Spin Out

Much of the legend of the Nissan Skyline GT-R was born in Japanese GT Championship (JGTC) competition. And now Nissan has gone and replaced the Skyline, which won the championship last year, with a racing version of the 350Z for the GT-500 class.

The GT-500 class is limited to 500 hp (hence, duh, the name) and the 350Z reaches for that with a twin-turbocharged version of the Nissan VQ-series V6 displacing 3.0 liters and making 465 hp... and an almost gruesome 520 lb-ft of torque at a low, low, low 4000 rpm. All that torque may lead one to expect a rather long stroked engine, but in fact, the VQ in the GT-500 350Z has a relatively large 93mm bore (compared to the production 350Z 3.5-liter VQ's 95.5mm) and an ultra-short 73.3mm stroke (stock in the 350Z is 81.4mm). It's backed by a sequential six-speed transmission.

The physical dimensions of the GT-500 don't vary much from those of the production 350Z, though obviously everything is reinforced and tuned for racing. In fact, if the photos are correct, much of the structure comes straight over from the production car. How good a racecar is the GT-500? In testing this March at the Suzuka Circuit, Nissan claims to have already broken the track record, albeit unofficially.