Nissan GT-R v the Nürburgring 24 Hours

Sometimes it just makes sense to begin with the end. And in the case of this year's ADAC Nürburgring 24 Hours, what happened at the finish line serves as an amazing example of why this event needs to be on your must see list.

After 154 laps of a 15-mile racing circuit that's part modern Grand Prix track but mostly gnarly Nordschleife - in other words, like a B-road from hell - the third-and-fourth place cars are actually dicing for position. This is astonishing.

The 2012 Nürburgring 24 Hours as it happened

Now though, it seems the #11 Porsche 911 GT3 R run by Wochenspiegel Team Manthey has finally got the drop on the #66 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 of Hankook-Team Heico, and is pulling away.

But suddenly, on the start-finish straight, the Manthey 911 begins to slow, pulls to the side of the track and apparently stops. The Mercedes goes thundering by, the crowd is in uproar - and then the #169 Renault Clio running much further down the order ploughs straight into the back of the Porsche. Unbelievable.

As a result, neither the 911 nor the Clio takes the chequered flag. Meaning the last 24 hours of gruelling driving, desperate pit stop work and maximum concentration has suddenly all been for nothing. It's eyeballs on stalks everywhere.

Even the N24 veterans that surround us in the Nissan pit garage are open-mouthed - they've never seen anything like it - but a moment later they're shrugging. That's racing, their expressions seem to say, especially at the Nürburgring. And by this point Nissan has had a mixed 24 hours of its own...

First drive: Nissan GT-R Track Pack (2012 onwards)

Nissan's N24 challenge
The Nürburgring 24 Hours - or N24 - is crazy. Not only is that 15-mile lap length a total mind-warp, the 2012 race fields 166 entries ranging from the fast boys at the front in full GT3 and LMS spec racers to heroic backmarkers flogging round in mk3 Golfs, Opel Mantas and, er, a mid-90s Audi A8.

The grid is so big the race has to be started in three staggered stages. Which means by the end of the second lap the leaders are already catching the slower cars. The speed differences are huge and the action is constant. For the entire 24 hours. There's camping and barbeques and lots of beer.

Into this madness Nissan has entered a pair of GT-Rs. But rather than turn up with a true racing car, it's chosen to enter a "Development Team" under the watchful guidance of Mr GT-R himself, Kazutoshi Mizuno - the mastermind behind the whole GT-R programme. This would be car #23.

Car #123, on the other hand, is racing under the Polyphony Digital Team name, and sees the first Nissan GT Academy winner Lucas Ordoñez racing together with Kazunori Yamauchi, the man behind the Gran Tursimo gaming franchise that made the Academy (and Ordoñez' career) possible.

Neither outfit is gunning for outright victory, even though Mizuno-san counts counts current Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) GT1 champion Michael Krumm among his driver lineup. Instead they've come to give the recently introduced GT-R Track Pack road car some true circuit credentials in a motor race that's arguably the toughest of them all.

The 2012 Nürburgring 24 Hours as it happened

London to Spa
We've been invited along to watch, but first we have to get from London to the Nürburgring. Good thing someone seems to have left a bright white, 550hp Nissan outside. At 4:45am, having the keys to our very own GT-R Track Pack for the duration is way better than any alarm clock.

Compared to the standard 2012 GT-R, the £85,000 Track Pack variant gains stiffer springs, lighter alloys and extra brake-cooling ducts, and loses the rear seats in the name of saving weight. Doesn't seem much of a distinction given it adds another £10k to the price. But let's try not to be too hasty to judgement.

That's probably a poor choice of word, actually, since the GT-R accelerates harder than just about anything this side of a Bugatti Veyron. It can see off 62mph in only 2.8 seconds without all the Track Pack gubbins. Sticking to the UK limits is making my right leg twitch; the car is probably wondering why it bothered.

Once we've cleared the Channel tunnel - breathing in as we negotiate the train, since the GT-R is just millimetres narrower than the walkways and those forged Rays wheels look ever so expensive - it's a choice between a straight shot down the autoroutes and autobahns (and more leg twitching) or taking the scenic route via Spa.

Since I've never been to Spa and I've heard that it's home to another famous racing circuit (...), we decide to opt for the scenic route. Unfortunately, this means rather more Belgium motorway than I'd anticipated. What was that about the Track Pack having firmer springs?

Fortunately it still has a Comfort setting for the adjustable suspension. And as it turns out, Belgium is in the process of digging up most of its road network, so a lot of the tarmac is much better than it used to be. Where things aren't so smooth it's more the noise that gets you than the bumps.

When we finally reach Spa there's time for a quick photo at the gates, a pass or two at the old Masta chicane - at slightly slower velocities than racing drivers in the 1970s - and an aspirin. Then we're off again, cross-country properly now, down to the 'ring.

Spa to the Nürburgring
As the road surfaces swap between smooth and something akin to the patchwork quilt of undulations and grades we have back at home in the UK, more of the car's character begins to emerge. Starting with the plain fact that the GT-R could give the Millennium Falcon a run for its money. It is so ridiculously fast.

In terms of raw acceleration, I'd defy anyone to tell a Track Pack from a standard GT-R - but that hardly makes the sheer performance any less impressive. It's only the ever-present bulk of the Nissan that stops you from taking advantage of every single passing opportunity.

Instead it demands a tiny amount of circumspection. Similarly, whether it's the stiffer springs, the mooted "track geometry" option for the chassis or the width of the tyres, there's a fair amount of tramlining - enough together with the occasional shimmy over bumps to keep you from going properly mental.

As a result, I find myself juggling the suspension between Comfort for the additional compliance and Standard for the additional body control - hook it up through the twisties, and the lean angle in Comfort can get slightly alarming; just trust the electronic all-wheel drive to see off the understeer and push on.

This system is like a free pass to defy the laws of physics - it's incredible, really. Combined with the snap-snot gearshifts available in the hardcore R mode (the down-changes seem lazy in the other two settings), it's hard to imagine how you'd cover the ground faster without the ability to literally fly.

But while I arrive at the Nürburgring buzzing, I also find myself puzzled. Without an opportunity to drive the two back-to-back, there's not enough of a difference in the Track Pack compared to the regular car for me to really see where that £10,000 has gone. It was already such a spectacular piece of hi-tech machinery.

The only completely obvious alterations are the missing rear seats - which is less of a selling point and more of an inconvenience. And while the GT-R remains a big car capable of agility feats that science surely never intended, I can't help wondering if this whole Track Pack concept is a bit of a misnomer.

The 2012 Nürburgring 24 Hours as it happened

Track Pack to circuit hack
Perhaps that's where the GT-R Development Team comes in. Certainly, when we meet Mizuno-san on the morning of the race he's keen to explain the entry into the N24 as a car improvement exercise "for the customer". But isn't that a little odd when the Track Pack that forms the basis of the racing car is already on sale?

This prompts a flurry of activity involving a flipchart and a selection of coloured marker pens, as Mizuno guides us through the differences between the Track Pack road car we've just arrived in, and the racing version that's qualified in both 47th (#123) and 50th (#23) place.

The rollcage and the bigger fuel tank are hardly a surprise. There are mild aerodynamic modifications, too, and the preparations include getting rid of much of the interior, helping take the race car weight down to around 1,600kg - about 150kg less than the road car.

And yet, Mizuno-san claims the 1,600kg weight is with 300kg added back in, to better simulate the customer's regular driving experience. All the other new parts - from the forged brake calipers to the carbonfibre boot lid and the additional bracing - are apparently being evaluated for future road use.

The N24 genuinely is part of the car's development cycle. The awesome 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6, the all-wheel-drive system, the transmission - even the ESP - are claimed to be exactly as the car left the factory. Most remarkable of all, they're even using road brake pads and brake discs. At times these are up to 900ºC.

The resulting colossus is a curious way to go racing. The engine's massive power makes the GT-R just about the fastest thing at the 'ring along the straights - yes, including the GT3 cars - while the all-wheel drive system and talented pilots mean it can even live with some of the front-runners through the corners.

Trouble is, at this pace it will only last two or three turns before completely knackering the brakes and tyres due to its weight and lesser aerodynamics. So, as GT1 champion Krumm explains, the challenge is in racing 'Team Nissan GT-R' rather than the opposition, and to bring the car home without incident.

The 2012 Nürburgring 24 Hours as it happened

There may be trouble ahead...
"We're racing for the customer," Krumm says, "to make the GT-R better for the future." Which partly explains why the #23 car covered twice as many laps in qualifying as the #123 car. Thirty-one in total is a "ridiculous" number, according to Krumm. "That absolutely nothing has fallen off or failed is mind-blowing."

The phrase 'famous last words' springs to mind, but perhaps Krumm was preparing us for the inevitable. After a strong opening that sees the #23 Development car sweep past its GT Academy rival and run as high as 30th within hours of the start, a series of technical issues quickly puts pay to this advantage.

Krumm hinted the team would have a "take no prisoners" driving approach, and even when I'm stood there watching the racers carve through darkness in the middle of the forest at 2.30am, campfires crackling and fireworks popping overhead, it's clear to see #23 is pushing harder than most through the turns.

In the end it spends nearly five hours in the pits undergoing non-scheduled maintenance, and almost every major component on the car is swapped out for a new one at some point. Still, #23 makes it to the chequered flag in 99th place, completing 104 laps in the process.

The #123 car, however, has much greater success. Having apparently adopted a less aggressive driving approach, the team consisting of Kazunori, Ordoñez, Tobias Schulze and Yasukichi Yamamoto makes it through the entire 24 hours without serious incident, totals 136 laps and ends up finishing 30th.

The GT-R Track Pack might just have a future as a circuit warrior after all. And if nothing else, all those new road car parts have certainly been put through the wringer - suggesting future versions of the GT-R will go even harder still. At what extra cost is an entirely different matter.

As for overall victory in the 2012 ADAC Nürburgring 24 Hours, that went to the #3 Audi R8 LMS Ultra of Audi Sport Team Phoenix, driven by Marc Basseng, Christopher Haase, Frank Stippler and Markus Winkelhock. In 40 years of the event it was Audi's first win - but I somehow doubt it will be the last.

The 2012 Nürburgring 24 Hours as it happened
First drive: Nissan GT-R Track Pack (2012 onwards)
On Bing: see more images of the Nissan GT-R Track Pack
On Bing: see more images of the Nürburgring 24 Hours
Find a used Nissan GT-R on Auto Trader