Nissan GT-R on the race track!
It seems Nissan are about to unleash the Nissan GT-R on the international race track with various sources in Japan, including AutoSport magazine, reporting on Nissan testing a Nissan GT-R FIA GT1 race car on the Japanese race circuits. Rumors have it that Nissan may use the new race car in the FIA GT1 racing series, as well as making a reappearance at the LeMans 24 Hour race, 10 years after Nissan last competed at the historic race with the Nissan R391. The previous generation GT-R, the Nissan Skyline GT-R, last competed at LeMans in 1996 before being replace by the purpose built Nissan R390 GT1 in 1997 and 1998.
Nismo has thoroughly modified the Nissan GT-R on the outside and under the hood. The FIA GT1 race car has a carbon fibre front end with a more aggressive splitter, an aero body kit that includes flared carbon fibre front fenders, plexiglass windows, huge AP Racing brakes and forged aluminum rims from the SuperGT Nissan GT-R race car, and GT-style rear wing. Speculation has it that Nismo favored a V8, thought to be the 4.5-Liter VK45DE, in place of the 3.8-Liter twin-turbo VR38VETT V6 engine found in the standard Nissan GT-R. The V8 engine is thought to produce a maximum of 542 bhp and 448 lb-ft of torque.
Only 300 LeMans-spec Nissan GT-R race cars will be built and sold to race teams at ¥65,000,000.
Tags: LeMans, LeMans 24 Hours, motorsport, Nissan GT-R, Nissan R390 GT1, Nissan R391, Nissan Skyline, Nissan Skyline GT-R, race cars