The 1,000hp GT-R Chasing A 7 Minute ‘Ring Time
A 7 Minute Car

What does it take to build a street legal GT-R with the goal of lapping the Nürburgring Nordschleife in less than seven minutes? Litchfield Motors in the UK believe they have the answer with their LM1 RS.

I’ll start by saying this: GT-Rs, particularly in R35 guise, just don’t excite me. I have nothing but respect for what Nissan achieved with them and the potential that tuners around the world have been able to unleash from them, but they just seem like cheating in so many ways. They’re maybe too good, something akin to playing a fighting game on your console with the second controller plugged in, but no one else in the room.

This is different, however. Very different.

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Litchfield Motors are a renowned GT-R (amongst others) tuner with a list of accolades and accomplishments so long that I’m not even going to try and list them. Their most recent project, as displayed on the Alcon stand at the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed, is on another level. It goes far beyond the description of ‘tuned’.

There was a point in recent history when this particular car was just an 800hp street car. Its owner knew it was getting too fast on track, so spoke to Litchfield about installing a roll-cage. What happened after this was the mother of all escalations.

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I would love to know how the conversations went, but what started out as a full cage installation then became about losing some weight out of the car. That resulted in full carbon fibre bodywork and a GT3 specification front end, a flat floor, and a fully functioning aero package which has been wind tunnel proven.

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The majority of the car has been painted black, but if you look at just the right angle you can see the carbon fibre weave showing through.

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The stuff has been used absolutely everywhere. From the prototype Dymag carbon wheels, nearly all of the exterior panels that I could see, even right down to the seats. It’s not the first time I’ve seen a carbon car before, but this is on another level, especially for the aftermarket.

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Seeing as the car was on the Alcon brakes stand, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise as to whom the responsibility of stopping the car fell to. Alcon’s carbon ceramic CCX package has been used on this particular build. The 400mm carbon-ceramic discs (on the front, with 385mm rears) provide 30 percent less mass than the standard OE discs, along with a 10 percent increase in braking torque. The monoblock billet calipers are 6-piston items, both front and rear.

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Despite the car going on a considerable diet and being aero-optimised, with a new goal set (a sub-seven minute lap of the Nordschleife), more power was added to the project. Litchfield used their own Sport engine and 1,000hp-capable twin turbo kit.

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A car like this deserves a lot more than a spotlight from a single event, so I won’t go too much further until we arrange a proper shoot with Litchfield Motors. It remains a street legal car, although Iain Litchfield told me that it does run a smaller wing for the road, which is understandable as I assume they don’t want to decapitate any unsuspecting pedestrians.

Expect to see more on this very soon…

Paddy McGrath
Instagram: pmcgphotos
Twitter: pmcgphotos
paddy@speedhunters.com

Cutting Room Floor
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1

Well that 600hp Subaru ran it in 6:57. Im not sure which exactly which one is lighter, but either way 1000hp will give it a huge advantage on the straighter sections of the track. Might take a bit of finessing around the corners though. Such a beast either way. Can't imagine how much all that carbon cost. I'm guessing about 5k on the wheels alone. I don't know a whole lot about car rims, but carbon motorcycle rims can be about $1,800 a piece.

Author2

Did the Subaru do it on slicks, can you remember?

3

Straight off the July post here of the Subaru. "..a set of nine-inch-wide Dunlop slick tires." What is the GT-R running?

Author4

That's impressively lazy on my behalf, although I am mid-article so didn't want to get dragged too far away from it. The GT-R is on Michelin Cup 2s, which I assume it'll run if it wants to remain street legal?

5

I cant recall a single sub 7 second lap thats been done on road legal tires. If they want a sub 7 they will have to use a soft compound racing tire. Still road legal car but youre on a race track. Tire compound > everything

6

I'm not sure anyone will ever get a sub 7 second lap at Nordschleife, but maybe I'm just a sceptic.

7

radical done it in 2009 and im sure they will do it again soon as they get the rxc out there

8

The joke is it said "7-second" as in seven seconds.

haha

9

Hahaha

10

Seeing as Dodge got 7.01 with a bone stock 600 hp viper on street tires this should be an easy target for a 1000 hp awd DCT gtr.

Author11

I don't think there's anything like an 'easy' sub-seven at the 'ring.

12

I think hes just comparing the potential of both cars, which on paper would make the GTR the faster

Author13

Understood, I just don't think it's an achievement that's easily achieved, regardless.

14

Sure there is. Open wheel cars easy. Group c piece of cake. F1 can cruise in the 6 min range lol

15

An F1 car set up specially for the ring could manage a low 5 minute time. The trick is maintaining downforce while still withstanding the bumpy road surface. Maybe some active aero....

16

That would be cool to see

17

That side exhaust tho...ugly rims tbh but I guess if they are carbon and stuff it cant get any faster

18

The prototype carbon wheels were just for the show and a better looking wheel from Dymag is on the way Boxstrom 7y. ☺️....side exhaust was needed to install the flat floor from the GT3

19

Comparing it to the Nismo GTR which got around the Ring in 7:08, i think their chances are pretty good. Its lighter and way more powerful; the Ring has enough straights where the power difference will play a huge role.

20

Stock Viper on, production tires right off of the showroom floor is just at 7.01. Guess which is cheaper to buy, which is cheaper to run... imagine if you put 1/3 of the money put into the GTR into that Viper...
#hatersgonnahate
http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a12163081/video-dodge-viper-acr-fastest-nurburgring-ring-lap/

21

Well Phil if money is your concern scrap that p.o.s. viper acr and buy a used Swift Formula Atlantic car. It would probably lap 30 seconds faster than that snake.

22

more cylinders are better? Since when?

So a Stock Nismo does a 7:08 and the 1,000hp can only shave off 9 seconds with 400 more HP? They really improved that car!!!!!!

23

Article should have said Sub 7 min lap....and should maybe focus on the GT3 level engineering under the skin and not the HP figure ☺️

Author24

The clue is in the first sentence, "less than seven minutes". Which is anything from a 6:59 and faster.

25

Aside from the price point you mention (which, is false technically... a GTR starts at ~$110k, and the Viper ACR starts at ~$160k from what dealers are actually selling them for) this would be more relevant if you were comparing cars that were within similar build specification. The ACR has improved suspension, aero, and has 4 extra cylinders. But if you want to start comparing stock cars, the all stock, street legal, Huracan Performante beat out the ACR by a full 11 seconds. This was done during the time this group you linked to was attempting to officiate their record.

I get where you're coming from, but this post isn't about an all stock vehicle taking on the Ring. Making any 1,000HP vehicle street legal, is pretty impressive, especially when given the mass amount of things we can do to a car that give it more power, but make it absolutely impound-worthy in the eyes of local police.

More interestingly, I would say, is what the implications of this are. What use does this power have if a lap can be put out from a stock GTR Nismo at 7:08, from 2015. In fact, that car still holds the record just under the ACR you're touting, which officially posted a full 5 seconds faster from a 2017 model, at 7:03. Still, very impressive, and accurately, a faster vehicle for the same price point.

So before you begin to compare how a stock ACR did it officially at 7:05, let's see what the time is on this fully built GTR. We don't even have a figure to compare it to yet, so why make the comparison at all?

26

Ahem. Stock Viper's last run was 7:01. Not 7:05.

27

1000hp street legal is literally nothing special. A big turbo on an LS is perfectly legal if engineered properly . And comparing cars of similar build specification would be relevant except these cars are the flagships of the respective brands, therefore they are meant to be compared. If the number of cylinders or aero is different then thats just one point of comparison .

28

It really all depends what your areas laws are. Engineering has nothing to do with potential for increased emissions, which are very commonly the cause for road illegality. Certain places even outlaw what they deem as excessive camber, so there are plenty of things that can still make a car non compliant, even when engineered properly.

And I don’t see where you’re going with your final statement. I already addressed how the two compared on the Ring in their stock platform. with their official recorded laps, and the ACR absolutely outperforms the GTR. But I wouldn’t compare a car that’s been modified to the extent of an extra 400HP over stock, as a good comparison. My point was, this GTR in Nismo specification already delivered a time in the VERY low 7’s. So why shouldn’t this modified one do sub 7’s with ease? That’s where I fail to see the comparison of an ACR being relevant. The point isn’t “buy a car that can already do a lap of 7:03”. It’s to buy a car that you’re interested in, and see how you can improve upon it. Extra points to being able to keep it street legal because there’s a LOT of factors that play into it being disqualified from such a classification.

29

I feel like the most important factor with the Nurburgring is ultimately, the driver.
The Nismo GTR was driven by Michael Krumm, which is one of the best drivers in the world, and he has years of experience driving the Ring. Likewise with the Subaru. The only way you can compare apples to apples is if either of these drivers gets behind the wheel of this GTR. You can have 10 drivers drive the exact same car around a track, and every single one of them will get a different lap time... you will witness this first hand if you watch F1, Nascar, or any other event where the cars are restricted to the point that they are virtually identical.

What would be really awesome is to park Horst von Saurma in this GTR and watch the magic happen!

30

This car is the essence of Speedhunting. Some guy just turned around one day and said I want my car which I drive on the road to lap the Nurburgring in less then 7 seconds and built it. I can imagine its running more wing then it needs to compensate for the fact its a street car and because of the drag it has more power then Thor. Of course its just a matter of time before Mercedes rewrite the book on sub sevens with the one but unit then its good to see road based cars pushing the envelope.

31

Under 7 minutes is optimistic, but under 7 seconds is just ludicrous!

32

with this and there sub-7 minutes run in nords, make me wonder why WTAC not held in Nords now?

33

Pretty easy: People would die. There are professional drivers (which WTAC are sure, but they are but I am lead to believe that a works driver has driven on more racetracks) and still cars get destroyed by the racetrack. That might not even be a drivers mistake but just a really tight track, it's a track on a regular street just like isle of men. But the road might be worse (they try to improve that and make the track safer every year) and pretty much all of the time you end up in a barrier, not just in villages, on the entire track.

34

Yes, I must be agree with you safety concern is top of all. With that crazy downforce you doesn't want to imagine when everything goes to south.

35

I bet almost all the improvements in lap times over the last few years can be attributed to aerodynamics. There's never been a lack of power in the past, suspensions have been great for a while but it seems that it's all about getting the cars to stick onto the track as much as possible. It must be thrilling driving these cars knowing that a big thumb of air pushes you down to stick that much better on the road. It's exciting to watch as some of these vehicles look like little jet planes on the road.

36

Carbon wheels amaze me. Porsche had a cool video showcasing how they're put together.

37

Thanks for starting off by telling us that you don't like R35s because they are "cheating" ... /NOT

Interesting car though, would like to see the full equipment list esp since that seat kinda looks like a Tillet

Author38

I apologise for having an opinion.

39

I thought this looked familiar and when I had seen the photo of it on the stand it reminded me of Goodwood haha, this GTR looked crazy.

Really loved the GT3 styling of this as well.

40

Read this with eyes wide open! What a car!

41
Chris Krutch Wall

So Porsche just blew that time away. Still, this GT-R is the definition of awesome!

42

I’m very curious about the weight of the car... Carbon panels, carbon wheels, carbon-ceramic discs... I think around 1600kgs,max 1650...

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