2009 Nissan GTR: Here Comes Godzilla

The opening lines to Blue Oyster Cult's classic rock ditty "Godzilla" could easily pertain to the imminent return of the so-called automotive Godzilla, the Nissan GTR.

And now we (might) have the proof we've been waiting for. The GT-R has lapped the Nurburgring faster than a Porsche 911 Turbo. Oh no, there goes Tokyo indeed.

When the never-to-these-shores Nissan Skyline GT-R went on hiatus in 2002, mutterings of a world market replacement gained traction amongst the automotive press. Would it make sense? Would it be a Nissan or an Infiniti? Would it retain its hard-edged, techno addled Japanese muscle car persona, or become a softer, more American friendly GT cruiser? We got the nifty Inifiniti G35 a few years ago, which is badged as a Nissan Skyline in its home country. Would this be the foundation for the GT-R variant? Performance geeks held their breath. A concept popped up in 2002. Another in 2005. It looked mean. It had a purposeful grimace. But what did it all mean?

has been following the development of the upcoming car's development, and has what appears to be some spectacular news regarding its performance. Without any timing equipment more elaborate than a stopwatch, dedicated spies clocked the GT-R round the 'Ring's Nordschleife at an incredible 7:38, two full seconds faster than a Porsche Turbo. That time also puts the still in prototype guise GT-R in 13th place for road car times according to Wikipedia - unofficially, of course. The nearly 13 mile long course is considered the ultimate test bed for developing the overall performance of a sports car, due to its extreme nature, with everyone from Cadillac to Lotus tuning their machines on its historic tarmac.

The 2009 Nissan GT-R will be unveiled next month at the Tokyo International Auto Show. Back in the day, the Skyline GT-R was indeed referred to as Godzilla, thanks to its overwhelming domination of the Japanese Group A racing series. All indications are the new car, at least in its expected top-trim Evolution VSPEC II trim, will boast the numbers to once again establish it as king of the hill on Monster Island.