The Nissan GT-R Nismo Is Now Tsukuba's Fastest Production Car
The Nissan GT-R Nismo is getting on a bit. The ultimate road-going R35 has been kicking around since 2014 and is based on a car that’ll be celebrating its 13th birthday this year.
But that doesn’t mean the old dog doesn’t have a trick or two left up its sleeve. Perhaps to prove the Nismo can still cut it against its young whippersnapper rivals, Nissan installed its Super GT pilot Tsugio Matsuda in the driver’s seat and sent the pairing around Japan’s Tsukuba circuit.
The result? A 59.3-second lap time at the dinky 1.2-mile track, which is a new production car record, Nissan says.
The previous lap record holder at the circuit - which is famed outside of its home country for its use by Best Motoring and various video games - was a Porsche 911 GT3 (991.2).
The GT-R Nismo has been comprehensively upgraded for 2020, featuring turbochargers borrowed from the GT3 racing version, an improved gearbox, better brakes, aero tweaks and new tyres from Dunlop. Along with the Tsukuba time, the 2020 Nismo was also able to knock 2.5-seconds off the outgoing version’s lap time at Nissan’s development circuit.
(Note - we seem to be having video embed issues. If you can’t see the full lap video, please click here).
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Why’d it take so long
im happy with watching this until the r36 comes along
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the GTR being old. It’s a fantastic car.
We lust after old cars all the time and here’s one you can buy with a warranty. Nissan has done a great job of continuing to refine the car and improve it throughout its life cycle.
Aiba Shun approves this record. XD
If it’s not broke, don’t fix it
If the R35 still went strong like that for another 10 years, I’m all okay with that!
There are better times, of course (sub-55 seconds), but a sub-minute lap is very impressive considering most cars under that barrier are usually time attack machines with varying amounts of aerodynamic pieces attached to the body.