Nissan cars

Video: Nissan GT Academy 2012 - Episodes One Through Five

A few months ago, Nissan announced that its very successful GT Academy is back for a second season. The competition’s main purpose is to find out which of America’s best Gran Turismo video gamers has what it takes to become a professional racecar driver.

The first episode aired on Spike TV on Thursday, November 1st and every following Thursday night a new episode arrived. Each episode tries to capture every challenge and all of the human drama of a very intense week. At the end of each episode, competitors’ performances are evaluated and critiqued by pro racers Danny Sullivan, Maryeve Dufault and Boris Said. Those who fail to impress them will go home.

The winner of the GT Academy will receive intensive professional racing training that will help him earn his international competition license. For your convenience, we have posted all five episodes right here. Enjoy!

Click past the jump to see the remaining four episodes.

Nissan’s "Bolt Gold" eBay Auction Raises $193,191

If Nissan was worried about the turnout for its recent GT-R Bolt Gold eBay auction, the amount the auction raised should quell all of those fears. At the end of the auction, which included the one-off ’Bolt Gold’ Nissan GT-R, a total of $193,191 was raised.

That’s an impressive haul if you ask us.

More importantly, all of the proceeds from the auction will be handed over to the Usain Bolt Foundation — a charitable organization founded by the Olympic star — in the hopes of providing educational and cultural opportunities for children and young people in the athlete’s home country, Jamaica.

In addition to the Golden Godzilla, the auction also featured signed memorabilia from Bolt himself, including racing helmets, fire-proof suits, driving boots, and even t-shirts the man himself wore during a recent visit to Nissan’s test track in Japan.

As for the winning bidder of the Bolt Gold GT-R, it’s probably best to temper his excitement a little bit because the car won’t be delivered to his waiting arms until March 2013.

Switzer Ultimate Street Edition Now Offered as a Production Model

Back in June, Switzer Performance unveiled its Ultimate Street Edition based on the Nissan GT-R, but at that point no one imagined that the model will enjoy such a great success. Switzer announced today that the tuner just moved from its 4,500 square-foot garage to a 105,000 square-foot complex in order to expand its tuning operations.

This new complex will be used to produce company’s new Ultimate Street Edition GT-R in limited-edition fashion. In the future, however, Switzer hopes to expand production to several cars per month.

The model will be available at selected Nissan dealers at an $88,990 premium over the GTR’s base sticker price. For the money you will get a GT-R powered by a heavily modified 3.8-liter V-6 engine that delivers a total of 1,000 horsepower, allowing the GT-R to sprint from 0 to 60 mph in the 2 second range. This Ultimate Street Edition GT-R will have a top speed of 200 mph.

"We took a small performance garage and turned it into a supercar factory. That’s the simplest way to put it, but we really changed everything about the way the shop operates. We have a section of the shop now that focuses on complete, ‘turnkey’ converted cars," says David Kim, CEO of Switzer Performance. "The Ultimate Street Edition GTR is that team’s focus."

Video: Nissan GTR Switzer P800 0 to 180mph, Part II

About two weeks ago, we brought you the first video showing the Nissan GT-R P800 by Switzer in action from 0 to 180 mph, but that video was filmed from inside the car. Now it is time for a second one and this time you have the chance to watch see the car in all its glory, thanks to multiple camera angles.

The video was shot on a private airstrip and it shows multiple accelerations clips from outside of the car, from a standstill. This piece of Japanese beauty manages to hit an incredible 184 mpg in an even more astounding 0.9 miles.

The P800 is equipped with Password JDM exhaust, test pipes, x-pipe, and other mods that have increased the engine’s output up to 800 horsepower and almost 700 pound-feet of torque. What an awesome vehicle.

Enjoy the video!

2013 Nissan Juke Nismo "The Dark Knight Rises"

Straight from the Cross Promotion 101 handbook comes this one-off project car from Nissan and Warner Bros., celebrating the UK release of Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster movie, "The Dark Knight Rises" on DVD and Blu-Ray.

As only Nissan can, the Japanese automaker decided to build a one-off Juke Nismo crossover solely to promote the new DVD and Blu-Ray. Appropriately enough, the crossover is called The Dark Knight Rises Juke Nismo.

The crossover features plenty of Batman-inspired details, something that you should expect from a car promoting The Caped Crusader. Matte-black paint was used to give the Juke Nismo a Batmobile-like appearance. A shark fin antenna was also installed in lieu of the traditional set-up on the Juke, and aluminum bat badges have been plastered in various parts of the Juke Nismo, including the front grille and the tailgate. Rounding out the exterior modifications is a set of 18-inch gloss-black alloy wheels with red detailing.

Moving to the interior, Nissan gave it a Batman-inspired look, beginning with Bat logos on the kick plates. Reflective Bat badges on the suede-trimmed Nismo sports seats’ headrests pays homage to the inspiration for the one-off project car. The puddle lights in the door mirrors are particularly cool because they project the Bat symbol on the floor area by the doors. The same setup can be found on the uplighter, projecting the same Bat symbol on the headlining.

Unfortunately, the Juke Nismo Dark Knight Rises will neither be sold nor be sent off to the auction block. The question of how to get it has yet to be answered, although expect the Juke Nismo Dark Knight Rises to be a prize in some sort of competition down the road.

Based on the new Nissan Juke Nismo, which goes on sale in the UK in January 2013, The Dark Knight Rises Juke Nismo features the same 200PS (197-horsepower) 1.6-liter turbocharged engine driving the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox, giving it a 0 to 62mph (0 to 100 km/h) time of 7.8 seconds. It also gets a Nismo body kit and upgraded suspension.

Video: Nissan GT-R will be featured on National Geographic Megafactories

National Geographic’s Megafactories series has been featuring some of the most amazing supercars out there: Aston Martin One-77, Bugatti Veyron and much more.

And now the TV station is moving its attention to Japan, as the Nissan GT-R will also be featured in the next episode of "Megafactories" series. The episode has been filmed at Nissan’s factory in Tochigi, Japan, where the GT-R is being built. You will learn everything there is to know about the GT-R, including the incredible work needed to develop such an amazing sports car.

The GT-R is currently the most affordable supercar on the market - starts under $100K and delivers an incredible power: 3.8 liter V6 with 545 HP!

This episode will be aired on December 13, 2012, so be sure you won’t miss it! Until then enjoy this very cool teaser video released today by National Geographic.

Nissan DeltaWing Included in Popular Science’s "2012 Best of What’s New"

Though the Nissan DeltaWing has not done too much in the racing world yet, it certainly has gained its share of notoriety. The latest notoriety is likely one of its biggest achievements, as it was named to Popular Science’s "2012 Best of What’s New" list, which is included in the December 2012 printing of the magazine.

Popular Science releases this list every year, which contains 12 different categories and covers 100 new technologies, so making the cut is quite the achievement. We have certainly enjoyed watching the DeltaWing grow ever since it was just an unusual concept on a piece of paper, so its inclusion comes as no surprise to us. Even with its unusual proportions and relatively low power output, the DeltaWing has already run in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Petite Le Mans and is set to run as a classified car in the 2013 American Le Mans Series.

While the 24 Hours of Le Mans race didn’t turn out too well, the Petit Le Mans ended very well, with the Delta Wing placing in the top five.

A belated congratulations to the DeltaWing crew on its fifth-place finish at the Petite Le Mans and a huge congratulations to it for this awesome recognition!

Click past the jump to red Nissan’s full press release on the award.

Nissan Releases Details on Nissan GT-R Usain Bolt Edition Ebay Auction

The gold-painted Nissan GT-R Usain Bolt Edition is headed to auction, but this time, Nissan’s not going for the usual setup. Instead, it’s bringing the car to eBay where interested folks can have a chance to make a bid for the car.

The auction will run from November 22nd to December 2nd, 2012 and, according to Nissan, the winning bidder will have the car built specifically to conform to regulations in the bidder’s area. Delivery date has been scheduled for March 2013.

In addition to the "Bolt Gold" GT-R, which predictably is the crown jewel of the auction, Nissan will also auction off a number of other Bolt-signed items, including clothes and racing helmets. All of the proceeds from the auction will be given to the Usain Bolt Foundation, a charity that the record-setting sprinter established to lend support, and give educational and cultural opportunities to young kids in Jamaica.

It certainly goes without saying that the event holds special meaning to the Olympic champion’s heart, particularly because the people that it will benefit are young children from his home country. "This project excites me because it brings together my passion for speed and excellence, and my desire to help kids and young people," Bolt said.

So if you’re interested in owning a one-of-a-kind GT-R and knowing that the money you paid for it will go to a worthy cause, this is the auction for you.

Video: Nissan GTR Switzer P800 from 0 to 180 mph

The folks over at Switzer Performance have developed some of the most amazing tuning packages for the Nissan GT-R. The latest of its creations was the Ultimate Street Edition. Today, however, is time to watch the P800 GT-R in action.

With Brian Zuk behind the wheel, the P800 GT-R went from 0 to 180 mph in just a matter of seconds. Is not a surprise considering all of that power beneath the hood: an impressive 800 horsepower and almost 700 pound-feet of torque. In order to deliver this amazing output, the GT-R has received a new pair of turbochargers, monster intercoolers, a new fuel-management computer and the catalytic converters has magically disappeared. The P800 GT-R also received a new titanium exhaust system, an upgraded suspension system and, of course, a new brake system to drag it to a halt.

In the end all of that work worth it! Check the video if you don’t believe us!

2013 Nissan GT-R JDM Spec

Here in the U.S., we have had the 2013 GT-R for a pretty long time, but the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) had yet to receive its version yet. Just today, Nissan officially unveiled the all-new-for-the-JDM 2013 Nissan GT-R in Sugo, Japan. Along with this media circus came a short presser outlining the basics of this new model.

While this is not the 2014 U.S.-spec model, like some mistakenly thought at first, this may give us a small glimpse into the future of the U.S.-spec 2014 GT-R. Just like the 2013 GT-R here in the States, the 2013 JDM GT-R will receive some upgrades to its engine to help bump its already-stout engine up a few ponies and increase its responsiveness.

As expected, when we reached out to Nissan about this being related to the 2014 U.S.-spec GT-R, we were quickly met with the canned “we don’t comment on future vehicles.” According to the PR rep, who rejected us in the kindest way possible, “what’s in the press release is all the information there is.”

To read more about these improvements to the 2013 JDM-spec GT-R, click past the jump.