Sunday, April 26, 2009

FIA GT1 GT-R, the Ultimate 600hp Nissan GT-R





Last week in the South of France Nissan and Nismo unveiled their FIA GT1 ready GT-R, a “little” 600hp modified 5.6l V8 engine (VK56DE) that provides no less then an incredible 650Nm of torque achieveing a quite honorable 2:05.447 lap time by Paul Ricard…

We hope both Nismo and Nissan are as successful on the old continent as they are here in Japan!

Media Days and the Official Test Session for the FIA GT were held at Circuit Paul Ricard HTTT (5.842km) in the South of France on the 6th and 7th April.

At the Press Conference of SRO, the official promoter of the FIA GT Championship, which took place at midday on the 6th April, the R35 NISSAN GT-R, built according to the 2010 FIA GT1 regulations was unveiled in front of more than 200 people.

The objectives for NISMO's FIA GT program for 2009 is to develop GT-R race car which shall be available for sale to the privateers who wish to take part in the FIA GT World Championship from 2010 and onwards.
The team is going to race at Silverstone (UK, 3rd May), Oschersleben (GER, 21st June), 24 hours of Spa (BEL, 25th - 26th July), and is planning an additional race in Europe.

GT-R will be driven by Michael Krumm (GER) and Darren Turner (UK).

Under the observant eyes of the media and other competitors, the GT-R ran 119 laps and completed all test menus as planned without any major trouble throughout the 2 days. As the GT-R is built according to the next generation 2010 FIA regulations, which allow less modification, lap times cannot be compared with the current GT1 cars, however the best lap time was 2:05.447.

The team will participate in the next official test at Algarve (POR) on 15th and 16th April.

"I am very excited about the FIA GT program as it is 10 years since I participated in an international racing with NISMO." said Michael Krumm. "I am very happy to race in Europe with the NISMO people I have worked in Japan for years. The test at Paul Ricard went very well, and I really enjoyed the test with other cars. Since the shakedown in last December, the GT-R has improved a lot. We still need to work very hard to make the car competitive, but I am confident that we are in a right direction."

Darren Turner said "I'm looking forward to helping NISMO and Gigawave MotorSport to develop the GT-R to make sure it is competitive in time for the new regulations in 2010. It is a real privilege to play a part in such an exciting program. It's also good to be racing in the FIA GT Championship again as I have had good results there in the past."

Source
NihonCar

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