Well today was the day that Nismo could finally let the finished R35 GT-R RC out of the bag so to speak in final demonstration livery. The GT-R RC is seen here as it is preparing for Sunday’s final race as it’s entered into the Super Taikyu round 4 as an ST-1 class competitor.

The car you see here is what customers will be able to buy from Nismo in the near future in a similar vein to the Fairlady Z NISMO 380RS-C. Nismo hopes to show off the GT-R’s pace this weekend in order to attract buyers and they certainly have the right drivers for it. Hopefully all goes well for the guys and we’ll bring the results as we get them.

For now enjoy this massive photo gallery of the all new Nismo GT-R RC…

Photos: (C) Nissan

Motor Racing, Nismo, Photo Galleries, Super Taikyu gt-r, gtr, Nismo, nissan, r35, st-1, st1, stai, super taikyu

Nismo has released the specifications for their latest GT-R race car creation. The 2010 Super Taikyu ST-1 Class NISMO Nissan GT-R will debut in it’s first race next weekend at Fuji Speedway for Round 4 of the Super Taikyu 2010 series. The goal is to demonstrate the car in action for race teams to field in 2011 in much the same way as the 2010 GT1 spec GT-R raced 4 races in 2009 FIA GT Championships.

While we’ve translated the specifications, nothing super exciting is gleaned from them. Instead we spotted this video uploaded to Youtube of the car testing.

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Due to make it’s testing debut later in the month, the Nismo guys have been less hesitant at getting their wares out for the public to see. Looking mighty tidy the Super Taikyi ST-1 spec Nismo GT-R is chock full of carbon goodness.

Look forward to the weekend of the 26th of June for some more close ups and info on this latest creation of the Omori Factory…

Sources: GTR-World.net and AutoSport Web

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NISMO has just announced their intention to field a ST1 specification Nissan GT-R at round 4 of the 2010 Super Taikyu series at Fuji Speedway on the 26th – 27th of June! The drivers will be Masemi Kageyama, Tetsuya Tanaka and Kazuki Hoshino and the car will wear the legendary #23.

This is great news as until now we’ve had barely any official acknowledgment of the ST1 spec car until now except that we had photos of it from Nismo Festival in December 2009.

Update: NISMO have release images of the livery the car will wear. See the image below!

Link: NISMO News Release (Japanese)
Link: Super Taikyu Website

Motor Racing, Nismo, Nissan News, Tuner News gt-r, gtr, Nismo, nissan, r35, s-tai, st1, super taikyu

A great weekend for the Sumo Power GT team as they bring home another podium finish for the #23 FIA GT1 Nissan GT-R at Brno in the Czech Republic. The drivers Michael Krumm and Peter Dumbreck were able to pull off a superb double podium weekend in fact after they finished the main event in third place after also taking third place honors in the qualifying race.

At the start of the race Krumm found himself in front as the Aston Martin DB9 in second spot on the grid fell back with trouble and the first place Maserati MC12 was penalized for jumping the gun. With this unexpected breathing room he tried to open up some space behind but the safety car ended that idea quickly.

Almost every team and almost every car on the track pitted under that safety car period which caused a traffic jam in the pits. Nevertheless the #23 GT-R still made it out in good shape, 3rd place behind the Matech Ford and the Aston DB9.

It was a battle for the top three places now with evenly matched machines and superb drivers who gave Dumbreck very little opportunity to work with. They crossed the line in a very respectable third place. Congratulations to team Sumo Power GT and the drivers for a job well done!

The #22 Sumo Power GT GT-R of Hughes / Campbell-Walter didn’t have such a great weekend in contrast. Firstly they were lumped with success ballast after their win in round 2. Next they suffered a mechanical issue in qualifying, finally, they were hit and required two different pit stops which took away their chances during the final race. Next round they go back to the standard race weight so will be gunning for those points.

Swiss Racing Team sound like they’re feeling far more positive about the GT-R’s race performance this round and have found the pace they need. The Wendlinger / Moser #3 GT-R even managed a 10th place points scoring finish. After the pit stop traffic jam however their hopes of finishing higher faded.

Click the read more link for a full race report with quotes from the drivers and teams thanks to Nissan…

Read more…

FIA GT Championship, Motor Racing, Nismo brno, fia, fia gt1, gt-r, gt1, gt1 world, gtr, Nismo, nissan, r35, sumo power, sumo power gt, swiss racing, swiss racing team

Obviously still in development since we saw it last in December of 2009, the ST-1 specification Nissan GT-R has been spotted again testing on the track in Japan. What’s new now is the carbon fibre front lip spoiler which has been radically redesigned from the previous item which was basically a standard one redone in dry carbon.

This new lip features an extended front splitter, more aerodynamic design and much larger brake ducts. I really would love to see Nismo release this as a tuning part for street GT-Rs. Don’t know if I’d love the price though…

Source: GT-R Magazine
Link: NISMO Super Taikyu ST-1 Nissan GT-R Photo Galleries from Nismo Festival

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Well the official release is here for the Nismo Data Logging MFD upgrade for 2010 Nissan GT-Rs. The Nismo Data Logging MFD BASE kit is out as well as the various lap sensor kits we detailed in our previous post.

The way it works is you buy the BASE kit and receive two USB keys (one Nismo branded, one not branded) and one PC CDROM. You insert the Nismo branded USB key at startup to kickoff software installation into your GT-R’s MFD computer. From here on in you can begin saving data logs to USB memory for the following sensors:

• Vehicle Speed
• Engine Speed (RPM)
• Gear Position
• Lateral G-Force
• Acceleration and Braking G-Force
• Boost Pressure
• Brake Pressure
• Steering Angle
• Throttle position
• Engine Temperature (coolant)
• Engine Oil Temperature
• Transmission Oil Temperature

Once you’ve got the data saved to memory you fire up the old PC with the provided data analysis software loaded to read it back.

Surprisingly the actual main piece is reasonably priced at 26,250 yen and is available from Nismo workshops like Omori Factory as well as NHPCs in Japan. At this time this does not include the GPS sensor integration but that is coming soon.

Nismo’s other MFD integrated products are also released and priced today, namely the two Nismo Lap Sensor Kits. These are priced at 78,750 yen for the Type-M version which relies on your racetrack supporting the magnetic sensor mechanism. Alternatively the Type-B is available which suits any racetrack for 108,150 yen.

Link: Nismo Data Logging MFD Software Official Release
Link: Nismo Lap Sensor Kits Official Release

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On the circuit and even with some hard street driving, GT-R owners will know that the transmission temperature has a habit of rising quite rapidly. To compound that, on the GT-R, the transmission is integrated with the rear differential housing and because of this, heat energy is freely transferred between them.

In Nismo’s testing experience, with their Tokachi 24hrs race car and their Super Taikyu R35, cooling the rear differential has been surprisingly effective at lowering transmission temperatures. So much so that they’re now releasing their in-house developed rear differential cooler as a kit for the GT-R.

The kit features a electric oil pump, braided hoses, cooler core, and wiring harness for automatic or manual in-cabin operation. When installed it increases the diff oil capacity by 2 liters which is a help by itself.

In Nismo’s testing of the ClubSport GT-R on Sodegaura Circuit in Chiba, they were happy to see the diff oil temperature at no time exceeded 140 degrees C. Exactly what the transmission temperature was like during the testing is not known though.

The diff oil cooler is due for release in April and we will have availability details at that time.

Source: GTR-World.net

Nismo, Parts / Manufacturers, Tuner News cooling, diff cooler, gt-r, gtr, LSD, Nismo, r35

You may remember our brief encounter with the Nismo Data Logging MFD from Tokyo AutoSalon where we got to play with a Nismo ClubSport GT-R with the option fitted. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get any time with a car to really see what it can do but fortunately our friends at GTR-World.net did.

What you see in the above screenshot is pretty much the extent of the facilities available in the kit. This is very similar to other third party data logging systems like Traqmate but without the neat video integration features that set those systems apart.

In detail you get engine coolant and oil temperature, transmission oil temperature, speed, boost pressure, steering angle, brake application percentage, accelerator application percentage, gear position, and G-force (lateral, acceleration and braking) data.

The Nismo Data Logger can also be used with an optional Nismo Lap Sensor Kit to give accurate timing data for circuit work and there are two models available, the Base and the Plus. The differences between the kits are detailed below, suffice to say the Plus model integrates GPS data to give accurate plots of your circuit in the analysis software.

Yes you read that right, early model GT-Rs need not apply as this feature is simply not compatible. It needs to be fitted by your Nissan HPC in Japan also so that rules out buying it separately for the overseas grey import folks.

If you’re interested purely in the lap sensor kit, it is something that can be bought separately and integrated into your Nissan GT-R’s MFD from MY2007 onwards using the supplied wiring harness. A neat piece of integration that some will appreciate. It’s also available in two models, a Type M using magnetic sensors which already exist on many circuits and a Type B kit that comes with it’s own infrared beacon and appropriate infrared sensors for all other circuits.

When installed, the Nismo Lap Sensor kit will log lap timing data to the GT-R’s compact flash (CF) slot (MY07-MY09) or USB memory slot (MY10+) in a CSV (Comma Seperated Value format) that you can open up in MS Excel later on.

Some neat pieces of kit overall, the Lap Sensor Kit is probably of most interest to the world in general but we can’t confirm it will function on USDM / European model cars yet. We also don’t have pricing either but it might be difficult to justify either way over existing, albeit less integrated, proven and affordable timing systems.

Source: GTR-World.net – Nismo Datalogger

Motor Racing, Nismo, Parts / Manufacturers, Tuner News data logging, gt-r, gtr, lap sensor, mfd, Nismo, nissan, r35

Time for a combined post wrapping up the rest of my strictly GT-R related photos from Friday morning the first day of TAS2010. Take a peek as we browse the halls to snap up some interesting tidbits.

First up is Midori Seibi Center’s nice looking GT-R with their new Silent Power NR exhaust fitted up. They also had some extremely hot Rays Volk G2 wheels in the formula silver fitted outside some tasty Alcon rotors.

Speaking of Alcon, we took a look up close at their caliper upgrades for Nissan GT-R and they look damn serious. Alcon make brakes for everything from street cars to F1 cars and lots inbetween. Next to the GT-R brakes was a caliper from a SuperGT car. It was crazy lightweight due to it’s construction but not really in the same league as the F1 caliper next to that. Constructed from goldGold anodized, it was lighter again.

On the topic of motorsports, over at the Nissan booth they had parked the 2008 SuperGT Championship winning GT500 class Nismo GT-R for a pitwork demo. They performed a tire change while various parts of the car were pulled off so that the presenter could lift them up in front of everyone. I guess those tires don’t weigh much after all.

Power Enterprise had their Four Charger VR38 out on display as well, this year they’ve also got a turbo upgrade for GT-R available. It’s pretty impressive to see this engine in all it’s quad charged glory out of the car. So much work went into this, I really wonder about the results though as we’ve not heard much about it in the last 12 months since it’s debut.

The Hashimoto GT-R was there as well showing off it’s Lamborghini Style Doors. Not such a fan myself but was quite interested to check out their Schmieden front lip spoiler to see how functional it was. Unfortunately it’s all show as there are no brake ducts. Can’t fault the looks though it is attractive. The BBS LM-R wheels look good in the flesh except that the centers feel a little on the small side.

Finally, we end with a few non-R35 GT-Rs that stood out. First up is the ER34 sedan with an R35 look rear end. The rear bar has been moulded to allow for the R35 exhaust to be fitted and give a similar looking center grill section. Really though, if you’re going to modify your R34 GT-T you need to go all out like Final Konnexion did. This wide body kit for the ER34 coupe is wild and actually amazing in fit and finish. Check it out in the gallery below!

Images: Copyright (C) 2010 GTRBlog.com.

Alcon, Hashimoto, KW Suspension, Midori Seibi Center, Motor Shows, Nismo, Parts / Manufacturers, Power Enterprise, Super GT, Tokyo Auto Salon, Tuner News gt-r, gtr, Hashimoto, kw, Midori Seibi Center, Nismo, nissan, power enterprise, tokyo autosalon