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By EWAN
KENNEDY
8 June 2009
Even
before it hit the world’s roads we travelled to Japan to
interview the engineers who designed the Nissan GT-R. Later, we
flew south to Sydney to test drive it on the Eastern Creek raceway
when it made its Australian debut. But now comes the toughest test
of all for the hottest Nissan ever, that of driving the GT-R on
normal roads, this time in our home area in south east Queensland.
As the latest Nissan GT-R is being sold as a road-going race car
it's important that it can perform the on-road task at least
moderately well. That way anyone who buys one to race it can cut
out the expensive task of towing it to a circuit to do so. Drive
it to the track, change onto racing slicks, set the correct
programs on the central computer – and the road car becomes a
full-on racing machine. How good is that!
On the road there are inevitable compromises, compromises that
lean in the direction of the race-car side of the equation.
The double-clutch gearbox, which sits at the back of the car in
the interests of best front-rear weight distribution, clunks and
snicks as it makes it changes. It’s also on the harsh side at
times when asked to do its work as quickly as possible. Perhaps
the fact that the gearbox is just behind your left elbow magnifies
these events.
The ride is very firm, even with the shock absorbers dialled onto
the so-called ‘comfort’ setting. The car isn't generally so
rough as to become unpleasant. However, when one of our non-revhead
commentators sat in the passenger seat for almost two hours it
aggravated a previous back injury to the extent that she needed
medication afterwards. That was partly caused by the hard ride,
but was exacerbated by the extremely low position of the passenger
seat and the fact that there's no vertical adjustment on that side
of the cabin.
But let's forget the understandable on-road compromises and look
at the immense positives offered by this Nissan supercar. This is
a machine that cries out to be driven hard, yet is amazingly
docile when asked to trundle along in traffic. Even at 40 km/h in
torrential rain on the M1 motorway south of Brisbane it wasn’t
fazed.
When asked to leap off the line to put a couple of hot utes into
their rightful place in the automotive pecking order the Nissan GT-R
did it with contemptuous ease. And in complete safety, the brakes
are huge, their response virtually instantaneous and they haul off
speed in exemplary fashion. The only real complaint about the
stoppers is the noise they create at very low speeds. Yet another
compromise, after all they are designed to pull back speeds from
300 km/h at racetracks.
Nissan has deliberately designed a two-plus-two coupe body,
reasoning that many buyers want a degree of day-to-day
functionality. The back seats are small and tight for legroom and
head space but are there for young children or as emergency
accommodation for adults. On the other hand, a two-seater would
have been lighter and more nimble...
Nissan has built the GT-R as a showcase for its technological
ability in the early years of the 21st century. This is
a supercar by any definition. It can top 300 km/h where conditions
permit, has a weight to power ratio of just 3.6 kilograms per
horsepower. Engine power is a hefty 357 kW and the twin-turbo,
3.8-litre V6 unit has torque spread of 588 Newton metres all the
way from 3200 to 5200 revs. So the 2009 spec Nissan GT-R R35 can
leap from rest to 100 km/h in a mere 3.3 seconds, making it even
hotter than the 2008 original.
Best of all, it has been driven around the famous Nurburgring
Nordschleife ‘green hell’ in Germany in just seven minutes and
28 seconds. That's right, 7:28 minutes. A full second was trimmed
off the GT-R’s best time in a stunning run on April 15 this
year, using the 09 spec car to beat the 08’s previous record.
Nissan GT-R is normally driven only by its rear wheels, with power
and torque being fed to the fronts as required depending on road
and driving conditions. A display on the dash tells how much work
the different ends of the transmission are doing, but only on the
most brutal of takeoffs during on-road driving are the front
wheels brought into traction play, and then only for a few
moments.
So the latest Nissan GT-R passes the on-road tests we tossed at
it. But only just. If you are looking for smooth quiet comfort you
will need to opt for softer car. On the other hand if you can
accept the aforementioned compromises and want to commute during
the week, then race on Sunday, it will be all-but impossible to
find a better car.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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