Here’s How Nissan Created The Monstrous “GT-R”
Dreams are the initiation of something special, the one who chases dreams are the ones that create something non-conventional, something that leaves a mark on the fabric of time. Today we are going to talk about one such dream called the “GT-R” , a badge that was only given to machines that are worthy enough.
Every car enthusiast on the face of Earth will acknowledge the heights of the Japanese automobile industry in the 90’s. Known for their affordable performance, Japanese cars were giving manufacturers all over the world a run for their money. Molded machines like the Toyota Supra, Nissan Skyline GT-R, and Honda NSX were killing everything in their way until the other parts of the world caught up. Japanese dominance was getting outdated right after the 90’s and Italians and Germans were now at the forefront of the performance cars scene, and the Land Of The Rising Sun had nothing under their arsenal to even come close.
One man changed the course of Nissan
The dying economy and rising fuel prices were not motivating the manufacturers to continue their sportscar ventures. Nissan at that time, was on the brink of bankruptcy and some heavy changes were required to the name afloat, let alone create a sports car. The manufacturer finally gained some traction after merging with the French car manufacturer, Renault. In the whole process, a man named Carlos Ghosn was appointed as the new CEO of the company. The man also called “Super CEO” in previous years also helped save Renault when he was dealing with the same situation. Ghosn started making moves and made the Nissan Revival plan, where the first thing he did was some hefty layoffs. Ghosn said “Nissan Should be Rebuilt by Nissan Employees’’
He made a public statement about changing the course of the manufacturer in 12 months, and if he failed he would sign his resignation. Being the man of his word in the last 12 months, Nissan went from — 6 million dollars in debt to +2 million dollars in profits. With an abundance of cash in reserve, Nissan needed a halo car that would depict their true potential to the whole wide world. The “GTR” tag needed a desperate revival.
This time the GTR was not reserved for Japan, and will not share the same sedan underpinnings of the previous iterations of Skyline GT-Rs. This time the GT-R will be a proper sportscar from the manufacturer and not just a performance version of a regular sedan (as previously), Ghosn assigned the task to the new design director Shiro Nakamura a.k.a “Fingers” to start designing the car.
Design and Development
The GT-R was not designed with aerodynamics as the top priority in mind, the car has to look like Japan. Therefore the criteria for penning the initial designs were inspired by Gandam, Samurai, and Musical Notes. Carlos Ghosn wanted something that looked different from anything else on the planet, to create a global image for the brand. It was in 2001 Tokyo Motor where the masses got to see the Concept GT-R, which looked like a sleek slab of aluminum with the iconic bits from the previous GT-R, the four round taillights.
The eyes of every car enthusiast at that time were on the successor of the GT-R badge, and the attention it grabbed motivated the manufacturer to turn the wheels for them. The final design of the R35 GT-R was a global effort and the combination of favorites was given to Hiroshi Hasegawa, who served as the GT-R’s chief Designer. He then tasks Hirohisa Ono to design the exterior model of the production model.
The GT-R started to take shape, and it looked something unexpected but instantly recognizable. It took almost two years for the final design to make the tangible design. However, everybody was happy with how it came out. The prototype looked like a sword and while being brutal it held the gracefulness very well, the final design was insanely inelegant but incredibly beautiful.
It was after that, the design team did hundreds of tests in the wind tunnel and buckets of clay to reach a never-before-seen aerodynamics level. All these efforts allowed the GT-R to be graciously aerodynamic like a Porsche and planted to the ground like a Ferrari. In 2005 Nissan Revealed the GTR Proto and said that the production version would be ready in 2 years. However, they did not have the powertrain as well, and who would be better than someone who helped in making prior GT-Rs formidable on the racetrack and gain the Godzilla title?
Platform and Chassis
The GT-R badge means seriousness and purity, it holds significance for the manufacturer and after multiple decades Nissan has not sold any GT-R that is not worthy of the tag. GT-R resonates as Japan’s brutal machine, which is required to have three main components: power, technology, and ready to compete with anything on the road with 4 wheels.
The mechanical aspects of the R35 GT-R were given to Kazutoshi Mizuno who initially rejected the offer to be the lead engineer on Nissan’s most important project. Because Ghosn demanded that the R35 should be made on the FM Platform which was used by all the RWD lineup at that time.
However, with prior experience with the Nismo division and race track, Mizuno knew that the platform would bottleneck the car’s performance. He made his point concrete by developing an entirely new chassis called the PM platform which was superior in every possible way. Later the prototype was sent to Lotus, where they worked on making the chassis more rigid and revised the suspension geometry to complement the performance of the vehicle. This brings us to one of the most legendary engines ever made.
Mizuno’s Criteria for the VR 38 DETT
The performance benchmark was 996 Porsche 911 Turbo which was one of the fastest machines on the planet at that time. Many people speculated the 3.5 liter VQ35DE V6 from the Nissan 350z engine will be reserved for the GT-R. However, this was not the case as the development team created a bespoke turbocharged engine for their halo car.
The development team had three major criteria set by Kazutoshi Mizuno
- The weight should not exceed 4 kg or 9 lbs/ 1 hp
- Able to comfortably reach 300 km/h (186 mph) on public roads
- It should lap the Nurburgring Nordschleife under 8 minutes
The development of the VR38DETT engine began with these considerations and the Nissan engineering team just threw everything at the closed aluminum block. The cylinder bore was sprayed with plasma, pressurized lubrication systems, and a thermostat-controlled cooling system made sure everything was under control when things got rough.
However it was not about the performance, the craftsmanship of the “Takumi” made sure that each engine was made with utmost precision and remained reliable while delivering 473 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque at peak. Along with the insane performance, the engine came with variable valve timing which helps it to deliver a surprisingly good fuel economy at a combined 18 mpg.
What everything resulted In
The legendary engine was paired with the famous Attesa ETS, a wheel drive system that previously allowed GT-R to win every major motorsport event during that time. The GT-R was made to beat the 996 Porsche 911 Turbo, however by the time it got out the next iteration of the Porsche 911 was already out. However, it made no difference as Nissan has once again created something that was above their own comprehension.
The R-35 GT-R obliterated the Nurburgring at 7 minutes 38 seconds and not only beat the 997 911, but got the GT3 RS with 10 more seconds to spare. You can feel the insanity with the fact that GT-R set the amazing lap in pouring rain and still managed to get one of the best drivers’ cars around the Nurburgring.
Later At 2007 Tokyo Auto Show Nissan revealed the GT-R with a launch video, doing the Nurburgring in 7 minutes and 18 seconds which was the fastest time reached by any production car at that time. It set the world on fire, because the “fastest production car of the world” was revealed with a base price $70,000 dollars which was half what you have to pay for the 911 during that time.
Also read
