Nissan GT-R Wins Motor Trend Car of the Year

In a year when Americans are buying small cars (well, those who are buying cars at all are buying small), fuel-efficiency is the top concern on car buyers' minds. Even luxury car buyers are cutting back on extravagant options and horsepower.  That's why it may come as a surprise that the most honored car of the year is a brutal, vicious beast of a machine that beats winding roads into submission and leaves many of the world's fastest cars staring meekly at its taillights.  It doesn't give a damn about fuel-efficiency...but it is a surprising value, if an $80,000 car can be called a value.  Sure, it's a lot of money - but the car leaves some million-dollar supercars gasping for breath.
The car they call Godzilla - the 2009 Nissan GT-R - just threw another coveted award in its trunk.  It's Motor Trend's 2009 Car of the Year.
Motor Trend writes that this year's field was "more imposing than Jamaica's Olympic track team," boasting everything from the tiny-but-masterfully-designed Honda Fit to the Hyundai Genesis - basically a Lexus with a $20,000 cash-back rebate.  But the Nissan beat them all because, "In the kingdom of supercars, the GT-R positively belongs. Be it comparing 0-to-60 sprints, quarter-mile times, 60-to-0 braking, or lateral acceleration, the GT-R is one of the world's best. Don't believe us? Its cornea-melting 0-to-60 run of 3.3 seconds is quicker than that of the BMW M6, the Porsche 911 GT2, the Lamborghini Gallardo LP-560, and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. It even manages to run door to door with the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and the Corvette ZR1."  Its quarter-mile time nearly bests them all, and its 60-0 stopping distance broke records (a few magazines measured it in double digits), all while carrying the lowest MSRP of the bunch.
The GT-R is a technological wonder.  The engine of each GT-R is built in a hermetically-sealed laboratory by hand, at a constant temperature, to ensure that parts don't microscopically expand or contract during fitting, robbing the engine of minute amounts of compression.  Each GT-R is said to have a slightly different horsepower rating because of the hand-built engine.  The car can measure its own lateral G-forces and display them on the nav screen.  And, Motor Trend writes, it does this all with "A comfortable, leather-adorned cabin that accommodates four passengers. A trunk that swallows two golf bags. A PlayStation-inspired multifunction display. A nav system, 9.3-GB hard drive, and Bluetooth."
MT concludes, "No other 2009 contender crushes our criteria like the GT-R."
Autoblog agrees, saying "It would have been more difficult for MT to justify picking something other than the GT-R for this honor, and we can't think of any reason to disagree with their choice."
They're not the first auto press rag to arrive at that conclusion.  Automobile Magazine named Godzilla its Car of the Year just last week.  They write, "Even in the so-called Comfort mode, it rides like a New York City subway car, shuddering over bumps and clattering from station to station. The engine sounds like a demonically possessed household appliance. The car weighs a ton - nearly two tons, actually - and understeers accordingly. The video-game vibe is so pervasive that a conventional manual transmission isn't even offered. And you know what? We're still naming the Nissan GT-R Automobile Magazine's 2009 Automobile of the year."
The car "scores a big, fat zero in terms of cachet, and it doesn't earn many points for sophistication and grace," Automobile writes, but "What we love about the GT-R is that it refuses to compromise where it really matters. It's not pretty. It's not comfy. It's not trying to make friends and influence people. It's not out to change the world. It exists for one reason and one reason only-to kick holy ass. And kick ass it does. You don't have to like it. You just have to stay the hell out of its way."
Popular Science honored the car in its "Best of What's New" awards as well, calling it "A 21st-century supercar, at a $120,000 discount"
The GT-R, of course, doesn't care about any of these awards.  The only honor it cares about is its record as the fastest production car ever to lap the world's most demanding test track - even if Porsche accused Nissan of cheating to get the time.  Of course, GM claims to have beaten the time in a Corvette ZR1 - but the General admits the Corvette had some equipment not found in showroom models.
Besides, the ZR1 is the high-performance edition of the Corvette.  The high-performance edition of Nissan's beast, the GT-R Spec V, won't hit the market until January.
That's right. This is the base-model car.  There's a real performance version coming later.  This is apparently the prologue. That should send a shudder through the ranks of performance cars everywhere.
But we don't recommend you try to repeat the record-breaking lap if you ever get behind Godzilla's three-spoke wheel yourself.  You see...the car keeps track of everything you do in it.  The thing has a mind of its own.

                                               Via:usnews.rankingsandreviews.com

Nissan GT-R Convertible Imagined

Have you ever wondered what would happen if Nissan would introduce a convertible version for their high-performance GT-R? If Bugatti managed to engineer a convertible Veyron, Nissan could do it as well, right? Well, it's actually not that simple and that's probably why we won't get to see a convertible GT-R unless it's an aftermarket mod.


 One such bespoke GT-R model could come straight from Newport Convertible Engineering (NCE), who spends a lot of time chopping off roofs over several vehicles. They already did it with the Acura TL four-door and now they've decided to do a drop top GT-R. Unfortunately, it's only a virtual representation of this Japanese supercar as a convertible, so we can't go too far regarding the use and performance of a production car.

A fast vehicle like the GT-R will require a lot of work to ensure the vehicle is strong enough to withstand its sheer power and speed, a mission that would be pretty tough even for Nissan themselves. On the other hand, maybe the guys over at NCE are crazy enough to take this project beyond Photoshop.

                                                   Via:autoevolution.com

Nissan GT-R's Secret - ATTESA E-TS AWD System Explained

The Nissan GT-R is the oddest vehicle in the supercar kingdom. Just looking at its specs on paper you wouldn't believe this car is as fast as Nissan (and other independent verifiers) are saying. There is simply no way for it to be that much faster than a Porsche 911 Turbo S – currently its closest competitor as far as performance goes - on the Nordschleife and most other international racing tracks, right?

Both cars have 530 horsepower, are all-wheel drive, have twin-turbocharged six-cylinder engines and sport twin-clutch gearboxes. But that is where the similarities end, because by taking a peek at the details it becomes clear the Porsche should be a clear winner in almost all comparisons. Except... it isn't.

The BorgWarner double-clutch transmission in the GT-R shifts gears in 200 milliseconds, almost as much as a torque-converter automatic, while the PDK gearbox in the Turbo S does it in just 8 milliseconds. Also, in almost every conceivable acceleration test the GT-R is slower than the Porsche, starting with the 3.5 versus the 3.3 seconds from naught to 100 km/h (62 mph) official figures. Last but not least, the current Nissan GT-R weighs approximately 150 kg (330 lbs) more than the 911 Turbo S.


So, what kind of pact with the devil have Nissan engineers made for the GT-R to completely obliterate cars that cost twice or three times as much? Well, some may call it the devil, while others may call it ATTESA E-TS.

 An acronym for Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All-terrain with Electronic Torque Split, the ATTESA
E-TS all-wheel drive system is not exact a novelty for Nissan or Infiniti. The version, customized for the Nissan GT-R however, is. To put it into perspective, this is the first and so far the only rear transaxle-based all-wheel drive system for a front engined car.
During a standing start, the system sends only 2% of the available torque to the front wheels and 98% to the rear, essentially making the GT-R a rear-wheel drive car. Thanks to the amount of sensors, clutches and UFO technology Nissan has invested in it, front and rear torque split can change in milliseconds to a maximum of 50:50.

Unlike most conventional all-wheel drive systems and given the transmission's transaxle positioning, the GT-R ATTESA E-TS uses two almost parallel driveshafts, with a second driveshaft running slightly to the right of the main driveshaft and engine sending power exclusively to the front wheels through an open differential. 

The other driveshaft, or better yet, the main one, goes from the engine to the rear-based gearbox, from where it sends power through a limited slip differential to the rear wheels, therefore varying the left/right torque split at the rear axle. Integrated into the double-clutch gearbox there's a transfer case in which, instead of a center differential lies a center wet multi-plate clutch system. Coincidentally (or not), a similar but obviously less advanced system was used by Porsche in the 959 supercar.

If you think the system is mechanically complicated, wait till you hear about the electronics part. Since the GT-R can mechanically vary the left/right torque split just at the rear axle (thanks to the aforementioned active LSD), the ATTESA E-TS system takes care of that also by sporting a computer controlled array of sensors.

This way, when the ABS sensors pick up that one of the front wheels is spinning too fast compared to the other it is automatically braked, thus mimicking a mechanical limited slip differential. Speaking of sensors and computers, the ATTESA E-TS has its own ECU, which uses information gathered from four ABS sensors, a three-axis G sensor, gearbox and engine ECU sensors to control power in real time to each and every wheel, depending on the driving conditions.

Translated into real life performance, this means that the GT-R's all-wheel drive system is pro-active, just like BMW's xDrive. For example, when entering a corner with full braking power, the transmission ECU will perform an action mimicking an engine brake, while with the help of the sensors the ATTESA E-TS ECU will continuously vary the power sent to each wheel up to a 50:50 torque split in real time.

Since all the sensors present on the car are updated thousand of times per second and most of the moving parts of the all-wheel drive system are made out of light materials (for example, the driveshafts are from carbon fiber), the ATTESA E-TS is literally a game changer on a car with the GT-R's credentials. Now, imagine if the car was as light as the Porsche 911 Turbo S and its gearbox changed speeds in the same amount of time as the PDK...

                                                      Via: autoevolution.com

Biulding Nissan GT-R R35 Toy (Step by Step

Step 1 : Body and Interior

Correct the Body

Each parts fit perfectly. They are jointed with dowels like a snap fit kit.(Of course an adhesive is necessary.)

  Trunk lid part have the bumps a little. I made them a uniform surface with sandpaper.











Painting the Body

Painted the body red. The paint is GSI Creos new color GX3 Hermann Red.










Dashboard

I painted the dashboard. It is appointed only one color of black in instruction. However, I painted five colors to express a difference of the materials.

  Masked and airbrushed the metal frames.

  Applied the meters decal. However, the size of meters of decal do not fit with the mold. I planed the mold with sandpaper, and applied the decal.

 The multi function display is not printed on the decal of Fujimi GT-R. I used it from the decal of Tamiya GT-R.

The dashboard. was completed.








Front Seat and Inner of Door

  I reproduced the feel of suede and cloth by sandblasted the dark surface primer with an airbrush.

  Front seats are two-tone color of the red and black. It is the special color for GT-R black edition.

  I used ten colors for the inner of door to reproduced the difference of materials.

  Inner door knob and switch panel.












  Rear Seat and Floor Panel

  Replicated the feel of floor panel by sandblasted the dark surface primer with an airbrush.

  Masked and airbrushed the metal plate and frames of transmission tunnel.











Floor Carpet

Replicated the floor carpets of sandpaper. They are special equipment for GT-R.

  Replicated the GT-R emblem on the carpet too.












Interior was completed

Step 2 : Chassis and Body

      Painting the Chassis 

The chassis of Fujimi 1/24 GT-R is more detailed than the Tamiya and Aoshima products. But it is hard to paint because the exhaust system and powertrain are not separated chassis.

 

Masked and airbrushed the exhaust system and powertrain. It was very very hard work...

 Painting work is finished.












Brakes System and Suspension System

The brake disk is constructed　of two parts, and replicated the ventilation system. Brake caliper is separated with brake disk, and the wheel turns with it same as real car.

  Assembled the front suspension system.

  Assembled the rear suspension system and exhaust system.

  Applied the carbon decal from Modelers to the rear bottom cowling, and coated the clear paint.

  Replicated the dark chrome wheel color by coated smoke paint on the silver paint. The Nissan logo of the center cap is not printed on decal. I applied the decal of the Tamiya GT-R.

  As for the tire, Bridgestone POTENZA RE 701R is Replicated.











Panted the Body 2

Coated the urethane clear paint on the red paint, and polishing with a compound after harden. It became well-polished body!

  Masked and airbrushed the pillars and front grill etc...

  Painted the carbon pattern on the front grill, and put the metallic frame sticker.

  The mold of doorknob isn't sharp. I masked the outline and pained silver paint.











Windshield

   The instruction is wrong about the black frame area of windshield. I painted it unawares... OMG! The sunshade is black, too.

  I revised the mistake area. The sunshade became smoke color.











Headlight

  There are some parts of the headlight. It is more detailed than the Tamiya and Aoshima products.

 Assembled the headlight.












Emblems

  The "GT-R" emblem is the metallic sticker and only red paint in "R" logo is the decal.

  "GT-R" logo is molded to this plating part. However, it does not fit the logo decal to put on the top.

  Sandpapered the logo mold, applied decal, and coat the clear paint. I feel fine at this one.











Backside of the Body

  Put the grill mesh and radiator parts.

  The tail lights of this kit do not have reflector parts. I put aluminum tape instead.

Completed

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Fujimi 1/24 GT-R is completion when the chassis is joined to the body afterward.

                                                                  Via: h3.dion.ne.jp

                                                  http://nissanskylinegt-rr35.blogspot.com/