Forget WRXs and Lancer Evos. Honda’s S2000 isn’t in it, either. The true heavy hitter in Japan right now, the car everyone is talking about, is the new R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R. Real-world Gran Turismo. A car with shattering speed that feels hewn from solid metal. Ten years on from the R32 that re-invented the Skyline GT-R myth in Japan, Godzilla is again upsetting applecarts.

Okay, so this R34 might not go down in history as the best -looking of the modern GT-R breed, but it is unquestionably the best sorted. As it should be, seeing as it’s ’99 state-of-the-art and has been lovingly bolted together by squads of die-hard Nissan engineers.They spent long hours camped out at the Nurburgring in Germany working on the new 2.6 litre twin turbo/4WD Godzilla, perfecting its many dynamic functions to the point where they found it could lap the legendary 20.832km circuit faster than any Japanese production car before it. So what, you might ask. Its predecessor, the R33 GT-R (born in 1995), was hailed as the first production car to break the 8min barrier around the Ring. The fact Nissan says the R34 can now lap the Teutonic track 30sec quicker points to all kinds of advances in engine, braking, handling and roadholding.In a straight line, the new Godzilla is not really so much faster than the old (Nissan claims 13.8sec for 0-400m, compared with 14.1sec for the R33, but we’ll come back to that later). The point is, the new R34 communicates better at the helm. It’s easier to place and, with tighter body and suspension control, Godzilla understeers less through the fast curvy bits. With stronger torque, new six-speed box plus the usual GT-R attributes of phenomenal 4WD traction and stopping power, the GT-R again qualifies as a simply fantastic driver’s car.Such is life, the Nurburgring wasn’t on the menu this time. No worries. As well as day-to¬day roads, we got to hammer the new GT-R around the 280km/h bowl at Japan’s JARI research institute as well as up through the hills above Tsukuba, to the northwest of Tokyo, where it stormed the straights and turned in with a speed and balance that was astounding for a car of its size and bulk. Previous GT-Rs were brilliant in fast sweepers but demanded rather more of your attention in tight corners. The R34 feels immediately wieldy and playful, the steering low-geared (just 2.6 turns between locks) but wholly precise and full of feel. Weighty too, but then that’s another GT-R characteristic that’s part of the package, right?Those who know their GT-Rs will recognise stronger front-end bite this time, those massive 18in wheels simply turning left or right to steering commands. The secret is hugely improved body rigidity. GT-R chief engineer Kouzo Watanabe says bending stiffness this time improves 56 percent while torsional rigidity doubles.In slow-to-medium bends, the GT-R is now marvellously quick and (almost) Lotus-agile. While the R32 GT -R (and to a certain extent, the R33, too) could bite back if you suddenly backed off on the loud pedal mid-corner, this ’99 Godzilla stays resolutely planted. It’s the most accessible GT -R yet.This user-friendliness is not just down to the new body structure. The GT-R crew has rebushed Godzilla’s acclaimed multilink suspension and the Super HICAS four-wheel-steering electronics that check vehicle speed and steering input have also been reprogrammed. Nissan talks airily about the 4WD now incorporating model-following control procedures of jet fighters, whatever that means.Nissan has also come up with some serious rubber -massive 245/40 ZR 18 Bridgestone Potenza RE 405. Specially developed for the car, they adorn one-piece forged 18in alloys (which save 16kg over the R33’s 17 x 9] rims).Godzilla now stands smaller on the road although, from the outside, eyeing up its brazen, muscled-up sheetmetal, you’d hardly guess: To reduce mass, Watanabe and his team have shortened the GT -R by 75mm and brought the front overhang back 20mm, too. The two-door shell is based off the new, downsized Skyline platform that debuted in Japan in mid ’98. This also saves 55mm.Fine, but having digested those numbers, the surprise is to find the GT -R still weighs the same. If anything, it’s actually put on 10-20kg, depending on which version you order. The standard car tips the scales at 1540kg while the V-Spec tested here is 1560kg.V-spec? This is Nissan code for the GT -R’s smarter twin brother, the difference this time round starting with aerodynamics. The V -spec gets underbody diffusers (front and rear) for increased downforce which, in turn, helps handling, grip and straight-line stability above 80km/h.Both GT -Rs wear that massive, two-pronged aluminium boot spoiler with adjustable ‘attack angle.’When approaching the Skyline from behind, the rear flanks create a distinctive profile. Good or bad? You decide. As Skyline tradition demands there are, of course, those four distinctively round tail-lights. Up front, you get a massive bonnet under which resides that rumbling RB 26 DETT straight-six: Another integral part of modem GT -R folklore. All told, this is a brutal-looking car, a cousin of sorts to the BMW M Coupe.Its twin cam 24-valve 2568 cm engine must redefine the word strong. For ’99, this fabled warrior gets worked over again, with new cams for improved valve timing and a pair of twin ball bearing ceramic turbos for sharper throttle response.When it comes to power, Nissan has again bowed to an industry ‘understanding’ in Japan and printed 280PS in the catalogue so as not to get Transport Ministry bureaucrats (who don’t like 300bhp and above) all excited. Catalogues, however, have been known to give a fairly liberal interpretation of the truth… So with power officially capped, the other way to increase GT -R speed is through torque. The cams and ECU changes see pulling power upped 6.5 percent to a formidable new 392Nm at 4400 rpm. Torque of that order might seem to make gearchanging superfluous and around town, in traffic, you’d be right. Why bother to stir the cogs when the GT -R is flexible enough to pull smoothly away from 1000rpm in fourth? Impressive, that.What helps is that Nissan has also brought a new six-speed Getrag box to the party. The effect of this is to lower the gearing and bring ratios one to five closer together. Sixth is out on a limb as an overdrive. Like the whole car, this gearbox has a solid, heavy, very deliberate feel about it. In fact, it feels great. Start testing Godzilla G-forces and its monoform bucket seat (with side airbags) will hold you resolutely in place. Better still, it’s actually quite comfortable.Nissan has kept the cabin simple and to the point. Sturdy three-spoke wheel, conventional instruments, logical minor controls. It’s all new gear, though. But Nissan couldn’t resist doing a zillion-function LCD display atop the centre console, telling you everything about the car’s mechanical workings. Front/rear torque split, boost pressure and oil and water temperature for starters. There’s heaps more, like injector pressure, throttle angle, intake air temperature as well as routine stuff like 3D real-time satellite-navigation.The R34 comes with that familiar deep-seated growl that builds to a powerful, all-enveloping crescendo as the tacho needle starts to wind right. In the background, you hear a faint turbo whistle. Nissan has set the red line at 8000rpm again, but there is now a warning when you have 500 rpm to go. In truth, you really have to be pretty determined to seek out that final 1000rpm, because the engine is definitely happiest and does its best work between three and six grand. The turbo boost is now strong and progressive; from 3000rpm up, the GT -R is really trucking on. While the R33 could feel laggy, the new Godzilla never does.Authoritative test figures /Tom Japan’s Car Graphic magazine reveal the good-and-bad news. First, the bad news. Testing V-spec editions ofR33 and R34, the old car proves quicker to 100 km/h (4.4sec vs 4.9sec) and for 0-400m, too (12.7sec vs 13.1sec). That wasn’t in the script, surely, and certainly contradicts the Authorised Version from Nissan.Where Godzilla, the new generation, scores is in third, fourth and fifth gear acceleration, especially at either ends of the scale like 20-40km/h and 140¬160km/h. But figures show that, for flexibility, it’s actually quicker right across the board. More likely, though, you’ll be making full use of the box because it shifts so well (the gate is meaty yet precise) and the new close ratios let you keep Godzilla deliciously ‘on the cams’.The GT-R chassis is one of the most sophisticated in the business and, on the GT-R V-spec seen here, the electronics not only vary the torque split, front-to-rear depending on how maniacally you drive it, but between right and left rear wheels, too. The whole system is then integrated with ABS.For the most part, though, Godzilla acts like a good rear-driver. A tight corner, power on and it will let you kick the tail out. While the electronics are then scrambling to divert torque to the front axle, you wind off some lock to control the slide.Not that Godzilla is perfect, mind. The suspension’s pretty stiff and the ride is hard, becoming knobbly over patchy or broken surfaces. Ruts in the road can also cause the GT-R to tramline quite badly. Steering, for all its new accuracy, also brings a frustratingly wide turning circle. It’s areas such as this where the mighty and magnificent GT-R still can’t match the complete Carrera 4. But it remains the best Gran Turismo game you’ll ever play.

The battle for the ultimate weapon on the touring car circuits of the world is producing an interesting side effect. Hitting the streets are a tantalising succession of race-bred production cars of stunning potency.

The latest to emerge is Nissan’s Skyline GTS-R, a limited-build quickie which forms the basis of the Group A touring car which Fred Gibson’s Melbourne team will be racing next season.International Group A eligibilty regulations require manufacturers to first produce 5000 identical cars, and then a minimum of 500 of any subsequent evolutionary model.The recent 167 kW Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth is an example of a Sporting Evolution. Next year’s Group A Commodore from Holden’s is another.Nissan has plans to follow Ford and BMW into international touring car racing, meaning Europe, in 1988. The Skyline GTS-R represents its idea of the perfect platform upon which to develop a racing car.The evolutionary changes to the existing mass¬produced Skyline coupe (sold in Japan, but not here) are extensive and are intended to overcome any deficiencies in the original version. The turbocharged and intercooled two-litre in-line six-cylinder, 24-valve engine now produces 154.5 kW, an improvement of 15 kW. The new car gets the same Garrett AiResearch T-04E turbocharger as fitted to the Sierra RS500 evolution car, and an intercooler four times larger than before. Under next year’s Group A rules, intercoolers must be standard.The bigger blower and intercooler, and a new tuned stainless steel exhaust manifold provide the potential – within the regulations, of course – to around 300 kW in track trim.Nissan has also learned its lessons on the importance of sympathetic aerodynamics. The present Peter Jackson Skylines, which don’t have the benefit of wings, show obvious awkwardness on fast corners.This deficiency has been rectified with the new car. Unlike more plebian versions of the Skyline which have automatically retracting front bib spoilers, the GTS-R’s front air dam is fixed. This is partly to save weight, but probably because moving aerodynamic devices are banned in Group A racing.Gibson also reports that the suspension pick-up points on the GTS-R have been relocated to maximise the race car’s handling and its ability to utilise all its considerable power.The street package also has racer-inspired monoform bucket seats, and an Ital Volante leather-bound steering wheel. But, according to those who’ve sampled it, the appeal of the road racer is the wallop it packs.There’s no denying performance sells up a storm in Japan. Nissan built 800 Skyline GTS-Rs, 300 more than required. All were snapped up on the day of release.Now rumours abound that BMW, smarting from recent touring car defeats by the Sierra, is set to bolt a blower onto its 2.3-litre, 16-valve M3.

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday. .

So says the trusty old motor racing axiom. Just look at the Nissan Skyline GT-R. Races won? 22. Cars sold? 63.At last count, 37 of the 100 road-going GT-Rs imported a little more than 12 months ago remained unsold, testament to the folly of faith in obsolete proverbs. At the same time the Nissan team was prepping its GT-R racer for its last outing … Bathurst 1992. At least one of the team’s cars has been sold to an overseas buyer; someone who knows Gibson Motorsport’s GT-Rs are the world’s fastest.It’s time to wave goodbye to Godzilla. But it wasn’t so long ago that we were saying hello.July 1989. The cover of Wheels carried the GT-R. “Nissan’s new Godzilla on wheels…” ran the coverlines. It was a name so apt that it stuck. Our opening news pages reported that the Japanese already had a name for the car: Obakemono, the monster. From there it was an easy jump to the word that for English speakers conjures a particularly Japanese monster.But if Godzilla the screen terror was never very convincing, just the opposite was true of the Nissan’s specification sheet. More than 200 kW from a twin turbo straight six, four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering and reports of 13.9 standing 400 metre times. Then there was the Group A car. “The racing GT-Rs look set to challenge the dominance [in 1990] of the Sierra turbos,” wrote the prescient author of the report, adding that limited importation of road cars was a possibility.But more than a year passed before a GT-R racer was seen on an Australian track. The car’s debut at the Mallala round of the Australian Touring Car Championship was the beginning of a shakedown for Bathurst several months later. The car won the final Oran Park round of that year’s championship.Not that it mattered much – Jim Richards already had the title in the bag with a string of wins in the old HR31 Skyline turbo.Bathurst 1990 was made by the GT-R. There was a tension in the atmosphere that was bigger than the familiar gang of personalities. The GT-R was a bigger star that day than even Brock or Johnson.The memory that lingers of the race is Channel 7’s in-car camera images of Richards nonchalantly waving at Godzilla’s victims as he passed them up Mountain Straight. Nine laps in and the Nissan led. But by lunch time the team’s single Skyline was side lined with a fractured driveshaft. No fairy tale.Nissan marketing chief Allan Handberg – the man whose corporate purse was being lightened by the racing budget – was philosophical. “If we don’t win next year I’ll be much more disappointed. Today would have been a bonus, bloody marvellous. Based on today, I’d say next year we have a second to none chance of winning,” he said. Twelve months later he was smiling.Now, a further 12 months on, the GT-R is about to race for the final time – at Bathurst. Godzilla’s final roar will be from the mountain top, scene of its most glorious victory. But despite the furious noise, Godzilla is now a victim of its own remarkable success.Handberg was also the man responsible for Australia getting 100 road-going Skyline GT-Rs. The number initially planned for importation was 50, he argued it up to 100. Australia was the only country outside Japan to get the car. It arrived in time for Wheels May 1991.Normal testing proved those first leaked performance claims by Nissan back in 1989 were conservative. Its 13.7 second 400 metres and 5.4 sec 0-100 km/h times, run at Calder Park’s dragstrip, represented a kind of high tide mark in this office.The tardy arrival of the road car nearly two years after we’d mentioned the possibility of the GT-R being a limited import – begged another question. Did Japan, with the GT-R joining Honda’s NSX, have the measure of Europe’s best? The supercar handling comparison in the same issue provided an emphatic ‘yes’.The GT-R crushed reputations as carelessly as the cinematic Godzilla stomped on cardboard skyscrapers. Against the NSX, and Porsche Carrera 4, Ferrari Mondial t348 and BMW M5, the GT-R was a clear winner. It cornered faster and generated higher lateral G forces. And on both road and track, our test drivers couldn’t fault it. “Such a blend is as breathtaking as it’s rare,” we summarised.What better way to farewell Godzilla than to measure the car’s already awesome ability against the dominant racer it spawned.Eastern Creek, Jim Richards, a Winfield GT-R and a completely standard (although privately owned) road car…Straight line performance we already knew from previous acceleration testing. But the road car’s 5.4 sec 0-100 km/h and 13.7 sec 400 metre benchmarks tell only part of the story. It’s impossible to overemphasise the ferocity with which it launches from standstill. It’s the kind of acceleration that’s familiar only to drivers who wear helmets and Nomex suits. To 60 km/h the road-going GT-R is faster than any Group A race car we’ve Correvit tested for acceleration. Except, of course, the GT-R racer. The road car’s 2.2 second 0-60 km/h time is better than any result we’ve seen from a Sierra or Commodore racer. But it pales beside the 1.6 seconds of the track car. The racer streaks to 100 km/h in 3.2 and past the 400 metre mark in 10.9.Brutality is the key to quick times in the road car. Blip up fo 8000 and sidestep off the clutch. There’s wheelspin from both rear tyres, but only for a few metres. Very little of the engine’s fire is wasted.In the racer, with rather more than double the power, it’s a more delicate affair. “In the race car we have the rev limiter on the car at about 8200 rpm,” says Jim Richards. “You hold the revs at about 8000. You don’t actually dump the clutch. You have the clutch about three quarters out, just so it’s about to bite and you let it out quickly. Quick as you can, and you’re away.”Richards was the driver of both cars for the day-long series of handling tests at Eastern Creek, site of the original handling comparison. The tests were the same, using the Correvit to find corner speeds through two of the circuit’s turns, and the G-analyst to measure cornering and braking G forces generated over three flying laps.Although the road-going GT-R proved faster than our initial supercar comparison winner, averaging 104.8 km/h and 119.9 km/h through the regular test corners, the margin by which the racer beat it was startling. The Winfield car was faster by 16.3 km/h through Corner 1 and 22.5 kmlh through Corner 2. Looked at another way, those margins represent 16 and 19 per cent more speed.The gap between race and road cars when G forces were measured was even greater. The 1.17 cornering G maximum achieved by the road car was an amazing feat – the highest number our G¬analyst has ever recorded in a road car. The race car went 25 per cent better 1.46G. Neck-straining stuff.Although the differences in speed and cornering force were big, it’s brakes provided the greatest contrast. While the road car would have bettered its 0.87 maximum braking G number had it been fitted with pads more suitable for circuit work, it still wouldn’t have approached the 1.22G of the Winfield car.Score a neat 40 per cent more brakes to the racer.Analysed more closely, there’s a similarity between the cars. Both demand late and decisive turn in. But because of its stronger grip and the sharpened responses of its chassis, the race car does it more fiercely than the road car.Richards explains it this way: “The race car does tend to understeer a bit easier than it oversteers. Of course, if you enter a corner with your foot hard on the throttle, you’ll understeer right off the track. But when you’ve driven it for a while you learn to cut down that understeer by the way you go into the corner and the way you accelerate through. You try and make the car as neutral as possible. You use the same technique exactly in the road car, except it hasn’t got the same amount of grip, of course.”As well as racing Godzilla, Richards has an example of the domestic species at home. “As well as being extraordinarily fast – and there are probably other cars around that are just as quick in a straight line – this car handles so well it gets you out of trouble rather than into it. To me it’s the safest high performance car I’ve ever driven,” says Richards.“You can let your wife go down to the supermarket shopping in it. It doesn’t mind if it’s travelling at 1500 revs in fifth gear – it’ll still pull away smoothly. It’s got lovely manners. But on the open road or on the racetrack it’s still the best car you could buy.” The tragedy is that there are only 62 other owners to nod their heads in agreement.Race on Sunday, sell ’em … one day..

Nissan is developing a wild, new GT-R super coupe powered by a 300kW V8 engine and set to be marketed globally for the first time following its Japanese debut in August 2004.

This radical rethink of the role and identity of the car nicknamed Godzilla is a result of Nissan’s corporate march from basket case to cash cow under CEO Carlos Ghosn’s leadership. Ghosn, with a covetous eye on potentially lucrative North American sales, recognised the GT-R’s international potential and ordered that it be developed for worldwide consumption.The all-alloy V8 is a derivative of Nissan’s 4.5-litre VK45 engine, used in two top-line Japanese domestic cars as well as two Infiniti badged sedans and a 4WD unique to North America. US sources hint that the V8-powered R35 GT-R (which is likely to wear an Infiniti badge in North America) will be rated at around 300kW.The VK45’s stroke has been lengthened to increase displacement, and a pair of engines have been tested: a 5.0-litre and a larger version reported to displace 5.4 or 5.6 litres. Sources report different capacities, although the 5.4 number is the only one percolating regularly through the supplier network.The move to the use of a normally aspirated, large-displacement engine for North America was based largely on emissions concerns, as turbocharged cars can have difficulties with the 160,000km duration of California’s emissions certification. Most companies selling cars in the US and Canada build engines to California’s ‘worst case scenario’ to simplify development as well as to keep a cap on parts support and component complexity.Another factor in opting for larger displacement instead of increased atmospheric pressure was potential concern about durability issues arising because of maintenance-ignorant American buyers.Japan and some other markets will continue with a turbocharged six, the GT-R’s traditional power format. The V8 is the first move away from a six, and the first normally aspirated GT-R since the KPCG110 model evaporated in 1973.With Nissan’s RB-series in-line six consigned to history, the company’s 3.5-litre V035-series V6 takes over for the R35 GT -R. In Japanese tune the power output will carry the ‘suggested’ 206kW rating that every GT-R since the R32 has been stuck with, although hints from Nissan’s Atsugi R&D centre have implied that the actual output will be considerably higher.Exactly how much higher will remain a point of speculation until an export market (such as an EC country or Australia) takes on GT-Rs in this form.One of Nissan’s managers involved in engine development at Atsugi has already indicated that the 3.0-litre V030 in twin-turbo form can be massaged to nearly 257kW and still comply with most emissions requirements outside North America. The larger V035 would surely have even more potential.The US will also get an automatic – another GT-R first – which is better suited to the eight than the turbo six as regards customer expectations and (ahem) durability.Power for each engine is delivered through a 4WD system conceptually not too dissimilar to that used on GT-Rs since the R32. The car functions primarily as a rear-driver, with the majority of the engine’s torque going to the rear wheels. The maximum split on the previous GT-R out of the box was 15/85 percent, but new, smarter electronics and a number of hardware changes will deliver more torque to the front hoops and provide more active torque distribution to each wheel. .To stimulate excitement in markets oblivious to the GT-R’s weapons-grade reputation, the R35 will go public at this October’s Tokyo motor show -10 months ahead of production. It will step away from common Japanese practice for such an early debut, parading in full production trim rather than being tweaked to play concept car.The coming-out party for Nissan’s flagship model is likely to be impressive, especially as it has dropped the ‘Skyline’ monicker in favour of being known simply as the Nissan GT-R.Nissan Australia’s managing director and CEO, Leon Daphne, is upbeat, but guarded, about the GT-R’s chances of making it to Australia.“The GT-R is certainly a program we’d like to be part of,” Daphne told Wheels. Hopefully a sufficient number of cashed-up Australians will share Mr Daphne’s sentiments. With a base price in Japan expected to be more than 6.5 million yen ($85,000), the new GT-R won’t be a volume seller here. Yet if the R35 costs less than the $110,000 R32 did when it went on sale in 1991, it will be one of the great bargains of this new century.

This is not the Garden of Eden. The wind is coming straight off the South Pole and slicing straight through five layers of clothing. It’s billiard table flat at Mallala, but not as green. Not even an ant hill to catch the eye. You can make out the earth’s curvature on the horizon.

The grey and beige nothingness is broken by a few desultory buildings, some Armco railing and, every 70.4 seconds or so, a white, blue and red blur. There is noise, too, a not unpleasant guttural howl punctuated by a brief explosion to mark most gearchanges. It’s the familiar sound of an engine hitting the rev limiter.This is a test day for a race team. Nissan Motorsport is shaking down its hi-tech wondercar, the GT-R. There is no roar from the crowd. There is no crowd. Mallala could be Maralinga. Testing is the side of racing few see. It is hard, repetitive work. Do a few laps, analyse, alter this, change that. More laps; nope, didn’t work. Try something else. Think of the variables; engines, tyres, springs, ride height, castor, camber, toe in/out, anti-roll bar…Nissan Motorsport boss Freddie Gibson is the organ grinder; Mark Skaife is the monkey. Lap times are good; great compared with the old model Skyline and better even than Dick Johnson’s pole time from the 1989 championship race. But the car looks jumpier than a turkey on December 24. “It’s nervous and I’m nervous,” remarks Skaife. Nevertheless, he continues to drive the way he knows best. Somewhere between flat out and just beyond the limit.“The front seems better but the rear is leaping about,” Skaife reports quite unnecessarily during one of his many mini debriefs. We could see the tail dancing, bouncing, leaping; he didn’t have to tell us. More laps, more stops, more chat, more fiddling.Then the half shaft breaks on the left side. A couple of mechanics climb beneath to replace it. A nod, and Skaife climbs back in. Three laps later the GT-R crawls back along the pitlane. The right side halfshaft has failed, and that’s the end of the test. The spares will have to come from Japan.This is bad news for Wheels. We’ve been waiting patiently for the session to wind down, at which time the precious GT-R, the only track version in Australia and at this stage unraced, was to be handed over for a track evaluation. “Sorry mate,” Gibson apologises. “We’ll see if we can do it next week.” We haven’t quite gone away empty handed. Photographer Kent and yours truly have each got pneumonia.Twelve days later the same cast and the same refrigerated wind are together again, at Calder Raceway. The GT-R, now with a couple of extra sponsor’s names on its flanks, but no major backer apart from Nissan, has two shiny new halfshafts fitted. “We discovered the Japanese have struck halfshaft trouble, but no-one thought to tell us,” Gibson says wryly.With its warpaint on, the GT-R looks mean and purposeful, with maybe five or six degrees of negative camber to suit the radial tyres and identically sized 11-inch wide, 18-inch tall Yokohamas stuffed under each fender. With its rounded lines, it seems almost futuristic alongside the outgoing car – the boxy, sharp edged Skyline.This is the full-spec car the team is trucking back to Mallala for its competition debut. Aussie-built engine pumping out precisely 576 horses (429 kW) and, lordy-be, 410 Ib-ft (558 Nm) of torque from that 2568cm cubed, 24-valve twin cam in-line six. With twin turbochargers. Six speed gearbox developed jointly in Melbourne by Hollinger and Nissan Motorsport and Holden. Nissan Atessa ET-S variable torque split four-wheel drive. The Super Hicas four-wheel steering of the standard GT-R is in place but blanked off.This is a device of some complexity. The team has been on a steep learning curve since it took delivery of four roadgoing production GT-Rs. These were to be transformed into race cars. A shockingly expensive process. Just how expensive is a Nissan secret, but we’re allowed to guess.Let’s see now, Gibson says he’s prepared to build race versions of the GT-R for privateers next year. The price? Oh, about $500,000. By deduction, then, the cost of developing and building the first GT-R produced by the team at its astonishingly pristine and clean headquarters in Dandenong must be more than $1 million. That includes getting the six speed gearbox program going, trick magnesium suspension uprights, more coil springs than you’ll see in a one-day tour of a pogo factory, special this and special that…Gibson isn’t saying how many dollars and yen the project gobbled up. Not a nod; not a wink. Press him, and the usually cheerful Gibson dial goes all serious: “A lot. Too much.” We’re prepared to bet this is the world’s first million-dollar Group A touring car. If we’re right, Nissan is spending, let’s say, a few million dollars annually in Australia on motor racing.Far and away it is Nissan Australia’s largest promotional activity. Of the local manufacturers, Nissan claims to have the longest continuous involvement in motor sport, dating back to its rally team in the 1970s. It has persevered even when regulations have not been kind to its product, and when its product has not suited the rules.This year the works team has wrought a minor miracle to turn what should have been a hopelessly uncompetitive car – the elderly Skyline – into a championship contender in what is acknowledged is the toughest touring car series anywhere. Testing, testing, testing … and then the drivers Jim Richards and Mark Skaife jump aboard on race day and drive the ring out of them. But the old Skyline is yesterday’s technology.After seasons of sweating to turn relatively primitive road cars into track weapons, Nissan has produced the killer machine. The master track blaster. As Gibson readily concedes: “It’s the first time Nissan has had a proper race car.” The GT-R was designed to out-blast the dominant turbo Ford Sierras, which themselves were purpose-built to rule the racetracks of the globe.The difference is that the Sierra was the car of the 1980s. The GT-R, as sure as day follows night, will be the car that reigns in the 1990s, at least as long as the rule-makers keep their hands off the present Group A regulations. Already, with the paint hardly dry on the Nissan, there are those who believe the GT-R should be hobbled.Gibson, who has never been opposed to handicapping when appropriate – “the show comes first” – asks only that the GT-R be given a period of grace. “This car will win races,” he asserts. “However it might take a little time to do it.” He doesn’t have to point out that the numerically strong Sierra clique argued enthusiastically against handicapping even when the Fords strung together the longest winning streak in local touring car history.Gibson has done his sums. The 2.0 litre Sierras, obliged under local Group A rules to weigh a minimum of 1185 kilos, have about 540 horses on tap. The 2.56 litre GT-R, much heavier at its mandatory 1325 kilos, needs 600 horses to be competitive. Gibson admits the team is on target already, theoretically, anyway.Mr Ivan Deveson, Nissan Australia. Dear Ivan, Sorry about the GT-R. Yes, I was really surprised at how easily it buckled when it hit that wall. I guess I was only doing 260 clicks. Anyway. I guess the team can bolt together another one within a week or so. Regards to Fred and the boys, PMcK. PS: Any idea when we can schedule another track test?I didn’t have to write that letter. But, sitting on top of a million bucks’ worth of precious metal, such awful thoughts skip through the brain. It’s God’s way of telling you to act your age.How many switches are there, I ask rhetorically? Buck Rogers didn’t have it this tough. Mark Skaife does a count. He’s not just a pretty face. Thirteen, he announces triumphantly. Plus any number of warning lights, gauges, dials, readouts and buttons. “Don’t worry about anything, unless a warning light flashes,” Skaife suggests.Richo and Skaifey are helping me settle in. That’s the official reason for their presence. More likely they’re keeping a close eye on their future. Both expect to have their Nomex-covered tails in the Sparco driving seat in the coming three weeks, Skaife at Mallala and Richards at Wanneroo. Conditional, of course, on the supercoupe being in one recognisable piece.It’s only taken two inter-city air flights, a bout of pneumonia, several anxiety attacks, recurring bad dreams that always start with “Dear Ivan” , personal abuse from the editor and queasy looks from a team manager, assorted Motorsport crew and two drivers.But the engine is burbling away pleasantly and in about seven seconds I’ll be heading down pit lane. Right after someone tells me the pattern for a six speed gearbox. And while you’re at it, buddy, where’s reverse? Just in case I’ve got to back up the escape road. Just a little joke, Fred.Skaifey has been giving me his impressions of the car. “It feels a lot different [from the old car]. It’s very hard to put a finger on its behaviour. It’s not a progressive car. The limit is difficult to judge. You’ve got to drive it past what you believe is the limit to discover what it can do. Then you say, hey, it can do it.” The car, Skaife warns, is still some way from perfect. “We haven’t got the handling sussed out just yet.”As instructed, I flick on four toggle switches, to activate the coolers for the front diff, rear diff, transfer case and gearbox. Clutch is surprisingly light, the non-syncro gearbox smoother than the similar crash boxes in the previous two Nissan touring cars. The rev limiter is set at 7700 rpm. I figure I’ll make my upchanges at 7000…Power comes in with a wonderful steady surge. The evolutionary process in engine management systems has all but eliminated that all-or-nothing feel that characterised turbo cars of even a few years ago. The first racing Skyline, I recall, had nothing underfoot one moment and then 360 neddies the next. It was an absolute brute.Each generation of Nissan racing cars has taken on greater refinement. Gibson acknowledges the contribution of the San Diego-based Electramotive, now known as Nissan Performance Technology, a company at the forefront of engine management know-how.Turbo boost has been set at a very conservative 1.3 Bar, the equivalent of about 520 hp. It will be tweaked to 1.8 Bar in race trim, equal to the dynoed 576 bhp. As it is, 520 is more than adequate, though not alarming, for the power delivery is so smooth.I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a tacho needle move so swiftly. Because of the six gears, the changes come up much faster. No sooner do you change up than, hell the needle is arcing past seven grand again. Without intending to, I use the rev limiter twice. Damn.The gearbox is sweet to use, but I muff a few changes. Fourth instead of second. I’ve never used a gearbox with four planes before. The pattern, by the way, is like a conventional H for the first four cogs, with fifth and sixth in the third plane. Reverse is in the fourth plane, up where seventh would be if it were a seven speeder.Turn-in is surprisingly sharp even in the slower corners – it’s certainly better than usually experienced with an all-wheel drive road car. When pressed harder the GT-R hops alarmingly – pig rooting – bringing back memories of some errant behaviour experienced with the car it is about to supersede.While it hops about through corners, it does leap out like a gooly from a shanghai, with impressive traction and balance. It’s not idiot-proof, mind, but the driver soon discovers he can use more throttle than he first believed possible without the car turning nasty.What’s happening is that the brain in charge of the 4WD system directs power to the rear wheels until they break traction. It then transfers surplus power to the front wheels. The transition is, let it be said, managed without any dramatic change to the attitude of the car.In the interests of science, there is the temptation to sink the slipper, bang the throttle right to the floor coming out of a turn and hang on for an uncharted discovery tour. The thought lasts but a fleeting moment. “Dear Ivan…” Brakes are fantastic, though requiring plenty of pressure. Unlike the older Skylines, there’s no sign of nosedive.I do a few more laps until photographer Kent gives me the thumbs up, and then I nose the GT-R, the million dollar GT-R, into the pit entrance. Had enough?” Gibson asks. “You can do some more, if you want.” I’m sorely tempted. “Dear Ivan…”No, that’lI do us, I hear myself say.

Japan’s only entrant this year, and a ring-in, imported by Nissan mostly to tease the motoring press, for it’s only sold on the domestic market. Wonderfully talented chassis, the four-wheel drive system splitting the drive from the rear wheels to the fronts only when the computer-controlled electronics sense the Skyline is about to move into terminal understeer. Then you can feel the drive shifting from one set of axles to the other.

It still needs a firm hand and a forceful right foot to perform the miracles it is capable of achieving. Slightly artificial and isolating, yet also effective, with huge reserves of adhesion.

Nissan’s fearsome Skyline GT-R, almost three years old but still the benchmark Japanese performance car, has spawned a four door offshoot that looks like Japan’s answer to the BMW M5.

Conceived by Autech, an arm of the Nissan group responsible for many of the company’s special build cars in the past, the new Skyline runs a naturally aspirated version of the GT-R’s 2.6 litre straight six.The engine is linked to a four speed electronically controlled automatic transmission. The Autech car does share the GT-R’s advanced electronically controlled variable torque split 4WD system, set up to give a similarly sporting rear drive bias.While removing the twin turbos from the GT-R’s mighty twin cam 24 valve engine for more accurate throttle response, Autech has added its own pistons, cams, manifold and engine management program.The result? Peak power is a stirring 162 kW at 6800 rpm, torque is 245 Nm at 5200 rpm.Further Autech modifications include ultra-rigid multi-link suspension, and high performance alloy brake calipers.

The Correvit couldn’t spit the information out fast enough. We knew it was a good run, but we still weren’t prepared for the standing 400 metre time. From a launch that smacked your head against the headrest, the Nissan Skyline GT-R offered itself to the breeze, pushing the envelope with every gear change.

Lackety-Iackety-Iackety . .. the printer took a lifetime to punch out the numbers against the background of a twin turbo straight six winding down. Finally, the figures came through: 13.7 seconds; 159.7 km/h.That’s quick. We laughed with the sheer elation of turning such savage motion into tangible numbers. For a moment, we could grasp what it was like for Jim Richards and Mark Skaife.From the front, it’s all puffed guards, fat paws and squinting eyes; it is, as some would say, one tuff muther. Okay, American muscle cars of the late ’60s recorded faster times out of the blocks, but that’s all they did. That the Skyline is equally challenging and exhilarating across sinuous stretches makes it a very special coupe indeed.Born of a desire to tear the heart out of all Group A Touring Cars now and yet to come, the white-hot Skyline was always going to be one for the record books. It’s a product of ‘901’, the methodology behind Nissan’s desire to become the world’s Number One car maker in the 1990s. To do that, it acknowledged it had to lift its design and engineering game. It had to build cars like the Skyline GT-R.The backroom boys took the long handle and included almost every piece of advanced technology at their disposal. And, according to the 901 philosophy, it all had to come together in a manner that made the GT-R satisfying to drive. It wasn’t designed to flesh out a flowery brochure, it was designed to work…An appointment with the Calder drag strip followed a routinely slow passage through Melbourne’s blocked arterials. The GT-R’s flicknife character took a back seat while jostling for space with alarmingly wayward taxis in the economically (and psychologically) depressed CBD.Mental notes began to stack up. The GT-R doesn’t like small amplitude bumps, causing light suspension patter and drumming through the cabin, and potholes confirm via your vertebrae that this is a tightly suspended car. Bucket seats cuddle tighter than a lonely aunt; the steering wheel is thick rimmed and soft to touch, and the clutch, although heavy on first acquaintance, becomes co-operative once leg muscles adapt.The twin turbo 2.6 litre powerplant was oblivious to our staccato progress. Brushing the throttle was the only requirement for a clean take off on the flat, belying the GT-R’s tremendous reserves of mechanical angst, reserved for the higher rev ranges.It was so easy, whether kerb crawling in first gear with no pressure on the throttle pedal, or prematurely selecting the next ratio with the tacho needle nudging 2000 rpm. Rolling on or off the throttle at very low revs wasn’t accompanied by the nervous spasms associated with less refined transmissions.The assisted six has oodles of torque for low engine and road speed running, but 355 Nm of twisting force doesn’t arrive until 4400 rpm, when both turbochargers’ ceramic impellers are gleefully spinning like tops. It’s turbo lag territory below this point, as a relatively naturally aspirated engine attempts to haul 1530 kg while your right boot’s stomping against the plate.At 3000 revs, there are signs of interest from under the bonnet, increasing in a linear fashion to 3500. Hit four grand, and the world’s a beautiful place. The GT-R’s accelerative prowess from this point to 6500 rpm is phenomenal, forcing an invisible hand against your chest and sending your left hand to the gear lever anticipating quick fire upshifts.The six roars with heavy induction, then howls as it sprints athletically through a mid-range that dares the driver to push on. It’s muffled, for sure, but you can hear and feel the Skyline race car. The engine has a sharp edged note that tears at the ears and pricks something deep and instinctive within anyone whose love for cars transcends plastic wheel trims and stick-on Garfield toys.With the full 205 kW quota marching in at 6800 rpm, the 24 valve Nissan six steams on to the indicated 7450 rpm redline. A noticeable drop-off in acceleration isn’t evident once past the nominated power peak; in fact, the GT-R easily slides over the edge and on to a bed-of-nails limiter at a staggering 8200 rpm. That’s big numbers for a production six and a testament to the engine’s balance.Bringing up the 400 metre mark in 13.7 secs, 100 km/h in 5.4 and 160 km/h in 13.8 was a Herculean effort, made partly possible by the ATESSA transmission configuration. Nissan says it based the GT-R around a rear drive layout, adding front drive simply to help out, not dominate. The static torque split is biased 100 per cent to the limited slip rear end. Once the rear breaks traction, the maximum value becomes 50 per cent rear and 50 per cent front. The amount of slip is closely monitored by a silicon brain that thinks in stereo, transferring drive front and rear depending on the grip balance. The GT-R’s tendency to break the rear wheels free is a help when looking for maximum acceleration from rest, because it prevents the engine from bogging and falling off boost.It’s easy to be drawn into only admiring the Skyline GT-R’s powerplant. Yes, it has the most useable fourth gear you’ll ever find and, yes, it’s cause for a significant increase in blood pressure but that ain’t the whole story. Turning at each extreme via the Super HICAS four-wheel steering system, the GT-R is a handling and roadholding revelation for a car of its weight.With the first decent deviation, there was no overriding sensation of body roll, or even weight shift. Up to seven-tenths, you could run a spirit level across the bonnet and find the GT-R sitting flat. The overriding impression is of G force; heavy and sustained while ever the steering wheel points away from the horizontal.And at seven-tenths, the GT-R is so neutral and so bloody fast that it’s mentally awkward to push harder. In fact, it’s so good most drivers will have to face the challenge of catching up with the car before getting more adventurous. Even driving a BMW M5 doesn’t prepare you for the GT-R’s demands on concentration and depth perception when shifting hard.Not that it’s a difficult car to punt swiftly. Its limits are so high that you will traverse in comfort any piece of road that at the same pace would leave a Commodore Group A driver wide-eyed – but it will exceed most drivers’ accustomed limits long before it wants to go bush. Reading the road ahead and processing information at a rate more rapid than anything you’re used to is an art form that takes considerable care to learn. Ham-fisted back street heroes need not apply.Your instincts tell you that when this thing lets go, it won’t be pretty. Not true. Open sweepers can be attacked in a sweet, flowing arc, with the steering and chassis encouraging satellite accuracy. Roll steer is negligable, with the effect of four-wheel steering evident only on turn-in to tightening corners at high speed.The shift in weight combined with sudden lock application has a tendency to flick the GT-R into the corner. It’s rare to approach that level of commitment and, when you do, the behaviour isn’t unsettling or even vaguely disturbing, so reassuring is the Skyline’s manner.Nissan’s sophisticated Super HICAS system works in two distinct steps; initially in reverse phase (with the rear wheels’ turning through a small arc in the opposite direction to the front) before moving to the parallel phase.The steering is superb; there’s no other word for it. On-road, its level of power assistance falls neatly between the two extremes and offers good feel around the centre. It’s weighting is just right, and remains consistent no matter how far the steering wheel revolves through its 2.6 turns lock to lock. The system’s accuracy and feel remain intact no matter what the road speed.Ninety degree corners can be attacked a little more vigorously and here, the GT-R understeers initially and requires some thought to give its best. Mindlessly sink the boot, and the bespoilered Nissan runs wide then wider. Using throttle control to keep the line tight returns it to neutrality, and then the fun begins…It’s at this point that the turbos start to turn and, boy, you’ve got to hang on. Reminded of the car’s speed on corner entry, the Skyline now delivers another impromptu sermon on acceleration. The tail squats, revs rise at a ridiculous rate, and the tail steps out… and out! Catch it with 180 degrees of steering lock, feather the throttle, and the Skyline voluntarily accepts the leash.It’s fast, alright, and it would be a bad mistake to underestimate the car’s ability to cover ground. Technical advancement, after all, should never compromise a driver’s sense of mortality. The key is, as always, slower in, faster out, anticipating boost on the exit, and keeping a consistent cornering speed, pulling boost in as early as possible.Ride improves at these speeds, because the stiff calibration on springs and dampers copes better with the increased forces. The transmission, so sweet at low speeds, maintains the ease of shift and solid engagement that endeared it in the first place. The speed of the shift seems to be inconsequential – Nissan’s five-speeder will cope no matter how hurried the driver becomes.Braking isn’t as impressive. Fitted with an anti-lock system and massive ventilated rotors, the GT-R’s anchors require a hefty prod on the centre pedal. They lack subtlety, preventing those incremental movements in the initial braking motion that make some stoppers so appealing. Pedal travel is short and makes heavy demands with little reward. Yes, they work; no, they’re not in keeping with the GT-R’s general ambience.And ambience is the keyword in the conception of this car. Despite the GT-R’s muscular machismo, its interior is a field of soft curves and even softer touches. Those bucket seats hang on tight and offer excellent support, but their appearance and material could have been formed from the action of water.The shifter looks uncomfortable but slides smoothly into the palm. The dash is as integrated as the 300ZX’s but more tasteful, offering well conceived binnacle controls with stubby knobs for lights and wipers. Instruments are clear and well positioned, but. a number are probably there for sales purposes only. After all, it’s hard to take in speedo, tacho, water temperature, oil pressure, front axle torque, fuel level, turbo boost, oil temperature and volts in a single day…Thankfully, Nissan sussed out the ergonomics, giving the wheel tilt and reach, and a dead pedal you can actually use without transmission tunnel intrusion.Rear leg room – this is, after all, a 2+2 – is surprisingly capacious. You couldn’t call this a genuine four seat sedan, but it’s certainly capable of carrying four adults for a reasonable distance without requiring medical attention.Same goes for head room, which is excellent front and rear. Road noise becomes obtrusive across virtually any surface, caused by a combination of little noise abatement material (no doubt for weight) and considerable contact patches. And you don’t have to be at warp speed for noise around the A pillar.Putting the beast into perspective, there are very, very few people who will ever see its limits on a public road – the velocities the GT-R can comfortably sustain are simply beyond the realms of normal thinking (and driving) individuals. At $110,000, many will see it as frivolous and anti-social. Let them, because they won’t see that the GT-R is a two-seater sports car inside a coupe body. Japan has put the meaning back into GT.

Sound judgement eventually out-weighed precedent, but only after long, intense and sometimes anguished deliberation. While it’s true the Mazda 626 and its Ford Badged Telstar twin were joint COTY winners in 1982, those cars were virtually identical.

In the 28 years since its creation, COTY has always been awarded to one car, or withheld. Now, for the first time, there are two Wheels Cars of the Year… the Honda NSX and the Nissan Pulsar.Nissan Skyline GT-R The bred-to-race Nissan Skyline GT-R delivered the kind of electrifying performance its specification promised, Although some judges disliked the brake pedal’s softness and the suspension’s lumpy low-speed ride, it accelerated, cornered and stopped like the race winner it is.And here we have the nub of the GT-R dilemma… Several panellists thought the GT-R’s competition record justified a big tick in the box beside performance of intended function. That it happened to be the most incredibly exhilarating, utterly satisfying road car they’d ever driven certainly reinforced that view.Other judges couldn’t get past the car’s extravagant consumption of resources. Not only of fuel, tyres and brake pads, of which it used plenty, but of design and engineering expertise applied to such a narrow niche. ‘The A9X of the ’90s,” was how Leo Pruneau categorised the GT-R, “a real hot rod.”Some thought the car an admirable achievement, but felt as guilty as hell about enjoying it.Although the advanced technology of the Skyline was universally acknowledged, the call to see it applied in a less blatantly specialised car was loudly voiced. Ironically, it is technology that makes the Skyline such fabulous value for money. For $110,000 it is an awful lot of car, a benchmark piece of high performance engineering.Ex-Nissan man Paul Beranger harboured doubts, however, about long-term durability, particularly of the bodyshell. ‘I guess it’s technology excellence in a donor body,” he said. “Like Andrew Denton with a Mike Tyson heart, it doesn’t really come together. The Skyline GT-R body is a standard production shell, in terms of its construction, with one hell of a drivetrain underneath it.”The staggering traction of the Nissan coupe’s elegantly sophisticated four-wheel drive system, as well as the contribution of the subtle four-wheel steer system to handling, helped convince several judges that the GT-R possessed an above average endowment of active safety. Passive safety, as with other contenders which merely conformed with the standards of the Australian Design Rules, was a moot point. There are no airbags or seatbelt pre-tensioners in the GT-R.The harder driving judges were worried by the way the brake pedal gradually dropped during the course of the COTY drive program. While the brakes never faded – despite the hefty kerb weight and harsh use the car’s dynamics invited – few of the judges developed complete confidence in the stoppers. Not that the GT-R was always driven hard. Ewen Page, who was the first Wheels staffer to road test the car, thought the Nissan had a double edged character. “At one end there’s the extreme performance, at the other you can have very low revs with good torque and driveability.”There was little doubt among the judges, when the time came to cast votes, that the GT-R is a missile with a single mission. This singularity of purpose, at the expense of almost every other aspect of design, was what stopped the Skyline being COTY.Best points Milestone performance and handling. A technology firestorm at a great value for money price. Long term, a collectable.Worst points Lusty thirst for fuel, tyres and brake pads. Uncomfortable low-speed ride, low-rent interior, very narrow application.

Godzilla hasn’t wreaked havoc since production of the R34 Skyline GT-R ceased three years ago, but Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has promised an all-new iteration of the force-fed AWD head-kicker will arrive in time for the 2007 Tokyo motor show.

Test mules wearing Infiniti G35 coupe clothes have been spied pounding around the Nürburgring for several months, but this latest set of images shows a car with a few subtle variations since the last sighting.Note the huge (if somewhat ill-fitting) rear bumper with exhaust cutouts and low-riding front bumper/spoiler.The front and rear guards are heavily pumped, which indicates the GT-R will have a much wider footprint than the G35. The prototype clearly rides on serious rubber, wrapped around what looks to be 19-inch rims.The rumour mill has been rife with speculation about the under-bonnet action – there’s even been talk of a high-output V8 – but the more likely candidate is a twin-turbo version of the VQ35 3.5-litre V6 found under the snout of the 350Z, in keeping with the GT-R’s six-pot heritage.Ghosn has suggested power output will be around the 300kW mark, but – given that Lexus is boasting about 500-plus horsepower (373kW) for its LF-A concept-based supercar – Nissan’s warrior may belt out a similar figure. The powerplant (developed with input from Cosworth) will be state of the art, with direct injection, variable valve timing and dry-sump lubrication.Drive will reportedly be channelled to all four corners via an M5-style seven-speed sequential, although it’s possible Nissan will persist with a conventional six-speed manual transmission.