C6 Corvette owners wanting to seriously upgrade have quite a few choices. Companies like Lingenfelter, Callaway, and Pratt & Miller can turn the C6 into a vehicle capable of taking on the world's best supercars. Not to be left out, Detroit-based Specter Werkes/Sports launched its GTR package for the C6 Corvette last week that features an extensive carbon fiber widebody kit, heat extractor hood, Stoptech brakes, Forgeline or HRE wheels, Corsa exhaust system and more. The customer of the first C6 GTR also opted for Specter's Matrix II engine package that includes a stroker engine increasing displacement from 6.2L to 6.8L and boosting horsepower to 545 bhp and torque to 530 lb-ft. More details on Specter's GTR package and this particular car's features can be found after the jump.
Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn may have dismissed the notion of an Infiniti sedan based on the GT-R as "online blog speculation", but that won't stop the automotive press from churning out renderings just the same. Following an earlier sketch commissioned by Motor Trend comes the computer rendering you see above, predicting what a GT-R-derived Infiniti sports-sedan could look like. The rendering comes courtesy of Japan's Top Car magazine, and does a good job of translating the GT-R's styling into an even bigger, more commodious package.
If they built it, the four-door GT-R would certainly have the looks to stand its ground against the likes of the Aston Martin Rapide, Porsche Panamera and the eventual production version of the BMW Concept CS. And with GT-R underpinnings, it would most definitely have the performance to match.
Road & Track just spilled the beans on the new Nissan GT-R Spec V, so we can now share their data with all of you. Thanks guys. While the "regular" GT-R is busy bringing down giants and collecting hardware in the process, the new GT-R Spec V promises to improve on the formula, and probably cure cancer or bring about world peace along the way. Here are the numbers: 2 seats only, 520 hp @ 6500 rpm, 440 lb.-ft. of torque all the way from 3200–5200 rpm, 3615 lbs., 'Ring laps quicker than 7:30, $130,000 MSRP, early 2009.
So the car will lose its back seat and enough other stuff to shed 200 pounds, will get an extra 40 advertised horses, cost almost twice as much as the current model and lap the Nordschleife faster than a Porsche 997 GT2. We had that number as low as 7:25 recently, which is just insane. We're guessing there will be enough people that will wait for this model to hit U.S. shores when it debuts in early 2009, but even more who will think they can duplicate the recipe for far fewer dollars and a regular old GT-R.
Nissan recently granted Autoblog four fleeting days with a red 2009 Nissan GT-R. While it seems every major automotive outlet has tested "Godzilla" on the track (including our First Drive), we chose instead to keep it on the streets to see if one of the world's most powerful and fastest accelerating cars could be domesticated by stop-and-go traffic, family errands, and carpool duty. Of course, we only stuck to that routine for a day or two... the rest of the time was spent on the famed canyon roads of Southern California.
Top Gear has turned its stellar production values loose on the GT-R. In the interest of compelling television, it's not just a review. In pursuit of hilariousness, May and Hamster set off on a bullet train to see if they can beat Clarkson to the final destination. It takes about the duration of the ride for Clarkson to figure out what half the buttons in the GT-R do, and May and Hammond don't have it any easier trying to communicate in Japanese to do simple things like figure out the train system and buy tickets. Hilarity follows, with part 1&2 after the jump.
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There is no shortage of automakers out there claiming to make the ultimate "race car for the road", but few of them can touch the Ultima GTR. While others try to make their road cars as close to racing cars as possible, the British sportscar-maker set about making their Noble-based racing car as close to a road car as possible. The result is blistering performance, with the latest GTR720 setting several Guinness-verified world records, including a 0-60 time of 2.6 seconds, a quarter mile below ten seconds and a 0-100-0 time in 9.4. With those numbers in the books, Sport Auto Magazine set its sights on setting a new Nurburgring road car lap record.
Unfortunately, after booking two, half-hour sessions at the 'Ring, the heavens opened up and soaked the track, so the attempt was aborted. The current record, held by the Pagani Zonda F Clubsport, stands at 7:27, but Ultima ambitiously projects that its car could undercut that with what would be a staggeringly fast lap time under 6 minutes, 55 seconds. Sounds impossible? Consider the performance stats quoted above, and that the lightweight track demon has hit a top speed of 231 mph. That was with the previous gearing setup, but with a taller fifth gear ratio, Ultima thinks it can reach even higher speeds. After the disappointment of a failed attempt due to the bad weather, the company's founder Ted Marlow turned around and headed back to England, claiming to have hit 220mph on a derestricted Autobahn along the way.
The Tokachi-bound R35 Nissan GT-R is on a carbon-rich diet, as evidenced by images captured by our new friends at GTR-World. On the outside, the trunk lid, hood and side mirrors have been replaced with carbon fiber bits and the rear-quarter windows have been swapped out in favor of lightweight acrylic pieces. The stripped cockpit gets a carbon fiber racing bucket, a fire suppression system (with a carbon fiber mounting bracket) and a C.F. gauge and dash surround that's expected to migrate to the Nissan GT-R V-Spec when it goes on sale next year (look for the dry-carbon mirrors too).
The only other additions needed to make the R35 ready for its 24-hour race are the on-board pneumatic air jacks, a new steering wheel, a racing harness and the bolt in roll cage, which is more for safety than stiffness. GTR-World is reporting that NISMO isn't doing any additional spot-welding to the body, as the stock GT-R's chassis is stiff enough to campaign in a production race class without modification. Look for more coverage of the NISMO/MOTUL GT-R when it hits the tarmac in Tokachi on July 20th and 21st, and rest assured that many of the carbon fiber pieces that have been developed for the race car will find their way to Nissan retailers as either dealer-installed options or on the forthcoming V-spec.
Back in the late sixties, automakers sometimes purposely under-reported the true horsepower that their solid-lifter, over-cammed and over-carburetor'd monster V8 engines actually delivered. More recently, some manufacturers have overestimated the real power of their vehicles, which has led some to distrust factory horsepower numbers. Owners of the uber-impressive Nissan GT-R have been wondering if they've been lied to regarding real horsepower figures too. But in this case they may actually be getting more than the 480 horses that they had bargained for. In fact, after considering that the coupe is capable of hitting 123 miles per hour in the quarter mile and the fact that it weighs roughly four-thousand pounds, the New York Times Wheels blog estimates that the GT-R really makes 550-580 horsepower at the crank.
While we are certain that the rabid horsepower wars and the debate over the GT-R's true power as compared to its rivals will rage on, NYT's estimates are actually pretty much in line with what Motor Trend got after putting the Nissan supercar on the dyno, and that's a figure that really can't be argued with.
Something wicked, and white, and silver, and grey, and covered in protective tape, this way comes. In fact, it is already here: a lot full of Nissan GT-Rs in Jacksonville, Florida. Amassed like the automatons in I, Robot, all of them await their chance to embarrass cars costing nearly twice as much on U.S. soil. And a few will probably end up in accidents, ditches and tire walls as well, sadly. Click the link to visit the forum and check out more photos of what's in store for U.S. roads and garage mahals.
According to Car and Driver, a preliminary version of the Nissan GT-R V-Spec -- that stands for Victory Specification, mind you -- could be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show later this year and may even be ready for sale by the end of the year. The V-Spec, whose actual specs have not been revealed, is the even better, faster, stronger version of the plain old blindingly fast Nissan GT-R. The V will be lower and more powerful than the regular GT-R, but no one knows yet by exactly how much.
Apparently Nissan has also admitted that the $70,000 GT-R is currently a loss-leader. As the company rolls out more cars on the same platform, like an Infiniti version in a year or so, the GT-R's balance sheet will begin to show profit. Speaking of that Infiniti version, it will be intriguing to see how they combine Nissan gadgetry with Infiniti luxury. And although the V-Spec could be shown in just a few months and on sale by December, it isn't expected to go on sale in the U.S. until 2010.
