GT-R revisions Nürburgring rated

NISSAN has released details of an upgraded GT-R super-coupe that includes more performance and, for European buyers, the same tyre type with which the company achieved its much-trumpeted record time at the Nürburgring in Germany earlier this year.

Nevertheless, prices will remain at $148,800 for the base GT-R and $152,800 for the GT-R Premium in Australia, despite Nissan charging more for the car in Europe.

The updated GT-R's power output climbs slightly, by 9kW to 362kW, but torque remains unchanged at 588Nm.

The result does not change Nissan's all-important 0-100km/h sprint claim for the GT-R, which remains at 3.6 seconds.

The power increase is a result of “…some fine tuning of (the hand-built 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6’s) electronics,” according to Nissan.

Other changes include a three-litre-larger fuel tank, which is now rated at 74 litres.

In Europe, the standard-fitment tyre changes to the specially-designed Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST units that are already earmarked for Australian-bound base-model GT-Rs.

Nissan claims these offer better ride quality than the Bridgestone Potenza RE070 run-flat tyres that some European GT-Rs were going to be fitted with.

Australian-bound GT-R Premium cars will stick with the Bridgestones for now, according to Nissan Australia.

The Dunlop tyres are the same as those used by Nissan’s engineers to achieve the 7:29 “time attack” lap time of the Nürburgring back in April.

In September, Porsche 911 development chief August Achleitner sparked widespread controversy and a war of words between the two companies when he revealed that Porsche could not come “within 25 seconds” of the GT-R’s Nürburgring lap time.

He added that the 7:54 lap time that Porsche managed was with a standard US-spec GT-R, and that having more racetrack-orientated rubber would certainly improve the Nissan’s Nürburgring performance.

In contrast, Porsche’s 911 GT2 and 911 Turbo blitzed the track in 7:34 and 7:38 respectively. All three vehicles were tested at the Nürburgring within two hours of each other and in identical conditions, according to Mr Achleitner.

Meanwhile, the other changes to the Euro-spec GT-R include the fitment of Gun Metal RAYS alloy wheels for the standard and Premium models, and Black RAYS alloys for a special ‘Black Edition’ GT-R, while ‘Storm White’ pearl paint replaces the original ‘Pearl White’ colour. Nissan describes Storm White as being ‘deeper’ than the ‘slightly darker’ original white.

Nissan says there has been a price increase of £1300 (A$3000) in the UK to accommodate the changes, making the cost of the GT-R in England £56,795 (A$128,000), or £58,095 (A$130,900) for the Premium Edition.

With more than 2500 orders for the GT-R in Europe and in excess of 1200 heading to the UK, Nissan Europe says that new customers will have to wait until the middle of 2010 to receive their vehicles.

So far, around 140 Australians have put their names down for the GT-R next year, out of the 200 allocated for 2009.

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