Nissan

I don't know what horrible thing happened in Tym Switzer's early life, but apparently it had something to do with Bugatti. Maybe, one hot July day a young Tym was walking down the street, holding a brand new, frosty ice cream cone. He hadn't even had a bite yet. He was just staring at it in wonder the way kids do when they're so happy and excited they can't even function. And then a bully named Franz-Josef Paefgen popped out from behind the bushes and after a brutal attack using noogies and wedgies, walked off with Tym's ice cream.

That bully grew up to be the CEO of Bugatti. If I learned anything from Lethal Weapon it was, "Don't get mad, get even." With the new 1000hp Switzer Nissan GTR R1K, that's exactly what Tym is doing. Make the jump to see the stats and watch the testing videos. Can you say "Rolling AWD burnout."? I thought you could.

When Nissan spawned their latest GT-R in 2008, the R35, magazines around the world quickly named it “Godzilla”. This term was coined, in part because of its physical size, but mostly for its fire breathing performance. That leads to an interesting question; what would you call a Nissan GT-R with 900hp that runs on ethanol fuel? I’ll provide a hint—‘E’ for ethanol and 900 for 900 rampaging horses. The answer is the Switzer Performance E900, of course.  

Up until now, Switzer Performance has been delivering their P800 tuning package, which takes your run-of-the-mill Nissan GTR and turns it into an 800hp track weapon that still functions quite nicely as a daily driver. But even that was still not enough for one customer who wanted even more...

The Nissan GTR has become an icon. It's hard to think of a car that has been followed with more anticipation. When it was announced that the newest Skyline would be offered in the U.S., people smashed open piggy banks to call "dibs." The tests confirmed what the press had predicted; it was incredible. The aftermarket pounced. COBB was so eager and sure of the GTR's future, they shipped a GTR over from Japan to get the jump on cracking the ECU. Since then, a new 10-second, high-powered GTR pops up almost weekly. But it wasn't just guys with laptops in their garage working to unleash the essence of Godzilla, Nissan was busy too. In early 2008, only 1 year after the GTR went into production, the rumor mill started about development of a hard-core GTR Spec V.

We met the specs of the upcoming V with a cynical wrinkle of the eyebrows, "Sooo it's twice as expensive, has the same horsepower, and no back seat? Tell me again why this is exciting?" As fun as that sounds, I'd rather buy a normal one, modify it, and still have $60k left to enroll Nissan's execs in Econ 101: Cost vs Return. Basically, with the aftermarket developing insane performance from the GTR with a simple ECU program, why would anyone buy a Spec V? Our attitude was simply that the tuner world could provide a better car for less money. Instead of spending valuable time praying for a head-to-head comparison to grace the pages of our favorite 'zine, we decided to create our own. In one corner we have the lighter, nimbler, factory-forged Nissan GTR SpecV. In the other we have an old friend of ours; the Switzer Performance GTR P800 "Track Animal." Nissan gave us the supercar at a bargain, let's see if Switzer beats them at their own game.

Cobra Technology and Lifestyle may not be a familiar aftermarket tuner, but this German shop has a host of performance parts for the Nissan 370Z Roadster in the form of their N+ Sports Kit. Aerodynamic bits include a revised front spoiler and rear diffuser with some additional flair coming by way of carbon-fiber-look covers for the rearview mirrors. A 19-inch wheel and tire combo, lowering springs, sport suspension and convention sports exhaust system also are included.

The offering is pretty ho-hum except for the optional special exhaust system that features a remote-controlled butterfly valve. And here's where things get interesting... The beauty of this upgrade is that the driver can control the exhaust note to give the car a bit of split personality. By adding a special flap to a set of round 120-mm pipes, the company can deliver "discrete sportiness to pure racing sound sound at the push of the button on the radio remote."

With enough time and money anything is possible... Shell recently took a Nissan 370Z, completely dismantled it and copied all 2000+ parts to make a transparent car. Cool, but what's the point? Being an oil company and all, the point was to show off their Helix Ultra line of engine oil. And we're glad they did.

Sure, CGI or some x-ray trickery would have been nice and easy - but oh no, these folks wanted the real deal. The engine itself was enlarged to roughly 2x the size of the original to clearly demonstrate the flow of oil throughout the engine. Check out the full "Making Of" video after the jump. 

That true performance cars can only be rear-wheel drive (and in some glorious instances all-wheel drive) is taken as the gospel truth by a great many gearheads. Never mind that the majority of the world’s new cars pull rather than push themselves down the road, and that the washcloth of automotive history is quite damp with fun rides derided by some as “wrong-wheel drive.” In fact, we managed to name ten front-drivers that are buckets of fun. Without further ado, and in no particular order, here they are.

There isn't that much about Ohio that calls to me. I like rock music, but not enough to make the trek out to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That's a stop I'd make on my way somwhere, but it's not important I make it a final destination anytime soon. There's the Kelton House in Columbus, which, so far as I can tell, is a really really old house with old things inside. As cool as a chair from 1756 is, I find the power cable of an Xbox more interesting to look at. Drew Carey was born in Ohio. Know where lives? Not in Ohio. However, there is small place in this quiet state that I want to visit: Switzer Performance.

Ever since Switzer hit the streets with their 800 horsepower GTR kit (the P800), we've had our eyes glued, covering several of their incredible cars. All their cars strike fear in the hearts of worried moms and stock exotics alike, but their new one is hoping to be a record breaker. It's their newest Nissan GTR, unofficially dubbed, "The Switzer Performance Track Animal."

It’s good that there are a few 100% electric new cars out there; the fact that they are either six-figure-priced two-seat roadsters or beefed-up golf carts that are limited to 35 mph isn’t. Nissan asked why that’s the case, and instead of simply shrugging its collective shoulders, the company decided to do something about it. The result is a small five-door hatchback called the Leaf, which is set to arrive in select markets this December and nationwide next year.

Like the Tesla Roadster, the Leaf uses a 24 kilowatt/hour laminated lithium-ion battery pack to spin an electric motor that provides drive for the vehicle. The pack is surprisingly compact, allowing the interior to be roomy enough for five people and some cargo behind the rear seats. It holds enough juice to return 100 miles of driving under normal use, and once it wears down to the point it can only hold 80% of its original capacity, Nissan will buy it back and resell it for non-automotive electricity storage applications like industrial storage or home use. The two plugs used for recharging (one 110 volt, one 220 volt) are located at the Leaf’s nose behind a small door where the grille would be on most cars. The motor drives the front wheels, and provides peak torque as soon as you step on the accelerator.