When the Nissan GT-R was released there was a loud cry from fans: “Give us a proper manual!” they demanded. Given the layout of the car’s drivetrain (rear dual-clutch transaxle), the logical conclusion was that a manual gearbox swap simply wasn’t possible.
Of course, the “impossible” for some is a “goal” for others. Japanese tuning house Blitz has built an R35 GT-R for drifting, and of course 100% seamlessly smooth shifts 100% of the time is a bad thing.
So, in place of the standard Borg-Warner dual-clutch gearbox, Blitz has worked out how to instal one of Australia’s better known automotive exports, a Holinger Engineering sequential gearbox. The Holinger’s manually actuated clutch will give the D1 drifter piloting this beast a lot more options for initiating a slide than the original double-clutch gearbox allowed.
Of course, being a drifter, it also means that AWD is superfluous. Which is good for Blitz and Hollinger, as the mechanics and ’smarts’ for the ATTESSA system’s active torque split takes place within the original gearbox. The driver is not likely to miss the extra weight either.
Not surprisingly, the Blitz ‘Manual’ GT-R has scored a host of other changes. Being purely a competition car all of the ‘fruit’ has been stripped out in the interest of saving weight. That means there is no air conditioning, the original steering wheel with air bag has been removed, while new, lighter forged magnesium wheels have been fitted.
Blitz has also fitted a carbon fibre bonnet, trick suspension and some new gauges but development is still underway, so expect some further modifications before this drifter hits the track in anger.
While the rest of the car is being substantially modified, Blitz have no immediate plans to chase any large power gains from the GT-R’s engine, preferring to leave it largly standard, aside from the fitment of a larger exhaust system.
We look forward to seeing how the first manual R35 GT-R performs on the track. Lets hope it can generate some serious smoke!
[ GTRBlog ]
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There is still hope!
It’d be interetsing to see how much slower it is than the stock GTR around a track (my guess is a lot!)
Well It probably wouldn’t be that much slow. Fifth Gear did a test with a Manual Audi TT and also an Audi TT with a DSG Gearbox. DSG was quicker by 0.2 of a second which is a bees dick in it.
But the Blitz R35 would be an R35 i would own!
Babs it wouldn’t be as much as you think. Fifth Gear did a test between an Audi TT manual and also an Audi TT with a DSG Gearbox. The DSG was only 0.2 of second quicker.
Finally a R35 I would like to own!!!
Question is which gearbox will last longer under abuse.
The Audi TT with DSG and the Audi TT without are both AWD, and not exactly overpowered.
The Blitz R35 GT-R is missing ATTESSA drivetrain as well as the gearbox, so it’s ability to put power down won’t be anywhere near as good as the stock car.
Removing the ATTESSA is mandatory when replacing the twin-clutch with a manual, so to fairly compare a manual GT-R against the stock car you also have to consider it being RWD vs AWD.
The Blitz suspension is also set up for drift, not grip, making powerdown even harder.
I’d say the Blitz car specifically would be significantly slower, but as to whether a RWD R35 with a Holinger set up for grip would be noticably slower is harder to say.