cW-Wert: 0.27!!!
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Nissan's Rikubetsu Proving Grounds lie deep in the hills of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island. The area looks a lot like Germany's Rhineland region, with steep mountains covered in dark evergreens. This is no coincidence; most of Rikubetsu's road course was cribbed from Germany's famous autobahn. Word is Nissan engineers contacted German transportation authorities and took tarmac samples during an official measuring session. They won't say where in Germany they took their laser levels, but it isn't hard to guess. Dotting the 4.5-mile test track are multiple blue and white Bundesautobahn 48 ausfahrt (exit) signs for the German city of Koblenz-some comically pointing in opposite directions.
Of course, it's also no secret that the Japanese have long been enamored of German automotive engineering. Nissan, in particular, has made no bones about the performance target for its highly anticipated 2008 GT-R. Not only has it rented a garage facility across the street from the famed Nurburgring Nordschleife for the last couple years, but it purchased a brand-new 997 Porsche 911 Turbo to test alongside its GT-R development mules. What's more, Nissan has made no attempt to disguise these intentions, boldly parading the two for the spy photographers who prowl the 'Ring and even letting us drive both cars back to back, in an exclusive session last spring.
The irony is that for all this Germanic genuflecting, Nissan created a super sports car that would never be confused with something from Das Vaterland -- or anywhere in Europe or the U.S. No, the Nissan GT-R is a distinctly Japanese supercar prepared to take on the world.
The three previous generations of GT-R (see sidebar) were essentially high-tech Japanese hot rods: sedan-based coupes, loaded for bear with a complex all-wheel-drive system and high-output engine. Subtracting two doors and adding requisite 'rod treatments such as flared fenders, aggressive bumpers, and a rear wing helped make the GT-R a legend, but it was always clear what sired it: the salaryman Skyline sedan.
Base on its performance, our GT-R should cost over $400,000
The new GT-R is different. For the first time in its history it's not merely a super sport variant. That it stands alone provides distinct advantages, but one key challenge: how to advance a legend, while remaining true to its high-tech, high-performance heritage.
"In designing the new GT-R, 'GT-R-ness' was always on our minds," explains designer Hiroshi Hasegawa. "For example, [we kept] the edgy form of the first-generation GT-R and the four ring-shaped taillamps that started with the GC110 GT-R.
"With the second-generation GT-R, the front opening was made to look like one continuous form between the grille and bumper openings. The theme was passed on to the 2001 GT-R Concept and also appeared on the 2005 GT-R Proto."
At first glance, there seems to be little that distinguishes those two concepts from the production GT-R. The most notable difference is the removal of the black rectangular patches below the headlights of the GT-R Proto."When seen as an auto-show car, the graphic design was quite impactful," explains Hasegawa, "but when we thought about the car actually on the road in the world, the black vertical graphic from the headlamps was too strong against the three-dimensional form. It was deleted because it would compromise the strength and solid feel of the front design."
About that controversial C-pillar: "Many previous GT-Rs have the notchback coupe silhouette," says Hasegawa. "The new GT-R doesn't have a flowing cabin silhouette. Instead, it has an angled accent on the C-pillar as an attempt to keep the image of a notchback coupe."
Some call it awkward and out of place on such a smooth and flowing form, but no one can argue with the results. After more than a year of wind -- tunnel tweaking, Nissan reports the GT-R registers a slippery Cd of 0.27 -- due in part to extra the attention given to underbody airflow.
Overall, the GT-R's exterior design pays homage to modern Japanese culture. Hasegawa admits to harnessing his countrymen's fixation with all things futuristic and high tech-such as Sony's Aibo robotic dog and "Mobile Suit Gundam," a popular Japanese cartoon about giant robot warriors. "The 'coolness' of machines like Aibo and Gundam comes from the fact that they're inorganic, yet made to show movements of something truly alive," clarifies Hasegawa. "We wanted to infuse something similar into the design of the GT-R, which is also a machine."
What Hasegawa doesn't need to mention is that this infusion of vitality goes well beneath the surface.
Kazutoshi Mizuno is the former head of Nissan's Daytona and Le Mans racing program and a notable exception in the vast bureaucracy of Japanese auto manufacturing. In a corporate culture that normally divides one hat into many smaller ones, he wears two-and they're both huge. Mizuno is the GT-R chief product specialist as well as the chief engineer. As the former, he devised the GT-R's product concept; as the latter, he made sure it delivers as promised. And boy does it.
"I want [the GT-R] to make supercar performance in all conditions" says Mizuno. In his estimation, the current crop of supercars are designed to perform only in optimal conditions (in the dry, at the track) with an experienced driver behind the wheel. His GT-R concept is the exact opposite: "anyone, anywhere, anytime."
To achieve this "multi-station supercar," Mizuno not only sent the GT-R to Rikubetsu and the Nurburgring, he sent it around the world, to all extremes of temperature and conditions. He also profiled current supercars and noted every aspect of their performance. 'Ring times were of particular interest; Mizuno went so far as to chart supercar MSRP versus Nordschleife lap time-to great comedic effect.
"There is a strong correlation between the two," deadpans Mizuno, "so based on its performance, our GT-R should cost over 45 million yen!"
To create the performance of a $400,000 supercar, Mizuno started with an all-new PM (premium-midship) chassis. Distinct from the FM (front-midship) configuration of such rear-drive Nissans as the 350Z and Infiniti G35, the PM chassis features an independent-transaxle-based all-wheel-drive system. Sending engine output to a rear-mounted transmission is believed to be a first for a front-engine all-wheel-drive production car due to cost and complexity (it needs two driveshafts), but there are key advantages. The first is better weight distribution; a transaxle layout puts more weight over the rear tires and helps the GT-R achieve near 50:50 weight distribution under acceleration. At rest the ratio is more like 53:47.
The precision geometry of the transaxle design has another advantage. Mizuno's team engineered one degree of crankshaft tilt from front to rear that becomes zero degrees under acceleration. This means it's a straight shot from engine to rear diff, reducing wasted output. In addition, a carbon-fiber driveshaft is used to reduce not only weight but NVH as well.
The transaxle setup also sets up the GTR for a new dual-clutch transmission and AWD system. Similar to other systems on the market, the GT-R's twin-clutch transmission features six forward gears that can be manually engaged via steering-wheel-mounted paddles or a console-mounted shifter. Nissan claims Formula-1 shift speeds-as quick as 0.2 second in "R" mode.
Details on the GT-R's AWD system aren't as clear. Though it may be called an updated version of the famed ATTESSA-ETS system found in previous GT-Rs, sources indicate the similarity would be in name only. Unlike the old system, which was based primarily on mechanical feedback, the new one uses electronic sensors and hydraulically actuated clutches, similar to those of the Haldex 4 system used by Saab and VW/Audi. What we do know is that yaw-rate feedback control, the ability to safely manage slip angle, has been built into the GT-R's AWD system and that front to rear torque split is as much as 2:98 at launch, to a maximum of 50:50.
To ensure the dimensional accuracy needed for all this complex machinery, the body and suspension are individually built on a jig, as with a race car. There are other race-car touches also: control-arm suspension in front, a multilink layout in the rear, and Bilstein dampers all around. Brakes are monoblock Brembo calipers (six-piston front, four-piston rear) that grab 15-inch two-piece vented and cross-drilled rotors.
"No Japanese car has a weight-to-power ratio below 4 kg/hp [8.8 lb/hp]," says Mizuno. With a target ratio of 3.7 kg/hp (8.1 lb/hp), and a desired weight of 1720 kg (3782 pounds) for this four-seater, the only solution was to create power and lots of it.
Bleeding-edge tech such as plasma-deposited cylinder linings and one-piece turbo/exhaust manifolds help produce 480 horses and 443 pound-feet of torque.
Like the three generations of Skyline GT-R before it, the GT-R is powered by a twin-turbocharged and intercooled, six-cylinder engine, although this time the cylinders are arranged in a vee of aluminum instead of an inline block of iron. Displacement has jumped to 3.8 liters, but this isn't merely a bore-and-stroke job on the twin-throttle-body 3.7-liter V-6 found in the Infiniti G37 (itself a variant of the VQ35 3.5-liter V-6 Nissan put in everything from Altimas to Zs). Mizuno claims the GT-R's engine is vastly different, citing bleeding-edge technology like a friction-reducing plasma-deposited cylinder lining material that is said to be an industry first. Another first: Each of the two IHI turbocharger housings is integrated into its exhaust manifold to reduce weight, space, and heat loss. What's all this calculus good for? Mizuno says 480 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque on premium unleaded, though rumors abound that a lighter-weight, super-sport version making roughly 530 horses may make it to this country.
Long before navigation systems put them in everything from Civics to Silverados, GT-Rs were the only cars to feature LCD displays worth a damn. While previous GT-R displays showed everything from lateral acceleration and lap times to oil temperature and boost pressure, the new GT-R's seven-inch multifunction display goes even further, incorporating five modes and an eye-popping amount of dynamic data. There are even two customizable presets for configuring how the information is displayed. Sounds complicated, but to make sure it operates intuitively, Mizuno called in Kazunori Yamauchi, the legendary creator of Sony's Gran Turismo video-game series to help design the menu structure. From the deeply bolstered bucket seats, this multifunction display is positioned in the same arc as the main instrument panel, which contains more traditional, chronograph-style gauges, including a speedometer that tops out at 340 kph-over 210 mph.
On the dash, just forward of the chunky minimalist shifter are the three toggle switches similar to the Porsche Stability Management switches found on 911s. They perform similar functions also, toggling between three transmission, suspension, and VDC settings, though the Porsche lacks red glowing "R" modes.
Clearly Mizuno has done his homework and truth be told, he did abit of ours as well. In addition to all the competitive testing, Mizuno sent GT-R test mules to Southern California for a series of "magazine tests" -- simuilations of the instrumented tests major U.S magazines (like this one) perform. For kicks, he also tested the 911 Turbo.
Mizuno's numbers are impressive: 3.5 seconds to 60 mph (in 110-degree weather, no less), 11.7 seconds to the quarter mile at a t rap speed of 149.1 mph. He says the GT-R will tear up the skidpad to the tune of 0.99 g -- even on 20-inch run flats -- and stop from 60 mph in only 111.5 feet. Top speed is targeted at 192.6 mph, though it will be governed to 186 mph. Notable, however, iss that while these stats beat his 911 Turbo numbers and those recorded by other magazines, they don't beat ours.
So we'll have to wait until our official comparison test to see if Mizuno and Co. have hit their target. If the recently released Japanese pricing information is any indication, it appears the Nissan GT-R will soundly thrash the 911 Turbo and most supercars in the value category. In Japan, the entry-level GT-R starts at $57,000 while V-spec trim adds $10,000 more. That lighter-weight, 530-horsepower Evo-spec model jumps to $94,000-exceptionally dear for a Nissan-but over $25,000 lower than the 911 Turbo. U.S. GT-Rs likely will have higher levels of kit and consequently a higher price tag when they go on sale in spring 2008, but at last, the tale of the GT-R begins.
Super car performance for anyone, anywhere, anytime? Bring it on.
Und wie er sich das tut!! 
findet 
einmal mehr, superklasse Bilder, ganz eindruecklich!! Danke auch fuer den Tipp mit dem Vogelbild, werde das mal versuchen...
