Another Nissan GT-R? Aye. But bear with me, this one’s worth mentioning. There are those, it seems, for whom a conventional 542bhp Nissan GT-R isn’t quite enough, yet who think that a 592bhp GT-R Nismo is a bit too much. This, the Nissan GT-R Track Edition engineered by Nismo, is for those people.
Actually, it does make sense; there is a gap betwixt the two models – the regular and extreme – into which this version neatly slots. A ‘base’ GT-R costs £78,030; the Nismo, as a result of its more special engine, carbon fibre-heavy interior and aero-exterior, costs a not inconsiderable £125,000.
The Track Edition takes some of the bits of the Nismo to position itself somewhere between the two. At £88,560, it retains the regular GT-R’s twin-turbo V6 and its 542bhp and 466lb ft outputs, and retains the regular interior, too, but it gets the Nismo’s suspension upgrades and some amendments to the body – not aerodynamic addenda, you understand, but it receives bonding on its body to supplement spot-welds, as the Nismo does, to stiffen the shell.
The suspension is pure GT-R Nismo, with three-stage adjustable Bilstein dampers, a hollow rear anti-roll bar, Nismo wishbone links at the front, and high-rigidity bolts to stiffen the suspension around the wheel hub. The idea behind all of that is greater wheel control and better stability, both in a straight line and during extreme cornering. There are Nismo-spec wheels and tyres, too.
All GT-Rs are ballistically fast both in a straight line and around corners – that’s pretty much the USP – but while the Track Edition does all that too, it also fills a worthwhile, hitherto unfilled slot in the line-up.
You don’t lose much over the regular GT-R – except having to part with more money. It gives very little, if anything, away to the base car in terms of comfort and everyday usability. The ride is, for a car of this ilk, acceptably pliant. And while the underlying ride might be a bit more unsettled than usual, it’s never harsh.
There’s a bit more tramlining over bad surfaces (of which, you’ll have noticed, there are quite a few in the UK) than I remember from my last outing in a road-going GT-R. But you can tell there’s really deft wheel control going on underneath you; real first-rate sort of stuff.
Perhaps the unsprung weight, thanks to the 20in Rays forged aluminium wheels, is reduced over that of the standard GT-R. It’s got that sort of light-on-its-feet feel, which is pretty impressive given that it’s a 1740kg car.
