Auto For Speed

Nissan Motorsports International (NISMO) has announced that it has signed a deal with two teams for the FIA GT1 World Championship series in which the R35 GT-R will compete in 2010.

The R35 Nissan GT-R will be raced by the Sumo Power GT team from the UK as well as the Swiss Racing Team. Further details, such as the driver lineup, will be released later on.

The GT-R is a rear-wheel drive GT1 racer and comes with a naturally aspirated 5.6-liter VK56DE V8 engine tuned to 600 hp and 650 Nm of torque. It is fitted with a 6-speed transmission from Ricardo by way of a carbon triple-plate clutch and grips the ground with 18-inch x 13-inch forged wheels by Rays.

Read the rest of this entry »

One of Japan’s three biggest automakers has stolen a major march on its two main rivals. While Honda and Toyota delight greenies by selling hybrid cars like the Insight and the Prius, Nissan has been relatively quiet on the eco front. Now the company has revealed what it has been working on and it should shake up the auto industry.

The new Nissan LEAF – the name is not an acronym but signifies purity and greenness – is a fully electric-powered car which Nissan says is the world’s first affordable zero-emission vehicle. Prices have not been announced to verify the affordability claim but the company states that it will fall within the C segment. In other words it will be priced to compete with cars like the VW Golf, Dodge Caliber, Toyota Corolla and Ford Focus. Read the rest of this entry »

Tym Switzer’s Oberlin-Ohio based tuning shop has been a breeding-ground for pump-gas monsters this year, including the 800 hp Nissan P800 GTR. Of course, as soon as Switzer’s customers got their hands on the cars, they started asking for more. Read the rest of this entry »

About six months after it annihilated a field of 17 vehicles and won our 2009 Car of the Year, the Nissan GT-R has finally landed in our long-term fleet. As you may know, it is COTY protocol for a winner to return to us in factory-fresh form for a year-long test, to see firsthand if our love wanes or grows and if our judgment was sound or — gasp! — flawed. Read the rest of this entry »