24 cars blue sky: Nissan Brings The GT-R Back To The Ring, Pits Nerds Against Race Car Drivers

Not to have another stab at the best "production, street-legal" Nordschleife lap time. That's not why they are trading the chilly Eifel for balmy Yokohama. Allegedly, Nissan does not want to work on the 7:24:22 lap time.

Instead, says GT-R program director Kazutaka Mizuno:

"We want to try something new this year. Just as important as performance improvement is, we must be confident about the reliability and durability of the car. This is the reason we chose to enter the 24 Hours Nürburgring: to perform harsher endurance tests for future performance improvements."

That's not the really new part. The truly new part is that the GT-R won't be piloted by professional Nismo racers, but exclusively by members of the GT-R engineering team. Let's see how that works out.

Here is some intentional (or not) intrigue: The GT-R's best Nordschleife time stands at 7:24:22. However, Mizuno-san says in the video:

"From the 2007 model's lap time of 7 minutes 38 seconds, this car achieves one lap of the Nordschleife in around 7 minutes 20 seconds."

Something better than 7:20 would bring the GT-R back into the game. I'm sure the new Viper will be back. Possibly, Lexus could want to celebrate the 500th and last LF-A with something better than 7:14. And while everybody is at the Ring anyway …