Gege Talks: A Mid-Engine GT-R?

It's been with us since 2007, Nissan GT-R is becoming one of most successful high permormance sportscar in the world. Many people in the world from the one who only know cars a bit to petrolheads knows this car, even though most people actually dreaming about driving a Ferrari. The GT-R badge also proved to be successful in motorsport scene since the first GT-R, the Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R. And recently, Nissan announced the comeback to the Le Mans 24 Hours race as a manufacture team in LMP1 category with a car they called Nissan GT-R LM Nismo. And that let's me thinking; is it a possible sign of a mid-engine GT-R road car?

Why I thinking that way? Well, since we talking about Le Mans and Nissan, and the GT-R, you probably remember of one car that is related to all of those. Yes, I talking the Nissan R390 GT1. Nissan R390 GT1 was Nissan's weapon to compete in Le Mans 24 Hours in 1997 until 1998. Because they utilized coupe body style to the car, which means they entered the GT1 category, they need to make at least one production version of the car in order to meet the homologation rules. Thus R390 GT1 road car was born. There are 2 version of it, the 1997 model, painted red, and 1998 model, painted blue. The difference is simple, the 1998 model has a longer tail with no GT wing, while the tail in 1997 model is shorter, but has a spoiler on it.

1998 Nissan R390 GT1 race car

1998 Nissan R390 GT1 road car

So, how does that related to GT-R? Well, with that comeback announcement, I just remember about R390 GT1, and with that I also remember some media on internet (probably Top Gear) mention R390 GT1 being compared with GT-R SpecV in the terms of acceleration. The R390 GT1 has a 3.5L Twin-Turbo V8 producing 550 HP for the road car, while GT-R SpecV has a 3.8L Twin-Turbo V6 producing 485 HP at that time. Despite the difference, both can do 0-60 mph (96 km/h) in 3.2 seconds. Although R390 GT1 has a higher top speed, reaching 351 km/h. With all that figure, the R390 GT1 was technically Nissan's first ever supercar. Whereas the GT-R, well, it can be called supercar, but it's actually just a grand tourer, isn't it? So, a proper GT-R supercar? Sounds cool, right?

Nissan GT-R Nismo

Nissan called their LMP1 racer Nissan GT-R LM Nismo. Yes, GT-R. So it should have the GT-R DNA on it. Probably just the design. We still don't know yet as they as the car is still hidden under the cover. But, we know that it will be mid-engine, because all LMP cars are like that. So, technically, that is the first mid-engine GT-R ever. But the problem is, that is a race car. So, what if Nissan is making the mid-engine GT-R for the road? I think it will be great if they make the successor to the R390 GT1 in a form of GT-R, since the R390 GT1 were also born for Le Mans. By Keeping some of the GT-R design elements, using engine out from GT-R Nismo (595 HP from the original GT-R engine), utilizing carbon fiber monocoque and aluminium spaceframe hybrid chassis, carbon fiber bodywork, 7-speed dual clutch gearbox, double wishbone with pushrod suspension system, active aerodynamics, an improved ATTESA E-TS AWD system, and probably Super HICAS 4 wheel steering system, it will be one heck of a supercar.

So, what do you think?