Nissan UK shows off the 350Z GT-S concept
A group of frisky engineers at the Nissan Technical Centre Europe have been keeping busy with a special weekend project the last year or so. The results of their labors will be on full display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the form of the Nissan 350Z GT-S Concept. Visitors to the festival will see the car in action on the hill climb course. When it's not screaming up the hill, the 350Z GT-S will be on display in the Supercar Paddock.
Power has been raised to 382 horses thanks to the addition of a Novidem supercharger. Likewise, torque has been improved to 313 lb-ft. All that should be good for a 5.8 4.8 second 0-60 run.
A snarlier exhaust, retuned suspension, Strosek body kit and wheel and tire upgrades complete the package. The NTCE team that worked on the car was cost-conscious in developing it, and the upgrades were done in such a way that they could potentially be offered as aftermarket accessory "packs" (i.e. suspension pack, engine pack, etc.) by the manufacturer. A best case scenario would have the GT-S greenlighted for production as a full car.
Nissan is keeping mum about plans for the car, but you can bet that they'll be closely monitoring fan reaction at Goodwood. If it's a hit, maybe we'll see it become available in some form.
Cross your fingers.
(Press release, more photos after the jump)
[Source: Nissan UK]
Photos:
Press Release:
NISSAN'S WEEKEND WARRIOR
* En route to the ultimate 350Z
* GT-S concept created by 'off-duty' Nissan engineers
* Supercharger boosts power to more than 380PS
* Re-tuned exhaust note for aural pleasure
* Re-tuned suspension for even better handling
* Body kit and aero tweaks increase downforce
* Officially 'a work in progress'...
A small team of Nissan development engineers working in their spare time have transformed a 350Z into a highly tuned 'Saturday Special'. Called the GT-S, the supercharged super coupé is a performance-focused version of Nissan's acclaimed 'Z-'car' and is designed to appeal to enthusiastic 350Z owners who simply want more.
Its first public outing will be at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (7-9 July) where it will join other exotic road cars in the Supercar Paddock and on the famous hillclimb course.
This will be the fourth year in succession Nissan's 350Z has starred at the Festival... and each year the Z taking part has become more extreme. In 2003, shortly after its UK launch, a standard road car more than held its head high among supercars that cost four or five times as much.
In 2004, Nissan's Communications department, headed by Communications Director Wayne Bruce, had a standard road car modified with parts from Nissan's after market performance arm NISMO and registered the car with the number GB53 ZZZ.
Last year a 350Z NISMO GT was imported for the Festival, but for 2006 Bruce decided to continue the Z/Goodwood story with a special version built in-house and in the UK. He turned to Jerry Hardcastle, Director of Customer Oriented Engineering at Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE) in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, for help. Together they kick-started the GT-S project: fittingly, the finished car will wear that GB53 ZZZ registration number.
Although boasting a power hike and a substantially modified chassis, the GT-S is far from being a stripped out racing car with a rock hard ride and a peaky power delivery.
Bruce says: "The GT-S has been created as a real car not an ornament.
"We wanted to build a 'Club Special' that could still be used to commute to work during the week but would provide added thrills at the weekend: a weekday workhorse and a weekend warrior in one distinctive package."
The project's technical leader Steve Robbins – who during the week is a senior engineer in the new vehicle evaluation team at NTCE – gathered together half a dozen like-minded enthusiasts to work on the project.
Working after hours and at the weekend, the team members came from within NTCE and also from outside suppliers and was known internally as the S-Club Seven...
The principal changes made to turn the 350Z into the GT-S centre on its engine and chassis. Using a supercharger installation from Swiss manufacturers Novidem, power has increased by more than 25 per cent from 300PS to 382PS, while torque rises from 353 Nm to a heady 425Nm.
Performance gains are expected to include a one second cut in the benchmark 0-60mph time (5.8 seconds for the standard 350Z) with 2.5 seconds slashed from the 0-100mph time.
And it sounds better, too, thanks to an electronically controlled by-pass valve that enriches the exhaust note at a pre-determined engine speed.
NTCE engineers – the very men who tuned the original 350Z to suit European roads and our higher speeds – have undertaken the suspension changes. Working closely with specialists from Bilstein, the changes concentrate on optimising road performance, with improvements in both handling ability and ride comfort... particularly on British 'B' roads. Wider wheels and tyres complete the chassis alterations.
A wind tunnel developed body/aero kit from German firm Strosek not only gives the all-black GT-S a distinctive look, but also improves the 350Z's aerodynamic performance with increased front and rear downforce at speed. The package is completed by a NVH pack which makes the GT-S even more civilised than the standard 350Z.
Steve Robbins said: "We could have produced a balls-out racer with huge power outputs and very little suspension movement. But while this would have created a superb racer, it would have been virtually unusable on the road. Instead we approached the GT-S from an engineering stand-point with a view to creating a 350Z that provides more of everything... performance, handling, looks, comfort and excitement.
"We also looked at the possible marketing potential of such a project and have designed the improvements as individual 'packs' – an engine pack, a suspension pack, aero pack and so on – and kept a close eye on costs."
So will the GT-S ultimately become more than a weekend project by a group of mavericks? Nissan is saying nothing officially, though insiders point to its appearance at Goodwood as a sign the company is giving the GT-S concept serious consideration.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Matthew Fortner 6:58PM (6/29/2006)
The summary says 0-60 mph in 5.8 seconds. No, thats a stockish number.
The jump says, "Performance gains are expected to include a one second cut in the benchmark 0-60mph time (5.8 seconds for the standard 350Z) with 2.5 seconds slashed from the 0-100mph time."
That means 0-60 mph in 4.8 seconds which makes much more sense with 382 horsepower.
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way to go nissan 7:01PM (6/29/2006)
Wow, that's extremely impressive, especially considering you can buy a $22,000 Neon SRT-4 and still be quicker than this car.
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Brandon Hofmann 7:03PM (6/29/2006)
5.8 with that added power sounds off to me.
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Tony 7:04PM (6/29/2006)
If they built it, t would probably be $45K+ for a 0-60 that would get whupped by a $28K turbo Sky or Solstice. Ah, don't bother to build it!
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Matthew Fortner 7:08PM (6/29/2006)
Many of you guys have not read far enough to notice the error.
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Malcolm 7:29PM (6/29/2006)
they must have meant 0-60mph in 4.8 seconds... not 5.8... i hope that is a typo.. ha ha.
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PJ 7:38PM (6/29/2006)
I love the design concept of this vehicle. These engineers weren't making a single-minded race special, or just aiming for big numbers, or doing a cosmetic pimp job... they're just aiming to make the Z more enjoyable to drive. Such a sensible performance perspective, but one that's so often ignored.
The stock Z is already tuned very well in this regard, feeling squarely in its "sweet spot" in (very) brisk street driving. The GT-S should be an absolute blast.
I'd argue that the Z and turbo Kappas are different enough to make the comparison less than convincing. The Kappas are roadsters, the Z is more of a hard-edged GT car. It feels massive and solid from the driver's seat, tank-like compared to a Solstice (obviously, I don't know what the turbo version feels like). It's more of a Japanese muscle car than an S2000-fighter.
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spdracerut 8:01PM (6/29/2006)
A stock 350Z with 280-298hp runs a high 13-low 14 @ ~100mph. So adding roughly 80-100hp should increase the trap speed to around 110mph and probably a high 12. That's about as much power as you want on the stock internals if you want to stay reliable.
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chemp 8:14PM (6/29/2006)
It is the machine of my dream! The best that it is possible to buy in the market... Competitors are not present! DESIGN simply space
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Lee 8:26PM (6/29/2006)
I agree with PJ, Japanese muscle car sums it up perfectly. 350Z is awesome. It would be nice if Nissan would give it a little brother... small coupe/hatch, RWD, 200ish HP four banger, low 20's price...
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Lucas 9:12PM (6/29/2006)
I believe Road and Track clocked the stock Z at 5.5 seconds 0-60 before.
"Wow, that's extremely impressive, especially considering you can buy a $22,000 Neon SRT-4 and still be quicker than this car."
Considering the SRT-4 isn't quicker than a stock one, I highly doubt it. And that's just straight line acceleration. From what I've seen the SRT-4 isn't really good for anything except crabwalking sideways at the starting line from massive torque steer. It could have been a real competitor with AWD.
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Alex Nunez 9:36PM (6/29/2006)
Thanks to all who pointed it out. The 0-60 typo has been corrected. -AN
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RacetrackOwner 9:50PM (6/29/2006)
"From what I've seen the SRT-4 isn't really good for anything except crabwalking sideways at the starting line from massive torque steer. It could have been a real competitor with AWD."
You clearly haven't ever spent time at a road course. No, it isn't going to embarass the Porsche GT3 weekend warrior, but they're extremely competent road racing platforms for the money.
Nissan is capable of so much more. This is what the *base* 350Z should have been.
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Kevin 10:14PM (6/29/2006)
Freakin' sweet..... It woulda been nice if they used a roots type supercharger instead..... not for any particular advantage, but because Stillen already has a roots s/c kit out (50 state legal) and all kinds of sweet mods that have been available for a few years.
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GhostDoggy 10:57PM (6/29/2006)
What good is all that HP and speed if you spend most of your mornings and afternoons in rush-hour traffic? lol
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risingsun 11:35PM (6/29/2006)
#13 - you're totally off base and have no perception of automotive reality. If Nissan released this as the "base" Z it would make the car $40K or more, which would totally defeat the very existence of the car: to be an AFFORDABLE performance coupe that can hang with the best from Europe at half the cost.
#2 - Yeah, too bad it's still a flippin NEON.. Dodge was even so ashamed of the name that it isn't anywhere on an SRT4. It's still just a rental car with a turbo. The transmission feels like stirring a box of lug nuts with a torque wrench. I bet 80% or more of automotive enthusiasts wouldn't be caught DEAD in one, regardless of how fast it might be, and I'm sure those same 80% would take a stock 350Z any day of the WEEK over a neon.
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Lucas 12:10AM (6/30/2006)
"You clearly haven't ever spent time at a road course. No, it isn't going to embarass the Porsche GT3 weekend warrior, but they're extremely competent road racing platforms for the money."
That's quite an assumption. They are competitive with other FWD sport compacts, mostly because they have more power than any of them stock and insanely so when modded. But the stock handling isn't much better than any other FWD platform out there, and is worse than a few I could name(Integra Type R anyone?). Even the 240SXs usually kick their butts on the course. I can think of many cars that cost less and perform less than a Porsche GT3 that can leave a SRT-4 in the dust on a track, and the 350Z is one of them.
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Matthew 1:01AM (6/30/2006)
I need a little help here. I had a 350Z for a year, but I don't know that much about the engine and car. I did enjoy it while I had it.
The super charger is sittign right where the intake used to sit. So, what are the pipes coming out the top, running back and then through the blue tube, and going to what I can only guess is an intercooler.
Thanks for any explination.
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risingsun 4:59AM (6/30/2006)
Intercooler piping to cool the air before it goes into the engine.
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shawn 6:22AM (6/30/2006)
well i think the sc would be shity they make a twin turbo for the 350z for 8000 and its has 400+ hp at like 14 lbs boot and if u turn ur waste gate up to allow more airflow u can boost about 25lbs you would have roughly about 625 hp so thats what im about 2 do as we speak
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