Monday 23rd August 2010

GT-R GT1 Team Boss Builds 700hp Road Car

If you ran Nissan GT-R's in the FIA GT1 Series, what would you drive?

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PH contributor David Vivian dropped into Sumo Power GT HQ recently, where as well as an update on progress for the team's FIA GT1 campaign, he got wind of a special Nissan GT-R road car being cooked-up by the boss. Well you would, wouldn't you?

Over to Viv...

Last Christmas, JRM Group boss and sometime drag-racer James Rumsey caught wind of a rumour that the Gigawave Motorsport team was shutting up shop and wouldn't be representing Nissan in the 2010 FIA GT1 championship with its Nismo-developed V8-engined, rear-drive GTR. He was off the mark faster than his personal, modified roadgoing GTR with launch control engaged. A smoky blur of phone calls and contact connections later, the deal was all but wrapped up in the finest Yuletide paper with a pretty bow on top and the Sumo Power GT team was born.

Nice pressie and something for his burgeoning Japanese car tuning and motorsport business to get its teeth into at its shiny new premises in Rye, East Sussex - not least the awesome SuperFlow SF-902 dyno that lives in the Engine Room.

Just a month ago it was all going to plan - slightly better, in fact. Boosted by a win at Silverstone in May, Sumo Power GT was lying second in the team contest and 4th and 5th in the driver standings. This was obviously very good going for a brand new team up with a car effectively denied the turbocharging, four-wheel drive and electronic hardware that help make it such a formidable force on the road. After all, it's competing in a cost-conscious, back-to-basics formula (where power and weight are carefully balanced for closer racing) that naturally favours many of its more traditional supercar rivals such as the Ford GT, Aston Martin DB9, Chevrolet Corvette and (perhaps unsurprisingly leading the championship) Maserati MC 12.

After an incident packed race at Spa where they were denied a podium finish by a driveline failure within a lap and a half of the chequered flag, the Sumo Power GT team has slipped to third in the team but there's everything still to play for...

The boss's GTR

The upgrade path for James Rumsey's roadgoing GTR - known, rather prosaically, as "the R35 demonstrator" - started with the standard HKS GT600 upgrade kit which, among other things, boosts power from the standard car's 478bhp to a nice round 600. But rather than stick with the HKS ECU, Rumsey opted for the Cobb access port system which enabled him to map the car on JRM's rolling road while keeping a lot of the safety features that the standard ECU employs intact (plus the overboost facility). And that liberated another 100bhp with no trouble at all.

So, 700 horsepower. "The problem with that sort of power (and it's well documented)," JRM marketing manager Alan Zini told me, "is that the gearboxes tend to fail. There's an issue with 1st gear when launch control is enabled. Our solution is a PPG complete gear set - we're a UK agent - which, right now, is sitting downstairs.

The gearbox is in pieces and we're about to rebuild the 'box using the PPG gear kit. The other thing we want to do is put a completely new set of bearings in there, and that's been really problematic because it seems as though Nissan doesn't want to supply individual gearbox components. So what we've done is have all the bearings reverse engineered in Australia. The gearbox is going to back together with the PPG kit and new bearings. The car will then go on to its next stage, which is probably going to be an 800 or 900 horsepower upgrade.

JRM also has six standard R35 engines which are being stripped to see where the weak links are and what sort of upgrades might be suitable. Zini: "We've got five of those gear kits sitting on the shelf and the idea is that we'll actually build complete gearboxes, PPG kit and uprated bearings installed, ready to go. The plan is that customers shouldn't encounter those same problems. Drive in, pay the money, drive out with a new gearbox, no problems at all. And the reworked gearbox should be good for 1000 plus horsepower without breaking. Fact is, the cars have got the capability to do that sort of power."

On top of that, Rumsey's GTR will have uprated, two-piece discs on the front, a lowering kit that uses the standard springs and dampers but repositioned mounts to drop the body by 20mm and Toyo track day tyres on 20-inch rims. Never mind Godzilla, let's call this one The Terminator. And when it's ready, I'll be back.

Race photos by Darren Rycroft

[ArranAshman]

Awsome, my current favorite road car just gets better and better.

[Shropshiremike]

There's some stuff about this in EVO mag

[Daniel1]

good roads around Rye to test this out too, one of my favourite haunts on a sunday morning!

[havoc]

I like their approach, esp. to the gearbox issue.

Fingers crossed they get a few more podiums in the GTs...

[RB Will]

Shropshiremike said:

There's some stuff about this in EVO mag

Isnt that a white one that the Renault F1 guy has?

[BUG4LIFE]

RB Will said:

Shropshiremike said:

There's some stuff about this in EVO mag

Isnt that a white one that the Renault F1 guy has?

Yeah, built by Litchfield Imports - different car to the above.

[marshallp]

The R35 keeps on going from strength to strength. it will be interesting to see how far they can take it as the R34 got to ridiculous power and speed without as much tech.

[LukeBird]

havoc said:

I like their approach, esp. to the gearbox issue.

+1

It's good to see engineering being the problem solver rather than just limiting the torque and/or power in the lower gears.

Good work chaps!

[soad]

Good stuff - damn good bhp increase over stock car, with more to come!

[marcosgt]

I'm a little disappointed it hasn't got the V8 from the race car.

M.

[johnpeat]

marshallp said:

The R35 keeps on going from strength to strength. it will be interesting to see how far they can take it as the R34 got to ridiculous power and speed without as much tech.

and some of those R34s did a few hundred miles before they blew-up too

The Skyline 'range' remains the car which people overdo the most - it's a demonstration of the most ancient law

"Just because you CAN do a thing does not mean that you SHOULD"

[TangoR34]

BUG4LIFE said:

RB Will said:

Shropshiremike said:

There's some stuff about this in EVO mag

Isnt that a white one that the Renault F1 guy has?

Yeah, built by Litchfield Imports - different car to the above.

I read that too. Litchfield does an amazing job at tuning as well, but yet to make a big name of themselves.

[bobberz]

johnpeat said:

marshallp said:

The R35 keeps on going from strength to strength. it will be interesting to see how far they can take it as the R34 got to ridiculous power and speed without as much tech.

and some of those R34s did a few hundred miles before they blew-up too

The Skyline 'range' remains the car which people overdo the most - it's a demonstration of the most ancient law

"Just because you CAN do a thing does not mean that you SHOULD"

Reminds me of something one of my automotive professors said, "any car can make huge power ONCE". He was referring to the "Fast & Furious" types who build Civics with claimed 500hp+ on nitrous.
However, the R34 was pretty well known for its pretty prodigious capacity for power. 1200hp+ wasn't uncommon. I've been waiting for the first 1200hp R35 since it came out. With the new gearbox upgrades, maybe now it will be possible. Though it's not the best looking car out there, if I had the money, I'd have one. With the gearbox upgrades. I'd be happy with "only" 600hp, though.

[ASH210486]

This car looks epic - be interesting to see how it stands up against Litchfield's incarnation...
The way I see it the only upgrade this car is left SCREAMING out for is an Alcon GT-R Superkit = a monster of a brake kit!! Always good to be able to stop with that much power...!