Hyper Power International Dyno Claims First Accurate Measurement Of Driveline Losses With Nissan GT-R [Nissan GT-R]

Horsepower at the flywheel or wheels? It's an important distinction in powertrain bragging rights. Thanks to dyno wizardry from Hyper Power International, you can now know both. MT's tried it first with the GT-R.

It's always been tough to stack up raw engine power output of the car against at-the-pavement performance. This has been the problem with dynos in the past, you either measure power on an engine dyno and don't know the power to the wheels or measure on a chassis dyno and don't know how much power the engine really makes. Rule of thumb driveline losses are never satisfying in either case and that's where Hyper Power International comes in.

Apparently, their dyno looks like any other four-wheel chassis dyno, with four big rollers to strap a car onto and sophisticated measurement equipment to test maximum output. The trick comes in when you've finished a pull and the system asks you to put the car in neutral. As the wheels and the rollers slow down, the dyno which was just used to measure power is now able to measure losses. By comparing the normal slowdown of the rollers against the slowdown with the car and all of its drag from gears, bearings, differentials and so on it can determine real driveline losses.

Motor Trend's Frank Markus was the first journo to test out the system and considering the constant automaker slap-fight surrounding the Nissan GT-R, Godzilla was the only choice for the test. The results are pretty interesting — it looks like the initial Nissan HP claims have been accurate. Of course, now there will just be naysayers wanting to see engine dyno versus chassis dyno versus Hyper Power dyno results now just to confirm Nissan isn't a den of cheaters. And by naysayers we mean Porsche. [MotorTrend]

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Dyno tests confirm Nissan GT-R drivetrain loss, power ratings

Testing cars for power ratings is a tough and tricky business - accounting for different conditions, locations, equipment and techniques can make it tough to generalize results. And to make matters worse, there is often a lot of guesswork employed to get between real, delivered wheel horsepower and output at the crankshaft, or vice-versa. A recent test of Nissan's GT-R has answered some of the ongoing questions of how it performs so well, however, and taken a good bit of the fiction out of the process. Rumors and reports from around the web have been claiming Nissan's stated figures for the GT-R's twin-turbo V6 are understated ever since it began its remarkable climb up the many performance charts.

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Nissan Announces 2009 370Z Coupe Pricing and New Corporate Tagline - Car News

The Z car continues to offer kick-butt bang for the buck, and Nissan SHIFTS_its marketing message.

BY STEVE SILER

However ready Nissan was to unveil its 2009 370Z coupe at the 2008 Los Angeles auto show, it wasn’t ready to tell us how much it planned to charge for it. Indeed, Nissan waited until the day the 370Z went on sale to finally announce pricing for the latest—and perhaps greatest—Z car yet.

With just two trim levels in place of the five offered on the 350Z coupe, the 370Z coupe starts at $30,625 for a base model equipped with the six-speed manual and $31,925 with the seven-speed automatic. The better-equipped 370Z Touring starts at $35,155 with the stick and $36,455 for the automatic. That’s a jump of nearly $1500 from the 2008 coupe’s $29,205 sticker, but considering the magnitude of improvements made inside, outside, and under its brazen new skin, the 350Z’s bang-for-the-buck appeal remains without question.

Keep Reading: Nissan Announces 2009 370Z Coupe Pricing and New Corporate Tagline - Car News

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Report: Nissan 370Z S-Tune headed Stateside by June 2009

Nissan's performance and tuning arm, Nissan Motorsport - or Nismo - is prepping an S-Tune package for Japanese buyers of the all-new 2009 370Z, but so far there's been no official word that the kit would be headed to the U.S. Now a report has emerged that the kit will be coming to America, and it will be here by June 2009. The report is still unofficial, but according to the gang at GTChannel, the kit will indeed be sold in the U.S. in about six months. The 370Z was just released for official sale in the U.S.
2009 Nissan 370Z Coupe

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Branew to unveil tuner kit for new Nissan 370Z

Click above for a gallery of the Branew 2009 Nissan 370Z

Nissan sportscars - the Z included - are a popular base for tuners, so it should come as no surprise that, with the newly revised 370Z just revealed, the JDM aftermarket is already lining up with their range of extras. Next up to bat is Branew, the Japanese tuner whose GT-R we spotted at SEMA wearing giant 23-inch rims.
The Branew 370Z offers a remapped ECU, tightened suspension and upgraded brakes, as well as an aero package complete with front spoiler, side skirts, rear diffuser and wing. A variety of wheel options in various unreasonable sizes are also expected to be offered when Branew unveils the full package in January at the Tokyo Auto Salon. In the meantime, you can check out the pair of images in the gallery below.

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Video: 2009 Nissan 370Z ad spots revealed

After a hard night of partying, we’re going to help you ease into 2009 with some commercials. Nissan has dropped three new ad sports for the 332-hp 2009 Nissan 370Z.

In one of the commercials, we get to see the use of the new SHIFT_the way you move” tagline. Pricing for the 2009 Nissan 370Z was revealed earlier this week. The new ‘Z’ will start at $29,930 and is now in showrooms ready to be taken out for a test drive.

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Nissan Announces Pricing On All-New 2009 370Z Coupe

Nissan North America, Inc. (NNA) gets an early start on the new year with the announcement of pricing of the all-new 2009 Nissan 370Z Coupe and a revised marketing tagline.  The new Zâ goes on sale today at Nissan dealers nationwide with a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP)* starting at $29,930 for the 2009 Nissan [...]

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