In a little less than an hour Nissan will launch a live press announcement concerning the future of NISMO worldwide. Up to now little is known and in the original press release CEO Carlos Ghosn was pretty vague on the what this would be about. We do know that the announcement has something to do with NISMO’s future motorsport plans but they might also announce a few new NISMO badged vehicles. Honestly I have no idea.
The good news is that we can find out together! Just scroll down for the live stream of the press announcement!
UPDATE: Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn just announced that in the next 12 months there will be a “GT-R NISMO”
UPDATE #2: Here is the official Press Release on the GT-R NISMO
YOKOHAMA, Japan – NISMO is planning to work its magic on the famed Nissan GT-R as the flagship of a new range of performance models.
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd announced today that NISMO, its dedicated global performance road car and motorsports arm, is developing a new, higher-powered road version of the iconic Nissan GT-R.
The GT-R NISMO will be the third NISMO-badged model to emerge from Nissan’s performance-oriented brand as part of a strategy to add a range of exciting, innovative performance models across the Nissan range.
NISMO, with a new global headquarters near Yokohama, Japan officially opening today, already has deep experience in developing and preparing the Nissan GT-R for the racetrack. That expertise will go into creating GT-R NISMO.
“It would be unthinkable for us to develop a range of NISMO road cars without including the GT-R,” said Nissan President and Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn. “The standard road car is a global supercar and the GT-R’s performance on track reflects the passion and talents of the NISMO team. The GT-R NISMO will be special and I can’t wait to drive it.”
Already a legendary name to millions of video gamers and motorsports fans around the world thanks to Sony’s Gran Turismo® video racing series and Skyline’s on-track success since 1969, it’s no wonder that, together with acclaim for its road-going versions from leading automotive publications, the GT-R has achieved cult status.
The NISMO team’s intimate knowledge comes from their involvement in racing the GT-R and is a good precursor to the development of the new NISMO road car.
“We know that enthusiasts around the world will be itching to know more about the forthcoming GT-R NISMO,” said NISMO President Shoichi Miyatani. “It’s too early to share any details yet, but fans can be certain we’ll be applying all of our motorsport expertise to creating a GT-R NISMO worthy of the name.”
The current production 2014 model year Nissan GT-R has received evolutionary design and engineering enhancements based around feedback from competing in last year’s 24-Hours Nürburgring, and its success in Super GT and Global GT series.
As a result, the vehicle’s overall performance has been dramatically increased, high-speed stability improved and ride quality vastly more refined.
In development now, the new GT-R NISMO will sit at the top of the new Nissan NISMO range of performance vehicles, and be available alongside the standard model in Nissan’s specialized GT-R dealerships next year.
Technical specifications and performance figures will be released closer to launch.
Nissan just dropped a new video about the development process of the 2012 Nissan GT-Rand how Cheif Project Officer Kazutoshi Mizuno strived to “fulfill” the promise that they made to enthusiasts to make the current gen GT-R just as beastly and awesome as its predecessors. It’s actually a pretty compelling video even though its only about 5 minutes long. Scroll down and check it out for yourself.
Check out the final product of what our boy Ernie Manansala did with a GT-R with help from MVP Motorsports and Wraptivo. This is one of the sickest GT-R’s I’ve seen in a while! I love what he did with the wheels! Click the thumbnails below.
Many of us feel that aerodynamic add-on to the front of any car should be relegated to a simple and tasteful lip spoiler. If you have a GT-R such a thing may be pretty hard to find but there are a few out there. One of my favorites is the VTR front spoiler by Ventross. It is a great alternative to their more aggressive front bumper, it also has a simple clean design, and it is still made with Ventross’ trademark honeycomb dry carbon fiber production methods.
While we’re waiting vain for the GT-R Spec-V to reach American soil, Nissan is busy testing out the SpecM. Carscoop shot this spy video of Nissan putting the SpecM through its paces on the Nurburgring in Germany. The exhaust note is music to my ears! Check it out below.
So far this is the first time I’ve seen a GT style wing on the current R35 Nissan GT-R. I can’t quite tell if I like it yet. Usually when it comes to GT wings there is no grey area you either love it or hate it but I find myself undecided. This is an example of a Voltex Type V GT wing on a GT-R shown off by Evasive Motorsports. What do you guys think? Love or hate? Comment here or RT on twitter @MotorworldHype.
Ok, I know what you’re thinking, next to the stock piece MiNE’s R35 Suction Pipe Kit might not look like much. However if you look closely you’ll notice that the inner diameter of the pipe is much larger than the stock unit, thus increased air flow. Do you smell what I’m cookin’ now kids? Good! They say beauty is only skin deep, but usually under the skin comes the function!
MiNE’S has just released a set up that they claim will bump the new Nissan R35 GT-R up to 600HP. The Spec X 6.0 kit consists of a few piping bits which eliminate the primary and secondary catalytic converters, reinforced actuators, an HKS boost controller, HKS spark plugs, and MiNE’S VX ROM Pro ECU. It doesn’t sound like much but apparently this is the key to the magic 600 figure. Clearly, throwing all this stuff on a daily driven GT-R is probably a bad idea since it is far from street legal and is the equivalent of burning your warranty and peeing on the ashes. But when have things like that stopped people like us before?
There are some GT-R owners out there who are all about taking their car to the track. If you’re one of those dudes you might want to consider this straight pipe from MiNE’S. Just a few bolts and you can get rid of the restrictive catalytic converters and free up some exhaust flow. But don’t forget to put the converters back on before you leave the track!
I caught wind of this meet the day of and couldn’t pass it up. SP Engineering was the host of a sizable gathering of Nissan GT-Rs at their facility in City Of Industry. There were free burgers, GT-R’s of every type, and a free raffle (I was the last number called! I won a SP Zippo lighter!). It was safe to say a good time was had by all, especially me since it was my first visit to SP Engineering’s facility. They even strapped a few GT-R’s to the dyno which I of course filmed. Check out the video and some pics below. If you want to see the full gallery check out our new Facebook page.
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