Archive
The Pitfalls of Being Godzilla
Nissan’s new GT-R really stirred up emotions when announced at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2005. The GT-R Proto was a seed that grew into a giant campaign of hype all over the world.
When the car finally arrived in 2007 the hype didn’t die down, on the contrary, it exploded. Growing exponentially while the car continued to live up to and exceed expectations. The 7 minute 29 laptime at Nurburgring being a shining example of what the car could do. Just as long as you had a formula 1 driver at the wheel, balls the size of planets and many many laps on the ‘ring to yourself.
At some point it got silly though. The car was put on a pedestal and forced to endure some ridiculous comparisons. The car, aimed at showing up the Porsche 911 twin turbo, was now being asked to join the hypercar ranks and compete.
It’s not so surprising when today we have not one but two such examples of this to show you guys. First up is Motor Trend’s article The War of the Worlds Supercar Shootout.
I love to read articles like this but is the GT-R expected to compete here? Or is this kind of article soothing to some who got their butts whipped in their “standard versions” of these cars? Not counting the Ferrari of course, it’s a Ferrari afterall.
Next we have almost the same article minus the Eurpoeans as Edmunds pit their GT-R against a brand new (with bonus oil leak) ZR1. You can’t help but like the ZR1 though as it does something great for the money. Yes $100k is a lot of money for a Corvette but it’s a lot of Corvette.
Chrome wheels though? Ugh…
Link: Motor Trend: The War of the Worlds Supercar Shootout
Link: Edmunds: 2009 ZR1 vs 2009 GT-R
[Thanks to Chuck from NAGTROC for the MotorTrend link]
Zele International Price Rear Diff Cooler, Firm Up Release Date
We promised in September, Zele International would release their rear differential cooler kit for the Nissan R35 GT-R soon and today they’ve updated us on the release date. We’ve also got pricing for the kit and word that two versions will be offered.
The two kits on offer are:
- Type 1: This kit features the oil cooler core, oil pump, hoses, fittings and mounting hardware required. This kit is priced at 198,000 yen.
- Type 2: This kit features the same as Type 1 but with the addition of a carbon fibre air guide to provide more airflow through the cooler. This kit is 238,000 yen.
Both kits go on sale from your Zele International dealers from November 17th 2008. While this kit works best with an aftermarket exhaust, a version that works with the standard exhaust is currently in development.
More photos after the jump…
ECUTek Announce Nissan GT-R Tuning Tools
ECUTek have announced that, come 1st December, they will release a programming and editing suite for the Nissan R35 GT-R. Support for Japanese and US specification GT-Rs will be offered at release and other market support will be delivered as those cars are released to market. At just 17 seconds to fully flash your ECU this is one of the fastest tools around.
This will be available to existing FlashCAN users as an update. Expect more news, results and pricing as we get closers to December 1st.
ECUTek enter a market currently dominated by the CobbTuning AccessPORT but without a dedicated hand held programming unit the ECUTek is slightly different. It will be interesting to weigh the pros and cons but both have their loyalists among other car enthusiasts.
Link: ECUTek
Source: AMS Performance via NAGTROC
SEMA Preview – BRANEW Nissan GT-R Styling Parts Debut
Japanese VIP Styling brands don’t often get interested in sports cars but when the sports car in question is the home grown Nissan GT-R you bet they’ll be there. BRANEW has long been making styling parts for import cars like Bentley, Porsche, and Range Rover but here is their latest project.
The full range of Nissan GT-R styling parts from BRANEW includes:
- Front Spoiler
- Side Skirts
- Rear Underspoiler
- Rear Wing
- Titanium tipped center exit exhaust w/ stainless steel mufflers
- Matte or Super Chrome finish three piece forged 23″ BW-101 wheels
BRANEW will be at SEMA showing off their parts so if you’re getting along be sure to check them out. If you’re interested in buying these then GT-RR.com is listing them right now but a release date hasn’t been firmed up yet so pricing is not available.
Loads more photos after the jump…
Source: Ben from GT-RR.com and BRANEW
Animal House Racing: Strengthened GT-R Gear Sets Coming Soon
New Jersey based Animal House Racing is getting stuck into the GT-R gearbox with an aim to strengthen it to handle some of the kinds of abuse GT-R owners love to dish out. Three different courses are planned to be offered but the end results should be that launch control should be something you look forward to instead of fear.
The three options available will be:
- Strengthened Gear Sets
- Strengthened Gear Sets, Clutch Upgrades
- Strengthened Gear Sets, Clutch Upgrades and Ceramic Transmission Bearings
These items will be available as an exchange for your gearbox parts initially so some downtime will be required. As for pricing, we’ll have to see what they come up with in the near future. We’ll keep you posted.
Also from Animal House Racing are ceramic wheel bearings and ceramic intake gaskets for the Nissan GT-R. With some pretty amazing claims regarding improvements in acceleration and horsepower they’re certainly an interesting development. They must be doing something right as they’ve managed an 11.4 sec ET @ 125mph without using launch control
Link: Animal House Racing
Link: Discuss this at NAGTROC
Password:JDM: Dry Carbon Radiator Shroud
PasswordJDM has completed and released some seriously great gear for the GT-R to date. Including hoods and trunks and rear diffuser blades. Some further work has been done since these parts were released though. For sale on their store you’ll now see this radiator shroud available for delivery right now.
Made from strong and lightweight dry carbon fibre this cooling plate as they forces air through the radiator to improve cooling system efficiency. It also doesn’t do too bad at dressing up the engine bay.
So check it out, priced at $449.99 USD plus shipping the part number is PWCCP-R35-C00. While you’re there you’ll might want to check out their dry carbon intake cover and dry carbon snorkel set.
Source: Password:JDM
GT-R Sunrise Photo Gallery Hi-Res Wallpapers
Well ask and ye shall receive. We had quite a number of positive comments and even more emails about this photo gallery we posted up a couple of weeks back that we just had to cave in to you guys. The original photographer was kind enough to give us permission to publish these series of photos in high resolution for GTRBlog.com readers to download for personal use.
Today we’re featuring the first set of sunrise photos featuring a white R35 GT-R set against the sunrise at high altitude. All readers can download these up to 1920×1280, big enough for a 24″ LCD, but members get access to a super hi-res versions so check those out if you have dual monitors or a 30″ LCD.
We have the original and then slightly tweaked version available, feel free to grab both. This is part one of out wallpapers series from this photo shoot. We have a few more to come.
Link: ONKYO’s (Original Photographer) Blog/Gallery
Carve Yourself a GT-R This Halloween
Give this pumpkin carving pattern a try this Halloween. If you do send us photos and we’ll all celebrate this Halloween thing together.
Not really together but you know… via the internets.
Source: Autoblog
SEMA Preview – GT-RR.com GT-R With Toyo Tyres
SEMA is coming up fast and by all accounts it will be wall to wall Nissan GT-Rs this year. Ben from Bulletproof Automotive has his hands in 12 different GT-Rs in one way or another but is personally overseeing the design of two.
The highest profile of which would probably be the GT-RR.com 2009 GT-R with Toyo Tyres which he plans to cover with carbon fibre in all kinds of tasteful ways. This GT-R will feature long awaited Toyo Proxes R888 tyre in 20″ size. 285/35ZR20 at the front, a marked increase over standard, with huge 315/30ZR20 at the rear. Surely those will see some smiles on the faces of the track day crowd.
The new Toyo Tyres wrap some exclusive, limited edition BBS LM-DBK wheels one of only 100 sets produced worldwide. Just the kind of wheel you want to show off your Endless Mono6 six piston racing brake setup with, yes the car features this drool worthy brake setup.
A liberal application of Power House Amuse products will also be on display on the GT-RR.com GT-R from the R1 TITAN STTi Exhaust to the dry carbon rear wing and front diffuser.
Below we see that Amuse rear wing matched with a carbon trunk on which we see the distinctive weave peek through to contrast against the pearl white. Ben’s a fan of carbon fibre but only when used in moderation so expect creatively painted carbon parts to be the order of the day.
So what else will be there? Carbon hood? Check! Zele parts? Check… You’ll have to get along to the Toyo Tyres booth, South Hall, booth #43069, to get ALL the details though.
Check out the rest of the sneak peak photos after the jump. Thanks to Ben for giving us permission to display his photos.
Link: The Real JDM Blog – Bulletproof Automotive’s Blog
Zele International Dry Carbon Mirror Prototypes Completed
We saw these a couple of weeks back but now they’re clear coated, polished and fitted to the Zele demo car. These are lightweight dry carbon items and will make up part of the Zele Complete Edition package prototype in early 2009.
See these at SEMA in early November at the ENEOS Oil Stand (#24501) as the famous Zele International GT-R will be representing.
Updated: Added two further images of production version – Feb 09
Link: Zele Performance Home Page
Featured Items
