NISMO has announced a price for the new
GT3 spec Nissan GT-R racecar,
confirming an off-the-shelf pricetag of 298,000 Euros. Developed - and raced - through 2011 and shown a few weeks back at the
Autosport International
show the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 (snappy...) has been developed in partnership with JR Motorsports.
Unlike the V8, rear-drive GT-R GT1 (as driven by Riggers last year and, no, he hasn't shut up about it yet!) the GT3 is much closer in mechanical spec to the road car we all know and love. So it's got the same 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 - down on power a tad at 530hp compared with the MY2012 road car's 550hp - driving through a Hewland six-speed sequential gearbox. Ohlins adjustable dampers are among the driver-tweakable settings.
The car had its formal race debut a couple of weeks back at the Dubai 24 Hours, qualifying third and proving on the pace of GT3 rivals like the Mercedes SLS GT3, Audi R8 GT3 and ever-present Porsches. A crash early in the race knocked the GT-R out of contention but its lap times proved competitive and with the car now officially on sale the potential is there for some long-running rivalries - those Porsche scaring 'ring lap times spring to mind - to finally get resolved in a straight fight. The marketplace for tasty looking GT3 cars was already pretty broad - Nissan's arrival adds yet another choice for privateer teams and, visually, looks ready to take the competition round the back of the paddock for a right good kicking. Whether it can do the same on the track remains to be seen.