Nissan Wants to Beat Dodge Viper ACR at Nurburgring

The Truth About Cars talked to the Nissan GT-R's Chief Engineer Kazutoshi Mizuno about the 2014(US) car heading back to the Nurburgring. Even though they managed a 7:19.1 or a 7:18.5 time, Mizuno seems to think the car still has room to improve.

When asked whether he thinks the GT-R can best the 7:14 claimed unofficially by the Porsche 918, and even beat the 7:12:13 of the Dodge Viper ACR, the “Godfather of the GT-R” nods.“The car definitely has potential. There is quite a bit of margin in those 7 minutes 18 seconds,” Mizuno says and smiles.

Since there really are no "official" times at Nurburgring at anything other than a race event, its all a bit of chest beating by the OEM's. Bragging rights. Commercials. Played on tele-vision, and the internets. Either way there are disputes, and a little bit of sandbagging on the numbers. The latest 2014(2013 Japan) Nissan GT-R number was just a little faster than the ZR-1 number.

The Club Sport is a little harder edge, but not street legal version of the R35 GT-R. This is not the Track Pack, or even as radical as some of the other GT-R's(see below) that have been seen out on Nurburgring. Mizuno never even offered up a Nurburgring lap time for the SpecV.

“This version here already is good for less than 7 Minutes,” says Mizuno-san, pointing at the new track edition of the GT-R. It features a roll-cage, has most of the GT-R’s luxurious interior removed, exposing the bare metal, but features the same engine as the regulation GT-R. The 550 horses of its engine make contact with the pavement using Dunlop slick tires, developed especially for the GT-R.