Street-legal Nissan posts Nurburgring lap record

Team Nissan are claiming a record time for their V-Spec GT-R. Photo / Supplied

Nissan will try and rewrite the Nurburgring lap record book over the next week or so after its GT-R blasted around the 20.8km short circuit in 7min 27.56sec.

The carmaker is claiming a world record time for the run last Friday, saying its all-wheel-drive GT-R was a Japanese-spec model running on street-legal Dunlop tyres.

Nissan last year ran a GT-R around the German circuit in 7min 29.03sec, but there was some debate over the legitimacy of its claimed world-record time because of the "semi-slick" tyres on the car.

But last week Nissan declared from the outset that it was running an "ever so slightly modified Japanese-specification GT-R, running on Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST tyres with RAYS forged alloy wheels (V-spec equipment)." The V-Spec GT-R is a go-faster version of the standard model.

Nissan planned to run the car again last Saturday but bad weather postponed the programme. It is expected to try for an even faster time before the build-up to the annual 24-hour endurance event next month.

The GT-R was piloted by Nissan's chief test driver Toshio Suzuki, who recently demonstrated the coupe to Australian motoring media at the Eastern Creek track in Sydney.

The "slightly modified" GT-R used at the Nurburgring is believed to produce about 4kW more from its twin-turbo 3.8-litre V6 engine than the standard car's 353kW/588Nm.

There have been all sorts of "production and non-production" record runs around the Nurburgring's shorter 20.8km circuit. The longer circuit is 22.8km. But the official record shows that a Porsche 956 race car holds the record of 6min 11.13sec for the 20.8km run. German Stefan Bellof was the driver, in May 1983.

Production vehicles, all modified to some extent, are led by a Radical SR8 (6.55), Dodge Viper SRT-10 ACR (7.22.1), Maserati MC12 (7.24.3), Pagani Zonda (7.24.7), Ferrari Enzo (7.25.3) and Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 (7.26.4).