Does the GT-R Really Only Have 480 Horsepower?
Sunday, July 20th, 2008
Think about it. Companies all around the world have lied about the power there production vehicles produce. In the case of Mazda, they got in trouble for lying about the power figures for there 2001 Miata. Ford had to recall the 1999 SVT Mustang Cobra when the owners realized they were short of about 20 horsepower. There are dozens of examples that show the same trend, auto manufacturers like to promise more horsepower than what is really under the hood.
In the case of the new Nissan GT-R, the same can be said. However, the power seems to be underrated. Thats right, many people believe Nissan is holding back when mentioning the power output of the GT-R. Think about it, the GT-R runs the Nurburgring 13 seconds quicker than the Z06. The Z06 has 25 more horsepower and weighs roughly 700 pounds less. Nissan can just argue saying it has a complex all-wheel-drive system that lets the GT-R exit with more speed, etc.
So lets take a look at quarter miles times. Using simple algebra and disregarding the launch, we can approximate the horsepower of a car by looking at its trap speed. So if you know a cars weight, and the trap speed it posted in a quarter mile, you can figure out how much horsepower a vehicle has. Knowing the GT-R can hit 122-123 miles per hour in the quarter mile, that means the GT-R has ~550-580 horsepower!
Nissan has been known in the past to understate the amount of power delivered by the GT-R. They did this in order to appease the Japanese government. If a production vehicle makes over a certain amount of horsepower, a tax is imposed on the vehicle. What are Nissan’s reasons this time around? Who know. The Japanese people are known to be very conservative when it comes to bragging and motorsports.
There is however some conflicting data. I’ve seen plenty of dyno videos and read about others dynoing the GT-R, and they all report around 480-500 horsepower. When it is all said and done, the GT-R should produce over the factory reported 480 horsepower. The numbers don’t lie. But isn’t it cool knowing that for once your car produces as much power as the factory says it does? Hell, it even produces more than what the factory says it does.