The birth of a 520-hp Nissan Juke-R

Nissan's (and Renault's) Brazilian CEO, Carlos Ghosn, is always to looking to push the boundaries of automotive engineering. It would seem that he shares this trait with his engineers. 

What can be more innovative and exciting than trying to meld a Nissan Juke and a Nissan GT-R together? This what the Juke-R is all about: the ultimate compact crossover that's packing a 520-hp engine. Shoehorning a VR38DETT and the CBA35's drivetrain into this mini SUV is no mean feat!



Head on over to the Nissan JUKE Official Facebook page to find out more on this amazing project: http://www.facebook.com/NissanJukeOfficial

Review: Whiteline Performance Suspension

Since I'm a big supporter of Aussie made automotive products, I've decided to write a couple of short reviews on a few of them for the benefit of the Malaysian motoring public. Besides Whiteline, theres Haltech for your electronic engine management needs, Disc Brakes Australia (DBA) for rotors and Turbosmart for wastegates. The Aussies make pretty decent stuff and I'm using all those brands in my cars.

As some of you might have noticed, I am currently using Whiteline Performance Suspension bushes and sway bars on my GT-R.

I actually started using Whiteline on my cars since my student / working days in Melbourne, Australia. Great people to deal with over the phone and easy pick up at your friendly neighbourhood Pedders Suspension shop (they have a tie up with Whiteline). Pedders is a chain of suspension tuning shops which can be found in many Australian towns and major cities.

Anyway for everyone's knowledge, Whiteline suspension suspension products are actually manufactured in South Korea but design and testing is done at their facility in Somersby, New South Wales (near Sydney). Whiteline recently had their swaybars TÜV SÜD certified, so that they could be sold in the EU. They are pretty much up there in terms of quality seeing as European standards are quite stringent when it comes to automotive parts.

As with most automotive parts, a company's product is as good as how well it does in motorsport events. Whiteline parts are used in major events such as the recent World Time Attack Challenge (WTAC) that was held in Australia. A Whiteline equipped R35 GT-R took the number one spot in the Open Class category and several cars in the Pro Class (like Mercury Motorsports' R35) used Whiteline swaybars. Whiteline parts have also found their way into the rallying scene. WORKS Motorsport's Mitsubishi RalliArt SST participates regularly in Rally America, The Oregon Trail. Whiteline has been supporting the WORKS car with adjustable sway bars, alignment products, polyurethane bushings and aluminium bushings.

I'll leave with you some pictures of Whiteline's NSW facility. If you're looking to improve the handling of your car or wanting to refresh tired suspension parts, check Whiteline out as they cater to a wide range of makes and models, from Subarus to Volkswagens.

http://www.whiteline.com.au/ 

Heres one of their sway bar stress testing machines:

Sway Bar Blanks being fashioned on site for testing purposes:

This is their stockpile of swaybars at Whiteline warehouse / HQ in NSW:

Worth Watching: World's Greatest Drag Race!

With an empty airstrip and eleven of the best drivers cars in the world, Motortrend puts on the world's greatest drag race. 

Read the entire 2011 Best Drivers Car story here:
http://www.motortrend.com/features/performance/1109_2011_motor_trend_best_drivers_car/

Vimeo and the GT-R Family

I never get tired of watching this vid, especially the part where all four GT-R generations are cruising down the street in line abreast formation.



And big up to Vimeo for the following reasons:

1. No spam

2. Professional content

3. Professional contacts

4. Sleek video player

5. Higher quality video in HD

“Vimeo is for people with a passion.
Youtube is for people who want fame and popularity.” – DoubleFilms

Amazing R35 GT-R High Speed Crash Video!

Repost courtesy of a fellow R33 Skyliner, King Rat from Adventures in Motoring:

It looked like the black / dark grey R35 was embroiled in a street race with another car, which appears to be a seventh gen Honda Accord Euro R (CL7) or a Volkswagen Jetta Mark 5. This appears to be somewhere in Europe (and I was right - its Moscow).

The R35 was on outside lane during the race and must have ran out of space, as it tried to pass on the inside. Unfortunately, the R35 clipped a stationary vehicle at start of the video and it's right wheel came off (this wheel then rolls away and hits a Chevrolet Cruze on the opposite side of the road).

Upon clipping the car, the R35 swerves into the fast lane and barely misses hitting the Accord. Missing its front right wheel now, the R35 is out of control and smashes into a yellow car and subsequently after that, barrels into a row of stationary vehicles.

Surprisingly, a large part of the R35 survived intact (the left side anyway), as we can see it trundling out of the camera's view, intertia pulling it forward.

Well, what can you say? Clearly racing on public inner-city streets is a big no no, boys and girls.

Update: You can read all about it + pictures at http://www.performancecar.co.nz/news-5900/moscow-street-racing-claims-r35-nissan-gt-r-video 

"The latest addition to our ‘street racing isn’t cool’ file comes from Moscow, Russia where a late model Nissan GT-R exceeded its high limits at the wrong moment and stacked into three parked cars.

While most of us would give our left nut to own a R35 GT-R the driver of this one has no worries tearing through a city street at reckless high speeds. Onlookers claimed he was street racing and failed to flick the car left after passing another car from the right. The result is four damaged vehicles of which three are most likely written off, the worst being an innocent parked SUV that was flung into the air.

Unfortunately for the loose GT-R driver, CCTV cameras caught the antics from two different viewpoints meaning this street racer is fully nicked.

Check out the video of the GT-R crash below, and remember street racing isn’t cool".

Project Time Attack: Nissan S13 Coupe

 

In my previous blog post, I spoke of finding the right car to be turned into a time attack machine. After much deliberation and looking at several makes and models, I've narrowed the field down to one car and thats a 1990 Nissan S13 Silvia Coupe. 

My decision to go with a S-Chassis is primarily down to six factors, some of which were mentioned in the previous posting but will be further extrapolated here: 

• Good, affordable rear-wheel drive base to build up from

Front-engine, rear-wheel drive (FR) cars have a natural tendency to oversteer. Controlled oversteers can technically help you set faster track times but can be very difficult to control.This naturally happens as the rear wheels are used for acceleration, while the front wheels steer the car. Rear wheel drive (RWD) cars tend to balance towards 'oversteer' which sees the front of the car pulling to the inside of the corner (whilst the rear comes out). As some of you might well know from seeing drifters work their magic, some opposite lock, combined with acceleration, can help nip this problem in the butt. Therefore, if given sufficient grip, RWD is near perfect for track  - proof of this being that every major motorsport event in the world uses the FR layout. Even current most popular all-wheel drive (AWD) car in the world today, the Nissan R35 GT-R, has dropped its AWD system in favour of a FR setup, as Nissan seeks to dominate proceedings in the Super GT series. 

• Easy to get power out of the Nissan SR20DET engine

The SR20DET is a highly tuneable engine and its popularity is based on the motor's ability to produce power on the cheap. Also, the SR20's all alloy block, alloy heads, twincams, 16 valves and an intercooled T28 turbo, indicates that the engine possessed technology that was ahead of its time. This makes it a good engine to use in amateur motorsports.

• Option to retro-fit parts from other Nissan models

Something I've learned and come to appreciate after months of GT-R ownership is that, Nissan parts are highly interchangeable. Not only does this feature exist between cars that belong to the same family tree but also with other Nissan cars that were made on a different production line. This is also inter-generational feature - S13 can for example, make use of newer parts that were a standard feature on later model Silvias like the S14 and S15. 

• Massive amount of aftermarket parts

Testament to the popularity and longevity of the SR20DET, the engine enjoys tremendous aftermarket support and is fully backed by all major Japanese tuning houses. Even till present day, its easy to procure new aftermarket parts for an S13, as these items are still in production.

• Huge supply of halfcuts and spare parts that are already in Malaysia

This has to do with the fact that the SR20 was used to power many of Nissan's cars since the early 1990s. Hence, a large supply of halfcuts and parts have made their way onto Malaysian shores. Production numbers of the S13 alone, is staggering - some 251,410 units were built from 1989 to 1998.

• Proven track platform

Furthermore, the track capabilities of the S13 Coupe have been amply showcased at Sepang by Yoong (Ee Yoong Chern) and his HKS Garage R Hiper S13. The car lapped a best time of 2.26:5 at last year's Time to Attack Sepang and was ranked 4th overall. I got to know of Yoong through the Malaysian Skyline fraternity as he owns a R33 GT-R as well. You should see him drive it up Ulu Yam.

These following pics were taken prior to delivery of the car. I purchased the vehicle for a song and it came equipped with some goodies (widebody kit / S15 five lug conversion / R32 GT-R brakes / half cage though). The body is also very straight.

The S13 is currently undergoing a major make over - all of its consumables have been a changed, a JIC adjustable suspension installed, a new S14 gearbox bolted in, a Nismo GT LSD for the rear and lastly, 17" Work +5 offset rims with new tyres to help it steer better. I'm hoping it'll be ready for this weekend, so I could join a jaunt up Gohtong Jaya with the Italia Auto boys.

Ignore the drift, ricey bits. Those will be rectified in due time and a 2.2 stroker kit + Haltech ECU + cams + disco potato will be going into that SR20DET: