Road Tests 2009 Nissan GT-R SpecV Full Test
The 2009 Nissan GT-R SpecV breaks the law.
Actually the GT-R has been breaking the law since last year. Before then, the Japanese car industry kept its high-performance cars below a ceiling of 280 horsepower, an unwritten, yet very real limit established by the Japanese government back in 1989.
But the Nissan GT-R shattered the glass ceiling with its 480-hp twin-turbo V6. And now the 2009 Nissan GT-R SpecV pushes even farther past the barrier, further reinforcing the GT-R's status as a true supercar. Just over a year since the car's introduction, Nissan has given a shot of steroids to Godzilla, creating the most extreme road-going machine that Japan has ever seen.
And we've got the test numbers to prove it.
The Extreme Edition
Since we first spied the prototype of the 2009 Nissan GT-R SpecV while it was being
tested at the Nürburgring last year, much has been reported about this high-performance version of the turbocharged, all-wheel-drive GT-R. We've heard about its lightweight carbon-fiber body parts, overboost turbo control, carbon-ceramic brakes, unique suspension setup and special tires. Now we've been invited to Nissan's test track at Tochigi, about two hours from Tokyo, to drive the SpecV. And we've brought along our VBOX to record some performance data.
Kazutoshi Mizuno himself leads us out onto the blacktop at the proving ground, and the GT-R's chief engineer is raving about the ultra-special upgrades represented by this SpecV edition. We feel a little bit like Mel Gibson in
Mad Max, as the Goose leads him down into an underground workshop to reveal that thundering
600-hp pursuit special. The Goose beams, "You can shut the gate on this one, Maxy. It's the duck's guts!"
Now Mizuno might not be as colorful with his description, but he is no less enthusiastic. He's the only chief engineer we know of who reports directly to the boss of his car company, and you understand why after hearing his philosophy, "Supercars according to Mizuno.
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2009 Nissan GT-R SpecV Full Test on Inside Line
This is going to be one mean machine.