Nissan GT-R 2014 News

Nissan's performance arm gets green light at long last for Australia, with $300k GT-R to launch in 2017.

While Holden are set to start a V6 revolution by strapping a six-cylinder turbo into a Commodore when the "Gen 2" era begins, it appears Nissan will resist calls to put a Skyline GT-R on the grid and extend the reign of the Altima.News Corp Australia has been told Nissan, who come off-contract at the end of next year, will soon recommit to the sport and continue its four-car assault beyond 2017 by signing a new multi-year deal with Nissan Motorsport Australia.But despite popular demand and a new set of rules that have made a return possible, Nissan will not unleash the GT-R — the giant-killing car known as "Godzilla" that dominated the early 1990s.The 90-page "Gen 2" document has been sent to Nissan HQNissan will stick with the four-door Altima sedan.The 90-page "Gen 2" document has been sent to Nissan HQ in Japan with NISMO bosses set to examine the document."Nissan has been in discussion with V8 Supercars for some time regarding the technical regulations for 2017 and beyond," Nissan said in a statement."The next major step in our decision-making process is to work with NISMO in Japan on closely examining the Gen2 V8SC Technical Regulations so that we can evaluate our options."

Nissan is considering unleashing a monster, revealing that Godzilla is in line for a V8 Supercars return.

Nissan and Sony will bring their GT Academy racing driver talent search program to Australia this year, with 28 local drivers in the running for a chance to compete with Nissan at the Dubai 24 Hour.The unique virtual-to-reality program has included several other countries since 2008, but 2014 will be the first year that Australia has been included in the program’s talent pool.GT Academy gives drivers with proven talent in Sony’s Gran Turismo Playstation game the chance to prove their ability in actual racing cars, with the most successful given the chance to compete in real life.Spanish driver Lucas Ordonez was the first GT Academy winner in 2008, and has gone onto finish on the LMP2 class podium at Le Mans in 2011 and 2013, be crowned the Blancpain Endurance Series Pro-Am champion in 2013, and tested a Nissan Altima V8 Supercar last year as part of the ongoing program.The Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 that entered the recent Bathurst 12 Hour also had GT Academy graduate Wolfgang Reip compete alongside other Nissan factory drivers and Nissan V8 Supercar driver Rick Kelly.Perhaps the most successful GT Academy graduate to date though is Jann Mardenborough. Along with competing in the GP3 series with Arden International in 2014, Mardenborough has been selected to join dominant F1 team Infiniti Red Bull Racing for a driver development program.Australian contestants will be selected from the top 14 placings on the Gran Turismo 6 online leaderboard, and a further 14 from live events including V8 Supercar rounds. These 28 finalists will compete in a National Final event, comprised of Gran Turismo 6 challenges, real-life driving challenges, and a media test.Six of these finalists will then compete at an International final among 24 international entries at Silverstone in the UK, with the winner to participate in a driver development program ahead of competing with Nissan in the Dubai 24 Hour race.This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn 

It's a stinking hot Bathurst day at Mount Panorama, the ferocious sounds of race cars engulf all we can hear as qualifying takes place for the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour."I have to pinch myself quite a lot to realise what's happening," says Wolfgang Reip, one of the drivers in this year's Nissan GT-R entry. "I never thought in my life I would be in Australia, let alone be racing here," the 26-year-old Belgian said.Reip didn't start his career the typical way, coming up though the ranks of amateur Formula Ford races or race sport sedans. In fact, the most racing experience he had came from the indoor go-karting he did when he was a kid.Although he always dreamt of pursuing a career as a professional race driver, the high costs of the sport stopped that dream from becoming a reality. That was until he heard about the GT Academy.The international competition  gives Gran Turismo players the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become a real-life professional driver. Any player who can prove their driving skills in the virtual world can compete on a real track in a real car to win a spot on the Nissan racing team. That was the path that led Reip from Belgium to Bathurst.GT Academy is looking good for Aussie hopefuls too, with both Nissan Australia's Chris Jordan and Bob Neville confirming there was a lot of interest in bringing the program here at some point in the near future.Who knows, maybe it could be you racing with Nissan at next year's Bathurst 12 Hour?Read full story at www.news.com.au 

We know the McLaren P1 has been to the Nurburgring, and we know it’s lapped the famous circuit in anger. What we don’t know is just how fast it was around the Green Hell, which is the big question on the lips of most supercar fans.Porsche has proudly spruiked the 6:57 time achieved by its 918 Spyder, but McLaren’s ‘Ring video was notably devoid of a lap timer, causing many to concede that we may never know the exact figure.Rumours have suggested a 6:47 lap time, and McLaren have admitted to "considerably less than seven minutes", but Autocar reports that the actual time is at least seven seconds faster again.Speaking to an anonymous McLaren insider, the P1 is apparently “a fair bit quicker than that”, with a lap time between 6:30 and 6:40, which would put it at least 17 seconds faster than the Porsche 918 Spyder’s 6:57 official lap, at least 28 seconds faster than the 7:08 of the Nissan GT-R Nismo, and at least 8 seconds faster than the barely-legal Radical SR8 LM’s 6:48 current road-car record.While this is still no official claim from McLaren, it would appear that the British brand’s F1 successor has delivered on its performance promises, and could only be foreseeably toppled by Ferrari’s LaFerrari. However the Italian deity appears reluctant to grubby itself with such competition, despite the appearance of a camouflaged prototype at the circuit late last year.This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn 

Nissan is stoking up its sports car mojo. It's developing the next-generation GT-R, looking at developing the IDx Concept, and has unveiled a slew of hot variations of the GT-R, Juke and Pulsar from its Nismo tuning arm.So what's happening with the Z car, with the 370Z having been around for six years and starting to now look a little long in the tooth against new rivals like the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ?Expect to see a departure from the current car, with a smaller vehicle powered by a similarly downsized engine -- a turbo-charged four-cylinder, according to Autocar -- rather than the 3.7-litre V6 carried by the 370Z. Power is likely to slightly rise over the six's 245kW, while torque will likely at the least match its 363Nm, depending on the expected lighter weight of the new Z (the 370Z rings the bell at 1468kg).The design is yet to be signed off but Nissan design boss Shiro Nakamura confirmed to the Britsh site that a plan was already in place and that the coming Z "could be smaller" while product chief Andy Palmer pointed to the turbo four engine, adding that we'll see both a standard version and a Nismo one.With Nissan Australia still working on a business case for the Nismo offerings, there's no certainty we'll see that model here, but we're sure to get the cooking Z, following in the footsteps of the 370Z that arrived first in 2009, and a lineage of 44 years that stretches all the way back to the Datsun 240Z in 1970.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Toyota’s FT-1 concept was arguably the star of the 2014 Detroit motor show -- prompting considerable comment about whether or not it points to a successor for the iconic Supra – with an outright perfo

The fanfare surrounding Nissan’s IDx and BladeGlider concepts at last year’s Tokyo motor show was such that the Japanese brand has green-lit plans for production versions, according to Autocar.

Nissan made a splash at Tokyo motor show in November, and it's intent on carving itself a name at the world's racetracks too. Its latest outing is on Japan's Sodegaura Forest Raceway, with video showing it deftly handling the track.Watch the Nissan GT-R Nismo hit Sodegaura track video desktop version here.The GT-R has already set a lap record for 'volume production car' at Germany's Nurburgring with a time of 7:08.679. Critics will quickly point out that's nearly 12 seconds behind the Porsche 918 Spyder's Ring record of 6:57, but the key differences are the 918 being a small production run -- and much more expensive than the GT-R.Watch the Nissan GT-R Nismo Nurburgring video desktop version here.   Helping it get those results is a twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V6 that develops 37kW and 22Nm more than the current standard version, reaching 441kW of power and 650Nm of torque. Official performance figures are yet to be confirmed, although Nissan was suggesting an almost other-worldly 0-100km/h time of 2 seconds in motor show presentations.Read our road and track test review of the Nissan GT-R Nismo and GT-R Premium.The GT-R Nismo will go on sale in overseas markets early this year, but Nissan Australia is still working on a business case for Nismo models here, so there's no guarantee we'll see it locally any time soon.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott