The 2012 GT-R Track Pack is Incredible, but Won’t Hit American Soil
2012 Nissan GT-R Track Pack
Nissan Announces the 2012 Nissan GT-R Track Pack: for Japan, the U.K., Australia, and South Africa only.
Nissan engineers recently unveiled the details of their new Track-Pack trim for the Nissan GT-R, and I must say that it's pretty exciting. The complete track-pack will take the already incredible Nissan GT-R and prepare it for the racing circuit for its more demanding customers. This track-pack, which will actually allow the GT-R to remain road legal where available, also provides the car with an extra edge on the circuit over its standard competition.
The package will lighten the vehicle substantially, and it achieves this by deleting the rear seats from the cabin, and replacing the front ones with ultra-lightweight Recaro racing ones. The vehicle is also equipped with lightweight RAYS alloys wheels, which help shave pounds off of the standard wheels, and some carbon fiber touches which are more lightweight than their plastic contemporaries.
In addition to the weight saving features, the GT-R track pack will also feature stiffer suspension rates all around to provide the vehicle with a "harder edge" and greater control through intense track turning conditions. Newly integrated active brake ducts will also work to allow the front brakes to operate as much as 100 degrees cooler around extreme track conditions--ultimately resulting in large reductions of brake fade and chatter. The track-pack will use the same drivetrain as its more road friendly brethren, but the changes help it drop its 0-to-60 time from 2.9 seconds to 2.7, and has allowed Nissan drivers to post regular sub-7 times on the Nurburgring.
In case you wanted to make sure people know what you're driving, too, the track pack outfitted GT-R will also have special badging both inside and out. And, finally, no special edition vehicle would be complete without an exorbitant price tag modification: in this case, 10,000 British pounds, or, the rough equivalent $15,700 American. What this means, ultimately, is that Nissan is removing parts of their car and charging more for it--a move that other automotive companies have been doing with track ready editions of their fastest vehicles.
Of course, for us Americans, even if we wanted to shell out that much $$ we couldn't, as Nissan will not be offering the Track Pack to its American consumers. If you were set on having one, however, I'm certain that $16k could get you an equivalent. Password:JDM makes R35 GT-R Carbon Fiber rear seat deletes, RAYS and Recaro products are readily available online, and any body shop worth their salt is certainly able to custom create active brake duct screens for your vehicle. In fact, with the $16k, you could forgo the RAYS and Recaro components, install the ducts and seat deletes, and then have the money leftover to purchase a complete titanium exhaust, like the one made by Akrapovic for the Nissan GT-R which adds 17HP and shaves 40lbs off of the vehicle. In the end, the GT-R with the seat deletes, active brake ducts, and upgraded exhaust would probably beat the Track Pack, even on a circuit.
2012 Nissan GT-R Claims 7:24 Nurburgring Wet Run
Nissan is keeping quiet on their new GT-R. Or, at least, they're supposed to be. According to MotorTrend, a member of the Nissan GT-R development team approached them with too much excitement to keep absolutely mum, and said that the 2012 GT-R has been on the Nurburgring for a bit now, and that it was running consistent 7:24 times in wet conditions! That's a full 2 seconds faster than the previous R35's best dry run, and means that on a dry day, the vehicle could make it in to the low 7:20s, or maybe even below them, as the driver gets a greater feel for it.
Of course, if Nissan wants to keep themselves ahead of the competitive curve, they'll need to find a way to post a 7:18 time on the Ring, the time recently posted by the new Porsche 911 GT2 RS. That time marked it as the quickest (non-special permission and order based) production vehicle around the Ring, and gave it top bragging rights against its competition. Of course, as history has shown, Nissan is very rarely content with being second best when it comes to their Nissan GT-R, and you can be almost certain they'll push the GT-R to its limits to best that Porsche time. If the standard GT-R can't do it (and, seriously, we would be foolish to doubt them) then their special edition Club GT-R, which is being built to be lighter and more agile, should certainly be able to do that. I guess we'll have to wait and see what the official time Nissan releases is on a dry-condition run. I imagine, again, that we'll all be very impressed.
Of course, we have to take these manufacturer times with a grain of salt. Each run is done on different days by different drivers, and as result there are numerous variables. I'd love to see a magazine (with a lot more $$ than this lowly blogger has) get a few vehicles of this caliber and take them to the Ring on the same day, and have the same driver give them all a spin. A guest driver, someone like the Stig maybe, would be great, as it would add more interest to the event itself. Can you imagine that, though, honestly? A Corvette ZR1, A Porsche GT2 RS, a Viper ACRX, and a GT-R R35 all going head-to-head to tear up the Ring. I imagine the GT-R would come in well ahead of its competition in such a comparison, but, until such a track day is done, that's just speculation.
Awesome Video! GT-R and ZR1 videos on Nurburgring juxtaposed!
This was one of the more entertaining videos I've watched in a while now, and is definitely worth checking out. We get to see two drivers running time trials around the Nurburgring and compare how their vehicles handle the fiesty track. On the top left you have the Corvette ZR1, whose sound should be coming out of your Right speaker. On the bottom right, Godzilla himself, the Nissan GT-R, whose sound will be heard through the left speaker. You can turn one up or down to hear the different exhaust notes and tire squealing noises around the different turn, or just to listen to them both at the same time for a symphony of awesome. Great drivers too! These guys took some turns at speeds/angles where I would be almost certain an accident was upon me, but they handle the track with finesse. A fantastic watch, hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
GT-R Firecar
Just last week I posted some pictures and information of a Police Cruiser adaptation of the Nissan GT-R that was being implemented in the United Arab Emirates. Well, I recently found out another service vehicle adaptation of the Nissan GT-R that is equally cool-although, admittedly, this is not a new news event and I may be behind the times getting the info to you. At the Nurburgring, they've outfitted a Nissan GT-R R35 to serve as an emergency firecar vehicle. I can only imagine that that would be delivering some of the swiftest fire response times on the planet. Apparently they chose the GT-R because it could reach anywhere on the circuit in a matter of minutes, a fact that should be apparent by its 7:29 Burburgring lap time. Outfitted with emergency lights, and a foam and water fire extinguishing system, I can safely say I'd be happy to see such an emergency vehicle headed my way. So, at 7:29 lap time, if you crash you're never any more than 4 minutes away from help!
Nissan GT-R Firecar
GTR and Corvette Identical at Nurburgring. GTR outperforms largely on wet handling course.
Story from MotorAuthority.com
The last time we looked, Nissan was claiming a 7m 26.7s Nurburgring lap time for its 2010 ‘Series II’ GT-R, while General Motors was boasting an even better time of 7m 22.4 seconds for its Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 supercar. While manufacturer claims should be taken with a grain of salt--there are just too many variables that can affect the lap times--when an independent magazine runs the tests, with both cars on the same day, the results are usually worth a mention.
In this case the tests were run by German magazine Auto Sport, with current editor and former race driver Horst von Saurma behind the wheel. Saurma, incidentally, held the ‘Ring record for a production car with a time of 7m 32s in a Porsche Carrera GT for several years.
2009 Nissan GT-R R35
So what was the magic number? According to the tests, both the GT-R and Corvette ZR1 achieved a lap time of 7m 38s around the treacherous 13-mile Nordschliefe course.
Hard to believe considering the differences between the cars: one, an all-wheel drive turbocharged V-6 with 480 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque and a hefty curb weight of 3,800 pounds, and the other, a supercharged V-8 with 638 horsepower and a monstrous 604 pound-feet of torque in a chassis weighing just 3,352 pounds. Note that the first series 2009 Nissan GT-R with slightly less power and softer suspension than the 2010 model was used.
The story doesn’t end there as other tracks were also compared in the German test, the ZR1 beating out the GT-R’s Hockenheimring laptime (1m 09.7s to the GT-R’s 1m 10.7s) and then the ZR1 losing out to the GT-R in the wet handling course (1m 36.8s to the GT-R’s 1m 32.4s).
2010 Corvette ZR1