2012 Year in Review : 2009gtr.com

2012 has come and gone, but lets look back at some of the points of the year. Not necessarily just the finer points, but some of the ones that float my boat today. The 2013 Nissan GT-R arrived at dealerships in early 2012. The Black Edition had a new carbon fiber wing element and 15 more horsepower. GT-R Buyers Guide 2009-2014

January

GT-R vs Z06 vs 911

Even though 2012 was just starting, the 2013 Nissan GT-R was being pitted against the rest of the world. In this test from Car and Driver, they pit the 2012 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 vs the 2013 Nissan GT-R, and the 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S.  "The ’13s, which have improved shift feel, the factory claims, plus the 15 extra horses, aren’t likely  to be much different."

35 units were sold vs 38 in December 2011. It seems that short supply, plus reports of the 2013's increased horsepower might have stolen a few sales.  Total sales for 2011 was 1294 cars vs 877 in 2010 an increase of 47.5%.

FIA GT3 Nissan GT-R. Rear wheel drive

Nismo jointly with JRM Motorsports have just released details of the FIA GT3 spec Nissan GT-R. The car has been in development during 2011, with three outings. The GT3 is now available for sale at 32,000,000 Japanese yen, or around $416,000 USD. The 1300 kg(2866 lb) GT3 GT-R features the twin turbo VR38DETT engine, making 530(or higher) horsepower, in line with the 2012 US car.

Motor Trend put the GT-R in a couple of its best of 2011 lists." Figure Eight: 23.3 seconds @ 0.89 g (avg) Skidpad: 1.05 g (avg)
The Nissan GT-R that took down the Corvette Z06 and Shelby GT500 in our budget supercar comparison earlier this year is the quickest all-wheel-drive car to conquer the figure eight, out-pacing the mighty 911 Turbo by 0.2 second. Just to illustrate how volatile the vehicle testing game can be, the GT-R that finished runner-up in the 2011 Best Driver’s Car story needed 23.7 seconds around the same course."

2013 Pricing

GT-R Premium / Dual-clutch transmission	$96,820 USD
GT-R Black Edition / Dual-clutch transmission	$106,320 USD

* +$1000 destination charge

Nissan GT-R Buyers Guide 

Nissan Juke-R

Inside Line: 2012 Corvette Z06 vs 2013 Nissan GT-R.  "And even though it has a 3.7-inch-longer wheelbase, is 7.5 inches longer overall and is packing an extra 642 pounds over the Vette, the GT-R actually feels smaller and more of one piece. Its best lap time was a 1:23.8."

February

CRP World Challenge Nissan GT-R

CRP planned on running a couple of Nissan GT-R's in World Challenge GT. That never really panned out that well during 2012. 

Camaro ZL1 vs Nissan GT-R

Road and Track Magazine pitted a Camaro ZL1 vs a Nissan GT-R. "The clocks show that the ZL1 is 2.8 seconds off the GT-R at Inde. Even with PTM, no-lift shifts and launch control, the ZL1 is simply the harder car to drive. It’s heavier by nearly 200 lb., thanks in part to a beefy 9.9-in. differential that’s built to handle the torque but is nearly twice as heavy as that used in the SS."

Switzer USE Nissan GT-R. 927 all wheel horsepower - on 93 octane

Switzer released their Ultimate Street Edition Nissan GT-R. Doesn't look like much right? Well that is the point. 927 all wheel horsepower on 93 octane is the answer to your fly yellow, widebody, hamster power.

Motor Trend picked their best drivers car for 2011. Somehow the Nissan GT-R made it in the mix. "Bell’s reaction to the Nissan’s brutal acceleration is “that was truly magnificent!”"

SP Engineering Nissan GT-R

Jay Leno drove one of SP Engineering's Nissan GT-R's and featured it on his video blog.

March

Launch control 4 and 5. New year new version of launch control with continued improvements in the 0-60 times. 

What is LC4?

First used on the 2012 Nissan GT-R. In 2012(US), the launch control was again revised. This time it is an actual advertised feature, called R Mode Start, with limits. LC4 allows for four launches prior to it requiring a mile and a half drive to cool the transmission down. The quick numbers are generated with the setup switches in R- Comf - R.  4000 rpms comes up, and 0-60 times happen in anywhere from 2.8- 3.2 seconds. Check out this video of a drag race between a 2011 GT-R with LC3 and a 2012 Nissan GT-R with LC4. Videos like this, plus 0-60 times in the 2's made the early Nissan GT-R owners lust after LC4. 

What is LC5?

Used on the 2013 Nissan GT-R. For 2013, there may be a further improvement in the launch control.  Nissan says that 0-60 mph has dropped to the 2.7 second range. From Nissan's own charts, it looks like there is not as much of a dip in RPM after launch. User impressions say that the car holds gears a little longer in auto mode, but no huge differences between LC4 and LC5. 

That is a 1600 horsepower Nissan GT-R from AMS. The Alpha Omega. 

Its a invisible barrier that has been so very close to being broken, with several cars in the 10.0 second range in the quarter mile, but this is the first Nissan GT-R in the 9's on stock turbos.  Stock the Nissan GT-R does anything from high 11's in the case of the 2009 car, down to the low 11 second range with the 2012, and 2013 cars. Today at Island Dragway, a stock turbo, stock transmission, stock engine, Nissan GT-R went 9.870@140mph.  Huge MPH, awesome 60 foot with a 1.476 on LC4 or launch control version 4.  The GT-R was tuned by Jack Cecil atHorsepower Logic on E85.

DBA, AP iron, and AP/STILLEN CCM-X rotors

Nissan GT-R brake upgrades. The 2012 bolt on 390 mm x 34 mm finally made it in, and I did a happy dance. 

California introduces a bill to exempt pre-1981 vehicles from emissions inspection requirements.

The AMS Alpha Omega Nissan GT-R did 233.1 mph at the Texas Mile. Setting a high mark for the Nissan GT-R.  He just about lost it at over 200 mph.  "Yes it is true Ivan and the crew just went 233.1 mph spinning pretty bad. In fact he he got really loose at the top of the track and almost lost it. He was able to save it but took out at cone and cracked the front bumper. So the day is done but they did what they came there to do

197.2 mph in the 1/2 mile
233.1 in the mile!!!!!!!!

29.5 peak boost, 8400 rpm through the traps! He was not out of gear but rather out of aero. He said he could of spun it to 8900 but the car was just too much of handful with stock aero."

Hing's 8 second Nissan GT-R in Las Vegas

March 16-18th, 2012, two Nissan GT-R's went deep into the 8 second range in the quarter mile. One car, the AMS Alpha 12 GT-R, had held the record with a 8.97@169 mph quarter mile pass since July 2011.  On Friday at a private track rental in Las Vegas, the SP Engineering built, Greddy backed, Hing driven Nissan GT-R put the power to the track, and ran a best of 8.793@167.68 mph.

April

Nissan GT-R Sales March 2012 : 139 Cars

Hawk Performance Nissan GT-R's at Long Beach

Top Speed did a test of the Michelin PSS Tire Test in various sizes on a Nissan GT-R. "PSS Square - This was awesome. This setup "fixed" the understeer that the stock and staggered PSS setups had. The front responded well to steering inputs and had the overall front grip to make the car turn. Although not as sharp as the Potenza the general front grip made up for that. Overall grip increased but only marginal the big difference was the balance. The time was a full 1.0 second quicker using this setup! 80% of that time increase was thanks to the better balance in the car. Actually I would say the car was almost perfectly balanced (for a completely stock car). Slight understeer in lower speed corners with slight oversteer in entry to med and lower speed corners, which is simply a GT-R character trait. It was easier to find the limit of the tire and that resulted in a great overal feeling and confidence. I was very impressed with this setup and was surprised to see how much quicker it was."

Stock 2013 Nissan GT-R Runs in the 10's

2012 - 2013

60': 1.646 - 1.654
330': 4.585 - 4.557
1/8: 7.082 - 7.017
1/8 MPH: 97.88 - 98.28
1000': 9.244 - 9.137
1/4: 11.07 - 10.94
MPH: 124.45 - 125.39

Top Speeds Nissan GT-R. One Lap dominator

One lap of America was coming up so I did a review of the SSGT1 class.  The Nissan GT-R was the car to beat again. 

May

RB26 Powered R35 GT-R Runs 7.14@191 mph

Nissan GT-R's in the One Lap of America

Day 7 of the One Lap of America, and Nissan GT-R's were 1-2-3-5-10.

7.53@185 mph : Nissan Skyline GT-R : New World Record

Nissan ran two Nissan GT-R's in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring this past weekend. They ran the platform with "stock" engine, transmission, and driveline to help prove the durability of the platform.

June

Total Nissan GT-R Sales in the US (as of May 2012)

5914

Sales are not broken down by model year, but by calendar year.
2008 - 1730
2009 - 1534
2010 - 877
2011 - 1294
2012 - 479

AMS Alpha 12 Nissan GT-R

Autoblog drove an AMS Alpha 12 GT-R. A little of what they had to say. "My camera car, which had been running parallel to us for the past couple miles, appeared in the rearview mirror for a brief moment and then became a blur. Caught off guard by the power, and more than a bit terrorized, I missed the manual shift and the engine hit redline. The unburned fuel quickly exploded like twin howitzers out the back end of the muffler – the accompanying flames and black smoke were the embarrassing icing on the cake.

Ivan, being a true gentleman in the passenger seat, laughed and shook his head. "That wasn't floored," he quipped.

July

GT3 Nissan GT-R Takes First Win In British GT

GT3
1 BUNCOMBE-MARDENBOROUGH – Nissan GTR GT3
2 HOWARD-ADAM – Aston Martin Vantage GT3 +0.022
3 MCCAIG-BRYANT – BMW Z4 GT3 +2.185
4 ASHBURN-ARMINDO – Porsche 997 GT3-R +21.707
5 HINES-MURRELLS – Ginetta G55 +25.644

August

Nissan GT-R sales are up 128.6 percent for July 2012 over July 2011. However when July 2011 was only 56 cars sold, that would put July 2012 at 128 cars, a nice increase, but not a staggering number.  What is a staggering number is the number of Nissan Altimas sold so far this year -183,703.  213 days into the year(July 31, 2012) says that is about 862 Altimas a day.

Nismo Juke

According to several sources, Nissan is planning on making "RS" versions of several of its most popular models. Nissan has already tried a few "special" editions of the Nissan GT-R, the Egoist, Black Edition, and the SpecV.  MotorAuthority elaborated on an Auto Express interview with Andy Palmer, the Executive Vice President of Product Planning at Nissan.  How exactly this fits in with Nissans in house tuner/racing brand - NISMO remains to be seen.  NISMO is Nissan Motorsports, but there are also several versions of vehicles that are sold, the 350Z, 370Z, and Frontier that use the NISMO name. 

The Red Katana from Switzer runs eights

Switzer Performance put its first Nissan GT-R into the 8's last weekend. The R1KX did a best pass of 8.97@163 mph at Norwalk Raceway.  Not only is this a "full weight" GT-R, it actually has a fully customized interior featuring leather and alcantra that puts this GT-R about 300 lbs heavier than a stock car.

Next generation Nissan GT-R rumored for 2018. This one we call the smurf.

"Originally, the second generation of the GT-R was scheduled to arrive in 2015. "

September

October

"The big boys in Russia are back at it, throwing down about 3000 wheel horsepower between these two giants.  Not too shabby. Not too slow. The UGR tuned Lamborghini did 251 mph in the Dragtimes Moscow Unlimited, so its a healthy car.  In the video the AMS tuned GT-R hits 224 mph, so it goes OK too. Watch the video below, once or twice, I know I did."

Nissan GT-R's at SEMA

View this entire album: Nissan GT-R's at SEMA 2012

November

2014 Nissan GT-R

Amber Red Nissan GT-R Interior

"The 2012 model recorded a 7:21 min lap and 0-62mph acceleration of 2.8 seconds and now the 2013 GT-R has raised the bar still further with a lap time of 7:18.6 min and 0-62mph acceleration of 2.7 seconds."

Nissan GT-R 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.

2014 Nissan GT-R with Amber Red interior

The LA Auto Show opens up tomorrow for the press, but full details on the 2014 US Spec Nissan GT-R have been released. Along with Nissan's own press release, Autoblog and Road and Track both have details.

2014 Nissan GT-R Specs PDF
2014 Nissan GT-R At a glance PDF



View this entire album: 2014 Nissan GT-R LA Auto Show

Decemeber

2014 Nissan GT-R at the LA Auto Show

The November 2012 Nissan GT-R sales figures are in and 85 Nissan GT-R's were sold bringing the year to date total to 1,139 cars

ALPHA 10 power output numbers:

93 octane: up to 900whp (dynojet) with a 3.8L motor (1050-1100 engine hp)
Race fuel: up to 1100whp (dynojet) with a 3.8L motor (1300-1350 engine hp)

ALPHA 12 power output numbers:
93 octane: up to 1000whp (dynojet) on a 4.0L motor (1150-1200 engine hp)
Race fuel: up to 1250whp (dynojet) on a 4.0L motor  (1500-1550 engine hp)