Beginning June 1, NISMO will begin taking pre-orders on a new ECU and Transmission Control Module (TCM) for the standard GT-R and its SpecV sibling. According to Nissan's motorsports arm, the ECU increases maximum boost pressure by 0.1 bar (1.5 psi) to crank-up low-end torque and enhance throttle response. The TCM tweaks supposedly deliver quicker downshifts and the speed limiter on the street (i.e. when not running on a GPS-approved race track) has been raised to 320 km/h – or just one tick shy of 200 mph.

But as you'd expect, there's a hitch. Aside from the sizeable buy-in (294,000 yen, or just over $3,000 US), NISMO will only rent the duo of upgraded controllers for a 24-month term. After which, you either return the ECU and TCM units or shell out an additional $329 per year to keep them on board. Both modules are covered by NISMO's warranty and deliveries begin on June 24.



[Source: GTRBlog]

Here's your chance to put Godzilla in your driveway for a discount! Of course, this GT-R that's headed for the block at Matley's Richmond Auto Auction today in Virginia will likely not go for much of a discount. Barring a transmission that's been launch-controlled into oblivion, this 3,011-mile repo-special appears virtually showroom-fresh. Carfax says this car is a clean, one-owner affair, and the auction company hasn't put it in the "inoperative vehicle" group, so we're guessing it's another case of financial over-reach brought back down to reality. If it were us, we'd be hiding this thing in a garage more secret and secure than Dick Cheney's undisclosed location while we sold an organ or two on the black market to pay its bills. You've got a spare kidney, but it's not like the GTR comes along every day. If you've actually got the finances to purchase a GT-R and think this one may be a bargain, you'll have to move fast – the auction is today. As long as you can make one or two payments before you start selling off pieces of yourself, you'll be fine. This tip comes to us from our friends at Hemmings, who also hooked us up with the Carfax, posted after the jump. Thanks David!



[Source: Richmond Auto Auction]

Greetings from Joliet, Illinois, home of the Autobahn Country Club. We're on board with Brock Yates' One Lap of America, one of America's toughest motorsports challenges. Over the course of eight days, 63 drivers of all talent and experience levels will take to a range of motorsports facilities across the country in a wide variety of machinery. There's something for everyone here, from mainstream American performance iron (a passel of Chevrolet Corvettes and Camaros, along with a Mustang or two) to niche exotics (Ultima, Lotus Exige) to Japanese cars (including a nifty Mitsubishi Galant VR4), a gaggle of Porsches, and more BMW M cars than you can shake a stick at. Heck, there's even a GMC Jimmy, a stunning Nissan Altima Hybrid SEMA entrant and a Fifties rat rod.

In truth, we One Lappers assembled yesterday in breezy, chilly South Bend, Indiana at Tire Rack's massive facilities. The competitors met up to receive a driver's meeting, technical inspection, and a full slate of sponsorship decals, along with the usual final tunings and bench racing sessions. The actual racing didn't start until earlier this morning, however, where the competitors made use of the retail giant's 200-foot skidpad – with the sprinklers on. You can read all about what happened over Motor Trend (they're one of the event's main sponsors), but suffice it to say that one of the two Nissan GT-R entrants (not pictured) at this year's event stunned the assembled throngs by recording 0.953G, a handsome figure considering the soaked tarmac.

This year, competitors will travel some 3,265 miles between today and next Saturday before circling back to South Bend next Saturday. Along the way, the racers will take part in an autocross event at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky, then roll to Greenbrier, Tennessee to take on the Highland Rim Speedway oval. After that, it's off to Alabama's Talladega Gran Prix on Monday, with a long haul (over 600 miles) down to Florida's legendary Sebring International Raceway. After that, it's time for a bracket drag racing session at Gainesville Raceway, and then on to Daytona International Speedway. Come Thursday, there's a tidy 440 mile run to Kershaw, South Carolina, home of Carolina Motor Sports Park, and from there, the racers slip over to BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg. Doubtlessly looking a bit worse for the wear, the survivors will then motor 560+ miles to Pennsylvania's Beaverun Motorsports Complex. The bedraggled racers then make the final 240-mile transit back to South Bend for a final (hopefully) dry skidpad event and a final banquet and trophy award ceremony.

With just 60+ cars in the field this year (as opposed to the 80+ vehicles in years past), it's clearly a down year in terms of attendance – a development readily attributable to the economy (it's admittedly hard to ignore to overlook the substantial cost associated with mounting an entry). However, there are some ace new competitors here and a lot of interesting machinery. Further, with the absence of five-time reigning champion Mark Davia and his Porsche 996 twin-turbo (whose wife is expecting), there's sure to be a new winner this year.

Full Disclosure: Yours truly is part of one of the two timing and scoring crews (I have been participating as such since 1999), so while I will do my best to bring AB'ers closer to the action, as a crew member, I will only attend a bit more than half of the events as we hopscotch the country in order to get ahead of the competitors and prepare the timing equipment and post the scores ahead of their arrival. As such, it is recommended that you check out Motor Trend and the official One Lap Of America website for the rules and the latest updates on the races.

Well, the cars on the false grid are set to go green, so I'm gone... until next time, please check out the massive gallery of 70+ high-res images below featuring most of the competitors.

One way to win races is to bury the pedal and never lift. It would appear Nissan may be following the same plan with the development of its GT-R. Rather than sit around and let the car's development go cold, Nissan is continuing to refine its bargain supercar slayer.

Nürburgring watchers have noticed a seemingly base model GT-R lapping the track lately. There's camo on the front and rear fascias – somewhat strange for a car that's been released for public consumption – so the folks at gtrblog took a closer look.

While it may look innocuous enough, the latest GT-R o be snapped on its German vacation has aerodynamic pieces that are subtly different, leading gtrblog to come to the conclusion that this is probably thee 2011 version of Nissan's Godzilla. Thanks for the tip, Jim!


[Source: gtrblog.com]

Enough is never enough. Not when you're talking supercars and Nürburgring lap times. As if enough jaws weren't dropped when Nissan posted their fantastic initial time of 7:29 around the vaunted Nordschleife (besting Porsche's best), the automaker's engineers went back to the garage looking for a little extra for 2010. They came back with a slightly updated version, with five extra horsepower and revised dual-clutch transmission with updated launch control, plus a bigger fuel tank, new tires and a retuned suspension. So what effect would these modifications have on the GT-R's 'Ring run? About a second and a half off the record, which now stands for the Japanese supercar at an awe-inspiring 7:27.56.

According to Nissan, the time was posted using a 2010 GT-R with the optional V-Spec wheels and tires, driven by former F1 tester Toshio Suzuki. Fantastic as that time is, it's still another second short of the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1's 7:26.4 (to say nothing of the Dodge Viper ACR's 7:22.1), so Nissan will be back at it. And without the dirt and dust which the Japanese team says was coating the track to impede its lap time, they figure they just might find enough extra speed to claim the record. Details in the press release after the jump.



[Source: Nissan]

Our fathers always told us there's no such thing as a free lunch, and if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Then along came the Nissan GT-R, billed as a "bargain supercar" for those of merely elevated means. With a list price below eighty grand and performance to embarrass exotics worth several times as much, it seemed like the shoestring exotic had finally arrived like Santa Claus on Christmas. Couple that with what you'd be forgiven for assuming would be reasonable ownership costs – it is, after all, a Nissan, not a Ferrari – and the impossible had appeared to have happened.

However, such optimistic judgments about upkeep may have been premature. That's what the boys over at Inside Line found when their GT-R was called in to have its fluids changed. With transmission fluid selling for over $100 a quart, plus labor, the costs added up rather quickly, resulting in a routine refresh of the car's fluids and filters adding up to a sign-of-the-times-if-we've-ever-seen-one total of $2009 and change. If that's a bargain, we don't want to know what expensive is. Follow the link below to see IL's full breakdown.



[Source: Inside Line]

At this point, it's clear that a good showing at the Nürburgring is of the utmost importance to any automaker with supercar ambitions. Contestants ranging from Porsche, Nissan, Chevrolet and Dodge have all visited the famed German racetrack to try and set a new fast lap record, despite the fact that none of these test sessions are officially recorded by anyone other than the automakers themselves.

Back in mid-2008 when the GT-R was first establishing its formidable credibility, Nissan's Chief Test Driver, Toshio Suzuki, took Godzilla to a lap time of 7 minutes, 29 seconds. That mark has since been eclipsed by the Corvette ZR1 and Dodge Viper ACR, but Nissan's supercar may have a bit more to offer in its latest guise for 2009. Plus, the even hotter SpecV will also hit the market in very short order, featuring larger brakes, less weight and a slight bump in power thanks to a turbocharger overboost function.

Will Suzuki-san be able to shave enough time to best the Viper's 7:22 in either the standard-fare GT-R or the high-test SpecV? We'll find out for sure next month when Nissan puts on a full court press at the Green Hell in search of those elusive few seconds it needs for ultimate bragging rights.



[Source: GTRBlog]

Let's get this over with right now: This isn't really a Nissan GT-R wagon. That said, it is a decidedly artful conversion of the Japanese automaker's M35 series Stagea wagon, a JDM load-lugger it produced from 2001 to 2007. Available in both rear- and all-wheel drive with a variety of V6 powerplants, the now-dead Stagea has been called the "GT-R Wagon" by many enthusiasts.

Spotted at Nagoya Auto Trend this weekend, this particular Stagea looks to be a super-clean conversion, with a well-integrated R35 GT-R front-end that's been carried through along the bodysides, with factory-like rocker panel indents and modestly rear quarter panels to keep the theme.

While we don't have information about what lurks underneath, the folks at GTRBlog speculate that the wagon could have something interesting like a stroked VQ-series V6 with a twin-turbo kit. Given the apparent high level of finish on the outside, we would hope for nothing less. Check out the galleries below for more shots of both the GT-R and Stagea wagons... and if you find any additional information on this particular car, drop us a tip!




[Source: n-autotrend via GTRBlog]

Nissan has announced its Global Motorsports Activities for 2009 and it looks like we'll be seeing the GT-R campaign in the FIA-GT1 category earlier than expected.

Initial reports claimed that Nissan would begin offering LeMans-spec racers to privateer teams for the 2010 FIA-GT1 season, but in an effort to test the performance and competitiveness of the platform, a NISMO-developed GT-R will run as a non-championship entry in four races in 2009. Nissan is partnering with Gigawave MotorSport on the GT-R entry and has tapped GT500 racer Michael Krumm from NISMO and Darren Turner from Gigawave to pilot the GT-R during the season. Nissan hasn't announced exactly what events the NISMO GT-R will participate in, but there's a good chance that we'll be seeing Godzilla running at LeMans.

The specs on race-ready GT-R haven't been officially revealed, but there's a possibility that NISMO will drop the twin-turbo'd V6 in favor of the 4.5-liter VK45D8 V8. Output is estimated to be between 540-590 hp and 450-500 lb-ft of torque, with a curb weight as low as 3,000 pounds.

Nissan also took the opportunity to announce its SuperGT contenders, with four teams – NISMO, Hasemi Motor Sport, Impul and Kondo Racing – each campaigning a GT-R in the GT500 class. The new SuperGT car will sport a new air-cooling system and, in keeping with the new regulations, shortened overhangs to reduce downforce. A new paddle-shift transmission is also being developed.

All the details on the drivers, the teams and Nissan's other motorsports efforts are in the press release below the fold, along with a video of the official announcement. No word yet on a possible Grand Am GT-R, but with every automaker throttling-back their motorsports efforts, we're not surprised.


[Source: Nissan via GTRBlog]

Few topics have set the Autoblog commenting system on fire more than the Nissan GT-R. And once stories began to surface about Godzilla's gearbox grenading when customers invoked the power of launch control, it was like a Hateraid atom bomb had gone off below the fold. Well folks, strap on your riot gear and grab a stick of C4. Nissan's in the news again, officially addressing the GT-R's gearbox failure and rolling out a new software program to mitigate the problem.

Make the jump for all the details.



[Source: InsideLine, StraightLine]