Motor Australia – September 2019

3 NOVEMBER2011.StuffR35GT-RmechanicalsinsideNissan’s

quirkyJukecrossoverandyougettheJuke-R.Initiallyplanned

purelyasanengineeringshowcase,customerdemandledto

23 ofthe406kWbabySUVsbeingbuilt,a Version2.0arriving

in 2015 with447kWandanother 17 reportedlyproduced.

MAY 2014. Nissan announces it will again tackle Le Mans, this

time in the LMP class with the radical GT-R LM Nismo, using

a front-mounted 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 to power the front

wheels and electricity to power the rear axle. The program is a

catastrophe: the GT-R LM fails crash tests and is embarrassingly

slow and unreliable during its one and only Le Mans in 2015.

GT-R RUNNING

GEAR GOES IN

A JUKE; 40 SOLD

NISMO ENTERS

'FRONT-DRIVE'

GT-R IN LE MANS

3

3

OCTOBER 2012. In a clever piece of marketing, Nissan builds Usain

Bolt a gold R35 GT-R, before announcing it will auction another

example for charity. The winning bidder is a Melburnian who owns

one of three gold GT-Rs: Bolt’s, the charity car and the car used to

publicise the auction, which lives in Nissan’s Zama museum.

NOVEMBER 2013. Nissan returns to the Nurburgring and sets a

scintillating 7:08.679sec lap using a GT-R Nismo ‘N-Attack’, which

includes extra aero, new differentials, OHLINS suspension, carbon

body panels and the removal of the rear seats. The kit costs an

eye-watering $120,000 on top of a regular GT-R Nismo.

USAIN BOLT

GETS A GOLD R35

UNFORGETTABLE

7:08.679

NURBURGRING LAP