Australian Penthouse

Perfection from the Land of the Rising Supercar…
TEST BY STEVE HARKNESS

Toshio Suzuki leans back into the car and says in a Japanese accent, “It is in race mode.” A quick glance at the dashboard confirms the stability control is turned down, the suspension is set to its firmest and most aggressive mode, and the traction control is switched off.

And with that I take the Nissan GT-R out of the pits and onto Eastern Creek Raceway to finally experience the mind-bending performance that I didn’t think was possible from the car company that builds the humble Micra hatchback.

The GT-R finally arrived in Australia in April after years of teasing from afar, with its dramatic Manga looks and mouth-watering specifications. It has been four years since Nissan unveiled the GT-R Proto concept at the Tokyo Motor Show.

This latest generation GT-R is, for the first time, not based on Nissan’s Skyline model. Instead, it is a bespoke car built from the ground up with the express purpose of beating Porsche’s iconic 911; the benchmark ‘user-friendly supercar’.

The man tasked with creating the new GT-R was Nissan’s Chief Vehicle Engineer, Kazutoshi Mizuno. Not only is he a veteran of the Japanese firm’s road car division, he spent years working in various motor racing categories around the world, including Le Mans prototypes and Japanese GT racing. It was during this time that he first conceived the concept for the new GT-R; way back in 1995.

“All that time, I wondered how we could better apply the performance and safety of racing cars to regular road cars,” Mizuno explains.

“Racing cars remain stable under all conditions, thanks to downforce and even load distribution across the four wheels. They offer excellent stability and safety, even in high-speed impacts, so I wondered how these features could be better incorporated in mass-produced cars for the benefit of customers.”

On a clean sheet of paper, Mizuno and his team of engineers have designed one of the most advanced cars on Earth. Nissan calls the layout ‘Premium Midship’, with the engine mounted at the front, but with the gearbox and differential located at the rear for improved weight distribution.

The engine itself is a new twin-turbo 3.8-litre V6 that pumps out 357kW at 6400 revs and a neck-snapping 588Nm of torque; the full amount of which is on tap from 3200rpm.

Nissan builds the engines on a special production line at its Yokohama plant. Each powerplant is assembled by hand by one craftsman in special ‘clean rooms’, where the technicians are required to wear hairnets and shoe covers to reduce dust contamination.

Equally impressive is the gearbox, which has been specifically developed for the GT-R by American transmission specialists, Borg Warner. It joins the growing list of twin-clutch units that both cut shift times and reduce consumption. Separate clutches operate on the odd (1,3,5) and even (2,4,6) gears, which means two gears can be selected at the same time to allow instant transition when the driver decides to shift. The six-speed unit can be used in automatic mode or operated in manual mode via the F1-style paddle shifters mounted behind the steering wheel.

All this techno hardware is wrapped in angular, aggressive bodywork. Being front-engined, and with two rear seats to accommodate, the GT-R is far more upright that its European rivals.

“It is clearly not an Italian, German or American car – it is unmistakably Japanese,” says Shiro Nakamura, Nissan’s Chief Creative Officer, Design and Brand Management.

“We didn’t want a nice elegant shape – we wanted an original shape. Some people who buy this car will also have a Ferrari and a Porsche. This car must be different from all others. I see it as a car influenced not by feminine beauty, like Italian cars, but by masculine imagery – it is strong, well-toned, well-muscled. Japanese muscle.”

The result of all that hard work is a truly remarkable car. Sitting in the leather sport seats, you look across a cabin filled with all the creature comforts you expect from a comfortable grand tourer, including an 11-speaker CD stereo system and air-conditioning.

At the top of the centre console sits a seven-inch screen that the driver can use to pull up real-time telemetry from the car, including a G-Force meter, engine temperatures and various speeds. In keeping with the car’s uniquely Japanese theme, the graphics have been developed in collaboration with Polyphony Digital Inc. – the same company behind the Sony PlayStation series, Gran Turismo.

But underneath the screen and the regular dials is the most interesting aspect of the cabin: three switches that allow you to customise the settings for the traction control, suspension and gearbox. It is when these three switches are flicked up into the ‘R’ position that race mode is engaged.

And with it’s engaged, the GT-R is anything but a grand tourer on the track. The fast, sweeping bends of Eastern Creek are the perfect place to play with the beast. The power is incredible and the toque keeps coming, shoving you back in your seat.

Get to the corners and you can leave the braking later than you first think is possible because the six-piston Brembo brake callipers grab the discs with intense ferocity.

But it’s when exiting the corner that the GT-R is in its element, thanks to the four-wheel drive system and the careful work of Suzuki and the engineers during development. As you get back on the power, there’s a hint of understeer as the front of the car pushes, something often found in all-wheel drive vehicles. What you don’t usually find is a car with the ability to do what the GT-R does next. As soon as you feel the front start to push, you simply give it some more right foot and the rear wheels start to slide and bring the car back in line. Very few vehicles have the ability to be so forgiving and sensitive to driver inputs. It makes for a car that’s easy to drive on the limit.

Nissan set out to make a supercar for “Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere”, and not only have they succeeded, they’ve created a modern motoring icon.

SPECS

Nissan GT-R

PRICE: $155,800
ENGINE: 3.8-litre, front-mounted twin-turbo V6
POWER: 357kW @ 6400rpm
TORQUE: 588Nm @ 3200rpm
BRAKES: Brembo 380mm ventilated discs with six piston callipers at the front, 380mm ventilated discs with four piston callipers at the rear
TRANSMISSION: Six-speed double-clutch gearbox, four-wheel drive
TOP SPEED: 309km/h

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