Washington Post
RUNWAY RUN: An Alpha 12 Nissan GT-R from AMS Performance,
originally a Nissan GT-R, is driven on the runway of the
Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport in Oscoda.
There's no reason to drive an automobile at 200 miles per hour
(322kmh). No appointment is so important, no traffic cop that lenient.
Few cars are even capable of it.
Imagine, though, that you're idling in a 1500 horsepower (1119kW)
car at the start of an airport runway roughly 3km long. And you're
cleared for takeoff. Wouldn't you want to break the 200 mph barrier?
As an automobile critic, I have an unusual occupation. So this is
why I actually find myself piloting a heavily-customised Nissan GT-R,
dubbed the Alpha 12.
Fifteen hundred horsepower is a ludicrous amount of power, but I'm
on a decommissioned US Air Force runway in northern Michigan that once
hosted B-52 bombers. It's wide and long enough for the task.
The Nissan GT-R already qualifies as a supercar. A 2012 model in New
Zealand will set you back $189,000 and it delivers 404kW, hitting
100kmh in a claimed 2.9 seconds. That's enough power, right? Not for
customers of AMS Performance, a West Chicago, Illinois-based tuning
company.
The 30-employee outfit has been around for more than a decade,
catering to a ''mine is bigger than yours,'' demographic, where more
power is always better.
AMS specialises in ''Alpha'' performance packages for the GT-R,
rebuilding the V6 engine with sturdier parts, bigger turbo chargers,
special exhausts and reinforced transmissions. Light modifications in
the US start at about US$6000 (NZ$7600). The Alpha 12 package costs
about $100,000 (NZ$126,600). For that, you get a claimed 820kW with
regular unleaded and 1119kW with 116-octane race fuel.
The company says you can hit 100kmh in 2.4 seconds and the machine will cover a quarter mile in 8.97 seconds.
My goals today are twofold. I want to see how ''real'' the Alpha is,
and I hope to top my personal speed record of 200 mph, achieved on a
runway in a Lamborghini Gallardo nearly four years ago. I'd prefer not
to kill myself.
This is just a practice run, however, to get a feel for the Alpha's
power. AMS sales manager Eric Gaudi is riding shotgun. When I ask if
he'd like to accompany me later on my top-speed run, he fires back,
''Not a chance.''
I roll onto the gas carefully, clicking through the gears well
before the red line. The huge twin turbos quickly spool to capacity,
sucking in massive gulps of air, and then expelling them harshly through
the waste gates. It sounds like a jet engine.
We streak down the runway, faster and faster. I've got eyes only for
the shift points on the tachometer and the tarmac in front of me. Gaudi
is watching a special GPS device called a VBOX, more accurate than the
speedometer, which tends to be significantly off at high speeds.
I slow down well before the runway's halfway mark. Gaudi points to
the VBOX and says, simply, ''199''.Oh, man. I wasn't even trying.
Rolling back to our staging area on the side of the runway, I find
the car drives easily: It's very controllable and not at all scary.
Gaudi's team adds race fuel to the tank. I pull back onto the runway, all alone now.
Accelerating toward and beyond 200 mph is akin to being at Mount
Everest's so-called ''death zone.'' If any little thing goes awry the
situation can quickly turn critical. A strong cross wind, a poorly timed
sneeze or, my worst fear, a blown tyre, and the car's straight-line
trajectory could turn into an extended barrel roll.
The faster you go, the more air the car has to displace. Past 290kmh
it becomes a dense wall. The car becomes unstable, with air channelling
underneath, trying to lift it skyward.
The AMS engineers estimate that the Alpha 12 is mechanically capable
of hitting 383kmh. It has no roll cage or specialty safety equipment
and I'm not wearing a helmet. It's basically a street-legal car capable
of almost four times the typical highway speed limit.
I stamp on the accelerator. There's a moment's pause as the turbos
spool up to power. Then, like a match igniting gunpowder, a flash and a
boom. The entire front of the car lifts.
I slam the gears into second, then third. There's a tingling at the
nape of my neck. A sense of displacing air, space and reality.
The runway is crisscrossed by black skid marks left by jumbo jet
landings that seem to streak toward me as I land-speed over the wide
runway. Then they, too, disappear. Number markers from one to ten are on
the side of the tarmac.
At the halfway mark, not even looking at the speedometer, I let off
the accelerator, step on the brake lightly and then much harder. I'm
almost disappointed when I stop and find the runway still continues on
for quite a distance.
The Alpha has a lot more to give. I look at my top speed on the VBOX
then turn around and cruise slowly back the way I've come. My heartbeat
is fairly steady. In some 24 seconds, I've travelled from zero to
344kmh.
Nissan GT-R/AMS Alpha 12Engine: 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-6
Power: 1119kW
Torque: 1363Nm
Transmission: Six-speed dual-clutch automated transmission.
0-100kmh: 2.4 seconds.
-Washington Post
