The Battle For Japanese Supercar Stardom Begins Anew

[m3gtr]

I think this is awesome.

Nissan, Toyota and Honda are at it again.

Here we have Nissan who have landed the first blow with the GTR, leaving Toyota and Honda scrambling for development and years behind at that.

Im predicting a battle royale between the 3 companies again for Japanese supercar supremacy. The only winner in this, provided the money is there, is the consumer and all this in spite of the green movement.

I remember when Toyota had the Supra, Nissan the R32/33/34 and Honda the NSX and these creations were always natural born enemies, yet how long I've waited for the next round to begin and to no surprise, here we are again many years later with the reality that they will go toe to toe over the same stretches of asphalt.

Sure the marques had other labels but those other labels didnt invoke the brawl that we see developing here.

I cant wait for it all to shake out as it did in the past - and to see if theres any movement between the brands because of it.

The GTR has left them reeling but you can bet your bottom dollar and my right nut that Toyota with the LFA and Honda with what is supposedly the new NSX, will come out swinging in the no-holds-barred brawl thats about to begin shortly.

Im hoping to bag some ring side seats for one...

Anyone else as stoked about this as i am?

[ctjet]

i think Honda will do over the GTR

with so much weight, surely honda can make a dedicated 2 seater much more nible and responsive than the R35

[West]

The NSX is in its own league.

[lingeringsoul]

Yes I'm so excited, I had to go change my pants.........................twice.

I say without the 206kw restriction, honda will have a tougher time laying the smack down.

[GTR-32U]

i think Honda will do over the GTR

with so much weight, surely honda can make a dedicated 2 seater much more nible and responsive than the R35

I would like to believe it would be so easy for Honda. But I believe they will struggle. They arent using the mid engine platform in the new NSX as far as I am aware. I believe it to be a front engine V10 with AWD..I dont believe that this combo will allow them to be lighter than the GTR. Sure the older Hondas were pretty lightweight cars but even they have porked up. Look at the latest civic type R...Its considerably heavier than even the integras were... With technology comes weight unfortunately.... I am hoping for Mazda to bring out an Ass kicking RX7....Dont know if its planned however

[lingeringsoul]

now we have another car joining the race. ZR1

[m3gtr]

I noticed that, the yanks have finally built something that actually works, lol.

[lingeringsoul]

i think we are all wondering now how true the claim of 7:24 is on the V spec.

[Shaolin242]

I noticed that, the yanks have finally built something that actually works, lol.

"finally"? - the Z06 has been around for a while...

im still waiting for the japs to build a new car that actually looks nice....

im still leaning towards the LFA or NSX...lexus will just be gorgeous once we finally get to see it!

[R338OY]

im still waiting for the japs to build a new car that actually looks nice....

+1 I do like Jap styling, but i don't wanna cry when i see it. Seeing Italian exotics makes me cry.

Fair enough the Japs AREN'T the Italians, but they should take a leaf outta their book. Or porno mag.

[CONRAD]

"I am hoping for Mazda to bring out an Ass kicking RX7....Dont know if its planned however"

It's only a concept but this is what Mazda could do:

Rotary loove'

Mazda

Edited June 29, 2008 by CONRAD

[ras1983]

i think we are all wondering now how true the claim of 7:24 is on the V spec.

I'm personally still questioning the 7:29 claim of the ordinary GTR. Nissan have a history of lying about the specification of the cars that set the nurburgring records, just look at the R33 GTR that was the first car to break the 8 minute barrier. Yet no one could match that time when the cars were released to the public.

And the latest car and driver magazine recorded a 12.6 1/4 @ 111 MPH for the R35 GTR, well down on the first few cards tested.

Having said that, I'm really looking forward to the stripped out V-Spec as well as the LFA.

Edited June 29, 2008 by ras1983

[Shaolin242]

man they run mid 11s stock...ppl in Jland and perth were running like 11.7s 11.6s hitting speed cut..

[lingeringsoul]

I'm personally still questioning the 7:29 claim of the ordinary GTR. Nissan have a history of lying about the specification of the cars that set the nurburgring records, just look at the R33 GTR that was the first car to break the 8 minute barrier. Yet no one could match that time when the cars were released to the public.

And the latest car and driver magazine recorded a 12.6 1/4 @ 111 MPH for the R35 GTR, well down on the first few cards tested.

Having said that, I'm really looking forward to the stripped out V-Spec as well as the LFA.

different road condition, fuel, dirver can all change end results.

I'm still waiting on the corvette video to see how real it is.

[NISMO]

I'm personally still questioning the 7:29 claim of the ordinary GTR. Nissan have a history of lying about the specification of the cars that set the nurburgring records, just look at the R33 GTR that was the first car to break the 8 minute barrier. Yet no one could match that time when the cars were released to the public.

And the latest car and driver magazine recorded a 12.6 1/4 @ 111 MPH for the R35 GTR, well down on the first few cards tested.

Having said that, I'm really looking forward to the stripped out V-Spec as well as the LFA.

Ummm,

Isn't there incar footage of the entire lap?

[lingeringsoul]

yes.....looking forward to the V spec, I probably wouldn't like the Corvette boys' smugness atm hahahaha.

So does this mean honda will be aiming for the new lap record now??

[ras1983]

Ummm,

Isn't there incar footage of the entire lap?

Just like the R33 GTR video? The video was real, the car was far from factory specification (at the very least it is reported to have had a well conceiled rollcage, slicks AND increased boost).

So yes, you're right that there IS a video of a R35 doing a 7:29 lap of the 'ring, but there is no proof that the car was a stock factory spec car and not some tweaked test mule.

[ras1983]

Just to get the thread back on topic, does anyone now if in fact the LFA is the supra replacement? Or is it an entirely different car to the supra?

[m3gtr]

"I am hoping for Mazda to bring out an Ass kicking RX7....Dont know if its planned however"

It's only a concept but this is what Mazda could do:

Rotary loove'

Mazda

Wicked! That is one angry mo fo of a rotor.

lol, but it did sound like a liquefied fart at one point in the clip.

Awesome machine - great attention to detail, completely impractical for comparo with the other cars being discussed.

[GTS4WD]

Does this mean they will get rid of alot of the pointless crap the GTR has for the Vspec?

Could we see a stripped and caged version like the Porche RS? Surely Nissan has their sights set on sticking it to ze German's.

This Battle Royal is going to be a real life Japanese version of Super Mario Kart!!!

The only thing im not looking forward to is hearing from everyone how bloody awesome the new LFA bottom end is going to be.. just like the old one.. and how much boost you can run on standard internals blah blah blah..

For Honda's sake.. lets hope the new NSX wont be as big of a flop as the old one..