This article originally appeared on the MotorTrend blogs website and we’ve decided to archive it here as well due to it’s historic importance:

2009 Nissan GT-R: How Godzilla got its name
Posted March 31 2008 10:38 AM by Angus MacKenzie
Filed under: Editorial, The Big Picture, Nissan, Sports Coupes, Nissan

I was working in the office of Australia’s Wheels magazine in mid-1989 when Nissan first revealed details of its all-new Skyline GT-R. Back then the car, now known mostly by its Nissan internal codename as the R32 GT-R, seemed like a high-tech road warrior from another dimension.

The R32 GT-R had a twin-turbo 2.6-liter inline six that Nissan claimed had 280hp, though everyone suspected it was actually punching out more than 300 (nothing has changed — see Frank Markus’ expose of the R35 GT-R’s little white horsepower lie: Dyno Test: 2009 Nissan GT-R Makes 507 Horsepower… at least! ). It had a four wheel drive system that was the first in the world to combine variable torque split with anti-lock braking. And it had four wheel steering.

Nissan quoted a quarter mile time in the high-13sec bracket. And that’s exactly what we got when we tested the car in Australia some months later, along with a 0-60mph of under 5.5sec. Back then, this was supercar stuff. Our Japanese correspondent of the time, Peter Nunn, noted in his story that the Japanese media had already christened the car Obakemono — a shape-shifting monster.

The GT-R was big news in Australia because Nissan was planning to homologate it for local Group A touring car racing so it could go wheel to wheel on the race track against the home-grown Holden Commodore V-8s, BMW M3s and Ford’s UK-built Sierra Cosworth (the cool, scary-fast version of the Merkur America never saw). It looked like Australia would be the only market in the world outside Japan where the R32 GT-R would be sold.

That made the GT-R cover material for the July 1989 issue of Wheels. I can remember sitting around with editor-in-chief Phil Scott and a couple of Wheels staffers as we kicked around cover lines. Obakemono came up in the discussion. Scott, a hard-nosed newspaper-trained editor with superb tabloid sensibilities, seized on it. He didn’t like the word — no-one would know what it meant on the cover — but he liked the Japanese monster idea.

It was a simple step from there to describing the GT-R as “Godzilla on wheels”. Which is exactly what we did. And a legend was born.

– Original URL: http://blogs.motortrend.com/6237869/editorial/2009-nissan-gt-r-how-godzilla-got-its-name/index.html

GT-R ニュースヘッドライン, Motor Trend（アメリカ）

So the rumour is, from Nissan, that launch control will be gone come next year’s Nissan GT-R. So this means the GT-R should take a hit on it’s 0-60 mph and 1/4 mile times right? It’s slow now right?

Well Motor Trend say nope and we agree. In tests they’ve performed themselves with a GT-R they’ve managed to still achieve 3.9seconds to 60 mph, they also managed a 12.2 sec. In the hands of private owners we’ve seen as fast as 11.67 down the quarter mile stock without launch control.

It also pays to remember that the GT-R has never been about driving in a straight line. To compare it on that level is missing the point of an entire world of going fast around a circuit that is the core essence of Godzilla.

A good, common sense article, linked below.

リンク: Motor Trend – So, Just How Slow is a Nissan GT-R Without Launch Control Engaged?

Motor Trend（アメリカ）

Motor Trend did the sensible thing today and awarded the Nissan GT-R their Car of the Year award. Not only that but they also put together a pretty flattering write up accompanied by some great videos and original GT-R artwork.

Great work guys, I’m sure this helps put that little incident with the loaner GT-R behind you eh? hehe…

リンク: Motor Trend – Nissan GT-R – Car of the Year

Read more…

Motor Trend（アメリカ）, 雑誌／DVD／メディア

Following on from their instrument test a few days back in this test Motor Trend now head over to Laguna Seca to put the various cars through their paces with some hot laps.

Equipped with their own “tame racing driver” Randy Pobst they drove each car flat out and then ranked them in order subjectively and also by laptime. Again lots of data and again interesting to read. GT-R does well in terms of laptimes but is ranked only midfield in terms of the drivers opinion after a few laps.

リンク: Motor Trend: America’s Best Handling Car: Track Testing

Motor Trend（アメリカ）, 雑誌／DVD／メディア

Never before have I seen such a fastidious dissection of the handling characteristics of a car than in this Motor Trend article. A heavy 10 pages in just part one but if you’re at all interested to know down to the finest detail just how good the new Nissan GT-R is check it out.

Some of the more surprising results are the fact that the GT-R rides better than many of the cars on test (despite all the moaning by motoring journo’s of the west) and so far it handles better than most (measured several different and maybe confusing ways).

Part two is due out on Wednesday 27th August so we’ll update you then. Until then follow the links below to read part 1 and see the photos.

リンク: Motor Trend – America’s Best Handling Car Competition: Contenders and Instrument Testing
リンク: Motor Trend Article Photo Gallery

Motor Trend（アメリカ）, 雑誌／DVD／メディア