Can Nissan beat its previous 7min 29sec lap by four or five seconds this time?
The return of the Godzilla Nissan GT-R to the Nurburgring.
Godzilla is stepping back into the 'Ring for yet another championship shootout with the best of the heavyweight production car contenders.
With the verbal slanging match between Nissan and Porsche over the Japanese manufacturer's claim of a sizzling 7min 29sec lap of the Nurburgring still echoing Nissan is about to re-ignite the flame.
Chief GT-R test driver Toshio Suzuki confirmed this week that he is heading back to the Nurburgring in April confident of clocking an even faster time for the 20 kilometre circuit.
"Four or five seconds ... I think that will be very possible," Suzuki, at Eastern Creek to help launch the GT-R into Australia, says.
"If the conditions are good and everything works as it should there is no reason it would not be possible to go that fast."
The suggestion that a production-fettled GT-R could lower the benchmark time even further is certain to throw fuel on the claims from Porsche that the full story is not being told.
At the time of the original 7:29 claim last April Porsche was quick to question the result and raise doubts about how it was achieved.
The Germany performance meisters claimed the only way the GT-R could have lapped the Nurburgring in that time was by using special tyres closer to racing slicks than regular road rubber - an allegation Nissan flatly denied.
Suzuki, a former Grand Prix driver, says updates to the GT-R's engine and suspension will be enough to bring the new lap target within reach.
"The little bit extra power (3kW) and improved engine sharpness together with the improved spring and damper settings make the faster time possible," Suzuki says.
"Then it is also important what happens on the day."
The fastest road car lap around the 73-turn track is 6min 55sec in a Radical sports car.
The official fastest lap is 6min 11sec set by a Porsche 956 Le Mans racer back in 1983.
