Jalopnik
Amid all the talk on Nissan's Porsche-baiting GT-R hitting pavements this year, Nissan's racing arm NISMO quietly revealed the racetrack model. It's the GT-R NISMO's readying to compete in the racing series formerly known as JGTC; that is, Japan's "Super GT Championship" series, in the top GT500 class. And by reveal, we mean there's nary a stitch of spec information forthcoming. For that, they say, we'll have to wait until February 2008. The GT-R replaces the Fairlady Z (350Z) in competition, which had replaced the Skyline GTR. We're assuming the racing GT-R will have the maximum allowable 500 horsepower, though rumors of an even more sprightly street GT-R continue to fly.
Press Release:
NISSAN GT-R TO DEBUT IN JAPAN'S SUPER GT SERIES
TOKYO (Oct. 25, 2007) - Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., and Nissan Motorsports International Co., Ltd. (NISMO) today announced that the NISSAN GT-R will run in the GT500 class of the SUPER GT series in Japan for the 2008 season. It has been four years since the GT-R last competed in Japan , when it won the Japan GT Championship in 2003 . Private testing is planned to start soon in Japan.
Details including vehicle specifications and team structure will be announced at the Nissan Motorsports Press Conference in February 2008.
Comments
this is a very good good thing
I was hoping that Nissan would do this since this was the main reason the R32 Skyline was developed in the first place....just slap some Calsonic sponsorship on this guy and race
The GT5 graphics just get better and better. I gotta get a ps3..
;-)
Black is definitely the colour. Amazing how the front end on this looks less like a 350Z with a dental issue.
This car doesn't have much in common with the street 350Z. What they most likely have done is just renamed their car for the new year from 350Z to GTR ... whatever ... :)
I meant it doesn't have much in common with the street versions of the GTR or 350Z
Japan's Super-GT is one of the most interesting road racing series in the world today. It really chaps my ass that we can't get any coverage here in the US (excluding the occasional, irrelevant, and sadly drifter-focused exhibition mini-races they did recently).
God I hope we see this in ALMS.
@mx5: The racing 350Z does at least use a VQ engine, and I predict that the racing GT-R will also use a tuned VR engine. That's a lot closer than NASCAR gets to sharing something with the production car.
If we wanna talk about a series that is actualy relevant to the industry and production cars, we should all be looking at ALMS. F1, NASCAR, etc...dont hold a candle to the awesomeness that is ALMS.
Super-GT is great though, I was sad when Nissan replaced the Skyline with the Fairlady Z. Glad they actualy have a great car now to bring in.
Speaking of sad momments, Lexus taking over for the Supra in Super-GT. Gah...what a horrible idea. I really miss the Castrol Tom's Supra. :(
This coming from someone who has a dislike for both Honda and Toyota and the "tuner / drifting" market in the US.
Hahah! I bet every team in the series went "Oh god, here we go again..." when they heard about this.
Now taking bets on whether Nissan is going to get to kill another race series with a GT-R!
But it sure looks like death on four wheels.
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