Ben Bowley, the team principal and technical director for Nissan LMP1, has just disclosed that the next generation of GT-R might share its engine technology with the LM Nismo race car that was shown in Chicago this February.
In an interview with Top Gear magazine, he dropped some more-than-obvious clues that the 3-liter twin-turbo V6 of the GT-R LM Nismo will be used by the next supercar killer from Japan.
"The 3.0-liter V6 is a sort of god-child of the true, road-going GT-R. It's a direct injection engine, and the combustion technology, and integration of turbo and intake system within the head design, is all very interesting and highly applicable to the road," Bowley said.
If we're completely honest here, this announcement isn't surprising in any way. Infiniti recently discussed a new twin-turbo 3-liter V6 engine as well, so it was always clear that downsizing was on the agenda in Japan.
Previous reports indicated that the R36 GT-R will be a hybrid or plug-in hybrid. Development of the powertrain has already started and may end when engineers reach their benchmark target number: 800 HP.
That would mean that the Nissan GT-R will be a lot more powerful than a Ferrari F12berlinetta or even a McLaren 650S.
As for the LM Nismo racing prototype, it's interesting for a number of different reasons. For starters, it will be the only car in its class with a front-wheel-drive setup. Keeping the massively powerful 1,250 horsepower racing engine in check is a 5-speed sequential transmission, while the whole car only weights 1,940 lbs (880 kg). Here's a non-official video to get an idea of what it sounds like and gain insight into the future of the GT-R:
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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