At the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan threw the silks from the first GT-R Nismo, a Nissan Motorsport-tuned example of the hallowed sports car, and, at the time, the fastest GT-R ever built. Beneath the new, higher downforce-producing carbon fiber bodykit lay a twin-turbo V6 with more power, new anti-roll bars, a stiffer chassis, and suspension and larger diameter turbochargers lifted from Nissan’s GT3 car. In short, and even though it was fully road legal, the Nismo was a track weapon. Indeed, mere weeks before its unveil, a GT-R Nismo “with track options” lapped the Nürburgring in just 7 minutes and 8.679 seconds, just 10 seconds slower – across 12.9, undulating miles – than a Ferrari 599XX.
