Nissan GT-R race car for the GT500 class of Japan’s Super GT series underwent a shakedown at the renowned Suzuka Circuit from 29-30 October supervised by Nismo (Nissan Motorsports International Co., Ltd). The vehicle is scheduled to debut in the series next year. The 2-day test, conducted under sunny skies, went smoothly with Nismo’s regular drivers, Satoshi Motoyama, Michael Krumm and Tsugio Matsuda, behind the wheel. The test was designed to obtain important data for the race car’s further development.

Yoshitaka Iijima, Nismo team director for Super GT, said: “The test went well without any problems. We obtained positive feedback on the car’s potential from the drivers. We are aware of the Nissan GT-R popularity and racing heritage. We will make our best effort to win the championship next year.”

Enter the Dragon

Now we're torn. Yesterday we saw the Aston DBR9 Le Mans racer in Gulf livery and were certain we'd found the coolest racing car of the year.

But now Nissan has gone and taken the wraps off the awesome GT500 GT-R, in Tokyo, and we're all torn.

Because, well, just look at it. The GT500 is, as you might have guessed, a racing version of the GT-R (Top Gear's Supercar of the Year, no less), set to compete in Japan's Super GT Championship.

It'll race in the top category, the GT500 - quite possibly the fastest GT series in the world thanks to a list of regulations that reads something like: 'Do more or less whatever you want, so long as you keep under 500bhp.'

As the road-going GT-R puts out some 480bhp, that means it won't be much more powerful on paper. But, as a quick look at (and, more important, a quick listen to) this video of the car in testing reveals, there has been some pretty serious work put into the GT-R's 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6. What a noise.

Nissan hasn't released any technical details on the GT500 yet, but we do know that it won't be allowed traction control, ABS or stability control. Whoever takes control of that thing needs cojones of carbon fibre.

The organisers of the Super GT confidently assert that over the past few years, they've introduced more stringent regulations regarding aerodynamics, aiming to bring GT500 cars in line with GT1 cars. By the looks of the rear end of the GT500, those regulations aren't too strict yet: look at the size of that rear wing and diffuser.

The GT500 also shows off Nissan's new works livery, which owes much to the paintjob on the current Fairlady Z race car. According to the Nissan spiel, 'the red symbolises the passion for racing, while the black signifies the high performance of the new GT-R'.

Even if you painted the GT500 pink and plastered it in fluffy bunny decals, it'd still look scary enough to make Ross Kemp weep. We'll find out more about the GT500 GT-R at the end of this month.

The GT500 specification Nissan GT-R racing car, which will vie for the 2008 SUPER GT series, will make its public debut at the “Tokyo Auto Salon with NAPAC” (January 11-13, 2008 at Makuhari Messe), followed by the “Osaka Auto Messe 2008” (February 9-11, 2008 at Intecks Osaka), the country’s two largest annual custom car shows.

The new works livery – which will be featured across Nissan motorsports activities during the 2008 season – will be unveiled on the race car. Nissan will vie for the SUPER GT Championship, one of the world’s most demanding GT race series, with the new machine built on the same multi-performance super car concept of the Nissan GT-R road car.

The new livery resulted from close collaboration between Nissan’s design team and NISMO, its motorsports affiliate company, and incorporates feedback from members of the “Club NISMO” fan club.

The signature wide “brush stroke” design motif, synonymous with the current Fairlady Z race car, was carried forward into the new GT-R racing car as Nissan’s racing fans worldwide could immediately associate with the design. The livery design swipes forward from the rear in bold red and black – the red symbolises the passion for racing, while the black signifies the high performance of the new Nissan GT-R.

The GT-R is taking over the world. Nissan's new Godzilla-based racer dominated the first round of the Japanese GT series in Suzuki last weekend, finishing first, second and in most of the other scoring positions.

Satoshi Motoyama and Beniot Treluyer's Nismo GT-R took victory in the first race in front of a crowd of 32,000, edging out the Autech GT-R of... you don't really care about this bit, do you? Point is, the GT-R is so quick that some Japanese commentators are predicting that the GT organisers will impose limitations on the GT-R before the next race in Okayama in mid-April.

Which seems a bit unfair, really. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, every man for himself and all that. If the GT-R does end up being, erm, pruned, we hope it'll retain its scarier-than-a-clown-convention looks.

Or its noise. This quick video only shows the GT-R in winter testing (if you've got anything better, please do email it over) but it's enough to imagine the noise of a gridful of GT-Rs at full throttle.

Oh, and see that white car in the final shot? That's a regular GT-R playing safety car for the big boys. Looks almost understated in that company, doesn't it?

Nissan has officially confirmed their entry in the 2010 FIA GT championships. The company will enter the R35 Nissan GT-R into the 2010 season, while the car will be raced as a non-championship entry during the 2009 season.

The announcement was made by Dan Thompson, CEO and Managing Director of Nissan Motors Australia, at the Melbourne International Motor Show, according to GTRblog.

During 2009, the GT-R will be tested in four FIA-GT1 class races in Europe. The NISMO car will be run as part of a partnership with Gigawave MotorSport, out of Essex, England. Drivers for this series will likely be Nismo's Michael Krumm and Gigawave's Darren Turner. Official word has not been given on the drivers for Nissan's entry in 2010. The car itself has a full carbon-fiber body which, when combined with some more modifications, should give the car a terrific power-to-weight ratio.

For the full '09 Super GT race season, four different GT500-spec GT-R racecars will be driven by different teams in the Japan's highest level auto racing circuit. According to a release from Nissan, Nismo drivers Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer will race the Motul Autech GT-R, Tsugio Matsuda and Sebastien Philippe will run the Impul Calsonic GT-R for Team Impul, and Kondo Racing will show off their HIS Advan Kondo GT-R with João Paulo de Oliveira and Seiji Ara commanding the vehicle. Hasemi Motor Sport will also have an entry, with Ronnie Quintarelli and Hironobu Yasuda taking charge.

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and Nissan Motorsports International Co., Ltd. (NISMO) today announced their global motorsport programme for 2009.

For 2009, Nissan continues to participate in the SUPER GT series, GT500 class, which is the highest level in Japanese domestic motorsports, with the Nissan GT-R. Nissan will also support grassroots activities in select countries outside of Japan to help nurture the motorsports culture, which has millions of fans throughout the world.

"Motorsports is an important part of Nissan's strategy for building a strong brand with consumers who share our passion for high-performance driving," said Carlos Tavares, Executive Vice President, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. "In addition to being an important touch-point for consumers, motorsports serve as a dynamic proving ground for automotive innovation."

SUPER GT

The R35 model Nissan GT-R will be entered in the GT500 class of SUPER GT. This year's entries will incorporate changes that include an improved air-cooling system and a paddle-shift transmission. The vehicles also conform to the racing body's latest regulation changes to decrease down force through shortened vehicle overhang. NISMO provides technical assistance and vehicle development to all participating teams.

Europe

To check the performance of cars to be sold to racing teams competing in the FIA-GT1 class, a NISMO-developed car will run as a non-championship entry in 4 races in 2009, entered in a team partnership with Gigawave MotorSport. It is expected that the car is to be driven by Michael Krumm (NISMO) and Darren Turner (Gigawave).

Gigawave MotorSport, a racing team based in county Essex, England, has been competing in the FIA GT Championship since 2007. The team's parent company Gigawave Ltd., as an official partner of the FIA GT Championship, provides on-board cameras for real-time coverage of the races.