Despite appearances, last week's
Nissan 360 event
wasn't simply an excuse for hacks to sun it up in LA and drive a few cars. Honest. We've even got some news to report.
'Pure motorsports flavour' promised by NISMO
Now whilst Datsun's expansion plans and Nissan's vision of urban mobility won't interest PH, there was one little snippet of info that certainly was on our radar; the GT-R NISMO will go on sale next year.
Unfortunately, Nissan was much keener to divulge details of Juke NISMO sales than tell us much more than was already known. On the GT-R NISMO, we were told 'development is on track in Japan'. A bit of extra detail was provided by Hiroshi Tamura, the GT-R and NISMO Chief Product Specialist. "The Nissan GT-R Nismo is the GT-R with which we pursue pure performance," he said. Begging the question that if so what does that make the regular GT-R? He also added that "It is for people who search for true performance with pure motorsports flavour."
So we've not been told much new, but it does get us pretty excited about a mega-R35. And a few key details can probably be assumed right now. More power is nearly guaranteed given the tweakable nature of the GT-R's 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6. Surely more than 600hp can't be more than some upped boost pressure plus a new exhaust away?
Weight saving will need to be more than cosmetic
Track Pack
GT-Rs as a guide, lighter wheels and upgraded brakes will probably feature too. Carbon-ceramic brakes would of course further reduce unsprung mass...
With the standard GT-R a near-1,800kg car, a weight reduction would further benefit its dynamic abilities. Given Tamura mentioned 'pure performance', could something with a significantly lower kerbweight be in development?
Then there's the 991 Turbo issue. With a Turbo S now at £140,000, the potential is there for NISMO to both boost the GT-R's price and performance without compromising its perceived value. With a standard GT-R currently £80K, it probably isn't unreasonable to expect a six-figure price tag for a NISMO car. This could actually place it directly against its GT3 namesake...