Before 2008, the “old” Nürburgring, aka Nordschleife, was a very demanding track deemed too dangerous for Formula 1 racing, but car manufacturers used it for testing purposes and on certain days, any mere mortal could drive his or her car for as many laps as they could afford.
Nissan changed all that by making the 7’29’’ lap time recorded by the new GT-R a key point of its launch campaign. It also sparked a war of words with Porsche and perhaps more importantly, made posting a competitive lap time at the ‘Ring a must for every new sports car.
In the four years since its launch, Nissan has been constantly honing the R35 GT-R, upgrading almost every mechanical part, from the chassis to the suspension and the engine.
This is because Kazutoshi Mizuno, program director of the GT-R development team, believes that no matter how good the car is, “the customer always wants more”. It has also resulted in the 2013MY model cutting 9 seconds off the original lap time.
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