Automotive Academy

The Nissan GT-R has had such an impact over the last 12 months it would be impossible to ignore and the scale of Nissan’s achievement deserves to be recognised.

Even the most hardened roadtesters have struggled to get to grips with just how fast the GT-R actually is. Put simply the mighty Nissan offers 911 Turbo pace for M3 money and deploys an incredible array of technology in its single-minded pursuit of redefining what a modern performance car is all about. 

It’s one of the most talked about cars of recent times and it’s easy to see why there is such a fuss about Nissan’s new GT-R. It’s certainly one of the most dramatic looking cars of recent years. And while carrying various classic GT-R styling cues it’s resolutely futuristic, the origami-style creases and detail distinctively Japanese in flavour. The super aggressive styling certainly shouts loud about the car’s potential. 

At every step of its development the GT-R has been benchmarked against the 911 Turbo. But while the 911 is devoted to the past, the GT-R looks only to the future, ripping up the supercar rule book.

The Nissan has already lapped the Nurburgring in 7min 29sec, three seconds faster than the 911 GT2. And while the Porsche retails at £131,000 Nissan is asking just £55,900 for the GT-R.

Watch the video below of the GT-R reaching a top speed of 190 MPH

The famous Nurburgring is having building work on a massive scale and it’s all part of a €215 million investment that’ll see Europe’s most famous race track build on its popular track day reputation to become what marketing boss Stephan Cimbal describes as a motor sport theme park that’s open 365 days a year. Work started just one year ago, but it’s on track, so to speak, to meet the self-imposed 11 June 2009 deadline.

The plans are to include the world’s fastest rollercoaster. There’ll also be a new arena with up to 6000 seats for ‘everything from boxing matches and beach volleyball to new car presentations’; 100 budget condominiums; and another hotel – currently only the Hotel Dorint is track-side – with 148 rooms, a casino and a heli pad for motor sport moguls; plus a proper welcome centre to lend a sense of occasion to the slightly anti-climatic greeting today’s visitor’s receive. 

Manufacturers have embraced the German circuit in recent years, so the ’Ring Boulevard makes perfect sense – a 300m-long ‘motor sport mall’ with Ferrari, Aston, Nissan, Yokohama and Bilstein showrooms. Other attractions will include the Eiffel Village Green Hell that’ll house a steak house, bar and disco. There will also be a Ring Werk theme park that’ll really get tongues wagging, it will be a 15,000 square meter theme park with a science and history exhibition and a crazy rollercoaster that will start inside and then run alongside the track doing 0-135mph in 2.5 seconds – twice as fast as an F1 car and 3.4g, which is the highest permissible by the German authorities.

Cimbal hopes the outlay will add an extra 500,000 visitors to today’s two million and extend the season from the current April to October – I certainly wouldn’t bet against it!