Black Blown & Bad-Ass !

The Harrop Supercharger Kit makes a good thing better when fitted to the Nissan Patrol V8.

- Matt Raudonikis

THERE’S no doubting that one of the best things about Nissan’s Y62 Patrol is its VK56 V8 engine. No matter what side of the petrol versus diesel debate you sit on, you can’t help but smile when you plant your boot in a Patrol to unleash the full 298kW of power and the big wagon roars towards the horizon.

While the factory performance is bloody good, that doesn’t mean it can’t be better. If Nissan gives you almost 300kW to play with off the showroom floor, there are clever people out there who can improve the numbers.

Nissan’s VK series V8 engine has a rich motorsport history, especially in Japanese Super GT racing and endurance prototype categories like you see in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A 5.0litre version of the VK56 was even used in Australia’s V8 Supercars when Kelly Racing ran the factory-backed Altimas last decade.

The only road car to get the VK V8 in Australia is the Y62 Patrol and for most punters bolt-on performance upgrades will suffice, so the crew at Harrop have developed a supercharger kit for the 4x4 that has proved popular with owners.

When we saw and heard the bellow from Anthony Barr’s blown Patrol that was on the cover of the magazine last month, we wanted to check it out for ourselves. As it turned out, Harrop had just developed a new supercharger package for the latest generation of Patrols and had a new demo car for us to sample.