Porsche is claiming, after internally testing the Nissan GTR on the ‘Ring, that the car could not come within 25 seconds of April’s acclaimed time of 7 mins 29s.

Product Chief August Achleitner for the 911 team claims ‘“This wonder car with 7:29 could not have been a regular series production car” and that  “For us, it’s not clear how this time is possible. What we can imagine with this Nissan is they used other tyres.” - meaning semi-slick tyres.

Achleitner said his team bought and tested a brand new Nissan GTR with new tyres, and achieved a time of 7:54, behind the 911 turbo at 7:38 and GT2 at 7:34. The opening shot at Nissan’s performance car credibility will no doubt create a response from fans and the company, and is being hailed around the world as a case of ‘sour grapes’ for Porsche, who’s 911 contender retails for double the cost of a new GTR.

[Source: Carsguide AU]

The Nissan GTR

Popularity: 6% [?]

The Japanese tuning scene lost a father and founder on Saturday with Hideki Tanabe of Amuse (Amuse Power-House) fame passing away. A master of the Japanese tuning scene, Tanabe will be sorely missed by fans and drivers across the world, and will be remembered for raising the bar on absolutely top notch work to another level of supreme quality, workmanship and dedication.

It’s business as usual at Amuse, and the ultra high quality parts and service that Tanabe embodied will continue.

Related: Please read this heartfelt tribute from NAGTROC, I cannot say it better myself.

Popularity: 5% [?]

As speculated previously, the mystery Mitsubishi teaser images are actually of the upcoming 2009 Mitsubishi Colt. The new Colt shares styling cues clearly poached from the new Lancer.

Both the front and rear of the Colt have been extensively overhauled, to suit the aggressive new snout. The new car comes in both three and five door forms, with an almost micro-van like rear end to increase capacity.

Intended to go head to head with the likes of Toyota’s Yaris and Honda’s Fit/Jazz, the new Mitsubishi can be optioned with fuel sipping 1.1L to 1.5L 4 cylinder petrol engines, and a 1.5L DI-D diesel.

2009 Mitsubishi Colt Teasers

Popularity: 6% [?]

Suzuki has piqued interest ever since the unveiling of the Kizashi concept back in 2007. After all, it’s not often we see a large car concept from the carmaker, known for it’s rally and motorbike heritage and a history of compact (and very competent) small cars.

The new Kizashi follows some of the flowing lines we were shown with the Kizashi 2 concept, while clearly showing a refinement from the concept to an almost production appearance. Gone are the dazzling paint jobs, 4WD ride height, crossover sports wagon styling, and headlights. Instead version 3 of the Kizashi rides on 21 inch, 9 spoke chrome wheels, sports a new, sharper headlight design, wider split grille, a more muscular front end, and 350z style rear haunches becoming almost a 4 door sports car.

Along with the stunning stylistic update come some juicy details. The new Kizashi will carry a 300HP version of the GM’s new DOHC 24-valve 3.6L V6, come with Suzuki’s advanced i-AWD system mated to a paddle-shifted 6 speed automatic transmission and will comfortably seat 5 persons.

It’s one of the most solid close-to-production concepts we’ve seen and Suzuki claims we will see production of the Kizashi in some form in 2010, with construction planned to be at Suzuki’s new Sagara plant in Japan. Here’s to seeing Suzuki build this, and since we’re wishing, we might as well throw in a wish for the X-HEAD too.

Kizashi 3 Concept:

Popularity: 32% [?]

Today Nissan Australia announced that the new Nissan GT-R will make its Australian debut, with the JDM model on display at this years Melbourne Motor Show. No information on the Australian spec GT-R, or any variants of the GT-R, is available at this time.

Popularity: 61% [?]