The 2017 Nissan GT-R is Godzilla Redux

Jonathan Gitlin

The 2017 Nissan GT-R: faster and more refined.

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   Jonathan Gitlin

   The 2017 Nissan GT-R: faster and more refined.
   
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   Jonathan Gitlin

   Godzilla looks quite fetching in orange.
   
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   Jonathan Gitlin

   The interior has seen quite the upgrade with regards to the quality of materials.
   
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   Jonathan Gitlin

   Four of Nissan's five "Takumi"—the master craftsmen who hand-build each GT-R engine—were on hand at NYIAS to show us how they do that magic that they do so well.
   

Everyone from car enthusiasts to gamers to RC joystick jockeys knows the Nissan GT-R, but it wasn't always thus. For most of its life, the car that many now call "Godzilla" toiled away in relative obscurity, at least in the West. Yet its performance cred has never been questioned. To emphasize the GT-R's distinguished lineage, Nissan surrounded the 2017 model at the New York International Auto Show with an inspired display of its fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers. The new GT-R boasts better-quality interior materials, additional sound deadening, revised rear bodywork, and a "V Motion" grille in matte chrome. With its hand-built 3.8L twin-turbo engine, it also cranks out 20hp (15kW) more than last year's model, for a total of 565hp (421kW). Nissan declares that the 2017 GT-R has the most standard horsepower among all of its competitors, though no performance figures are cited. (The previous GT-R does 0-60 mph in just 2.7 seconds, however.)
For the New York Auto Show, Nissan had four of its five master craftsmen, or Takumi, demonstrate engine building for the gathered press. Even with all that, the new car had to compete for attention with the classic Skyline GT-Rs parked next to it.

Godzilla Progeny: GT-Rs Through the Years

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The PGC10 first-generation Skyline GT-R instantly created a high benchmark in Japanese performance cars when it debuted in February 1969. Nicknamed "Hakosuka" and weighing in at just 2,469 lbs., it offered 158hp (118kW) at a lofty 7,000 rpm from its small 2.0L, DOHC inline six-cylinder engine and a modest 130 lb-ft (176Nm) of torque. But this engine marked a more dedicated high-performance way of thinking. Prior Nissan engines' intake and exhaust ports were all located on the same side of the cylinder head, which isn't optimal for heavy breathing, but the Skyline GTR sported a crossflow head, four valves per cylinder, hemispherical combustion chambers, and three Weber-like twin-choke sidedraft carburetors. Winning came quickly, too, with the PGC10 seeing its first laurels just three months later at the 1969 JAF Grand Prix at the original Fuji Speedway.

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Just four years after the PGC10 Skyline, Nissan debuted the KPGC110 Skyline 2000 GT-R in January of 1973, nicknamed "Kenmeri." Still using the stout 2.0-liter inline six cylinder S20 engine, the car grew disc brakes at all four corners. It also matured from a design perspective, with a distinctive upswept line at the C pillar. The Skyline 2000 also ushered in the first use of the GT-R's hallmark round tail lamps. It would be the last GT-R for some time, due to new laws in Japan restricting emissions and exhaust noise.

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The next Skyline on display at the New York Auto Show, a R32-generation GT-R from 1989, is completely modern in comparison to the PGC10 and KPGC110. Sporting the modern classic RB26DETT twin-turbo inline six-cylinder engine worth an official 276hp (206kW), it used the "GT-R" designation for the first time in 16 years. JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) enthusiasts love swapping this fuel-injected RB26 engine into a variety of cars, both with and without turbos. The R32-generation Skyline debuted all-wheel drive with electronic torque splitting and never lost a race in its proud All-Japan Championship competition career.

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The R33-generation Skyline GT-R that debuted in 1995 was not a huge evolution from the earlier 1989 car. However, chassis stiffness improved vastly, as did traction control and a new, more sophisticated all-wheel-drive system using a smarter rear limited-slip diff. All of this meant that the R33 could tear up Germany's legendary Nürburgring racetrack 21 seconds faster (7 minutes, 59 seconds) than the prior R32 car.

Jonathan Gitlin

The R34 Skyline.

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   Jonathan Gitlin

   The R34 Skyline.
   
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   Jonathan Gitlin

   This engine is beloved by tuners, who can extract enormous amounts of power from it.
   

By 1999, the R34 marked the final iteration of the second-generation Skyline GT-R with the now-familiar RB26 engine, still making an official "276" hp. An agreement within the Japanese auto industry stipulated that no manufacturer would build a car making more than 276 horsepower, as it was perceived by many in the industry as irresponsible. In reality, most high-performance Japanese cars rated at 276hp were paper kittens and developed more—sometimes far more—than 276hp, or required minimal tweaking to achieve their full power potential. The R34 GT-R also used underbody aerodynamics to generate downforce. Just 1,000 M-spec Nür models (for "Nürburgring") were issued in 2001.

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It may not be vintage yet, but the still-camouflaged R35-generation GT-R NISMO was a lesson in recent history for the New York crowd. This GT-R clocked a 7-minute, 8-second scorcher at the Nürburgring's Nordschleife in 2015. That timid agreement that limited claimed power by Japanese automakers? Gone. This GT-R developed every single one of its 600hp (447kW) thanks to a very special hand-built 3.8L twin-turbo V6.

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Listing image by Jonathan Gitlin