An old nemesis is making a return to Australia’s V8 Supercar series. From 1990 through 1992, the Nissan Skyline GT-R dominated the Australian Touring Car Championship series, running rings around Holden and Ford V8′s. During the 1991 Bathurst 1000, the GT-R even set a top-speed record that could not be matched for nine years. Finally, in 1992, Australia’s racing body charged a weight penalty and a boost pressure reduction in an attempt to level the playing field. However, that failed to slow the GT-R down as it continued to dominate its last season before new rules that required V8 powerplants banned the GT-R’s entry.

After a decade, the Nissan GT-R once again returns to the stage under the the Supercar V8′s Car of the Future program, a new project encouraging a wider variety of automakers to join the series. What’s more, Mark Skaife, the man behind the Car of the Future program, was a former GT-R racer that won many of Nissan’s victories in Australia during the early ’90s.

In order to meet the current V8 Supercar regulations, Nissan’s race car will be forced to use a generic rear-wheel-drive, V8 drivetrain. Despite the fact that it will not be an authentic GT-R racing alongside the fire breathing Aussie V8s, we do look forward to seeing more and more automakers following Nissan’s example to freshen up the Bathurst grid. So far, four GT-R’s under Kelly Racing will be participating in the 2013 season.

Watch video of the announcement below:

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Nissan Motorsports International (NISMO) has made the release of the GT3-spec GT-R official, pricing it at around $388,000 based on today’s conversion rates.

A joint project between NISMO and JR Motorsports (JRM), the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 packs a 3.8L V6, twin-turbo powerplant that is seen in the factory production model, but pumps out 523-hp. It may sound odd that it has slightly less horsepower than the factory 2013 GT-R with 545-hp, but it’s probably been tuned to GT3 regulations.

What you do get, however, is a GT-R packed with fully adjustable suspension, a gutted-out interior with a full roll cage, extra cooling ducts and an aggressive aero package. Power on the GT3 GT-R will be delivered through a six-speed, semi-automatic paddle-shift system. Those ordering the race-ready GT-R will receive support from NISMO if you’re in Japan, Asia, North or South America and Oceania, while JRM will support Europe, Russia and the Middle East.

Nissan has announced its new U.S. pricing for the revised 2013 GT-R sports car. At $96,820 USD for the GT-R Premium and $106,320 USD for the Black Edition, the new 2013 model year gains a horsepower boost from 530-hp to 545-hp, while torque increases from 448 lb-ft to 463 lb-ft. To handle the increase in power, Nissan has further fine-tuned the suspension for better performance and handling as well as comfort.

Additional standard equipment available in 2013 models include a RearView Monitor, Nissan Navigation System providing XM NavTraffic with Real-Time Traffic Information and NavWeather capabilities, and Bluetooth Hands-free Phone System. As for the more expensive Black Edition, it receives special lightweight forged aluminum RAYS wheels, a unique red and black interior with leather Recaro sport seats, and a new dry carbon-fiber rear spoiler. The handmade dry carbon-fiber spoiler is only available in a limited monthly production run, featuring a unique coating that allows the carbon fiber weave to be felt by the touch.

Nissan engineers take pride in the continuous advancement of their flagship supercar. Last year, aerodynamic revisions with double rectifier fins and integrated LED running lights allowed the GT-R to increase downforce while reducing drag.

GALLERY: Nissan GT-R

Who says cartoons are just for kids? TheDRIVER, an animated series focusing on fast cars and swift justice, is anything but childish.

It features cell shaded computer animation similar to what you might associate with the Gorillaz. TheDRIVER is a story centering around a mystery man in a Nissan GT-R who roams the streets of Los Angeles stopping street racers, drunk drivers and other “unsavory” characters. His sidekick, a caped kid with a cartoonishly big camera takes photos of his vigilanteism from surrounding rooftops.

Series creator Chris Hung cleaned up his trailer and added more footage to re-release it. In the video we see a Nissan 350Z escape a police chase, only to be run off the road by the protagonist’s GT-R.

The show is jam-packed with brand sponsoring, which is fine because it adds an aire of authenticity. The show does a fantastic job of capturing what it’s really like to be inside a 350Z as well, which is refreshing. If there’s one thing modern car chases get wrong, it’s the little details. The stunt driving is exaggerated, but that’s forgivable in a cartoon that clearly cares to go the extra mile for things like believable shift noises and throws.

Hung hopes the show will promote safe driving and show people about car culture and racing while exposing the dangers without seeming preachy.

Its not clear when or where we can look forward to the first full episode, considering the first footage came out in April 2010, but we’re eager to see more as it comes out. You can watch the trailer below.

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Nismo is hard at work building concept cars to show off. Their latest endeavor is a souped up version of Nissan‘s baby car, the Micra, set to debut at the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon.

Nissan is no stranger to franken-cars, one of the most notable in recently memory was the Juke-R, a twisted combination of the GT-R hotrod and practically-minded Juke.

While Nismo isn’t going to such extreme lengths, their modifications will grant a little extra power and a sporty look more in tune with a club racer style. Performance modifications are scarce, but Nismo did upgrade the exhaust and slap on some bigger wheels to complement the new sporty body features.

Those features include a modified front grille and bumper, a rear spoiler and air diffuser, accented exterior mirrors and matching side skirts. The specialty Micra is painted pearl white with red accents and comes with sport-designed seats and steering wheel.

Nissan Europe and JRM Racing will be campaigning this fantastic looking GT-R NISMO GT3 at the upcoming Dubai 24 Hours race. As an official entry for Nissan Europe, the GT-R will be driven by four of Nissan’s championship drivers in 2011.

Almost a dream team if you will, the four drivers campaigning this race car in Dubai are Michael Krumm from Germany, Alex Buncombe from UK, Tom Kimber-Smith from UK and Franck Mailleux from France. Krumm was the FIA GT1 World Champion driving a GT-R GT1 race car last year, while Buncombe was the Blancpain Endurace Series GT4 champion while running a Nissan 370Z. Kimber-Smith took victory at the Le Mans Series and is the LMP2 champion while Mailleux had success at the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and is the LMP2 champion.

Over the last six months, JRM has been rigorously testing and developing the GT-R NISMO GT3 race car, which is powered by a 3.8L twin-turbo V6 with 500-hp and 479 lb-ft of torque. Transmission in the GT-R is a Hewland six-speed sequential. It’ll be racing on lightweight 18-inch Rays center-locked, aluminum forged wheels and sports a set of vicious Brembo brakes. The majority of the body components are constructed from carbon composite and plenty of aerodynamic tweaks were done.

Nissan‘s Juke-R might just be one of the greatest project cars in all of automotive history, and the monster has finally hit the track at Silverstone with a video to prove it. The GTR-powered crossover did some laps out in England for journalists and it proves that the Juke-R is a formidable piece of machinery.

Despite the rain in the footage, it’s perfectly clear that the Juke-R can hold its own and the project can be deemed as successful. The crossover’s completely capable of accelerating, braking, turning and performing the duties of any track car with ease. And while most people are still anti-Juke based on its styling, there’s no denying you wouldn’t think twice about owning this Juke-R.

Check out the video below:

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Ferrari is busting out a new track burner, well sort-of.  They’ve tweaked and updated the 599XX that debuted at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show for better aerodynamics and power.

The new version made its debute earlier today at the Bologna Motor Show and will be available only to the most loyal of Ferrari clients participating in a track-based research and development program meant to help with the 2012-13 line.

The previous generation had an almost Batmobile-esque look to it, but the new car looks a lot like Ferrari’s take on the Nissan GT-R. Regardless of resemblance, the new styling is meant to improve aerodynamics. That improvement is significant. A new active aero package that takes steering angle, lateral and longitudinal acceleration and speed into account boosts downforce by more than 52 percent in corners.

Along with aerodynamics, a new exhaust gives the 599XX 40 new horses for a total 740  out of the same 6.0 liter V12 boasting a pants-wetting 9000 rpm redline. If that’s not enough, Ferrari also trimmed the car by 77 pounds.

The result? Ferrari can boast a 2 second improvement running on their Fiorano test track compared to the old car.

The folks over at PistonHeads.com headed to Silverstone to catch up with Kazutoshi Mizuno, otherwise known as the father of the GT-R. Mizuno spent some time detailing the improvements the 2012 Nissan GT-R (2013 U.S.-spec model) sports, and how he anticipates it to be a very noticeable difference to the car’s performance.

For 2012, the GT-R will receive a nice increase in power, though no figure has been set in stone. The estimates are to be around 550-hp while the right-hand-drive markets will receive an asymmetric suspension setup. The suspension is designed to counterbalance the extra 110-lbs of the steering assemblies. Minor revisions were also made to the front end, slightly improving steering.

And while all these changes are probably very minor and unnoticeable to the everyday person, Nissan claims that the 2012 car was faster throughout the track at Silverstone and because of that data, Mizuno believes that the 2012 GT-R could be 7-8 seconds faster than the 2011 lap time of 7 minutes and 24 seconds.

To put this into perspective, the current production car Nurburgring record holder is the Viper ACR with a 7:12 time.

There will also be an announcement of a Track Pack for the 2012 GT-R which will include Spec-V style interior, racing seats with high friction fabric, upgraded brakes and a sport exhaust. Mizuno also teased about the possibility of expanding the GT-R model line.

GALLERY: 2012 Nissan GT-R

[Source: PistonHeads]