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FIA GT-1 Spec Nissan GT-R Teams Announced for FIA GT 2010 Championships
After finalising the specifications of the GT1 class Nissan GT-R and signing the official FIA GT partnership agreements, Nismo has been able to confirm that two teams will field it’s 600hp GT1 car in this years FIA GT championship series.
The teams are Swiss Racing Team headed by Othmar Welti and British team Sumo Power GT led by James Rumsey. Each team will field two cars a piece which means 4 of the 24 GT1 cars on the grid later in the year will be Nissan GT-Rs. Unfortunately, the Gigawave Motorsports team who partnered with Nismo in 2009 to test and help develop the car had to pull out of FIA GT championships this year.
Sumo Power had their GT1 machine at Autosport International show in Birmingham, UK last week so the public could get a good look. We also had a very up close look recently at the 2009 Nismo Festival at Fuji Speedway, Japan. Check out our feature article on this beast here.
The first race kicks off in May at Silverstone Circuit, we’ll keep you informed of the GT-Rs performance!
Top Photo: Jakob Ebrey
SuperGT 2010: Suzuka Preseason Testing
SuperGT teams competing in the 2010 championship were given an opportunity to stretch their legs in their 2010 spec cars at Suzuka circuit.
While the HSV-10 was out and about getting all the attention, the GT-R teams are slipping some slight body updates under the radar.
The front fenders are standardizing on the waved single piece design which debuted late in 2009 season on the IMPUL and ADVAN cars. This was never adopted by the Nismo team during the 2009 season but they look to have made the move now.
The rest of the car seems much unchanged except for the return to being car #23 instead of running the championship winner #1 tag.
Should be a very interesting season up against Honda! We’ll keep you guys updated as we have for the past seasons!
Update: We found some updated timing direct from Suzuka circuit. The quickest cars on the track were the 5 Lexus SC430s that ran as quick as 1:53.14 seconds (Petronas Tom’s #1).
Interestingly, Nismo also ran the FIA GT-1 spec Nissan GT-R at Suzuka with Michael Krumm driving. Comparing laptimes between the two reveals just how important the downforce on the GT500 cars really is. The 600hp GT1 car only managing a 2:01:132 behind the 500hp Nismo GT500 car’s 1:54.787.
Source: SuperGT via 7tune.com
COBB Tuning AccessPORT Powering the GOTO:Racing Time Attack GT-R
Earlier this month, the Cobb Tuning team put together this rundown of the features of the Cobb AccessPORT ECU reflashing tool for the Nissan GT-R. They’ve chosen to focus on how the top level time attack team, GOTO:Racing use it on their ~800hp GT-R to get the best results out of the GT-R with minimal level of fuss.
The Cobb AccessPORT still stands as one of the best bang for your buck modifications anyone can do to their GT-R and this video highlights a couple of the features you may not of known it had.
On the topic of the AccessPORT for the GT-R, Cobb Tuning have also now released a version for the East Asian and Japanese markets. Preloaded with the latest 2.0 version of the Cobb Tuning default maps, it’s available now. This brings the total global markets supported by the AccessPORT up to:
- Australia
- East Asia
- Europe
- Gulf
- Japan
- South Africa
- United States
Cobb don’t stop there though, one final AccessPORT related announcement was made recently, regarding the AccessTUNER Pro software compatible with the Nissan GT-R. The latest release of the software, version 1.8.1.2, contains updates that will allow tuners to utilise the Proportional Gain Boost Control logic, as seen in the canned 2.0 maps. It’s also available now and supports all of the above listed regions.
Source: Cobb Tuning
Tokyo AutoSalon 2010: Nordring Carbon Fibre and Suspension Parts for Nissan GT-R
As expected the Nordring GT-R attended the 2010 Tokyo AutoSalon which gave us a great opportunity to check it out in the flesh for the first time. Let us take you on a tour around the car to get a good feel for the Nordring gear.
Starting up front of the Nordring GT-R we can first notice the front bumper cover over the center section of the OEM bumper. This covers the normally gunmetal grey section of the front bumper with carbon which extends down to the engine oil cooler duct area with some horizontal louvres. It’s matched to a dry carbon grille which adds a unique looking lump either side of the GT-R badge. The fitment on these pieces was perfect and the carbon could not be faulted in any area whatsoever.
Continuing downward we next notice the dry carbon front lip and underspoiler. It’s two duct inlets are a welcome sign for many. We verified that they are also indeed functional. The ducts continue to the start of the front wheel well where a second guiding panel (FRP on the demo car but dry carbon for production) takes the stream of outside air and directs it at the front brake rotors. Again the carbon was faultless and fitment perfect against the OEM bumper. The weave was angled precisely to take advantage of the carbon’s pleasing visual effect.
Lastly, we see the headlight finishers and NACA ducts on the hood which add splashes of carbon to the lower edge of the headlights and hood respectively. A nice touch, well executed on both counts.
Moving to the side of the car we notice the carbon sideskirts firstly. These very much keep in the theme of the OEM side skirts with only one small difference. The upper edge is slightly changed at the front to sit flush with the front fender finishers. This was about the only odd part of the car and I couldn’t figure what they were getting at with it.
The dry carbon side mirror covers are a real sweet touch, you can see that the weave of the fibre changing to keep the two “tone” look of the standard mirror. I found that particularly appealing.
Around back now and first up is the the trunk lid which is replaced with an entirely carbon item. It’s OEM in quality and appearance until you notice that there is an integrated rear lip on it. It gives it that unique look and most probably some aero benefit. The fit and finish of this was top notch and it could be a big seller if you ask me.
The full carbon rear wing sits atop and looks very similar to the standard GT-R unit. There’s some minor styling changes but overall most wont pick them without seeing them sitting next to each other.
Moving down, we see the new Nordring carbon rear bumper. A huge piece of carbon with some unique horizontal louvres designed to remove heat from the transmission area above the rear under diffuser. It’s matched with a carbon underspoiler which in turn matches up to a set of rear under diffuser fins.
That pretty much covers the outside of the car, but if we look under the hood now we can see one of the more original engine cover designs seen so far. There’s also a set of engine bay shrouds that wrap around the front of the engine bay as dress up parts more than anything else.
Which brings us to the Toshio Suzuki tuned Bilstein Suspension. This kit offers a damper set replacement, springs not included, which will replace your standard dampers without the side effect of voiding your Nissan factory warranty. The dampers are fully compatible with the GT-R’s adjustable settings for R mode, Normal and Comfort and are designed for street and sports use.
Nordring also say original forged magnesium wheels are on their way but at the show they weren’t on the car. The wheels you see in the photos are actually the Neez EI8GHT Eurocross-R wheels with GT-R centre cap option fitted up. Great wheels all the same.
After checking out the Nordring car, we were able to spend some time catching up with Nordring President and Nissan Chief Test Driver, Toshio Suzuki-san. We asked if he had plans to export the Nordring parts to overseas markets. Unfortunately for us though, it seems that, since the parts are Nissan Motors approved for use with the GT-R, he’d need to jump through quite a few hoops to do that. So at this stage you simply wont be able to buy it directly for export. He didn’t permanantly rule it out, but there may be a long wait before we see this stuff outside Japan.
We also cleared up if Nordring planned any engine tuning modifications, and – so far no. They are happy with the standard car’s performance and to mess with that, we got the feeling, would also likely risk their fortunate position of being the only aftermarket supplier of Nissan approved parts for the GT-R.
Overall, a very conservative and well thought out bunch of upgrades to the GT-R which don’t intefere with the lines of the car. It’s not for everyone however as it comes with the dual baggage of price tag and being difficult to obtain outside Japan.
We got a few photos to browse through but let us know in the comments if you want answers to any more questions and remember to check our previous posts if you want to know about pricing on this stuff.
Link: Nordring Website
Images: (C) Copyright GTRBlog.com
Mine’s Meeting Event: Mine’s R35 GT-R Dry Carbon Front Bumper Scoop Photos
Tokyo AutoSalon is not the only event in town this weekend and today was a perfect day for a visit to the Mine’s workshop for the Mine’s Meeting Event 2010. Just an hour on the Keikyu line out of Shinagawa, Tokyo, Yokosuka is situated at the opening of the Tokyo Bay on the Miura Penninsula. Coming direct from Tokyo you feel a slowdown in the pace of life but it doesn’t feel like the countryside yet. The kind of place you feel like you could strike a balance between work and life with a getaway to the seaside literally minutes away.
Personally I had not visited the Mine’s workshop until today but thanks to the help and hospitality of Sales and Marketing manager Noriaki Nagahama-san we arrived to find a buffet of legendary Mine’s GT-Rs at our fingertips in the front parking lot. There was the legendary BNR34 GT-R that has been lusted after by JDM car fans since 2002 and is still said to be very emodiment of speed, handling and response on the circuit. There was also, of course, the pair of Mine’s R35 GT-Rs, one for street and one all out dedicated circuit version.
This is where things got really interesting because that latter, circuit version GT-R, was known to be the first GT-R to feature the Mine’s Complete VR38DETT Engine built right on site in the Mine’s Engine Room by Technical Supervisor and head mechanic, Toshikazu Nakayama-san.
Something else was different though, it is subtle yes, but substantially different. The Mine’s Dry Carbon front bumper that we had been awaiting for some time was finally finished and installed!
The Mine’s Dry Carbon Front Bumper is a complete replacement front bumper featuring some significant upgrades over the standard item. First and foremost is the improved cooling design by way of more ducting and redesigned ducting. The basic lines of the GT-R’s front end remain but the cooling potential is increased firstly by opening the central horizontal section. This is quite similar to what Nismo has done when preparing the Nismo GT-R for the 2008 Tokachi 24hrs endurance race but in the case of Mine’s this section is not just cut out but also ducted to prevent air flow from being wasted. On the Mine’s version, once air enters the horizontal duct, it’s forced to move upward to the radiator.
Next improvement is a little easier to see and comes by way of pushing back the engine oil cooler ducting to begin just in front of the intercoolers. This has a twofold effect of removing the need for the factory intercooler ducting and increasing airflow to the intercoolers and engine oil coolers by having a more open inlet. The ducting to the intercooler is now handled by the same carbon panel which directs air to the radiators from horizontal opening. Quite ingenious in design really.
Cooling is not the only improvement made on the Mine’s Front Bumper, we also have an improvement to the aerodynamics of the car by both the larger size and improved integration of the Mine’s Carbon Canards. The shape of the GT-Rs OEM canard “lumps” has been redesigned to allow the larger bolt on canards to screw in from underneath. Low profile hex screws are used to then bolt the canards up. The result is an absolute seemless looking solution.
As the bumper is built to OEM size and specification, it will bolt up to the standard or aftermarket front underspoilers. Seen here it’s bolted up to the Mine’s Dry Carbon Front Lip Spoiler Type-II. Of course, as with all Mine’s gear, the quality of the bumper was also first rate.
Expect to see the availability announcement soon and with that will come pricing information. Right now neither the date or price is decided but we’ll let you know when it is.
The Mine’s Meeting Event is still on till the end of the day tomorrow, the 18th of January so if you’re in Tokyo feel free to get along to check out the cars in the flesh!
Oh and before you ask, yes we didn’t just LOOK at that new Mine’s Complete Engine! We’ve got more to come from today’s meeting in the upcoming days!
Link: Mine’s Website (English)
Tokyo AutoSalon 2010: TommyKaira Silver Wolf Edition Nissan GT-R Debut
Well as you are well aware by now, TommyKaira completed the initial phase of their Nissan GT-R project recently for launch at the 2010 Tokyo AutoSalon. We wen’t along to the show and got the opportunity to sit down with and chat with TommyKaira President, Hiei Takayoshi-san, about the latest range of TommyKaira products and the plans for the future.
Takayoshi-san, as it turns out, is not someone to jump into improving on and already great car without first discovering if he can be passionate about it. Personally he is a Honda NSX-R owner from way back so at first he wasn’t sure if the new Nissan could live up to the hype. You may well know of the NSX-R’s legendary status in Japan so it had quite big shoes to fill.
With an adventurous spirit he jumped in with both feet and tried the GT-R for himself. Immediately he was let taken aback by the GT-R’s sheer ability that we have grown to love ourselves, the whole package of performance and quality which is peerless today. After trying it for himself, he quickly formed the opinion that the sheer value of the GT-R far outweighs it’s pricetag and is easily the match for supercars in the 25million yen range. Obviously, this would be an easy decision to have TommyKaira stamp their own mark on the car.
With Tokyo AutoSalon set as their launch target they had a very short time to complete a very large amount of work. They set to it with a guiding principle to not sacrifice workmanship to meet the end goal. The result shows that they are both willing and able to live up to this.
The concept, and second name for the project Ebbrezza-R, comes from the Italian word Ebbrezza. Translated it means intoxication – that is the vibe Takayoshi-san says he gets when driving the GT-R. The final product is also known as the Silver Wolf Edition and Takayoshi-san comissioned the Silver Wolf artwork from his favourite artist Kazuyuki Takishita-san to capture the essence of the project. That is the artwork you can see across the ceiling of the booth.
Let’s get down to brass tacks though. You’ve probably become familiar with the pricing of the kit as we covered it earlier. You might be wondering about the process of buying TommyKaira parts, especially if you’re familiar with the TommyKaira of days-gone-by. To fill those who aren’t in on the history, TommyKaira was known to sell complete cars at fixed prices. Small options were available but by and large each car was sold complete to end customers.
This practice has changed for the company’s latest products, times have changed and their customer’s have too so now they are far more flexible on what you can buy and how. Smaller subsets of the full aero kit are for sale for example and TommyKaira will also be working with global distributors to get the parts out to the wider world.
For now, the dry carbon version of the aero kit are still in development. That is:
- Dry Carbon Front Lip Spoiler
- Dry Carbon Frony Under Diffuser
- Dry Carbon Rear Underspoiler
- Dry Carbon Rear Racing Diffuser
- Dry Carbon Rear Wing
Right now, there is no plan to develop dry carbon versions of the larger parts such as the front bumper and the side skirts however. We asked why that was and Takayoshi-san believes that it’s most likely the clients would want to leave their dry carbon parts unpainted/clear coated only and he felt that would detract from the overall look of the car. TommyKaira recommend for each front bumper and side skirt set to be painted the car’s body colour following their example for best effect. I tend to agree that this does look best really.
While we were there we also got to sit in the drivers seat to get a feel for the TommyKaira interior treatment. The quality of the materials used is top shelf and the final result is, in a word, luxurious. Carbon and red leather is everywhere but it never feels overdone from the perspective of the driver. The red carpeting is bright in the photos but its not overbearing in the flesh. The attention to detail is refreshing with even the interior lock surrounds being remade in carbon fibre. The TommyKaira special edition Recaro seats are tight and hold you well which is to be expected from the masters at Recaro, but larger guys might need to opt for different seating options.
The optional extras like the TommyKaira brakes are all based on proven technology. The brakes are Endless Calipers (Mono 6 & 6R Caliper kit) front and rear and the TommyKaira Titanium exhaust is made by the same people who manufacture the Nissan SpecV exhaust system and is even made from the same Super Tough Titanium (STTI) material.
So pretty much the remainder of this story should be devoted to how it performs right? Well we can’t say right now. TommyKaira aren’t giving any results yet either as they are still tuning the Quantum suspension. What they will say is that the TommyKaira package does not include any engine / ECU tuning packages or options. This demo car for example is completely stock under the hood and the Japanese ECU 180km/h speed limiter is still in place.
Once the suspension is done however, they do plan to take the car to Fuji Speedway to see what sort of improvements the aero, suspension and brakes add up to on the track.
Please enjoy the photo gallery taken at the show and let us know if you have any questions in the comments!
Link: TommyKaira R35 GT-R Silver Wolf Edition Website
Images: (C) Copyright GTRBlog.com
Tokyo AutoSalon 2010: Nismo ClubSport Nissan GT-R Data Logging Option
The 2010 Nismo ClubSport package Nissan GT-R was at the show today so we asked Nismo for the lowdown on the new data logging kit option. Given access to the ClubSport GT-R we were able to fiddle about with it to discover what it means.
From what we could tell, it’s much the same MFD that we’re used to, however it’s now fitted with a USB port in the center console next to the standard 12v power socket. Utilising this, it is possible to store the MFD data on a USB storage device for examination and import into software later. In that way, it’s a useful tool to help you improve your driving on the circuit.
We didn’t spot too much in the way of software tweaks on the car itself and didn’t have access to or learn of any software Nismo supplies to read the data so we can’t draw any conclusions on that side of things.
Overall is this option welcome? Yes, if available by itself on a base model GT-R at the dealership. If you need the Nismo ClubSport package to take advantage of it then I don’t see it being a top seller.
That being said, we’re aware that other manufacturers are building friendly data logging units for the GT-R now which are likely to have the same data export features.
Time will tell which is the better option to go with.
Link: Nismo ClubSport Website
Images: (C) Copyright GTRBlog.com
Tokyo AutoSalon 2010: Varis Original RUNDUCE Nissan GT-R
Well the 2010 Tokyo AutoSalon finally kicked off today after what seemed like an endless wait! GTRBlog went along to check out the show and see the progress so far on the Varis/Original Runduce Nissan GT-R build. You probably recall when we broke the news that Runduce would be producing a full widebody carbon fibre body kit fo the GT-R back towards the end of December 2009. Well they had actually only kicked that project off at that stage so nobody seriously expected them to complete the whole kit by January.
They did however manage to turn out some respectable carbon parts for the GT-R including the following:
- Carbon Fibre Hood
- Carbon Fibre Front Underspoiler
- Carbon Fibre Rear Underspoiler
- Carbon Fibre Side Skirts
Varis also came to the GT-R party on this build, supplying some additional extras for this car in the form of:
- Varis Hyper Narrow GT-Wing for Nissan GT-R
- Varis original GT-R trunk lip spoiler
- Varis Sound Control Exhaust System
Other parts in the build so far are HKS HyperMax III Suspension, Recaro Racing Seats, AVS Model F15 wheels (20×10.5 all round) and ADVAN 275 wide tires to finish them off.
While there’s a lot of parts on this car, there’s more to come from Varis and Original Runduce after AutoSalon so we’ll keep following their progress and report back when we hear more.
For now, please enjoy the photo gallery from the show today!!!
Link: Varis Website
Link: Original Runduce Website
Images: (C) Copyright GTRBlog.com
TommyKaira R35 GT-R: Final Images and Pricing Revealed
TommyKaira have put the finishing touches on their Tommy Kaira R35 GT-R project just in time for the opening of Tokyo AutoSalon this week. The complete car project looks to have been quite a mammoth undertaking but they’ve pulled it off with days to spare. The final product looks great in these photos but the real test will be to see it in the flesh on Friday this week at the show. The wheels you see it pictured here with are AVS Model F15 in Platinum black, sizes 20×9.5 +45 in the front and 20×10.5 +25 in the rear. They’re wrapped with Pirelli P-Zero 255/40R20 285/35R20 tires.
As for pricing, if you’re sitting down let’s begin. For the full kit, in “Wet Carbon”, including tax, look to spend 1,680,000 yen in Japan. It includes the following gear:
- Wet Carbon/FRP Front Bumper
- Wet Carbon Front Grill Cover
- Wet Carbon Front Lip Spoiler
- Wet Carbon Front Under Diffuser
- Wet Carbon Side Ducts
- Wet Carbon/FRP Side Skits
- Wet Carbon Rear Underspoiler
- Wet Carbon Rear Racing Diffuser
- Wet Carbon Rear Wing
- Wet Carbon Rear Fender Extensions (20mm extension)
On top of this you can choose the following options at extra cost:
- Dry Carbon Front fender finishers 67,200 yen
- Dry Carbon Front Fender Ducts 61,950 yen
- Dry Carbon Door Handles 47,250 yen
If the full kit is too rich for you, then you’re not completely out of luck. TommyKaira are selling a sub-kit known as the Front Style Kit. This retails at the 630,000 yen mark and includes the following:
- Wet Carbon/FRP Front Bumper
- Wet Carbon Front Grill Cover
- Wet Carbon Front Lip Spoiler
- Wet Carbon Front Under Diffuser
- Wet Carbon Side Ducts
Dry carbon versions of many of these parts are on their way soon but are not priced as yet. There’s is also a complete red leather interior package on it’s way. You can sneak a peak in these photos but we’ll have more for you soon. It’s also not priced just yet.
To go along with the exterior body components, TommyKaira have also developed a range of tuning parts like an exhaust system, brake kit and suspension kit. These are priced as follows:
- High Performance Exhaust, Titanium (STTI): 348,600 yen
- Endless MONO6 & 6R Caliper Kit with 390mm rotors: 1,837,000 yen
- Quantum Super Sports Suspension Kit: 630,000 yen
So, like we said, looking good but check back Friday for a more in-depth look at the new TommyKaira R35 GT-R.
Link: TommyKaira Website
HKS Dual Clutch Transmission Cooler for Nissan GT-R Released
HKS have announced their own transmission cooler for the Nissan GT-R this week just prior to Tokyo AutoSalon. The front mounted oil cooler design goes up against some already strong entries in the market, one from regional affiliate HKS Kansai. The difference here is that HKS have seemingly chosen to directly cool the transmission fluid by way of pumping it through a front mounted, 15 row, oil cooler. The core dimensions of the cooler are 220mm x 220mm x 48.5mm.
In contrast, the HKS Kansai item cools the engine coolant that the GT-R pumps through the transmission to cool it before it reaches the transmission by way of a water cooler in the same location. Which is best?
Anyways, the core is fed cold air from the front bumper by way of ducting that mirrors the ducting to the factory oil cooler, a slight modification to the standard front bar to open the airflow to this duct will be required.
In testing at Fuji Speedway, over a 15minute full on session, HKS saw the transmission temp level out at 127 degrees with the HKS DCT Cooler fitted. In comparison, with the standard setup they had to abort the run at the 11 minute mark as the transmission fluid temp hit 135 degrees celsius and showed signs that it would continue to climb.
Cooler transmission fluid temps increase fluid lifespan, offer smoother shifts on the track and decrease the chances that you’ll hit the inbuilt safety limp mode of the TCM. One other side effect of cooler transmission temps that HKS noticed while testing is that the engine coolant sees a subsequent drop in temperatures as well. I guess it’s job is made a little easier by not having to cool a 135 degree gearbox down.
Theres a few other details to note, and we should be able to clear up all the how’s and why’s on Friday at TAS.
Price is set at 262,500 yen in Japan.
Link: HKS Website
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