maybe that’s the best they could do at the time with the resources they had back then. Fast forward some eight years since the Z-tune was the hot car in Japan, and Nismo have moved into all-new headquarters in Yokohama and have announced that they will be slapping the Nismo brand on more and more Nissan production cars. The Nismo 370Z came first, then followed the Juke and the March.

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Now, as you probably saw in my coverage of the Tokyo Motorshow last month, the GT-R, the big daddy of the brand, has had the Nismo treatment. But unlike the aforementioned models, the Nismo R35 isn’t a marketing exercise. It’s not just a fancy bodykit, harder and lower suspension and a pair of sports seats that turn the base model into something special; there’s a hell of a lot more going on – and that’s a very good thing! The R35 has been on sale in Japan since December 2007, so that means it’s taken Nismo six years to come up with a plan and while I’d love to emphasize my frustration with the sheer delay on getting this car out to the public, I’ll skip doing so as I – like many out there – am just glad that at least it’s finally here and it represents a new direction from Nissan’s Motorsports division. So all of this is precisely why the other week I found myself at a very cloudy Sodegaura Forest Raceway.

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Nissan invited journalists to get a first taste of the 600hp complete car which will go on sale in February 2014 in Japan. Unlike the Z-tune and Nismo cars that came before it, this R35 will be offered in the US and Europe as well as other countries, so it won’t become another of those legendary cars that were kept solely for the domestic market. That is of course a great thing because this is precisely what Nismo need to be doing with all the factory-tuned cars it will release from here on forth.

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And before we get to the test drive itself, I will state the obvious: this isn’t a car for everyone. We all know the potential the R35 and its VR38DETT has when it comes to tuning, so a lot of people will still prefer to take a stock GT-R and squeeze more performance out of it via the countless options that now exist in the aftermarket. On the other hand, if you are out there to own a ready-to-track, manufacturer-built, developed and backed GT-R that comes with that legendary motorsport badge, well then the Nismo version is the car for you! Aside from the obvious collector status this car will no doubt have in a few years, there is of course one other aspect that makes it rather special and that is the lap time it set at the Nordschleife earlier in the year with Michael Krumm at the wheel.

7:08.679 is a record time for a volume production car, and the pace Krumm manages to hold throughout his attempt is very substantial but as we will find out further down there was a little more to that time than what a ‘stock’ Nismo GT-R would be able to do.

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Heading the entire GT-R project as well as the future of the ‘R”, not to mention Nismo’s integration with other Nissan models, is all part of Hiroshi Tamura’s job. Once the chief product developer of the BNR34 Skyline GT-R, Tamura-san has replaced Mizuno-san and I can safely say Nisssan couldn’t have chosen a better man for the job. An owner of an rather heavily modified BNR32 himself, Tamura knows all too well what the GT-R brand stands for; for years he was referred to as Mr. GT-R and now he is back where he belongs, making sure that Nissan’s supercar continues to annihilate far more expensive exotics for years to come. After a quick run down of the improvements to both the 2014 model as well as the Nismo version it was time to assess the car through the challenging corners of Sodegaura.

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With the whole mid-section cut off it was only really the very extreme loop of the track that we would be allowed to drive on; a bit sad as Sodegaura is a track I know well and always enjoy driving. Still I wasn’t complaining. I was lucky enough to sample a very important car months before it hits the dealers and I approached my five laps with a lot of concentration, ready to see how Nismo has helped to boost the entire overall performance of what is already a ridiculously fast car.

Nismo-GTR-08

I was the first to head out and even from the moment I accelerated out of the pits I realized just how much stronger the engine felt. Accelerating down the back straight and through the first right kink which usually unsettles a lot of cars it felt planted, easily capable of taking substantially more speed. With tires not quite warmed up yet I progressively upped the pace, leaning more and more through what little corners we had to play with. But it didn’t take much: the differences were instantly perceivable, the bonded and spot-welded chassis, the firmer Bilstein dampers and springs, the larger rear sway bar as well as the special Nismo version Dunlop rubber all increased the planted feel that the R35 has always had. Nismo links have also been thrown in to vary geometry with an aim to boost high speed stability and cornering performance but these would probably be more noticeable on faster courses like Fuji or the Nordschleife!

Aero counts
Nismo-GTR-09

The aerodynamics package too is something you would get the most benefit from at speed, the touches starting off with a slightly redesigned front bumper with air outlets on its side to flow hot air from the coolers and direct it smoothly over the wheels and the side of the car.

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A reprofiled front lip with integrated brake ducts further helps increase overall downforce.

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This is combined with the carbon fiber spoiler and redesigned rear bumper all helping boost downforce by 100 kg at 300 km/h (186 mph) compared to a stock 2014 car.

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There are a lot of cool touches like the design of the spoiler end plates which are taken straight from the GT-500 GT-Rs as well as the 2014 LED head and tail lights which help give the front and rear end an extra touch of freshness if you will. Staying with the Nismo motif, red accents are added along the front, sides and back of the car: something that has been and will continue to be added to Nismo versions of Nissan cars.

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But unlike other vehicles there is more to the performance side of things than a simple exhaust system. The VR38 gets the same turbochargers that are run on the GT3 race versions of the R35, able to flow a larger volume of air yet retain that immediate response that has always characterized this engine. In the real world this simply translates as more torque and more power, more of the time. It comes on in an even more explosive fashion, boosting that crazy mid-range even more! A Nismo titanium exhaust system, the same that was used years back on the Japan-only SpecV helps relieve back-pressure and at the same time intensifies the sound across the rev range.

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Visually there isn’t much to look at to be honest: a stock engine plastic cover with a little Nismo logo is all you get but I’m just being overly critical here as for me, engines also need to look great and presentable, like the RB26 was! Ok I’ll stop now.

The complete package
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My short five laps were over before I realized what my body had been put through. By the last lap I was really taking it to its limits, limits that were just so high that it even took the bumpy last section in its stride like it wasn’t even there: a series of violent undulations that would throw most cars off line and require you to lift off the gas.

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In the Nismo GT-R I was taking it flat out, my body bouncing all over the place but the car still pointing in the right trajectory and putting all that torque down without any complaints. Blown away by what I had just felt I had a ride along with GT-driver Tetsuya Tanaka in one of the Nürburgring development cars where I proceeded to realize that the car could be driven so much faster than what I was doing. I came away laughing and at the same time a little depressed of my poor attempts at really pushing the car! I guess that’s why guys like Tanaka are hired to do what they do!

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I also got a chance to spend some time with a US-spec car, taking a closer look at the work that went into the substantially redesigned Nismo rear bumper. The extremities of those angular hips have been extended rearward from the very top and increased as they meet up with the ‘bowtie’ lower bumper section. That was to help lower drag and also diffuse the air that is now released through the bumper openings on top of the exhaust.

Lots of wind tunnel work went into getting all of these details right as you can see on the development video of the Nismo GT-R.

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Nismo has preferred not to fettle too much with the interior, limiting itself to a few little touches. US market cars will come with simple red alcantara inserts on the stock seats to help grip your rear end and stop it from sliding around too much.

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On the other hand Japanese and European cars will get carbon fiber Recaro bucket seats and a rear seat delete. To keep journalists’ rear ends comfortable, the buckets weren’t fitted to the two test cars we had a chance to drive however!

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Like all Nismo cars, the rpm meter is finished off in red and the suede steering wheel gets a red strip to mark the center position. I would have personally liked to have seen some carbon fiber accents be added to spice up the caving a bit though.

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Maybe some kind of Nismo-only upgrade to the Multi Function Display screen? BNR34 owners will know what I’m talking about here!

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With all the nice carbon exterior touches and the lightweight Nismo wheels, it was curious to see that the stock Brembo brake package wasn’t upgraded. Seeing that this GT-R is marketed as a track-ready car, this is one area I was really expecting some upgrades in, but I suppose the special Nismo pads will have to do. These stoppers are more than up to the job of taking the abuse of a track day mind you.

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And so we get to the actual car that set the Nordschleife volume production car record. Like I touched on earlier, Nismo are not being quite honest with what they have claimed. I mean the car that set the record is a Nismo GT-R, but it runs a few little upgrades. Let’s start at the front. Underneath the new lip spoiler is an additional vertical strip that helps boost front downforce.

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This is joined by a pretty visible gurney applied at the end of the hood and of course the most noticeable thing of all – which you actually have to look closely at due to the camo-effect of the test-car livery the car is still running – the little canard applied to the front fenders is there to give a small increment of front downforce, maybe a couple of kg per side at 300 km/h.

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They also direct and smooth airflow up and over the rather large stock side mirrors. These alterations join a taller rear wing, adjustable race suspension and a remapped ECU. Now what makes the time still stand is that most of these upgrades should be purchasable via Nismo by the time the car is released in February. I’ll go out on a limb and say that most manufactures cheat a little when it comes to setting times at the Nürburgring.

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At least Nismo are coming clean with what they did to prep the car for their lap attempts. Still, it doesn’t take away from the fact that they have put together a well-balanced package which builds upon the stock car’s abilities and keeps it as accessible to any sort of driver.

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If the Nismo GT-R is the first real example of what we’re to expect from Nismo in the future then I can’t help but be pretty excited. Now all they have to do to keep the wave of fun and creativity flowing, is to drop the same tuned VR38 into a Fuga or Skyline and start chasing those German uber saloons up and down the Autobahn! Wishful thinking I know, but one can only dream…

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1

I am a big fan of the R35, and have really liked the design every year. We use a R34 as our company car, and would love to some day own a 35, but, this look awful.


I can understand that yes it maybe quicker and produce more downforce, but it looks so chintzy, over designed and fiddly. The red line across the bottom of everything ruins the lines, and makes it stand odd. The back bumper is just nasty. Its like they have just walked around it and gone 'can that be red?' .. 'certainly, because red means faster!'. The styling of the GTR range has always been that of a world war 2 gun emplacement, that sort of 'get out of my way fast'. This just looks a little too Halfords.

Sorry Nissan.

2

benpophamred is extra 25kW

3

Computer on dashboard is in French! I think some Renault's ingineer had play with this toy ^^

4

I wonder how much hp the Nürburgring-version makes. "Remapped ECU" is a term quite loosely defined. We all know what abuse modern turbo engines can take (at least for certain amounts of time). The time is impressive anyway but i don't trust the manufacturers times or press cars. The german Sport Auto mag - with Horst von Saurma or Christian Gebhardt as capable drivers and Ring-Veterans posting way more realistic 'Ring-times - started dynoing their test cars as most of them made ridiculous amounts of extra horses especially for tests against competition. I recall a comparison of the BMW M5, Merc E63 AMG and Panamera Turbo where M5 and E63 made about 200hp more than stated. How useful are times set under such circumstances? It's a cool touch and step in the right direction that all of the additional parts will be available for sale but still the time is useless. 
McLaren hopefully set an end to this ...

5

benpophamnissan does not care whether you think it looks pretty, they just want to stomp on ferraris

6

Shii_Tsuu I came

7

What have they done to the exterior it looks terrible

8

For those who can afford, this version is certainly a valid option to a Porsche, Ferrari, McLaren or whatever. But unless your a true fan of Nissans & Co and their history, this car is an absolute No-go in terms of aesthetics.

9

Missed one thing: 
The Nismo GTR will have an optional Time Attack gear they used on the Nurburgring one. Saw this on one of the other websites that reported about this a couple of weeks ago. Or more I forget when the Nurburgring Video popped up.

10

De_JaY Also avaible in Europe and US... I want to see the price tag xD

11

quick question, did you mean seam welded instead of spot welded? most high volume production cars are spot welded. 

full disclosure :im not up to date with how the GTR is manufactured,

12

is there any right-steering (not sure about that word) option?

13
Gianluca FairladyZ

Well.. To me..It was like love at first sight ( or the Feeling " i want you and nothing else as my next car! " ). But I really hope that Nismo takes it serious this time with its   brand. Here in Europe, the start of Nismo was a little bit of a fail, because many magazines compared the 370Z Nismo with Porsche Cayman S and Audi RS3, and it lost in a really bad way. Magazine's measured the Performances of the car, and it was pretty much the same with a stock Z34, or the normal Z34 was even faster ( don't ask me why, it's only that what i've read ).
I'm sure with the R35 GTR it will not be the same Thing, as Mr Krumm showed some impressive lap times on the Schleife. So my question here is, why does Nismo not have a strict line of building cars equipped with the Nismo Badge (in Europe)?
In my opinion there Needs to be a clear diffrence between stock and Nismo (because i'm sure that most People will not be ready to pay a lot more for a car with same performances). It was a little bit dissapointing with the Juke Nismo and 370Z Nismo. I hope they'll do the best they can to make their next cars as impressive as the R35 GTR Nismo is :)

14

muhammadilham You mean right-hand drive?

15

It's funny how a lot of comments on the internet refers to how this car looks. It feels almost as if reading some alfa romeo board. Well it's not a catwalk or fashion show. But the Nismo GT-R is beautiful in its own way, that "performance way", like it should.

16

i really like this kouki nismo r35. btw, which would be your favorite? the track tuned nismo or the fits so comfortably and plush egoist?

17
speedhunters_dino

d_rav I'd take a Nismo one of course:)

18
speedhunters_dino

staryjaponiec At least the change they made are functional, not something you can say for a lot of aesthetics tweaks usually

19
speedhunters_dino

Gianluca FairladyZ I always thought that if they insist in comparing themselves to AMG or M-sports, or taking that sort of approach as a loose guideline for what they want to do then they should really do it like the Germans. What they have done so far has been confusing to say the least.  Total Japanese approach....

20
speedhunters_dino

FunctionFirst muhammadilham Yes the car is LHD or RHD depending on market

21
speedhunters_dino

@Mike Yes I meant spot welding, or should have probably specified "additional" spot welding in key areas :)

22
speedhunters_dino

Youjutsusha  If you go back and re read what I wrote you will noticed I said : "These alterations join a taller rear wing, adjustable race suspension and a remapped ECU. Now what makes the time still stand is that most of these upgrades should be purchasable via Nismo by the time the car is released in February"

23
speedhunters_dino

@Nik Looks are subjective

24
speedhunters_dino

DomoKun I think they were going for functional rather than pretty lol

25
speedhunters_dino

@Shii_Tsuu De_JaY I didn't add anything to the text as it's all hearsay but over 15 million Yen is what I heard

26
speedhunters_dino

maxproof I agree, these times should be all individually confirmed. Maybe someone should organize a Nordschleife Time Attack and see how many manufactures are willing to participate....  As for the power, hard to say but I'd guess an extra 50HP wouldn't be too such of an issue for the engine to handle.  They car's fuel pump has been upgraded too but it doesn't seem like the injectors have been so if there are restrictions it will be there.

27
speedhunters_dino

Tom_De_Paris_14 It was the North American market car I was shooting there so seeing it's the same spec that would go to Canada there was also a French language option on the MFD :)

28
speedhunters_dino

benpopham An R34 company car? Damn I'd like to work for your company LOL

29
speedhunters_dino

kurko benpopham at least!

30

How do we get DDC signed merch :3?

31

No matter what they do with this car, no matter how much power they put in it, for me it remains an ugly car. And something that goes beyond aesthetics is the fact that this is a highly complicated piece of machinery. If i had the budget for a bullet, today i would go for the Ferrari F12. Beauty, 730BHP, RWD and of course it is a Ferrari...

32
Gianluca FairladyZ

speedhunters_dino Gianluca FairladyZ Totally agree with you!

33

I seriously feels that by going with white, black & red theme,
TE37SL (in red) or TE37RT will be more suitable for the whole package
rather that black NISMO wheels..........

34

This is me when I saw that tachometer, "Oh god..." Then proceeded to drool allover my keyboard...

35
speedhunters_dino

meal stub Get a tissue, quick!

36
speedhunters_dino

Chah Well RAYS are about to release 20-inch TE37s :)

37
speedhunters_dino

@Angelo Angelo, F12 is my favourite Ferrari so I know what you mean but to assume that it doesn't have just as much technology would be wrong!

38
speedhunters_dino

clevernamehere As in like you want me to sign stuff? lol

39

from now on...this will be my dream car.....

40

speedhunters_dino clevernamehere Yeah, don't make it sound as creepy as it does...

41

I really hope this Nismo will boost up the Nissan's racing legacy image in Europe. Price tag is 149.900 € (~$200.000). A 991 Turbo is 164.000 € (and you can add 15k€ with a few options) but people here are ready to give the extra money to get a Porsche badge. I'm pretty sure that if you ask 100 people to name a sport car by Nissan, 98 of them won't be able to answer : "Nissan ? They do Micra and SUV's right ?".
Porsche has a strong "track ready" aura along with reliability. The Porsche fanbase is really strong in Europe. And, I am sorry to hurt the Skyline fanboyz, the R35 is not sexy. It's a beast, you can tell that it will make you soil your underwear, but it's not as sexy as an Aston Martin, a Porsche or a Ferrari.
Which car would you buy if you had 150/200k€ today ? That's $200/270k for you american people. My dream would be a trip to Japan and get the ultimate R32. That GT-R is not just sexy, it's pure sex !
Please excuse the poor english of a frenchman :)

42

why won't they make one with three pedals? then i would own one.

43

Really desirable car...

44

Not a fan due to all the technology that's gone into the car. I want a car that has no abs, no traction control, no ac, pretty much nothing, but the driver and the car. Thankfully I'll be getting a Datsun 4 door 510

45

wheatgod tipiak So what DO you like then?

46

Chah Aren't NISMO wheels made by RAYS?

47

speedhunters_dino Yes, you should! Unless i know what you want to say.

48

Brad_S  So you must really dislike your laptop/desktop and every piece of technology you have in your house...

49

so sad. brian o'connor cant drive that :-(

50

Novac Darius Brad_S He doesn't drive his computer. People can't have different desires to you? Fuck man.

51

Brad_S You can switch it all off.(if you know how) Jason Plato actually set a faster time at a circuit with it all switched off as opposed to his lap with it on.

52
ScaleCarCollection

AMAZING... can't think of a better word!

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