Track Day (pre And Post) Inspections?

[N1GTR]

You can also spend 100k on an r34 and have just as much fun, even more - as you dont have to worry about warranty.

[Martin Donnon]

And have all the joys of a 10 year old well worn car with the bonus being it will be worth $50K when it comes time to sell it

[LSX-438]

Look, some have been told (by the dealer) there WILL be track warranty (i have) some have been told otherwise. That's the issue, we don't know what's going on. It looks like we'll be asked to sign more "agreements" at time of delivery. That's crap.

Personally i dont expect (or even want) "track warranty" and i certainly am not about to have the car inspected before and after every track day. I've spent many tens of thousands on track days over the last two to three years (motor builds/maintenence, brake kits, suspension kits, many many sets of RE55's and Dunlops, you name it) - a lot of us do pay to play and know what it costs to 'track' a car.

Do any other manufacturers stipulate pre and post track day inspections to keep warranty?

[Gibbo_R35]

I have done plenty of Track Days, Skid Pan days etc. I even told the sales rep of this when I signed my order, however not once was a mention made of ...Oh by the way...no warranty on the track. I am sick of having the goal posts moved.

I do not mind a no warranty for vehicle abuse, however track use is not vehicle abuse....especially when the car is marketed the way it is. I understand if I am buying a commodore and it breaks on the track...because that is not what it was built for....however a GTR was built for the track...it was designed to beat the 911 Turbo on the track....so don't now tell me that this car was deigned for one thing...but now please do not use it for that.

Oh well....anyone want to buy a GTR ...white etc in about 3 - 4 weeks.

[Martin Donnon]

I understand if I am buying a commodore and it breaks on the track...because that is not what it was built for....however a GTR was built for the track...it was designed to beat the 911 Turbo on the track....so don't now tell me that this car was deigned for one thing...but now please do not use it for that.

I dont know where you get some of your info from Gibbo but GTR was NOT designed for the race track. It happens to be darned good at going around a track but its designed primarily as a street car. It comes with subwoofers, TVs, average comfy seats, road style brakes, and an auto mode to make it drive like a 'normal car'. Track cars come with semi-comp tyres, factory roll cages, light weight etc. Different kettle of fish to R35 (think GT3, Superleggera et al)

You will NEVER have warranty on a track with the GTR....or at least if you do Australia will be the first GTR market in the world to offer it

[Martin Donnon]

Personally i dont expect (or even want) "track warranty" and i certainly am not about to have the car inspected before and after every track day.

Exactly the reason we decided to use an import as the Willall trackday GTR. We cover our own warranty and servicing requirements as most of you would already know. Sure not everyone is in the position to do this, but we didnt want to be held to ranson by a car company that had already made it public that the vehicle would be extremely expensive to maintain at a dealer level if you wanted to keep this very intangible thing known as a warranty. That...and I dont want some apprentice thrashing my car - hence we look after our own.

Our Aussie GTR may never see the track and only be subject to normal servicing

[LSX-438]

Exactly the reason we decided to use an import as the Willall trackday GTR. We cover our own warranty and servicing requirements as most of you would already know. Sure not everyone is in the position to do this, but we didnt want to be held to ranson by a car company that had already made it public that the vehicle would be extremely expensive to maintain at a dealer level if you wanted to keep this very intangible thing known as a warranty. That...and I dont want some apprentice thrashing my car - hence we look after our own.

Our Aussie GTR may never see the track and only be subject to normal servicing

Most people i know who do regular track days don't RELY on warranty to address things that need attention (from a track day perspective). Actually i dont know anyone who has. They might use warranty for a broken head unit or some dodgy trim. Or they might get a cracked rotor replaced (the first time they ask).. IF they are lucky.

The point of this thread is to find out what the official Nissan policy is.

Especially in regards to this "inspection" business.

I think Nissan will see a few people walking away from their contracts, or at least refusing to sign these new agreements.

Edited March 8, 2009 by LSX-438

[Martin Donnon]

The point of this thread is to find out what the official Nissan policy is.

Especially in regards to this "inspection" business.

You will find the answer simple, take the car on track and you will have No warranty, doesnt matter what services you do or dont have done

So whether you fork out for a dealer money maker (inspection) or not wont make any difference to the status of your warranty. Dont let it bother you

Edited March 8, 2009 by Martin Donnon

[N1GTR]

And have all the joys of a 10 year old well worn car with the bonus being it will be worth $50K when it comes time to sell it

The great news is that they're available everyday for 50k, so buy for 50k, spend 10k on motor, another 5k on induction, 3k on a clutch, 2500 more on ECU, 3k on suspension, then replace parts as they wear out. Skyline GTR fun and laptimes to match without having to wonder if any Nissan reps are taking down licence plates in the pits to go home and report to the boss so they can void warranties.

Although, if you enjoy being held to ransom, paying crazy prices for parts, and still ending up with higher laptimes than a well sorted previous model GTR - then good for you

BTW - I look forward to buying a JDM GTR in the future for race only

[ylwgtr2]

I personally think that if any perspective buyer of these cars that buys it on a "oh wow ive got a warranty" frame of mind has been sucked into this HUGE marketing program that nissan australia has created....nissan use's the warranty as a deterant for people to stay away from imported models....but we all know that the car is not going to break under normal operating conditions on the public roads....Well big deal....In my opinion the warranty really worth squat.....Im sure high end manufacturers have the same system in place ie ferrari,lambourghini ect .....how do you think those owners feel with car that cost more than twice the amount!i feel the cost of the GTR really isnt that much to let the manufacture hold a strong hold on what you do wth the vehicle.....I look at things like this .....the cost of the 32 GTR when it was released in comparison to the cost of a house back then.....and the 35 GTR and the cost of a house these days....the gap is quite larger now.....you track it and break it ....big deal wear it....just enjoy the car and drive it as hard as your pockets will allow you too

[sh@un]

Unless you have actually driven an R35, or spent some of your hard earned on one, you really shouldnt post dumb shit like that.

Its a lot of fun, and the costs are reasonable. Its a $160,000 performance car not a clapped out 20 year old grey import from Salt Road City.

the vast majority of people would see track days where each lap effectively costs in the vacinity of $200 as being an absolute f**king rip-off, regardless of how perfect each 200ms gearshift is.

maybe you should get a grip on reality before posting dumb shit like that

[LSX-438]

I personally think that if any perspective buyer of these cars that buys it on a "oh wow ive got a warranty" frame of mind has been sucked into this HUGE marketing program that nissan australia has created....nissan use's the warranty as a deterant for people to stay away from imported models....but we all know that the car is not going to break under normal operating conditions on the public roads....Well big deal....In my opinion the warranty really worth squat.....Im sure high end manufacturers have the same system in place ie ferrari,lambourghini ect .....how do you think those owners feel with car that cost more than twice the amount!i feel the cost of the GTR really isnt that much to let the manufacture hold a strong hold on what you do wth the vehicle.....I look at things like this .....the cost of the 32 GTR when it was released in comparison to the cost of a house back then.....and the 35 GTR and the cost of a house these days....the gap is quite larger now.....you track it and break it ....big deal wear it....just enjoy the car and drive it as hard as your pockets will allow you too

I mostly agree. However I dont think the average person expects Nissan to sponsor their on-track fun HOWEVER some Nissan reps ARE saying the will have warranty for the track, others are saying this post track day inspection is merely a mechanism to keep regular (road only) warranty. Bah. This is a breakthrough vehicle in many respects which sets new benchmarks and costs half the price of the competition, it's going to bring new people to the segement and brand - as such they are all going to have various expectations. People are just confused. It doesnt make them wrong or stupid. Having said all that why would Nissan Australia care when the cars are basically selling themselves and their stock availability has been halved. To be frank if i were a dealer i wouldnt care, at least not now, all the cars are sold.

[Snowman]

The interesting part for Nissan is that if they decide to basically end all warranty if you do anything small to the car or take it to a track then people simply won't bother taking their cars to Nissan for services etc. And the fact is all the dealerships have paid truck loads to set-up for servicing these cars so really it is in their best interests to ensure customers do come back to them. As people have alluded too - the servicing side of this could be the real cash cow for Nissan so they wouldn't want to stuff that up.

The U.S also have a post track inspection thing which basically entails them plugging the car into a PC to read the temps and determine if things fluids etc need changing. Their experiences seem to be good on this particular service.

http://www.nagtroc.org/forums/index.php?sh...cotts+GTR+track

So right now we are all just speculating on what is going to happen in the real world. The other fact is really these cars have been around in Japan and the US for 18months and really we haven't heard of a single warranty issue with these things other than related to the transmission coupled with the old LC and yet I have read plenty on them being tracked and seen several of them around as Targa cars.

For anyone that wants to seriously track these things chances are you'll do things to the car to void the warranty regardless, but if you are just someone who wants to track the car once or twice to see what it can really do then follow the rules and you should be right. Mine will be seeing the track definitely (but not regularly - I have the R34 for that) as well as having a couple of small bolt on parts (I have one from Martin sitting in my office already!) and I won't be letting the threat of warranty stop me from using it. If something does happen we'll tackle it when the time comes. But if anyone thinks that doing even a basically track day doesn't cost more than the price of admission then they are deluded!

[Martin Donnon]

the vast majority of people would see track days where each lap effectively costs in the vacinity of $200 as being an absolute f**king rip-off, regardless of how perfect each 200ms gearshift is. maybe you should get a grip on reality before posting dumb shit like that

Well seeing as you probably havent driven anything racier than a keyboard, and obviously never been on a track let me explain.....

Race tyres R888 or similar at $2000 a set, decent brake pads at $1200 a set, brake fluid, brake rotors, engine servicing, cost of the day, licence costs, wear and tear on the vehicle.....it doesnt matter if its an R32, R33, or R34 or a Commodore, this is how much track days cost if you want to go quickly. Sure anyone can tootle around in a stock car gettting in everyones way and not wear anything out, but for anyone serious about speed you have to spend money. Sorry to break it to you that racing cars costs money, I know its a shock

[ylwgtr2]

I mostly agree. However I dont think the average person expects Nissan to sponsor their on-track fun HOWEVER some Nissan reps ARE saying the will have warranty for the track, others are saying this post track day inspection is merely a mechanism to keep regular (road only) warranty. Bah. This is a breakthrough vehicle in many respects which sets new benchmarks and costs half the price of the competition, it's going to bring new people to the segement and brand - as such they are all going to have various expectations. People are just confused. It doesnt make them wrong or stupid. Having said all that why would Nissan Australia care when the cars are basically selling themselves and their stock availability has been halved. To be frank if i were a dealer i wouldnt care, at least not now, all the cars are sold.

I dont think its as much as a break through as the 32 GTR....They really done a great job with that car....remember back then there was no such car at all....I dont remember such a big stink from nissan when the 32 came out.....the earlier models have done the work to help this vehicle evolve,Im sure theres not such big problems in japan....its the doing of the dealers here....damn them to hell

[Marlin]

The way I see it, and please forgive me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the prudent method of dealing with Nissan oz go something along these lines? ;

Don't inform them you'll be tracking the car (and remove # plates)

Hook up with one of the identities that now have the applicable R35 Consult in hand to wipe codes and track use data (a big one, I'm only assuming the consult is capable of erasing memory or portions of memory)

Have Nissan Oz do normal warranty and service repairs to "keep them in your pocket" as such, but supply your own consumables such as gearbox oil (Martin's at half price), and rotors etc.....

[Gibbo_R35]

I dont know where you get some of your info from Gibbo but GTR was NOT designed for the race track. It happens to be darned good at going around a track but its designed primarily as a street car. It comes with subwoofers, TVs, average comfy seats, road style brakes, and an auto mode to make it drive like a 'normal car'. Track cars come with semi-comp tyres, factory roll cages, light weight etc. Different kettle of fish to R35 (think GT3, Superleggera et al)

You will NEVER have warranty on a track with the GTR....or at least if you do Australia will be the first GTR market in the world to offer it

Martin,

Where do I get my information...well obviously I should have asked you because from your posts to date you are a self proclaimed expert on all things track and GTR. Well done we should all aspire to your dizzying heights of knowledge and wisdom.

Maybe I based my post on the vast publicity and emphasis that Nissan put on their Nurburging lap times in both the wet and dry, the fact that the image when waiting for the GTR site to load is a race track. The fact that they claim it is "The Supercar for anywhere, anytime" ...oh anywhere except the track.

They also claim under the tyres: "Are specifically designed for high speed driving around the race track"

Their claims of how it performs and corners on the track at upto 300km/h.

Feel free to have a read of all their claims and multiple references to track use and performance on their own website.

http://www.nissangtr-au.com/en/web_GTR/GT-...d=1&subid=1

You are right...jeez where did I get my information from.

You own a R35 then great, You track it, even better...if you actually race it as well, then fantastic....but really your opinions matter little on what you think is a stupid question asked by other posters. We are discussing the extra paperwork that Nissan has sprung on purchasers and new requirements for track cars.

Just for the record, Nissan has provided track advanaced driving days for 350z owners in the past as part of their purchase package, Mazda did the same thing for the RX-8 both manufacturers covered cars for warranties on the track days and subsequent days they ran.

I will repeat the main point from my last post....I agree that warranties should be void for Vehicle abuse, however for track use (DO NOT READ RACE USE)...when clearly this is what the strength of this car is and what it is publiscised for by both Nissan and subsequently the media, then I believe that their about face and the requirement to sign a waiver is completely unreasonable.

Agree with my comment or not...personally I don't care...however I am sure that other people who actually are buying or intend to buy a GTR here in Australia should be made aware of all the little extras that Nissan are raising, because they sure as hell did not make any of this known when orders were being place and if as you say it was never intended as a track car, well then they should have had off of this in the first waiver they got us to sign a couple of months back.

But hey what do I know.....

Edited March 8, 2009 by Gibbo_R35

[Beer Baron]

I personally think that if any perspective buyer of these cars that buys it on a "oh wow ive got a warranty" frame of mind has been sucked into this HUGE marketing program that nissan australia has created....nissan use's the warranty as a deterant for people to stay away from imported models....but we all know that the car is not going to break under normal operating conditions on the public roads....Well big deal....In my opinion the warranty really worth squat.....Im sure high end manufacturers have the same system in place ie ferrari,lambourghini ect .....how do you think those owners feel with car that cost more than twice the amount!i feel the cost of the GTR really isnt that much to let the manufacture hold a strong hold on what you do wth the vehicle.....I look at things like this .....the cost of the 32 GTR when it was released in comparison to the cost of a house back then.....and the 35 GTR and the cost of a house these days....the gap is quite larger now.....you track it and break it ....big deal wear it....just enjoy the car and drive it as hard as your pockets will allow you too

spot on troy. nissan have done an excellent job of scaring people off grey imports with their warranty talk. but in the end they impose so many conditions and the warranty is not exactly amazing anyway. plus they keep changing the rules and adding nice hidden charges. I know plenty of people now with grey R35s and they are all happy with their choice. some have now been enjoying their car (and the savings) for a year now! hell some of them may have had enough of it by now and be ready to sell it before the first ADM car is delivered.

I dont think its as much as a break through as the 32 GTR....They really done a great job with that car....remember back then there was no such car at all....

you are not the only one. speaking recently to one of the japanese nurburgring R35 test drivers he commented that while the R35 was an amazing car he felt that the R32 was more impressive for what it achieved in 1989 in comparison to other cars at that time.

[sewid]

The way I see it, and please forgive me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the prudent method of dealing with Nissan oz go something along these lines? ;

Don't inform them you'll be tracking the car (and remove # plates)

Hook up with one of the identities that now have the applicable R35 Consult in hand to wipe codes and track use data (a big one, I'm only assuming the consult is capable of erasing memory or portions of memory)

Have Nissan Oz do normal warranty and service repairs to "keep them in your pocket" as such, but supply your own consumables such as gearbox oil (Martin's at half price), and rotors etc.....

This is good in theory but the ConsultIII you can buy cannot wipe the black box data.

The ownership of one that can is tightly restricted to NHPC dealerships. Yeah a couple may have gotten out but not realistic to hope for access to one.

People have reverse engineered the black box enough to get the log data out now but in terms of resetting the data it's probably a longer road ahead.

[Beer Baron]

martin makes some valid points. an R35 is a big step away from a highly modified R32/33/34 GTR. their performance really is amazing and it's no surprise that they cost a lot to maintain and that that cost skyrockets if you want to drive it hard on the track. an R35 may have "only" 500hp but I can tell you for sure it will smoke a 32/33/34 with 500hp even though it weighs more. it's not just about the numbers. if it were the car would be slow as peak power vs weight is not that impressive. BUT it's how it makes that power, it's how the AWD functions, it's how that gearbox works and how the whole package works that makes it so damn fast. and it's at it's most impressive on the street on some nice twisty roads. sure it's fast on the track too, but it's outright lap times are only about on par with a well driven, decently modified 32/33/34 track car. but the bonus is you can drive it home watching your DVD in your leather seat in quiet comfort. just be ready to pay the bill!