What better car to drive to the
Nürburgring to kick off our celebration of models inspired by, or built to
conquer the legendary circuit than the record-breaking GT-R Nismo
Just as Captain Ahab roamed the high seas
stalking Moby Dick, so I seem to have spent days tracking this Nismo GT-R
across Europe. It began in Le Mans a few days ago. The rare white behemoth had
been shipped in to the 24 Hours as part of Nissan’s promotional campaign ahead
of its entry into the LMP1 class in 2015. It did duties on a stand, looking
menacing, scaring small children. I hoped I might get my paws on its
Alcantara-clad wheel once the 24 hours were up, but some American journalists
had first dibs because of their flights. Unperturbed, I followed. The next two
days were spent (rather conveniently) in a standard MY14 GT-R, looking
longingly at the large circular tail lights that seemed to glare unblinkingly
from the angularly remodelled rear of the Nismo.
This
Nismo-badged leviathan is the fastest-ever version of the Nissan GT-R
I tracked it east across France on the
autoroute, lost sight of its four large-calibre exhausts briefly in the mayhem
as they skirted south of Paris and then luckily picked them up again at a toll
not long before they paused overnight in Reims. The next day my quarry (as I’d
begun to think of it) headed on, past Luxembourg and into Belgium before
plunging into the forested Ardennes. There was, of course, only one place they
could end up now, and an hour or so later I finally ran it to ground in the
paddock at Spa.
Interior
trim features include red stitching on the seats, centre console, door trim and
steering wheel
Which is where I am now, seat belt on and
about to press the vibrant red starter button. It’s been said before that you
can tell a lot about a car in the first mile, but I suspect that when the first
mile includes Eau Rouge, it’ll be even more revealing. The Nismo chunters into
life with that familiar dry sound like it’s clearing its throat twice, before
catching and settling to a deep burrrrrrr of an idle. So far so normal.
You can never put a GT-R straight into gear – you have to count to five while
the computers run through their checks before the car unlocks the stubby
gearlever and allows you to pull it out of P and into D. Then you simply pull
away, with a bit of a stutter from the rear tyres and a grumble from the
tightly wound diffs as we turn the sharp corner out of the garage.
Nismo
racers influenced the design of the steering wheel which is dressed in
Alcantara
The three laps I’m all owed pass in a blur
of G-force and occasionally mild terror. Eau Rouge is simply incredible as you
hurtle downhill towards it and take the curious line that requires you to stay
further left and then turn later than you initially think. It’s much steeper
than I remember, but the feeling as the car goes light over the top is
unforgettable. Blanchimont is arguably even more intimidating simply because of
the fearsome way the Nismo piles on speed during the approach. After three laps
the overriding impressions as I trundle back into the pits are of greatly
increased agility, but also some residual weight issues, which I realise sounds
slightly conflicted. Hopefully driving it on the road the following day will
allow me to make a bit more sense of what the Nismo is doing.
