While Porsche is claiming that the Nissan GT-R still can’t mange to lap the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in a time better than 7 minutes and 54 seconds, Nissan announced today that Godzilla has improved its lap-time to 7:26.
“This record demonstrates our commitment to the continuous evolution of the Nissan GT-R,” says Kazutoshi Mizuno, Chief Vehicle Engineer and Chief Vehicle Specialist. “We would like to continue delivering the passion and pride of ownership to our customers by improving its performance every year.”
Yes, that time is officially better than the 7:26.4 seconds for the 2009 Chevrolet ZR1 piloted by GM development engineer Jim Mero. We have no word whether Chevy and Mero will be headed back to the Nurburgring to top the new GT-R time.
On a side note: In October 2008, it was reported that Jan Magnussen, a race car driver from Denmark and a General Motors factory driver, took the Corvette ZR1 around the Nordschleife in 7:22.4. However, GM nor Chevrolet ever confirmed that time so we have to count it as unofficial.
Make the jump for the press release.
Press Release:
AWARD-WINNING NISSAN GT-R ACHIEVES NEW RECORD LAP TIME AT NURBURGRING CIRCUIT
TOKYO (May 14, 2009) - The NISSAN GT-R, winner of the 2009 World Performance Car of the Year, has improved its lap time at the renowned Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany to 7min 26 seconds 70 on April 23.
This new time underlines Nissan engineering team’s commitment to constantly challenge the GT-R’s performance. Previous recorded lap times at the ‘Ring’ were:
- 7 minutes 27 seconds 56 on April 15, 2009
- 7 minutes 29 in April 2008
- 7 minutes 38 in September 2007
“This record demonstrates our commitment to the continuous evolution of the Nissan GT-R,” says Kazutoshi Mizuno, Chief Vehicle Engineer and Chief Vehicle Specialist. “We would like to continue delivering the passion and pride of ownership to our customers by improving its performance every year.”
The Nissan GT-R has won more than a dozen awards globally including Car of the Year from CAR Magazine in the UK, and Car of the Year by both Motor Trend and Autombile Magazine in the US.
While the Nissan GT-R benefits from a strong image and heritage amongst performance car aficionados, its updated 2010 version will be the first to be sold globally. It was launched:
- in Japan in December 2008,
- in the US in March 2009
- in Europe, GCC, Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan in April 2009
Europe is currently in the process of delivering the first GT-Rs to more than 2,200 pre-order customers.
The model R35 GT-R was first launched in Japan in December 2007, selling 5,900 units until March 2009. It went on sale in the US in July 2008, where 2,100 have been sold so far.
- By: Omar Rana
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