Top Gear South Africa|August 2016

Even new car that matters, rated or slated

There’s a temptation to point ignorantly and chuckle snidely at the childlike Japanese obsession with technological pornography; but despite its age, the myth shrouding the blissfully bestial Nissan GT-R is exactly why we adore it.

Article Reader

Harro."

A sea of red-Nissan-jacketed engineers greets our international media group as we enter the presentation room. We’re overshadowed by a gigantic video-game-like display – complete with excessively un-Germanic, arcade-style binging and bonging as each graphic is overlaid or peeled away – as they dissect one of the most sophisticated and accomplished automotive inventions from Yokohama in the last decade. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Velly Japanese. Velly Glan Tulismo. Curiously, we’re not in Tokyo, and much as we might want to will the fantasy into reality, tonight we find only an empty seat at the New York Bar atop the city’s Park Hyatt hotel, instead of a sultry, smoking, Suntory-sipping Scarlett Johansson (could there conceivably ever be any more convincing mascot for lung cancer?).

The substitute’s not bad, though. Scratch that – today, ‘not bad’ is a woeful understatement. If you are able to finally wipe the smears of sinning with Scarlett from your memory banks, you’ll have the mental capacity to appreciate that Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium ranks as one of the greatest racetracks in the world, if not the greatest. Seven kilometers of blinding crests and rib-cage-crushing drops, two sound-barrier-smashing straights. A painting you can race on. And one (or two) of the most awe-inspiring corners in the world: the uphill, left-right-left Eau Rouge-Raidillon complex. Formula One cars are designed to be able to take it flat-out – can the GT-R do the same?

In less than thirty minutes, we’ll be let loose on the same divine tarmac that has played theatre to angelic performances from every motorsport legend there is – and taken 48 lives – since opening in 1922. Spa isn’t a racetrack; it’s an altar.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 2016-Ausgabe von Top Gear South Africa.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 2016-Ausgabe von Top Gear South Africa.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

WEITERE ARTIKEL AUS TOP GEAR SOUTH AFRICAAlle anzeigen
Variety Show
Top Gear South Africa

Variety Show

We’re in a golden age of fast cars. This is going to be blast, unless, of course, there’s a slight medical emergency...

time-read
7 Minuten  |
November 2019
Heat Seekers
Top Gear South Africa

Heat Seekers

Welcome to the world of wind-in-your-hair motoring... presuming you have hair, that is...

time-read
5 Minuten  |
November 2019
Stage Craft
Top Gear South Africa

Stage Craft

A GP circuit, all to ourselves... so what do we do? Head off and find some dirt roads. Because rally

time-read
7 Minuten  |
November 2019
Hot Wings
Top Gear South Africa

Hot Wings

Move over, road-legal minnows, it’s time for the serious machinery to pound the circuit...

time-read
4 Minuten  |
November 2019
Drives - S'Charged Thunder
Top Gear South Africa

Drives - S'Charged Thunder

Let’s start with the name: Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic, or SVAD for short.

time-read
8 Minuten  |
November 2019
Circuit Breaker
Top Gear South Africa

Circuit Breaker

Petrol A45 AMG takes on electric Model 3. Now, who turned out the lights?

time-read
5 Minuten  |
November 2019
The Need For Speed
Top Gear South Africa

The Need For Speed

Breaking the 480kph barrier has become an obsession for the hypercar manufacturers. Here’s the story of how Bugatti got there first

time-read
5 Minuten  |
October 2019
Man On The Moon
Top Gear South Africa

Man On The Moon

How TG faked our Moon landing – not with Stanley Kubrick, but with a trip to Cancún.

time-read
6 Minuten  |
October 2019
Voltswagen The People's EV?
Top Gear South Africa

Voltswagen The People's EV?

Ten years down the line, will the answer to every car-buying question be “Just get an ID.3”?

time-read
5 Minuten  |
October 2019
Rover's Return
Top Gear South Africa

Rover's Return

Carrying the Defender into the modern century is intimidating but those put off by Discovery’s looks can now stay within the brand.

time-read
7 Minuten  |
October 2019