Nismo Builds the Ultimate Iteration of Nissan's Legendary Super Coupe Skyline R34 GT-R

By: Peter Lyon
Date Posted 07-28-2005

A watershed year for the Japanese car industry: 1989. In the space of just 12 months, more than half a dozen hit products landed on showroom floors. These included the Lexus LS 400, Mazda MX-5, Nissan 300ZX and the Toyota MR2 coupe.

But one car, above all others, had worldwide performance enthusiasts buzzing with excitement. That car was the Nissan Skyline GT-R R32. It was such a high-tech tour de force it instantly became the production car standard for cornering potential and gained global cult status without ever leaving Japan.

That's right: The Nissan Skyline GTR was never officially exported, but interest was so high the right-hand-drive car was privately exported all over the world, including the U.S. Its twin-turbo 2.6-liter engine and state-of-the-art 4WD system had put it on the high-performance map, but the basic fact that Nissan had developed the chunky-looking coupe solely to win Japan's Touring Car Championships seemed to add to the GT-R's mystique.

While everyone who drove the road-going car raved about its superb chassis and unbeatable handling, few were satisfied with the grunt under the hood. As U.S. and European sports cars were pushing through 400 horsepower by the late '90s, the third-generation GT-R R34 (the second-gen R33 debuted in 1995) stayed at a self-regulated 280 hp.

Toys in the Attic
Now this is where the story gets interesting: Nearly two years after Nissan phased out the GT-R due to stricter emissions laws, Nismo, the company's motorsports arm, has brought back the R34 for one last encore performance. Only this time, it's standing ovation material.

Nismo chose "Z-tune" for its name. It's the last letter in the alphabet and the last word on the current-generation GT-Rs. This mind-boggling R34 is the GT-R that Nissan should have built in the first place. It is also the ideal model to whet the appetites of potential buyers for the next-generation GT-R, which will be revealed at the Tokyo auto show in 2007.

In the same way that the original 1989 model GT-R was solely conceived to win races, the Z-tune was built as a specialized track-session car, the ultimate GT-R capable of being mercilessly thrashed for 30 minutes on a racetrack.

The Nismo lads could not just go to a Nissan showroom and pick up new R34s for modification, so they had to find pre-owned GT-Rs. As Nismo team leader Kojun Iwata explained, "We checked out dozens of GT-Rs, looking for cars with no body damage and less than 20,000 miles on the clock. It wasn't easy." Once located, the cars were then stripped down to the body shell and transformed into road-going racers.

Talk About the Passion
Leaning on more than 15 years of racing experience in Japan's GT Championships, the Nismo team's inspiration for the Z-tunes came from the series-winning GT-R GT500 racecar. Launched in limited numbers in Japan several months ago, the GT-R Z-tune costs the equivalent of $160,000.

Its twin-turbo 2.6-liter straight-six has been bored out to 2.8 liters and is packed with race engine internals borrowed from the GT500, including a pair of heavy-duty race-spec IHI turbos. The R34 now cranks out a more respectable 500 hp at 6,800 rpm and 398 pound-feet at 5,200 rpm.

Iwata said that he could easily tweak the car to a maximum of around 630 hp, but then they'd have to worry about emissions regulations. Torque comes on strong from 2,000 rpm, explodes from 3,500-4,200 rpm and stays on tap all the way to 7,000 rpm. Its lightweight aero parts serve purely to maximize cooling efficiency to the engine and brakes.

The Drive
This is a true supercar experience. Drop the clutch at 5,500 rpm and you're battling nearly 1.5G as the Atessa-Pro four-wheel-drive system fights to retain grip. Jump on the perfectly balanced six-piston monoblock Brembo brakes, and you'd better be ready for nearly 2G of deceleration as the Bridgestone Potenza RE-01Rs chirp and struggle to absorb the forces. We pushed the car hard for an hour or so over the mountain roads south of Tokyo, and the Z-tune just took everything in its stride, constantly tempting us to use a heavier right boot.

The steering is ideally weighted and razor-sharp for such a car. The Z-tune's turn-in is absolutely progressive without the slightest hint that these Potenzas employ such beefy shoulders. Its Super Coppermix twin-plate clutch is almost as light as a stock clutch, providing smooth gear changes through the six-speed Getrag gearbox, while the beefier bottom-end torque makes low-speed city cruising a pleasure.

When it comes to cornering, your brain needs to recalibrate its understanding of the laws of physics. Nothing prepares you for the phenomenal traction this coupe generates. On public roads, you run out of guts before you run out of grip.

Along with its reinforced chassis, this GT-R also gets specially tuned, race-spec Sachs three-way adjustable dampers. At $20,000 a set, they deliver a ride quality unheard of in a car this hard-core.

Inside, the leather and Alcantara-covered seats are comfortable but need more side support considering the car's cornering ability. A specially fitted 200-mph speedo and titanium gearshift knob hint at where the Z-tune's true colors lie.

It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Thanks to the glorious eccentricity of the Japanese, the legendary GT-R has been revisited one last time, as if to show just how capable it was all along. It's a shame only 20 will be built. But don't fret. Picking up where the Z-tune left off, an all-new 2007 GT-R will surface packing a 480-plus-hp twin-turbo 3.2-liter V6. Delicious. And all that through the rear wheels, too. Sure, it's going to have an array of traction control systems to die for, but Nissan knows all too well that buyers of such cars prefer rear-wheel drive.

Watch out, Ferrari and Porsche. At around $80,000, the new GT-R should have the credentials to make your lives miserable.

News source: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=106627#1

Honda Builds a Better Civic

Still no double wishbones but a CRX is coming in two years

MARK VAUGHN
Posted Date: 7/26/05


The new 2006 Honda Civic, due this fall, is more fun to drive than the car it replaces, our spies tell us, and there will even be a return of the racer’s favorite CRX badge in 2007. That’s not bad news, is it?

Those we spoke to who have driven the new Civic were enthusiastic about it.

“It’s an awesome car. It drives like the Integra Type R,” said one.

“This is exactly what Honda needs,” said another.

And these were performance-lovin’ guys.

Though Honda calls it an “all-new” car, a number of platform and suspension pieces either carry over or are only slightly revised.
The new Civic makes those gains without a return to double wishbones in front. The new suspension still has MacPherson struts. The rear suspension is also “revised,” but details are scarce. Expect a slightly tighter multilink setup.

Top of the engine chart is the 200-hp version of the K20 four-cylinder that will power the Civic Si and CRX. Civic Si— the most powerful Civic ever, according to Honda—will bow at the Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas this November.
Of course, with the new SAE horsepower ratings, that 200-hp figure might wind up being 197, which doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as 200. Honda is wringing its corporate hands over that. Even so, a 197-hp rating is still better than the 160 hp of today’s Si, though maybe even that’s now 158 or so, SAE.

The new Si engine will have 16 valves operated by dual overhead cams and i-VTEC, or variable lift electronic control with intelligence. Redline will be 8000 rpm. The Si engine will be mated to a six-speed manual and it will get a helical limited-slip differential. It will ensure power goes to the ground instead of spinning the inside-front tire uselessly.
Most of the Civic lineup will have a new 1.8-liter four that will make more power and offer a 6 percent improvement in fuel economy. Honda says the 1.8 offers the acceleration of a 2.0-liter and the fuel economy of a 1.5-liter engine. The 1.8 uses improved i-VTEC, drive-by-wire and variable-length intake runners to achieve its increased performance. Peak power is 140 hp and peak torque is 128 lb-ft, though there are suggestions a 155- or 160-hp version could be coming.
The 2006 Civic line will get a new hybrid engine that will be 20 percent more efficient than today’s. The gasoline engine portion of the hybrid will be 1.3 liters and offer three phases of i-VTEC, one for low rpm, one for high and one for idle. At idle the gas engine shuts down, restarting when the driver steps on the gas.
All that running gear will be placed in what Honda calls a new body from the floorpan up. Standard wheels are expected to be 15 inches, with 16-inch wheels on the EX and 17-inch wheels on the Si.

The Civic will come in two body styles, a four-door sedan and a two-door coupe. Sources say the bodies are slightly longer and wider. Combined with a slightly more cab-forward style, interior space is thus opened up. The Civic dash, meanwhile, is two-tiered, with an instrument binnacle bulging out of it. The interior generally gets favorable reviews from those who have seen it.
The slightly larger 2006 Civic will move it upscale just enough to make room for the coming five-door Jazz/Fit, due in the first half of next year. That smaller car will be aimed at Scion and at whatever Nissan decides to call its entry-level youth-oriented line. Stay tuned for word on all that.