As the altitude stacks up and the road
weaves more tightly through the woods, the Nismo remains incredibly agile and
the gearshifts flow up and down as fast as you can pull the paddles. There are
only two situations where the car struggles: One is under heavy braking when
you feel the momentum you’ve gathered. The other is when a corner tightens even
slightly, because the initial instant reaction as you turn into the bend is
followed by a feeling that the nose can’t quite keep up as you add more lock;
by mid-corner the heavy front is wanting to push wide. They’re minor niggles
really, but perhaps highlight the fact that although the car feels lighter on
its feet most of the time, at the end of the day the engineers only managed to
reduce the kerb weight by 20kg compared with a standard GT-R.
Front
and rear Nismo badging denotes this GT-R variant's motorsport pedigree
By early evening, half of us seem to have
arrived at the Ring in anticipation of the N24 race, so we go and meet Dickie
(who is racing an Aston) and his familiar looking team-mate, Chris, for steak
on a stone in the Pistenklause. We invite Jethro, too, but get a text saying
that as a factory BMW driver he’s too busy wearing branded clothing and looking
for people who might want his autograph. After a suitably protein-rich meal
there is the appealing thought of bed and an early night, but there is also the
even more enticing notion of one more drive on empty roads before we have to
give the car back first thing in the morning…
The
GT-R Nismo is powered by a 3.8-litre turbocharged V6 petrol engine
While the Nismo felt unnervingly fast at
times during the day, it feels almost unuseably fast at night. I barely manage
full throttle on more than a couple of occasions simply because every squeeze
launches me towards a darkness beyond the reach of the headlights that my eyes
don’t seem capable of processing quickly enough. On one long, deserted
straight, however, we do stop and try the launch control. It’s something that
makes the whole excursion worthwhile and something I certainly won’t forget in
a hurry. Sub-three-seconds to 60mph in the dark tends to imprint itself on your
mind like that.
While
the front bumper is widened, the rear bumper design is elongated yet tapered
I’m still thinking about it as I hand the
keys back the following morning outside the Dorint hotel. In fact I think about
the Nismo all the way home, because I really fell for it in the end. In some
ways it is absurdly focused and I fear it will be simply too stiff for most
British roads (we’ll find out on the following pages), but I also admire the
brutally uncompromising nature of its set-up. It reminds me a bit of the SLS
Black in its resolutely tense, hardcore demeanour. Unlike the Black, however,
it remains a heavy car at 1,720kg and there are times when this tells,
particularly on the brakes and occasionally mid-corner.
The $213,350 price tag is a bit of an issue
too, because although the bespoke bodywork (including a wing that looks sharp
enough to carve a Sunday roast at 20 paces) is beautifully wrought, it is still
demonstrably a Nissan GT-R. Although we met the odd GT-R fan who was ecstatic
at seeing a Nismo and a few other people pointed, the general reaction was
slightly apathetic. But then I suppose it was ever thus with the big Nissan.
And just as some people will always look down their noses at the badge, no
doubt many will also assume that the Nismo is even more like a computer game to
drive, despite the fact that it is one of the most edgy, involving and
downright exciting experiences on the road.
