Meet the Takumi — five master craftsmen who make Nissan GT-R engines by hand
Last year, Nissan’s engineers hinted that there may yet be room to extract more horsepower from the now decade-old engine in the newly redesigned 2017 GT-R. Well, now they’ve done it, pushing the 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 up to 565 hp and 467 lb.-ft. of torque. That’s an increase of 20 hp and 4 lb.-ft. over the 2016 model. So, how did they do it? And who builds these things anyway? Let’s look at the 2017 Nissan GT-R hp and torque.
Read more: 2016 Nissan GT-R vs 2017 Nissan GT-R
Read more: 2016 Juke NISMO vs 2016 Juke NISMO RS
2017 Nissan GT-R engine builders
Nissan GT-R engines don’t just roll off a robotic assembly line. Each one is handbuilt from start to finish by one of five master craftsmen Nissan calls the Takumi: Shioya Izumi, Tetsuji Matsumoto, Tsunemi Ooyama, Hiroyuki Ichikawa and Takumi Kurosawa. “One man, one engine” is their philosophy and their passion. These engineers are said to have almost superhuman sensory perception, being able to detect vibrations and imperfections that no machine can. Only when an engine feels and sounds just right to these guys can it go into a new 2017 Nissan GT-R.
Read more: 2017 Nissan GT-R new front end
2017 Nissan GT-R engine improvements
To squeeze even more horsepower out of the already refined engine from the 2016 GT-R, Nissan’s engineers made just a few changes that add up to big gains. The added power comes from tweaking the ignition-timing control of the cylinders and cranking up the turbo boost just a little more. The engine now breathes a little easier through a new titanium exhaust. To make the car accelerate better from any gear and any RPM, they tuned it to flatten out the torque curve. Finally, they worked on the GT-R’s standard 6-speed dual-clutch transmission to smooth out the shifts and actually make it even quieter. The result should be a thrilling drive for anyone lucky enough to take the wheel of the new 2017 Nissan GT-R.
