The arrival in New Zealand of Nissan’s top-shelf GT-R Nismo won’t be the last of the racetrack-prepared models wearing the company’s motorsport badge, not if Nissan NZ managing director John Manley gets his way.
“We are hoping to have other Nismo models available, not just the GT-R,” he said. “Like the GT-R they are not a high-production unit. There is a lot of carbon-fibre in them; there’s a lot of work by hand in building them. It’s a limited market.”
Nissan has landed only one GT-R Nismo in New Zealand. Sold privately, it was on show at the Leadfoot Festival on the Coromandel and is now in the hands of its owner. “We are looking to get another we can use for demonstration days,” said Manley.
The GT-R Nismo – NISsan MOtorsport – is the flagship all-wheel-drive GT-R, based on the 2017 GT-R, put together to emphasise the ‘R’ for ‘racing’ and priced at NZ$308,000, or NZ$105,000 more than the entry-level GT-R Premium Edition.
Its hand-assembled twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V6 engine has been tuned to deliver 441kW at 6800rpm and 652Nm between 3600-5600rpm, 22kW and 20Nm more than its GT-R stablemates.
High-flow, large diameter turbochargers, used in the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 race car, improve breathing, while optimised individual ignition timing control for each cylinder and upgraded fuel pump improve combustion.
The engine is mated to a sequential six-speed dual-clutch transmission, a transaxle with separate wet clutches for the odd (1,3,5) and even (2,4,6) gears for quick, race car-like shifts.
Drive goes to all four wheels, but the bias is on rear drive where the system can vary torque split depending on speed, lateral acceleration, steering angles, tyre slip, road surface and yaw rate.
Nissan claims town-and-around fuel consumption for the GT-R Nismo of 11.7 litres/100km. Recommended fuel is 98 RON premium unleaded petrol and the fuel tank capacity is 74 litres.
The 2017 GT-R line-up: Premium Edition $205,000. Premium Edition with luxury trim $211,000. Track Edition engineered by Nismo $240,000. Nismo $308,000.