The Le Mans 24 Hours is slowly but surely gaining more traction with automakers than Formula 1, with Nissan being the latest major company to join the competition.
Showing posts with label Nismo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nismo. Show all posts
5/22/14
Nissan to Fight Audi, Porsche in the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours with GT-R LM Nismo [w/Videos]
The Le Mans 24 Hours is slowly but surely gaining more traction with automakers than Formula 1, with Nissan being the latest major company to join the competition.
11/29/13
Nissan Preparing Qashqai Nismo with More Than 200 Horses
Following the hot Juke Nismo RS, Nissan’s high-performance division will work its magic on the recently-unveiledQashqai crossover as well. According to a report from CAR, the Qashqai Nismo will feature more than 200 horsepower and will be revealed as early as winter 2014.
The report quotes Andy Palmer, Nissan global product chief, as saying that the Qashqai Nismo will be more powerful than the Juke Nismo. “I wouldn't just give it the engine from Juke. It’d have more power than that,” Palmer told the British publication. He added that a solution would be to adopt the uprated 1.6-liter engine from the Juke Nismo RS.
However, the Qashqai would need more than that to be a Nismo. “I’m adamant that Nismo should be about more than just more power. I want us to focus on ride and handling, making cars that aren’t just faster, but also feel obviously more fun to drive,” Palmer said.
Just like other Nismo models, the heated up Qashqai should feature a bodykit with red accents, sporty contact points inside, and will be focused on ride and handling rather than sheer power.
No pricing details were offered, but the Qashqai Nismo is likely to be offered in a single-spec including all necessary features. CAR estimates the sporty crossover should be priced at just under £30,000 (€35,875) in the UK, given that the flagship new Qashqai costs £27,845 - and that there’s a £1,900 gap between a range-topping Juke and its Nismo derivative.
By Dan Mihalascu
11/20/13
Nissan Juke NISMO RS Shows Off its 215 HP and Extra Trinkets in LA [w/Video]
The new Nissan Juke NISMO RS, which just debuted at the Los Angeles motor show, is an interesting proposition. It’s based on the regular Juke NISMO, but it offers more power, improved handling and some fancy Recaro seats.
Its 1.6-liter turbocharged engine now churns out 215 hp, which is 8 hp more than before, unequally divided among the four wheels most of the time, with a prominent front-wheel drive bias under normal driving conditions.
Still, cars ordered with manual six-speed gearboxes can also be fitted with a limited-slip differential to help get the power down out of corners. Reviews of the regular NISMO say it’s not necessarily a bad thing to drive, so the advent of improved chassis rigidity and bigger brakes can only serve to make it better.
Nissan gives this special RS model a unique interior treatment, with carbon fiber (look) trim, a red-and-black color theme featuring mixes of leather and suede.
Then we have the Recaro seats which completely transform the interior ambiance, or at least they seem to do so in the photos which you can check out in the gallery below.
By Andrei Nedelea
Nissan Sentra NISMO Concept: The Official Story on 240HP 1.8-Liter Turbo Sports Sedan
You saw the leaked pictures, time to learn the details now on Nissan's LA Auto Show world premiere, the new Sentra NISMO Concept for a 240+ horsepower version of the brand's saloon.
The regular Sentra is your run of the mill family sedan, but after NISMO's treatment of its body and soul, the Nissan model has suddenly became a lot more interesting, starting with the 1.8-liter turbocharged engine that churns out more than 240 horsepower and 240 lb-ft of torque.
The inline four is mated to a 6-speed manual transmission that drives the front wheels through a limited slip differential for better grip. Changes have also been made to the suspension bits and settings with custom performance shocks and springs, while the car now rides on 19-inch RAYS aluminum-alloy wheels mounted on 225/35R19 Michelin Super Sport performance tires. You will also find bigger brakes from Brembo.
As far as appearance goes, the Sentra NISMO looks the part without going Fast&Furious crazy, featuring restyled front and rear bumpers, a rear diffuser, side skirts, boot lid spoiler and a unique front grille, plus the sub-brand's trademark red accents.
Nissan says NISMO has also taken care of the interior with Recaro "Sportster" front seats with custom black leather and Alcantara appointments, sports steering wheel with red leather at the 12 o'clock position, along with matching shift knob and shifter lever boot surround. Moreover, the instrument cluster features a satin carbon fiber finish and all chrome accents are treated to a Dark Chrome finish.
Will we see the Sentra NISMO entering production in the future? Nissan says maybe.
"Fans have asked that we bring back a high-performance Sentra straight from the factory, just like in generations past," stated Nissan Vice President of Product Planning, Pierre Loing. "With NISMO, our in-house motorsports arm already producing versions of the 370Z NISMO, JUKE NISMO, JUKE NISMO RS and upcoming GT-R NISMO, we wanted to demonstrate where we could go in the future."
Check Out Nissan's LA Auto Show Sentra NISMO Concept
Nissan had informed us about it intentions to release a new NISMO concept at the LA Auto Show this week, but it hadn't said what that car might be. You can thank the spies at Chris Doane Photography for giving us an early heads up on the concept that's based on the latest Sentra Sedan.
Full information will follow in the next couple of hours, but from these two images, we see that NISMO has done its best to give the family-orientated Sentra sedan an aggressive look through the use of bespoke bumpers and spoilers, honeycombed grilles, and of course, bigger wheels with the appropriate rubber.
Knowing NISMO, there should also be a power upgrade and chassis improvements, but more on that once we read the official release.
11/19/13
New Nissan IDx Freeflow and IDx NISMO Small RWD Concepts Influenced by Classic Skyline GT-R
If Toyota thinks it has an ace in its pocket with the classic AE 86 that led to the birth of the successful GT-86, Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ coupes, Nissan believes it has an entire deck of cards with the original predecessor of the famed GT-R, the first generation Skyline GT-R from the late 1960s, early 1970s.
While not mentioned in Nissan's press content, it's pretty clear that the Skyline GT-R was one of the main inspirations for a nostalgic pair of concepts for a small sports coupe series named IDx Freeflow and IDx NISMO, which made their world premiere today at the Tokyo Motor Show.
Looking at these pictures, other cars that may have influenced the design of the study could include the classic Datsun Bluebird 1600 SSS Coupe.
The Japanese automaker says that the main object of the two compact rear-wheel drive coupes is to show how Nissan and NISMO can create two very different models from the same vehicle.
If you ask us, we've already seen this concept with NISMO's first vehicles such as its interpretation of the GT-R that is also making its world premiere in Tokyo, so we're thinking Nissan may also be testing the waters for a compact sports coupe to go against the trio from Toyota, Scion and Subaru – if not in design, in spirit.
The back-to-basics IDx Freeflow is actually quite small measuring about 4.1 meters (161.4 inches) in length, 1.7 meters (66.9 inches) in width, and 1.3 meters (51.2 inches) in overall height. There's no power plant in the concept, but Nissan says it envisioned the car to be motivated "from a powertrain with a 1.2-to-1.5L gasoline engine mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT)". Agreed, that doesn't sound very GT-R, but let's not forget that the purpose of this concept is not to replace the GT-R.
The NISMO edition of the study is wider at 1.8 meters and gains a typical race inspired exterior and interior makeover, with bloated wheel arches, side exhausts, spoilers and lightweight 225/40 19-inch tires
As for the suggested powerplant, Nissan states: "To meet the high expectations for a powertrain equal to the task of propelling such a formidable car, one proposal from Nissan's engineers is the combination of a high-performance, eco-friendly 1.6L direct-injection turbocharged engine together with a sporty CVT with 6-speed manual shift mode and synchronized rev control."
I don't know about you, but the idea of an affordable, back to basics RWD sports coupe in a compact package with a more distinct styling than the GT-86/FR-S/BRZ does sound tempting to our ears.
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