Engineers working on the Nissan Juke-R project have spoken about the challenges of splicing the underpinnings of the Nissan GT-R sports car with its compact crossover.
As reported by Autocar last week the Japanese manufacturer is building an extreme 480bhp version of its Nissan Juke-R.
The car, which will use the V6 engine, powertrain and electrical technology of the Nissan GT-R under a Juke bodyshell is intended to gauge public reaction to a ‘hot’ version of the niche supermini.
See more build pictures of the Nissan Juke-R
Darren Cox, General Manager Crossover and Sports for Nissan in Europe, said: “There are many engineering challenges on this project and one that really interests me is the fact we have a very small package in the Juke, and we’re trying to pack a huge amount of technology in it. One of the things that people probably don’t realise about the GT-R is the amount of electronics and computing power it has got to make it go as fast as it goes.”
The Juke-R is a collaboration between Nissan and motorsport preparation firm RML. Chris Horton, Lead Engineer for RML, said: “There are three areas of key technology that we’ll be using in the Juke-R.
“The first is the 4WD system – that has the traction control and stability control and most importantly the torque-vectoring system. Torque vectoring is the way of controlling each wheel individually, so the car is both stable and maximises the performance available.
“The second is the touchscreen driver interface, which gives the driver the gauges, the g-meter and all the boost dials, along with the sat-nav and entertainment system. Finally, there’s the boost and engine control.”
The Juke-R build is underway, with test and development work due to commence before the end of the year.
“We’re creating a design study utilising a GT-R powertrain, shortening it by 250mm and then using a test facility to run the car, instrument it and then analyse the data to make sure the results are positive,” said Horton
“The changes to fit the GT-R running gear into a Juke will require the entire floorpan to be removed and the whole thing to be rebuilt to pick up all of the GT-R mounting points.
“Once we’ve established that it will all work, the real business of building the Juke-R will begin.”
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