Hello all,

I'm considering a GT-R for my next "play" car and I'm wondering if anyone has images of the GT-R's frame structure or any information on how it's built as far as safety goes. The reason I'm asking is the racing series we run requires you have a roll cage for certain speeds, but they allow your car if you can somehow prove it has "built in" roll protection. Corvettes (which are very commonly run at this event) get away with running at these speed classes because they showed that the car is somehow designed with "built in" roll protection. I believe they just had to show a picture of the basic structure of the car showing a beam running across the top at the center section (which most cars have, really). Just wondering if there's any pictures like this for the GT-R.

Someone is running an R8 in this series which also doesn't have a roll cage at the speed classes I'm talking about, so the R8 must also have some sort of built in protection as well.

With a car so well engineered as the GT-R, it's hard to imagine that it doesn't have some sort of brace across the top like the R8 and Corvettes.

hope these images help
http://blog.stillen.com/2009/02/gutting-th...35-gt-r-part-1/

also gtrblog.com have a few images from others in the land down under who have done the same.

The GT-R roof is reinforced for rollover protection. I'm not at home so I don't have it on me but you should pickup a copy of the GT-R Technology Details book from Motor Fan.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/Mfi%E3%80%8C%E6%97...362&sr=8-22

It has illustrations that may assist in proving this for your racing class.

wonder why we still have no crash ratings on safercar or iihs?? Sorry, a tad ot

You'll notice they also don't have Corvettes, Ferraris, Porsches, etc. etc. They don't test them because 1) the manufacturers won't donate several off-the-line production examples to wreck, 2) they are too expensive for the organizations to buy several examples off the lot to test, 3) they are low-use vehicles which don't see a lot of miles and so are less likely to get in to a wreck.

Just my guesses.

Kris, thanks for the heads up, I'll have to pick up that book and see what it says.

probably true, doubt I'll ever put my daughter in the car then

While these aren't pictures, the diagrams illustrate the reinforcements incorporated at design by the engineers. Notice the cross-beams built into the roof and the thickness of the doors. These extra safety features are not surprising given the weight of this car, no skimping here.

From the main page, navigate to Mechanism - Body:
http://press.nissan-global.com/PRESSKIT/NI...LISH/index.html

Although the GT-R has more power, at normal cruise speeds, one could hazard a guess that the GT-R body is even safer than the very good and similar G37 chassis. Of the known GT-R crashes involving air bag deployment, everyone seems to have been able to walk away relatively unharmed. It even has a pop-up hood bonnet to help protect pedestrians outside.