As promised I have attached some photos from this weekend's Nissan event at the 24 hours of Nürburgring.
Nissan organised a 2 day "Race Camp" (with personal tents for guests, wonderful catering services at other activities throughout the race) directly next to the GP Circuit (the circuit used for the 24h race is composed of both the GP and Nordschleife tracks). Guests were invited to take part in all types of activities ranging from Racing "Scalextric" type cars to enjoying a great band into the late hours of the night.
They should be commended for putting together such a fantastic and well organised event. Everything from reserved parking no more than 2 minutes away from the camp to 12 shuttle buses transporting guests to the pits (a pit pass was included) and to other interesting viewing venues on the Nordschleife were running round the clock. Absolutely top notch.
At noon on Saturday, after a closed press event in one of the catering tents, guests were invited to view a black US spec GT-R. During the presentation speech made by a Nissan UK exec (I think his name was Cox?) a few interesting points came up. 300 cars have been sold in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland without any marketing at all (please note that the European press has not yet given the car the same attention that the UK press has.) It was also confirmed that a GT-R will run in next year's 24h of Nürburgring.
The GT-R was being presented in a closed "cube" to which guests were being granted access two at a time. As you can imagine, there was a very long queue and, therefore, we spent most of our time viewing and touching the car instead of taking pictures.....
Being my first in the flesh GT-R experience, there were several surprises:
Firstly, the car is large and the cockpit is surprisingly (for me at least) snug. I'm 5'11 and average build and felt that there is a slightly less airy feel than in my current 997 - there is also significantly less headroom. The drivers seat is also much higher than the 997, however, it didn't bother me which the seat in my E46 M3 did. I can also sit in the back seat if the driver seat is positioned about 2 inches forward of my normal position, however my head did touch the roof. A child would be much more comfortable in the GT-R than a 911, but there's not too much in it for an adult. The driver's seat fits me like a glove.
Most surprising was the interior quality. As I am sure you have, I've read a lot of magazine articles which more or less state that the interior quality is good for a Nissan, however, but one shouldn't expect Porsche quality. I beg to differ. My feeling was that both the visual "luxury" and tactile impression is AT LEAST on par with my 997. I was so surprised that I came to the conclusion that the testers either, 1) have been blinded by the Porsche badge, 2) have never really spent any time in one, or 3) haven't noticed that the level of Porsche interior quality fell off a cliff with the introduction of the 996.
You do, however, notice where corners were cut. For example the levers for the steering wheel adjustment feel more Nissan Micra than Audi R8. While these details do make a difference, the general fit and finish is much more important to me. The fact that my girlfriend, a major GT-R sceptic until now, said that the car looks great from the outside and feels better than the porker on the inside is very significant praise.
All in all I loved the car and can't wait until April!
There was a second Gun Metal JDM spec car "GT Academy" car parked in the pits. The car seemed to have a non-standard exhaust system (see close up pic)?
Many thanks again to Nissan for the invitation and for the wonderful event!!!
BTW Have included some shots of the LF-A being wheeled onto the starting grid. It's going to be a hell of a machine......
