Mad Nissan GT-R projects are nothing new, pleasingly, what with SVM's Qashqai R of a few years back, the very silly Juke-R (and Juke-R 2.0) as well as Nissan's own 1,400hp, nitrous injected drift world record holder built in 2016. So there's previous. This, though, is something we've not seen before: a GT-R engined Nissan Navara.
The Navara-R is the brainchild of Steve 'Baggsy' Biagioni, founder of SB Motorsport in Essex and notable for being very, very good at skids (he was the first Englishman to compete in the Japanese D1 championship, amongst other things). It came about thanks to the emergence of a spare GT-R VR38DETT V6; the engine was intended for a drift car, but the parts to get it to 1,000hp didn't arrive in time. At the last minute it was swapped for a twin turbo V8 and the car competed, but not with the intended engine.
You can see where this is going. Another firm might have put the V6 to one side or sold it on - but for SB Motorsport the availability of said motor, alongside a conveniently idle Navara and some under utilised motorsport team technical skills meant that a different plan emerged. One that involved the latter clearing room in the former - and then getting the engine hoist out.
Predictably, lockdown has proved an ideal time to make progress on the Navara-R project. The aim, says Biagioni, is to keep the truck road legal, with "all the mod-cons of the vehicle, rather than creating a race-car chassis with minimal extras." So the cab is going to remain largely untouched, then with everything underneath adapted and reworked to accommodate such a drastic overhaul.
To that end, KW suspension is involved. CEO Klaus Wohlfarth said "We are looking forward seeing this crazy pick-up soon in action and we are very proud supporting this project with all of our technology and trust SB Motorsport to build something very exciting once again."
Clearly, there's a lot of work to be done, even with a motorsport ban in place. While the powertrain is set to be installed as standard, plans are afoot for the SB Navara-R to be tuned to the spec it was first intended for, with enormous turbos and 1,000hp. In for a penny, in for a pound - right?
It all sounds like peak PH, combining our love for the GT-R with some engineering nous and a truly bonkers idea. Speaking to Steve on the phone his eagerness and commitment are the good kind of infectious, building your enthusiasm for the project up to somewhere near his own level. Interested parties, of which we're hoping there will surely be a few, can keep track of the project on Steve's YouTube channel. And when there's more to find out, we'll be sure to report back!
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