The R35 Nissan GT-R – Meeting Godzilla on its 50th Anniversary

Nissan GTR 50th Anniversary

Words: Gugu Masuku

22 November 2019

Meeting Godzilla on its 50th Anniversary

Ever since the R35 Nissan GT-R first came into production back in 2007 it became the benchmark for a lot of serious sports cars out there. The Godzilla was hellbent on giving Supercars a run for their money, and in all honesty, it did. What made it so special besides its engineering genius which gave it supernatural powers when negotiating lateral G-forces, was the fact that it carried an engine and displacement half the size of its rivals. It’s equipped with a 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V6 precision instrument – which could be lethal when placed in the right hands. “A GT-R is about total balance management. It’s not about chasing power figures” these were words from GT-R chief product specialist Hiroshi Tamura. 

The R35 has evolved and also remained the same over the years. Its core DNA hasn’t changed and it is still held in high regard in many corners of the motoring world. What many appreciate about the Godzilla is its ability to be morphed into a street and track demon through tuning. I’ve had the privilege of riding shotgun in one of these mutants which was easily able to smash the zero to one-hundred benchmark in 2.7 seconds and then proceed to pursue the 200km/h mark with frightening urgency. 

Suffice to say that for many years I’ve had fantasies of this Japanese assassin and have been patiently biding my time.

It was on the day of the local debut of the Nissan GT-R’s 50th Anniversary Edition that it would all culminate. To celebrate 50 years of being a true icon Nissan has made the 2020 Godzilla available in two trims for our local street and track warriors; GT-R premium and a GT-R Black edition. I was kindly introduced to the former in a very informal meeting, which put me at ease considering I was meeting the David Beckham equivalent of the car world. The new and cleaner version of the Godzilla came dressed for the occasion in a two-tone Bayside Blue piece with white racing stripes on the exterior, signifying its 50 Anniversary Edition status. There are many other little tweaks and additions that allude to its rank both inside and out, but where my interest lay was where it mattered the most – beneath the bonnet! The 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 still lives on and makes use of a new pair of turbochargers for improved low RPM response according to Nissan. We’re looking at an output of 410kW and 632Nm from the six-cylinder.

Nissan GTR 50th Anniversary

Spending some one-on-one time with this vehicle in the most informal of settings was an item to tick off that dog eared bucket list. My initial expectations were that of a sheer brute, just waiting to eat the rubber off its wheels at any given opportunity, but as I found out, and in the words of Hiroshi Tamura – the GT-R is about total balance. There was a tinge of disappointment in me, before realising that I had placed unrealistic expectations on my childhood icon. What I did learn from this experience was that the GT-R is a vehicle that can do both. It can live with you as a daily driver and has no qualms doing this. The V6 is agreeable and so is the rest of the vehicle. However, when the need to chase down the horizon without any inhibitions arises, the Nissan GT-R will accommodate you no questions asked! 

Nissan GTR 50th Anniversary

It’s the launch control that really gets you with this vehicle. After flicking all the jet-style switches to their most extreme settings, the rest is standard protocol. Left foot on the brake and right foot on the propellant pedal. Everything after that point became a murky haze and I found myself chasing down the 300km/h mark on the big needle. Our meeting could not have gone any better, and I came away with a new understanding of the R35 Godzilla.

Nissan GTR 50th Anniversary

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