GT-R: How Nissan Created The Giantkiller

Tokyo, February 1990. James Buster Douglas has traveled the world, from Ohio to Japan, to serve food to a lion. Tonight he will fight Mike Tyson and all odds say it won't even be a fight. That night, Douglas finds himself at the lowest point of his life. A month earlier, he had lost his mother in Ohio. His partner has been diagnosed with a fatal illness. Every puffy face in a suit is on TV debating whether he can make it to the second round as he steps into the ring with Tyson. The odds are 42 to 1 that Douglas will be completely gutted by the undefeated heavyweight champion.

The world has come to witness a slaughter when the first bell rings and the crowd calms down. What they witness is a cornered tiger. Douglas's heavy fists deliver devastating blows for ten straight rounds. A stunned champion is thrown against the ropes, the sight of him rocked by megatons of flesh and blood crashing into his body. They throw fists like hammers at his skull. And finally, blackout. When Tyson wakes up, the world is stunned into silence. There, in a moldy stadium in Tokyo, Japan. David is on Goliath. Now, ten years later, Douglas is retired. But back in Japan, another fighter has the chips against him.

Nissan's once grand home is now in disrepair. Their bank accounts are overdrawn and they face billions in debt. Bankruptcy tightens the noose around their necks. Italy and Germany have taken over the sports car universe. But like Buster Douglas had done in 1990, Nissan rises from its broken throne, shows its bloody teeth and tears off the heads of its opponents. At the dawn of the millennia, the automotive world experienced its biggest shock when a bloodied brawler on Hill unleashed a twin-turbo uppercut in the faces of all who doubted them. In the tenth round, as the lights began to go out on the Nissan empire, a samurai sword was drawn to cut the throats of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche.

His blood was spilled in the name of Japan's greatest champion, the GT-R. For one to rise, one must fall. No one had climbed higher than Japan's auto industry in the 1990s. The world was now buying the Toyota Corolla. Parents bought Hondas for their children, they went to college, and enthusiasts coveted Type R and GT-Rs instead of Ferraris. But as the year 2000 approached, the bright red sun of the Japanese economy began to set. With his fall, the budget for entertainment began to run out. It didn't help that the world of the mid-nineties no longer cared about big Japanese cars.

With few to no updates, the NSX had grown tired and Toyota's old Supra was still not appreciated for its potential, and Americans had bought its last Z in 1996. Customers had voted with their wallets. They no longer wanted sports cars. The writing was on the wall. The era of affordable, enjoyable, driver-focused vehicles had come and gone. Sure, if you were lucky enough to be above the middle class, you still had some options. Italy, sensing there were still customers looking for blistering performance, began its supercar revolution in the 1990s. F355, Diablo, Zonda Germany doubled down on being the main choice of dentists, doctors and architects, the M3, the SL and, most importantly, the indomitable golf cart.

From middle-aged men who have money, a desire for speed and a lack of originality. The Porsche 911 as the world's clocks ticked towards the year 2000. Going fast was becoming a luxury that only the upper class could afford. While Toyota embraced this new beige era and sold Prius and RAV4 while the ground beneath Nissan began to crack as they began to slide into bankruptcy. They made a last ditch effort to survive and called in the French in the late 1990s. Car companies began to consolidate their power, sometimes without completely merging, but rather forming a kind of co-ownership. In 1999, Nissan and French manufacturer Renault did just that.

Each of them bought a large amount of shares in the other's brand, giving both parties a seat at the other's ownership table within Renault which at the time was a rising star known for its ruthless practices in the name of balance. budgetary. Carlos Ghosn In the nineties, he had arrived from Michelin to save Renault from bankruptcy, and in one year he had made the then failed French brand profitable. So naturally, when Renault saw Nissan's bleak financial state, they appointed Ghosn as COO to save them immediately and set about making a plan. He called it the Nissan Revitalization Plan.

His obvious goal was to make Nissan profitable in just one year at any price. And he stated that if he couldn't do it, he would resign. Of course, there were layoffs. The restructuring plants were closed and what was not bolted to the ground was auctioned. Many careers, lives and families in Japan were devastated. But it worked. In just 12 months, Nissan went from a loss of six and a half billion dollars a year to a profit of more than two billion with a new budget surplus. The next logical step was to spend it where it counts. Nissan's boring and mysterious line of cars.

Nissan was and remains the king of making the same car for longer than any other manufacturer. In 2000, competing cars were based on two-year-old designs. The Nissan line had been on the shelf for eight years. Almost immediately after taking over as CEO in 1999, Ghosn set out to find a new design chief for Nissan. This person would be in charge of not only an update to Nissan's current lineup, but also building the ultimate Halo sports car for the Nissan brand. The new GT-R Ghosn's new vision for the GT-R was not to turn it into just a high-performance variant of some passenger car sold only in Japan, but into a halo car that would impact the entire world.

This was the most important car Nissan would make in decades. For the position of design leader. Ghosn had three conditions. First, he had to be Japanese because he believed that Nissan was still a very Japanese company and that only a true Japanese designer could understand the sensibilities and tastes of the Japanese people. Two, that designer must be a global success. Ghosn's plan for Nissan covers almost every country on the planet. His new designer would have to be able to think outside the country. And third, he had to come from outside Nissan. Ghosn himself is quoted as saying that Nissan should be rebuilt by Nissan employees.

But for the task of revitalizing his image, they needed a fresh look. He then wants to create new and exciting global designs. Where are you looking? Well, obviously one of the most successful and dominant global automakers of all time, a brand with a rich history and stylish, fast cars. You go to Isuzu. Wait. Am I reading this right? It's 2001. Ghosn's master plan is finally beginning to take shape. The new design director, Shiro Nakamura, who called himself Fingers, had been poached from Isuzu, where he had been a part of masterpieces like the Isuzu VehiCross. I don't care what you say, it's a cool little car for the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show.

Fingers orchestrated one of the most interesting lineups ever. Nissan's new Z concept gets a lot of recognition. The Beautiful Lady is back and people love her. The Leaf demonstrates that Nissan is ready to pioneer the new electric vehicle playing field. The Nissan Cube is an asymmetrical people mover that screams the name of fun and practical. And the concept nails say Nissan has lost its mind, and among them is the boldest statement of all. The GT-R concept is rumored to be a brutal slab of aluminum sitting on Nissan's new V 35 platform. Its design paid little reverence to the GT-R that preceded it.

Except for the four round taillights. Sure it was a GT-R, but it sure wasn't a horizon. It was something new, something elegant, something masculine, a shape with the potential to become iconic. Until now, the GT-R badge had never left the island nation of Japan. But this glorious new supercar would be sold all over the world. A GT-R for everyone. The automotive press was stunned. The outgoing R 34 GT-R was a powerful model of a practical Japanese saloon. This was something else. The great fanfare of his 2001 performance gave Ghosn the confidence he needed to set the wheels in motion.

Now all he would need was a piece of equipment to remove a sheet from the aluminum slab. The design of the R35 Gt-R was a global effort. Divisions around the world presented concepts to Nakamura. He collected these favorites and gave them to Hiroshi Hasegawa, who would be the chief designer of the Gt-R. Hasegawa then commissioned Hirohisa Ono to design the exterior. His inspiration would clearly be Japanese Gundam Samurai and musical notes. It would take Ono two full years to write the first draft of his design. Its huge blocky design was intentional. Ono decided that this was not going to be a pure sports car, letting the air dictate the design and shape to such an extent that it looks like everything else.

No, his GT-R would be something that would challenge your eyes, your mind, something unexpected. But immediately recognizable. A distinctly Japanese design. Sharp as a sword, but wide and elegant. As well as the final shape of the Gt-R it was brutal, inelegant, but ultimately incredibly beautiful. After the initial 2003 design, design work began in earnest in Nissan's wind tunnels, modeling clay models over and over again, all with the goal of honing the GT-R's hard lines for high-speed performance. The specifications set by Nakamura for aerodynamics were figures that had yet to be seen by any other sports car, but through dozens of designs, hundreds of wind tunnel tests, and endless buckets of clay.

They did it. At first glance, the GT-R may look as fluid in the atmosphere as a delivery truck, but it's as stylish as a Porsche 911 and glued to the road as a Ferrari. Now I just needed to be as fast as one to. In 1972, a Japanese man joined the ranks of Nissan as an engineer at just 20 years old. His name is Kazutoshi Mizuno. In 2007 he would be known as Mr. GT-R, but in 1972 he was no longer his star employee. He is lazy. He comes to work late and leaves early. He's, well, you know, 20 years old. His bosses notice his indifferent attitude and decide to give him some perspective.

Mizuno is sent by his boss to a local dealership to sell cars to people face to face. There he is, someone facing severe disabilities approaches him. They needed a new car to get to and from the hospital. This car is my whole life. It's like a person, a member of my family, the buyer tells him. Mizuno then realizes that cars are more than just drilling machines. They are important and they are necessary. He realizes that the most important thing about any car is that it is nothing without a customer. Mizuno would have a long and storied career at Nissan.

He would join the Nismo team in 1987 and helped push the R33 GT-R onto the track at Le Mans in 1994. His hands would help create the new Z 33 Fair Lady. The infinity FX and the Skyline V 35. And in 2003, Ghosn approached him as lead engineer on the r 35 GT-R project and Mizuno quickly turned down the job offer. You see, Ghosn demanded that Kazutoshi make the r 35 at the F.M. platform. The front center platform used by all rear-wheel drive Nissan cars at the time, Kazutoshi said could not be done. To prove his point, he

created

a prototype with an improved platform that is now known as the PM platform.

And he was right. The pm platform was superior in almost every way. An egg-faced Ghosn relinquished full control of the Gt-R's development. For Mizuno, having worked with GT-R throughout his career, Mizuno understood that this was not going to be a mere sequel to the r 34 GT-R, but rather Nissan's first real supercar, a supercar that took almost 40 years to develop. Three small letters form a humble silver and red badge that has defined Nissan's DNA since its inception. The machines under that emblem have evolved over time from simple, sporty and affordable rear-wheel drive cars to beastly machines that hoard golden trophies and turbo amalgams of video game technology and pure automotive prowess.

Yet all the while it lives up to the meaning of those three little letters, an icon that tells you that what lies beneath will give you exactly what you want most: unbridled energy, cutting-edge technology, and a beating heart. Born in door-to-door racing from the original 1969 C10 GT-R, a touring car born on the curved asphalt of Japanese race tracks to the car heard around the motorsports world, Godzilla is the indiscriminate killing machine who took no prisoners on his way. to the top. The GT-R badge has always meant Japan's most brutal beast. That legacy has been maintained since its inception, and even today it has never been sold as a cheap leather seating upgrade or visual upgrade package.

The GT-R name has always been pure. If there were no cars in the Nissan range thatIt deserved the name GT-R. They just didn't sell a GT-R. In 1973, the gas crisis neutered the capabilities of Nissan's fastest cars, and the GT-R badge was shelved for more than a decade, returning in full force. In 1989, the GT-R badge showed the world the power Nissan could unleash when it put its mind to it. And in 2002, the Nissan GT-R lost its way again. The R 34 generation was fast, sure, but it was no longer the competitive racing machine the GT-R badge was intended for.

So once again, the GT-R name had no home. Its reactivation would then have to be faithful to these three central concepts. Power, technology and competitive spirit. Ghosn tasked Kazutoshi Mizuno with taking the spirit of the GT-R and letting it out of its cage, no longer bound by the limitations of some docile sedan underpinnings. This could be the first GT-R supercar that is a proper competitive supercar. Mizuno demanded the three criteria that he would have to meet. One: it should only weigh four kilograms or about 9 pounds per horsepower. Two. It must be able to reach up to 300 kilometers per hour with comfort and safety on public roads.

And thirdly, it must travel the Nürburgring Nordschleife in less than 8 minutes. Today we know that these figures can be easily achieved and surpassed by the GT-R. But in the early 2000s, no one believed Nissan could do it. Nobody, of course, except Kazutoshi. In 2005, the NissanGT-R Proto was presented to the world. His new exterior was matured and molded by Hirohisa Ono and his team. Nissan announces that the production car will go on sale just two years later. What they don't say is what was under that enormous hood. That secret is still being molded by Mr. GT-R from the beginning, even before he got the job.

Kazutoshi knew that the performance benchmark was going to be the Porsche 996 911 Turbo. A beast from the German could be an engine derived from the absurd 911 Gt1 racing car, generating 415 horsepower and a set of state-of-the-art drive systems. All-wheel drive, electronic stabilization and active aerodynamics. It could reach 60 in less than 4 seconds and reach a attack range of 200 miles per hour with enough road. But it was comfortable to drive and, most importantly, desirable. The 911 turbo was the benchmark of supercar performance in the early 2000s. Press speculation surrounded the mysterious GT-R Proto. Many assumed it would be powered by the VQ 35 that powered the new Skyline 350 Z and G 35.

However, Mizuno took one look at the VQ engine, did some math, and tossed it to the curb. It just wasn't going to be enough. Quickly. His engineers then got to work on a new custom-built twin-turbo V6 known as the VR38DETT. It was a technological marvel of an engine that was at the heart of the Gt-R's greatness. The RB 26 of previous generations had been the subject of almost biblical boasts. But this would not be a sequel to RB. It was the new form of the VG30 that powered the Z32 10 years earlier, with a closed block made of aluminum and breathing through two turbos.

It gave the first generation GT-R more than 470 manic horses with all kinds of specs that sound like future technology. Plasma sprayed cylinder bores, pressurized lubrication systems, thermostatically controlled cooling systems, technical names that were perfect for a car inspired by anime and video games. Throughout its development, Mizuno was fervent in its customer commitment. He wanted this to not only be a powerful engine that would excite them, but also a durable and reliable one that wouldn't let them down. That's why they used forged steel for all internal components. Variable valve timing systems ensured efficient and acceptable mileage figures, which meant it had a nearly 500 horsepower engine that could go 18 miles on a gallon of gas.

The VR 38 was an engineering masterpiece that will likely receive the praise it deserves long after it is gone. Each of them was hand-built by master craftsman Takumi, who would be tasked with building a single VR 38 at his expense, with their names stamped on a plaque on each engine they produced. The fury of the VR38 would center on an evolution of the original ATTESA system, the complicated all-wheel drive system that allowed the R 32 GT-R to reach the top. This new generation was known as ATTESA ET-S and is tremendously complicated. Power was delivered through a complex asymmetrical all-wheel drive system that under most conditions functions relatively like a rear drive train.

But when traction was needed, such as when starting from a standstill, up to 50% of its power could be delivered to the front wheels hidden in the carbon fiber. The air diffuser is a large number of performance sensors. Yaw accelerometers, pitch traction and G-force sensors, all working in harmony with a complex computer system to deliver power exactly where it's needed at all times. However, the video game inspiration didn't end at the Gt-R's powertrain computer system. Inside a central screen there was literally a video game. For decades, Polyphony Digital's Granturismo was the first and sometimes the only place where enthusiasts outside of Japan had seen a Nissan GT-R.

Nissan recognized this and decided to partner with Polyphony for the launch of its newest version. The Polyphony team would be in charge of designing the R 35's dashboard display. What they needed was a display capable of telling you almost everything about your GT-R, with intrinsic details to guide you on when it's best to shift gears. Or how to optimize your turns to trim apexes by keeping track of your braking usage and updating yourself on your lap times. It gave the owner an encyclopedic knowledge of the machine that was detailed, functional and easy to use. Because, of course, polyphony had been creating interfaces for video games for decades.

For its finishing touches, Nissan looked outside the shores of Japan for help. The GT-R was shipped to the UK and handed over to Lotus to refine its chassis, dynamic steering and suspension geometry. Brembo was tasked with helping stop this monster in its tracks, delivering six-piston calipers that looked more suited to a race track than a city street. All of this would really cement the GT-R as the supercar for nerds. It was designed to look like a combat robot powered by space-age technology and programmed by video game engineers. With all the pieces in place, Nissan built a camouflaged GT-R prototype to test at the Nurburgring.

It was a full-fledged GT-R with the appearance of an Infinity G35. This was the first time journalists heard the roar of what was to come. But even they weren't prepared for what Nissan was about to offer the world. Already in 2005, the GT-R began its final testing process. The fattened G35 test mule spent endless hours on the difficult curves of the Nürburgring. Their goal was to intimidate the Porsche 911 Turbo and achieve a lap time under eight minutes. On paper, the GT-R should have done just that. But as testing progressed, engineers quickly realized they had

created

something much more capable.

A machine whose performance was more than the sum of its parts. Nothing about the GT-R was particularly new. Dual-clutch transmissions can be found in the humble Volkswagen Golf. The C5 Corvette had a rear-wheel drive. Paddle shifters could be found on Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari. Formula One had been dabbling with launch control since the 1990s, and Nissan's ATTESA system had revolutionized all-wheel-drive sports cars more than a decade earlier. But this was the first time they would all be combined into one. In 2006, test mules were being abused around the world. Nissan faced them against the 997 11 Turbo at Laguna Seca and Nurburgring.

In testing, the GT-R not only kept pace, but handily beat Porsche's turbo supercar. Not only did he beat that eight-minute Nurburgring goal, he obliterated it, recording a lap time of just 7 minutes and 38 seconds. Not only did it beat the 911 Turbo, it beat the 911 GT3 RS with 10 seconds left and the GT-R did it in the rain. This new GT-R had surpassed the capabilities of any previous GT-R. This really was Nissan's new supercar at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. In a moment that probably broke the hearts of everyone who works on the Lexus LFA, Nissan's stage played a video of the GT-R completing a lap to the ring in just 7 minutes and 18 seconds, the fastest time recorded by a production car to date. .

And Carlos Ghosn himself lifted the veil and showed the R 35 to the world. If you were alive in the year 2007 and a rich bastard, your choices in the world of fast cars would be drool-worthy. For just over $300,000, you could have a V12-powered speed sled. The Ferrari 599 that accelerated up to 200 miles per hour and broke 60 and a hair in less than 4 seconds for the budget consumer. You could drive away in a new Audi R8. The incredibly fast but smoothly designed German supercar. It was as comfortable at over 150 miles per hour as most luxury cars are at 20.

All yours for around $150,000. For those of us who are not as well endowed, you could buy the Lamborghini. LP640 is a huge, brute machine, 12 cylinders and the worst gas mileage of any car sold new in 2007. Ridiculously fast, but absurdly expensive: over $270,000. These were all beautiful, fast cars, and all of them were a complete waste of money. At the time the GT-R went on sale for just $70,000, about half the price of the 911 turbo it was meant to compete with. You cannot compare the first GT-R with its competitors without this important figure. Something may have been faster, more luxurious, or more prestigious, but nothing was more affordable.

In tests conducted by automotive journalists, it would outperform them all. Thanks to the all-wheel drive system, launch control and its high weight. The GT-R reached 60 miles per hour in just 3.3 seconds. You complete a quarter mile in just 11 and a half seconds. Pull a full G on a skidpad and tangle at 200 miles per hour. If you were brave enough to try it all for less than the price of a BMW seven series. The automotive press couldn't stop praising the Gt-R's absurd launch control, the way its relentless grip to the ground carved a curve and demanded more abuse.

It was like nothing they had ever seen from Nissan or anyone else at the time. Sure, you could buy a Corvette Z06 for about the same price and get decent performance, but a proper modern supercar. Was not. With the GT-R you didn't make any sacrifices. It was comfortable. It had four seats. Room for golf bags, good road manners, and reliable, affordable parts. Mizuno insisted that the car perform at 180 miles per hour, that it would be able to hold a conversation with its passengers without raising its voice, and that it would survive a tire blowout even at 150 miles per hour.

And the Brembo braking system meant you were able to avoid the unpredictable. It wasn't just a fast car. It was the complete package and was finally on sale worldwide. For decades, we had all heard rumors about the Beast from the East. Only Australians knew first-hand the destructive power of the GT-R. Those, like me, who grew up with Granturismo and pirated JDM DVDs longed for that day. We might even see Nissan at its best on local roads. The wait was unsustainable. But it turns out it was worth it. Endorsements came from everywhere. Jeremy Clarkson called it the new criterion.

Motortrend said it defied physics before awarding it Car of the Year. Chris Harris said it could only be compared to a Bugatti. The RS 35 landed on shores around the world, bringing power and performance to those who had never been able to afford it before. A supercar for the non-super buyer. Italian performance for the middle class. He was the underdog boxer Nissan needed at the right time to save them from annihilation. Ghosn had achieved exactly what he set out to do: create a usable supercar that regular people can aspire to own and raise the bar for what a car can be.

A machine that was more than fast. It was a sign to the world that Nissan still had gas in the tank, that its best years were not behind it. Of course, his goal was also to sell cars, while the first GT-R went to Ghosn himself. The 3000 GT-Rs were immediately sold out in Japan. 2,500 went to the United States and again sold out before getting off the ship. The brand as a whole was revitalized, the Nissan Z had been reborn, Nissan was profitable, and Ghosn was dubbed the super CEO. In the years that followed, the spirit of the GT-R and Ghosn's leadership helped lift Nissan out of the depths.

Ghosn would eventually have his own dramatic story with a demented ending. But the GT-R he created would have one of the longest lives in supercar history, spanning 16 years and featuringnumerous updates and what seem like endless special editions. It got faster, it got meaner. It became more important. It became more expensive, yes, but it was still a performance bargain compared to its competitors. This new GT-R proved to be an indomitable halo car not only for Nissan but for Japan as a whole. Then, in 2022, Nissan closed the door on new orders for the R 35 in Japan, a sign that the fantastic run of magnificent machines was coming to an end. 16 years of being a performance benchmark.

The Affordable dictates that all cars must be compared to a beast so powerful that it practically ruined Toyota's billion-dollar experiment by beating it to the market. And he did it for a fifth. The current price, even when the takumi in Japan still assemble the VR38s with their meticulous hands. The writing is on the wall. The end of the GT-R badge is approaching once again, as it was in 1973 and 1999. The next generation of the GT-R is not guaranteed. Will there be a machine capable of adorning itself with those three lowercase letters? The performance landscape has changed since those humble beginnings in 2007.

Today's world of electrified hypercars and high-priced supercars begs us to ask ourselves once again: Does Nissan have another fight left in it? Will they rise once more and swing their power from the shadows? This current generation of GT-R has grown a lot. His contenders have gotten leaner and smarter, but those with fond memories of that day in 1990 will tell you to never bet against the loser because you could be eliminated. Have a fantastic rest of your day <3 hasL