The 24 hours of Nurburgring happens this weekend. Tons of Porsches. Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas will be piloting a 911 GT3 RSR. Looks like a total of 254 cars are entered. Of conspicuous absence is the Nissan GT-R, I thought a few were entering (I couldn't help pointing that out). What happened?

 

Could be because the GT-R is not available at german dealers up to now. Dealer-debut will be in March 2009.

I will drive down to the race tomorrow. Hope the weather will stay this year.

 

No, it's because the porky GT-R hasn't been developed for racing yet. In stock form, it would obviously get annhilated.

 

Good point

 

Actually, I read a couple of days ago (I wish I hadbook-marked it) that a few GT-R teams were planned. Based on the entry list that I read today, those teams are nowhere to be found.

 

Also, this is the track where the GT-R ran the "7:29" and they have spent thousands of hours developing the car. Does seem strange that they would stay away from an opportunity like this. But, what do I know?

 

I would suspect that Nissan just doesn't want to be humiliated after all their boasting.

 

I think they will come next year when the car is available here in Germany so they can do a better marketing with the race.

I'm surprised to see Lexus with the LF-A in the race....

 

Nissan does have a race version of the GT-R:

 

I suspected this might be the case also. The little Cayman certainly did not do too badly for it's debut last year, but it is conspicuously absent this year also. I wonder if Porsche did not put a little pressure on those guys not to run it again this year because it did so well last year?

 

I know. Where is it? This should be an excellent opportunity for Nissan.

 

Nissan cant race a Super GT car at Lemans, the rules are completely different, Lemans being governed by ACO is very strict whereas SGT cars have a very loose form of ruling on how they enter their cars. The motors dont even have to be based on homologated street cars, or come in the car that they ar racing, so it could have anything under the hood. Not only that the aero dynamic structure has very little to do with the street cars. So while they may be able to edit some things with the aero, and make sure it's factory spec motor, the ACO ruling against Turbo cars and since I beleive the car is not built on an actual GT-R chassis, but a purpose built one, it would have to run in LMGT1 vs the DB9R and C6R without all of the aero stuff.

And it still would give us no idea as to street performance because LMGT1 is based on homologation to a further extent that SGT, but the cars dont resemble the street cars versions one bit.

And to race in LMGT2 they'd have to take the humongous GT-R chassy, essentially be forced to add RWD or be penalized, and get enough weight out of the car (1300/1400 lbs) to be competitive. So they'd have to start from scratch. I honestly think they'll have to go tube frame in the racing series they enter like the CTS-V's, GTO etc.

 

That race version,if reliable, would be a formidable opponent!

 

I really do think it is interesting that so much has been made of the GT-R's ability to beat the 997 TT at the Nurburgring, and now we have an event at the ring, where the mighty GT-R has supposedly reigned "superior" and they are no where to be found. We have guys in this event who really know how to drive Porsches and conditions that can't be well controlled, such as traffic. Could that have something to do with it? I dunno. Hell, the GT-R has been burning up the Nurburgring for the last seven years, and now it is no where to be found. One did manage to make it to One Lap even though it is not yet available in America, and they have been officially raced in Japan where it won it's debut race. Just observations. Curious.

 

Yes, but we're talking about the 24 Hours of Nurburgring, not Le Mans. It is governed by VLN and ADAC, which have rather liberal rules. It is an interesting mix of pro race teams like Manthey, factory teams like Toyota's LF-A team, and even amateur teams racing much cheaper cars. Look at the Jurgen Alzen 996 Turbo for example, that would never pass muster under ACO regulations.

So really, Nissan could run any car they wanted... however, they are conspicuously missing. Even Toyota stepped up to the plate this time. But I hope the LF-A gets its *** kicked.