Nissan GT-R sets new 7m 27s ‘Ring record
April 16, 2009 by George Skentzos
The Nissan GT-R has returned to its honorary birthplace at the famous Nordschleife circuit of the Nürburgring to settle a grudge by setting yet another personal best lap record.
The Japanese specification 2009 model GT-R recorded a blistering time of 7min 27.56secs, withering away at its previous best time by almost three seconds.
Although the GT-R used this time around was not completely stock, wearing a set of RAYS forged alloy wheels wrapped with Dunlop tyres borrowed from the v-Spec variant.
At the wheel was Nissan’s Chief test driver Toshio Suzuki who – despite shaving off a few precious seconds – was not completely satisfied with the track conditions, stating that surface grip had been impaired by dust and sand.
Under the direction of Nissan GT-R Chief Vehicle Engineer, Kazutoshi Mizuno, and depending on conditions, the Nissan test team will attempt another record at the ‘Ring tomorrow.
This is a slap in the face not only for Porsche, who have expressed their frustration in the past over the GT-R’s remarkable pace, but also the current ‘Ring King – the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 – which is narrowly leading the grudge match with a time of 7min 26.4secs.
Nissan still has an ace up its sleeve with the flagship V-Spec variant still yet to record an official lap time around the ‘Green Hell’.
Tags: Nissan GT-R
Wow Porsche will not be happy at all. It’s amazing how this relatively heavy machine goes so well.
Cant belive how quick this car is and its only how much to buy, bargain of the century.Dont know how much quicker the Vspec will be but boy it would be scary to be a passinger in it
Is that a Ford Transit in the background of the photo? It’s the new Nurburgring driver benchmark. Forget the GT-Rs, 911s, how quickly can you throw the big white van around the ‘Ring?
Didn’t Clarkson throw Merc Van around it under 11min? Or was it that Queen of the Ring that features on Top Gear occasionally?
Go the GTR! For the price you couldn’t look past it.. now just bring one out with a real 6 speed manual please!
Another go with better tyres and it still cant beat the king…looks like its up to the v-spec. Even with the v-spec if you put the same driver in both cars on the ring my moneys on the vette. Smaller tighter track id put my money on the GTR but the vette has too much mumbo for the gtr on a track like Nurburgring.
Still the performance for such a small pricetag….puts the germans and italians to shame.
Quick car, not bad looking, has all the credentials, etc. However the little battle Nissan has with Porsche will undoubtedly result in Porsche winning the war. Porsche doesn’t and has never intended to make ‘the fastest’ or ‘the most powerful’ car. Their focus has always been on quality, refinement, engineering as well as quickness. It’s a hollow victory they’re claiming and Porsche would do well to remember that. But now that it’s come to this, I’d love to see how Nissan matches up to the Porsche Turbo/GT2 in the coming years with its PDK drivetrain and mods. It all comes down to AWD and where the engine is placed on the ‘Ring.
IF I had this kind of money, I’d buy the Nissan everytime, purely because of its affordability and capability. But I would always wish I could afford a GT3, Turbo or GT2 :)
Nicholas, the van in the background is a Nissan Interstar (Renault Master) van and the van Top Gear threw around the ring was a SWB VH series Ford Transit (they did a show for the transit’s 30th? bithday). They tried to get it round the ring in under 10mins and only just failed.
People can argue the prestige of the Porsche badge all they want but track credentials are hard to ignore, between this and the ZR1 the cheaper offerings (by RRP that is..) have Porsche clutching at straws..
Nissan may be able to go fast in this but it doesnt translate to sales coz their range is so farkin ugly! rofl!
Dlr1 – you beat me to it with the van thing.
Great car but would rather still be seen in a Porsche. 3yrs time the Nissans going to be worth UK£25K will have been thrashed to bits and driven by Cashed-up Chavs with even bigger exhausts and sticker all over them.
i wonder what porsche have to say now, they only have themselfs to blame by trying to discredit nissan because they’d produced a faster and cheaper car. if they’d kept their mouth shut in the first place, then the nurburgring wouldn’t be made into such a media circus…and porsche would still be looked at as a luxury peformance brand just like ferrari. now they got themselfs into a performance war with nissan that’s not worth fighting for.
Who is the gorgeous german frauline driving the van, she can drift into the estate any time
My daughter Axel
To AussieCars,
The ZR1 isnt really a comparison to the GTR, as it is pretty much race spec…. as opposed to street-spec with the GTR, the forged wheels and V-Spec tyres isnt much of an advantage, because the car is still pre-diet… meaning heavy, street form.
The ZR1 also cost more and have racing spec tuning….
considering it is only about a second faster…. the GTR is technically faster pound for pound.
lukaas, the zr1 is not as race spec as you say it is. the zr1 has an interior (spec v is stripped out), its more comfortable(the base gtr has worse ride than the z06, imagine the vspec) and it does not carry all the high tech equipment the gtr carries or the awd. plus when the zr1 record time was released, it was pointed out that there were several places where they could have done better plus they were hit by a strong headwind in the straightway. so the zr1 has plenty left to show and no the gtr is not the best bang for the buck anymore.
For the same money you could buy the W427, and add an extra 2 minutes to the lap times
^ ha, that’s funny. nice one.
I saw two gtr’s on transporter, going over the westgate bridge, two lucky owners
^^^^ That’s funny, provided of course, it doesn’t over-heat, as usual.
They’ll have to re-name it soon, I’d suggest the W120 an acronym for “we found only 120 idiots”
May be the GTR’s time is accurate but a Porsche will do its constant lap times lap after lap time after time without any special mods. In the US they are already haveing warranty problems with the transmission on the GTR. They are simply not built to last like the porsche
Nice car the GTR but really it sounds like they (Nissan) are camping out at the Ring to get the perfect conditions so it can beat the ZR-1 King, may only take them 6 months…
The Corvette is so much better looking and so much less complicated, shame they are not RHD, it is an awesome car, (like the GTR) but I’d have one over the GTR anyday.
Eric,
I am yet to see a review of the ZR1 not from a Pro-muscle car fan that it has better ride than a GTR.
I spent some time in the states, and most people who had Corvette had the “usual” Z06 not the ZR1, as it is pretty much “decked out”, basically a Z06 on steroids.
The V-Spec badge on a GTR doesnt mean the car has been tuned to the extent that of the ZR1. If you look at History of the GTR, V-Specs are a light-mod/tuned GTR. Unlike the ZR1.
Ride quality? Assuming you have owned both cars and have driven hundreds of kms/miles on each, or atleast have enough driving time with each, is a moot argument. Ride quality is subjective anyhow.
I like the ZR1, but technology behind it is much older and primitive to that of the GTR.
Light body + Big engine + crank the horse power. 6.2 liter V8 for goodness sakes.
GM’s formular for performance = Engine size increase = more power.
Its plain and it works to an extent, but if I was to pay $100,000+ for a car, I want it sophisticatedly designed with some form of technology I do not understand…which is a sign the engineers did there job hehe.
Again, someone gives me a ZR1 I’ll walk away happy with no complaints but if I had the money… I’d pass.
Its ultimately American-style thinking.. bigger is better.
so if thats the times it can get with just some better rubber, just imagine wat it can get with track spec suspension, less weight and a slight increase in top end boost!!!!
Speaking of GT-Rs. Has anyone caught Paol Gover’s latest “test drive” article on the R35? Wow… shocking how bad this article is.
Discussion
http://www.gtrblog.com/2009/05.....ustralian/
Article
http://carsguide.news.com.au/s.....est_drive/
Correction, “Paul Gover”
How come nobody else with a stock GTR35 can get better than 7.50 including Porsche’s own legendary race winning test drivers?
Check the net to see if somebody else can get what Nissan are claiming then check if anybody else has obtained Porsche’s and other manufactures claims.
Cheers miss-lead people.