Category Archives: Nissan

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Nissan Zeod RC

The Nissan ZEOD RC was a hybrid electric racing car that competed as the prototype from “Garage 56” entry at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

The ZEOD RC was designed by Ben Bowlby. Bowlby had worked for DeltaWing LLC, a Chip Ganassi company created to develop a concept race car for the IndyCar Series’ post-2012 chassis. When IndyCar awarded the tender to the Dallara DW12, Bowlby – working for DeltaWing Project 56 LLC, a consortium led by Don Panoz – adapted the DeltaWing design to race at Le Mans. Nissan Motor Company provided an engine for the Le Mans-specification DeltaWing, and received naming rights on the car.

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2014 Nissan GTR – Spied Testing at the Nürburgring

2014 Nissan GT-R
The Prototype is going through tyre selection testing so the car was being driven hard on the Nordschleife in Germany.

After Nissans continued testing and its commitment to the Nürburgring 24h shows the desire to make the new 2014 GTR better than ever from race development to the road.
Continue reading 2014 Nissan GTR – Spied Testing at the Nürburgring

2012 Nissan Leaf Review

The world’s first mass-produced fully electric family car is now ready for sale at £25,990, which includes a £5,000 government incentive.

My first impressions when I saw the Leaf was a slightly longer wheel based version of a Micra to increase the length to house the centrally placed batteries, this is not the case as the car is designed from scratch to be a fully electric car with a range of around 100 miles.

Also the fact that I could stop off at any of the Rapid Charge stations and get a charge from 0% all the way to 80% in 30 minutes this almost convinced me of the viability of the solution.

At least with the Leaf you buy the car with the battery not like the Renault Twizy where you rent the batteries at a whopping £45 a month .

The only specification you really choose from is the colour of your Leaf, the only other option is a £250 solar powered charger on the boot lid which charges the instrumentation devices and the Sound System. The cabin is large and fresh, with leg and headroom for all 5 averagely sized passengers , and a large boot.

When you push the throttle the 551lb, 24kWh lithium-ion battery pulses its current into the 80kW AC brushless electric motor with a rated output of 107bhp, which drives the front wheels to an expected 0-60 time of 12 seconds this sounds slow but the 0-50 in around 7 seconds which is acceptable at the traffic lights and junctions.

The electronics which control the drive motor sits under the hood right where you would expect to find an engine and it looks rather like a combustion engine under the hood albeit the high power warning labels.

So what is it like to drive, it is agile, rides very well, and has reasonably direct steering with the usual lack of feel suffered by most Japanese road cars.

I went throwing it in to tight turns and the chassis control is impressive, handling most corners on par with many petrol/diesel powered alternatives.

Missing was the sound of the engine and this point made me realise I could hear the most discrete whisper from my children sat in the back as well as getting out of the car twice and forgetting to turn the engine off due to it having no noise to prompt me it was still running and being keyless start facility.

Now how about range well I was driving exceptionaly well and economically and this was backed up by the “ECO Tree” which was awarding me three tree’s, I managed to get 53.8 miles with another 26 miles to go which is slightly more than 20 miles less than the declared range.

This is probably explained by the 2 stretches of road where i was going 50-60mph where you can visibly see the power being consumed, so the range is only really good for round town start and stop journeys where you dont exceed 40mph.

This is where the infrastructure of “is Lancashire ready for electric power” is up for question, Well in my area it is a waste of time owning such a vehicle at the moment as there is no access to the charging point in preston 24/7 as it is only open in office hours, which is unfortunately not advertised on the inbuilt GPS “charging Locations”, which left me in some disarray where to charge my car so I utilised the GPS directory which pointed me in the direction of Sainsburys in Westhoughton on arrival I was informed that they had lost the key to the charging point making it also inaccessable

This is where the great people at Nissan Emergency Call Centre sent out an oil burning recovery truck to rescue the electric car.

If you have got good access to charging points and you live in London this car is probably a must have as it is exempt to the congestion charge and can benefit from some 100% free charging points which are dotted around the country.

Verdict: Battery motoring was never easier and now does not come with a career of being a milkman, but the limited range and poor recharging infrastructure means a frustrating time for early adopters.

Pistonspy Says:- Out of 5
If the charging infrastructure was widely rolled out this would likely rise to Score 3.

Brought to you by: Autoblog Canada
 

Nissan’s GT-R Racer Spied shakedown testing on the Nordschleife

On April 4th Nissan revealed the programe for the Nissan GT-R Team to Compete in the ADAC 24 Hour Race at the Nurburgring.

I’m very proud that Nissan and Mizuno san believe in me for this important project, in which the objectives are to participate in a race held at Nurburgring, where the GT-R has been developed since its launch, with a production-version model, to share the excitement with GT-R fans and to continue to provide “passion & emotion” to customers through further development of GT-R production cars through their ultimate performance.

The 2 cars will be driven both by Nissan and the PS3 Grand Turismo Development teams.

# 23 Team: Team NISSAN GT-R (GT -R Development Team)

# 123 Team: Team GT Academy GT-R (Polyphony Digital Team)

Before 24 hours, I have to compete in 2 of the VLN series races in the Nordschleife. The first will take place next weekend!

I’m really excited for this programe and I can’t wait to get in the GT-R and do my best for the GT-R development team at the 24h.

These pictures are of the 24h racers undergoing shakedown tests at the Nordschleife in Germany. (hence the non sponsorship decals)

This year the Nurburgring 24 Hours takes place from May 17-20.

2013 Nissan GT-R Official Release [video]

Nissan have officially declared the release schedule for the 2012 GTR.

The new model goes on sale November 24 in Japan and lands in European showrooms in January 2012.

The changes include the engine has been reworked to give another 20hp along with additional fuel economy over the previous.

Also the Chassis has been made more rigid which in turn gives a better transmission feel with some tweaked internals.

Also for the RHD market there will also be the addition of a “Track Pack”. Which includes some further modifications to the aerodynamics and the removal of the rear bench seats.

Along with extra cooling ducts for the Ceramic Brakes (Optional), and Carbon Fibre Air ducts to feed the induction.

We Spied the first uncamouflaged versions of this car back in 2010 Click Here!

2012 Nissan GTR Nurburgring Lap-Time Video

2012 Nissan GTR Spyshot @Nurburgring

After numerous sightings and excessive testing on the 2012 Nissan GT-R we was expecting to see an official release of its Nordschleife time, and wondered if they improved over the previous record with 7:24.22 compared to the 2011 record of 7:26.7.

This is impressive considering the Porsche Flagship 911 GT2 RS did it in 7:18 and the Maserati MC12 which managed a 7:24.29.

However one thing is missing from the GT2 RS claim is the cockpit footage.

The 2012 Nissan GT-R comes with a twin turbo 3.8-liter V6 engine with an output of 530 hp and 488 lb-ft of torque.

The GT-R’s chief designer Kazutoshi Mizuno deserves the praise for this achievement and I look forward to the Spec-V times which “Should” be ahead of the GT2 RS.

Enjoy the video (o;

Nissan GT-R Dragrace the Corvette Z06 & Shelby GT500

The guys at Motor Trend over stateside are trying to find the best out of three supercars under the $100k price bracket.

Out of the three the cheapest is the Ford GT500 weighing in with 550hp and a price of $55,330 with the best spec, next in line is the 2012 GT-R weighing in at 530hp from the biturbo 3.8 liter v6.

The final contender is the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 with its mammoth 7 liter lump but weighing less than the competition at 505hp, but the clever use of carbon fibre ensures its place in the lineup.

The winning car is the mighty Nissan GT-R followed by …………..

Source: Motor Trend

2012 Nissan GT-R VVIP edition for the Middle East

Nissan Middle East is now offering a new version of the GT-R in the GCC. It is being dubbed as the 2012 Nissan GT-R VVIP edition based on the Egoist version with a different coloured trim.

It is the customised version of the updated 2011-2012 GT-R, with more power and more luxurious cabin upholstery.

The VVIP edition includes the revised 530 hp GT-R engine and adds a high degree of customer personalisation for the interior leather upholstery. The GT-R in these Nissan-supplied photos show a car with white leather upholstery with golden highlights, as well as dealer-installed gold-plated grilles and ‘VVIP’ badges.

Via Drive Arabia & NAGGTROC