Author’s Full Disclosure: I do not own, nor will I probably ever own a GT-R and I’m insanely jealous and envious of any and all R35 GT-R owners to an extreme and infallible fault.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way I’d like to provide a slightly biased outsider’s point of view regarding the race version of the prototype GT-R Y-pipe in development that Greg had alluded to a few posts ago.

Anyone who’s had the privilege of seeing an R35 GT-R in person can attest to the fact that despite the car’s heavyweight status on paper, Nissan’s engineers definitely honed their tuning efforts around the car’s bite factor as evidenced by its massive performance figures.  After seeing a few out on the road now, it seems as though they neglected to give the beast any bark.  Simply put, it just plain doesn’t sound mean enough in my humble opinion.

Here in the Chicagoland region, we’ve recently been treated to some nice weather (relative to the frigid abuse we’ve been subjected to for months) and that means everyone breaks out their toys.  I’d make a reference to the exhaust tones of the springtime air beckoning to fellow gearheads parallel to the mating calls of songbirds, but that’s excessively lame and I’ll spare everyone the pathetic analogy. 

Well, on Sunday that meant being treated to the sound of a well-ventilated Ferrari F430 running alongside my Honda Fit (not all of us can drive GT-Rs).  Being stuck in the typical I-94 Chicago Sunday traffic see-saw of 20mph to 45mph back down to 20mph, everyone was constantly on the brakes seemingly as soon as they had hit the throttle.  While at first the Ferrari’s V-8 was music to my ears, after awhile the resulting sound from the incessant “look-at-me” barking engine coupled with overabundant (and unnecessary) gear changing of the flappy-paddle-gearbox (as Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson has so affectionately pegged) from the middle-aged guy in the top-down F430 with the backwards Ferrari ballcap and matching Prancing Horse polo in 45-degree weather began to wear on my nerves.  BUT, it made me think; as much as it annoyed me it didn’t really matter because at the end of the day this man was driving a Ferrari and he could do as he pleased.  He was driving a supercar and no one else in the general vincinity was.  Most importantly, it SOUNDED like the tremendous supercar that it was, and that notion alone stuck with me.  (In retrospect, the sound wasn’t annoying.  The traffic was.  One such as me could never grow weary of such a sound.) 

Had that same car been a GT-R alongside me, would it have had the same effect?  Provided it was stock, absolutely not.

The day before however, some of the GT Motoring crew had gotten together for some karting action and Greg broke out the GT-R.  Upon firing it up, the sound was amazing.  The exhaust manifold on the R35 was the same, the rear exhaust section also remained unchanged, yet having just a subtle change in the Y-pipe switched out to the prototype race version made all the difference.   The sound was not overbearing by any means, but upon start-up, the R35 had a distinct throaty growl to it that compelled just about everyone to instinctively go “oooh” upon hearing it. 

At constant highway speeds I drove behind the GT-R and couldn’t pick up even the faintest of droning noise.  The sound was unmistakably noticeable, but by no means obnoxious.  Upon heavy acceleration and wide-open-throttle, the GT-R let out a howl that made the hairs on the back my neck stand up, yet the remaining stock exhaust components prohibited the noise from getting out of hand.  Hearing it in person is the only way to experience this, as I doubt any sound clip will do this piece justice.   While sitting at an intersection at idle, again, the sound is distinct, but not demanding.  

Overall, the prototype Y-pipe by itself in either the race or street application probably won’t be the end-all-be-all power modification by itself, but it’s definitely a phenomenal place to start from the sound alone.  While I’ve always preferred a louder car, I believe that this particular application will do an excellent job at fulfulling the needs of someone looking to make a very streetable improvement to their GT-R.   The sound is unmistakable, yet it won’t leave any bruises on your eardrums or those around you.  It also incorporates a design that is a departure from the norm of other Y-pipe designs for the R35 thus far.  However, the most important factor though is that this piece by itself provides the GT-R with the auditory signature that’s sorely needed for the car to make its mark when driving on the streets.  After hearing the prototype version in action, NOW the R35 GT-R at last sounds like it matches the supercar status it wields on paper. 

Check back on the GT Motoring blog frequently as we’ll be testing these designs on a number of different measurements - namely performance (horsepower) and sound, as well as for the official release of the product.

When building our RSX, Greg and I knew that we didn’t want to cut corners, yet it was financially irresponsible for us to dump massive amounts of money into a car whose driver still had much to learn.  We didn’t have the resources available for any fancy chassis improvements, infinitely adjustable suspension components or massive amounts of power.  We did have a decent amount of trial and error invested in building the car and trying things out on the track, not to mention an unyielding drive to improve our on-track and off-track capabilities.   

In fact, many of the parts on my DC5 originated from Greg’s immaculately-built RSX.  When he decided it was time to graduate to a more advanced platform, I volunteered my virtually bone-stock RSX’s components in a trade for much of what was on Greg’s car.  We spent a humid, 90-plus-degree weekend swapping parts from one RSX to another in his apartment complex’s parking lot.  It was also around this time that Greg discovered that I was the most technically inept, uncoordinated person to ever pick up a wrench; essentially he did all the real work as I sweated, grunted, bitched and moaned while trying to break even the simplest bolts.  Why he decided to keep me around is still a mystery.

We focused on components and parts that would deliver the best bang-for-the-buck, paying attention to covering the fundamentals more than anything else.  Good brakes, solid handling with improved suspension geometry and a responsive, yet affordable drivetrain package laid the groundwork.  Granted, the J’s Racing aerodynamic package may infer a completely different story, but we felt we needed to invest in a little bit of form coupled with some function to separate the car from the rest of the crowd. 

Could we have gone with a high-priced, 6 piston brake caliper system with two-piece rotors?  Or possibly thrown together a hybrid head and bottom-end engine package with high-priced internals and forced induction topped off with hours of dyno tuning?  Could we have engineered our own aero and other components out of lightweight composites?  How about running the lightest, strongest wheels we could get our hands on?  Sure, we could have.  GT Motoring distributes the finest parts in the market to epitomize both function and form and we would have loved nothing more than to capitalize on the full arsenal available to us.  Yet simply getting on the track to learn and drive was much higher on the priority list.  Therefore we made sure our homework was done and we used what we could to still be competitive, yet also ensured that we could make more than one event in a year. 

The end result and ongoing development couldn’t be better given the circumstances.  At many events the RSX was of the more underpowered entrants in the field.  Yet by laying a solid foundation coupled with some helpful driving hints from both Greg and GT Motoring’s technical director, Jae, I surprised even myself with the results.

A lot of work has been invested into the car, yet there is a still a significant amount of performance still left on the table.  Our development is by no means finished, however this next season will focus further on driver development and my own ability to help communicate to Greg and Jae the nuances of the car so that we can perfect our current setup and improve the functioning of the race team.  By doing so, it’ll also help us to develop an even better means to design and engineer new products.  One of which that I’m infinitely excited about is our new suspension offering (see Greg’s post from a few days ago about our suspension prototype).  Even more exciting though is GT Motoring’s new, from-the-ground-up S2000 time attack entrant.  As things develop, Greg, Jae and I will be certain to brief everyone on its progress.

While the challenges never subside, things are definitely shaping up to be very encouraging for the GT Motoring race team.