Nissan GT-R sets benchmark time at Jebel Hafeet road

At 10:30 a.m. United Arab Emirates local time (GMT+4), expert driver and FIA Vice President for Sport and President of the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE Mohammed Ben Sulayem pointed the aggressive nose of the Nissan GT-R at the mountain, set the car's electronics to full launch mode and dropped the twin clutches to unleash 485PS (357kW) through the car's permanent all-wheel drive system.

Just a few minutes later having negotiated the mountain's 22 corners and 7kms, Ben Sulayem crossed the line to set a first ever official time for ascending the mountain of 3 minutes and 39.008 seconds. He used a standard customer specification GT-R.

"That was fun!" exclaimed Sulayem at the conclusion of the run.

"I have been familiar with the development of the GT-R for some time now and to achieve this first ever officially recorded time on the Jebel Hafeet mountain road is a fitting event to mark the regional launch of what I believe is one of the most capable performance cars ever developed. This car is true to its design philosophy of being a super car for anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Timed "hill climb" events like these have been popular - especially in Europe - since the very early days of the motor car and when Nissan set a new record time around the Nordschliefe at the Nürburgring we immediately thought a similar feat in our region would be appropriate...and so it has proved,"

he concluded.

The Jebel Hafeet mountain road on the outskirts of Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi rises approximately 4,000 ft (1,219 m) with 22 corners and three lanes (two climbing and one descending). The road scales the mountain and ends at a scenic parking lot and passes a hotel and a palace on the way. A seven-km stretch of the mountain road was used for the GT-R Jebel Hafeet Challenge.

For this very special event, Nissan received the permission of the Abu Dhabi authorities to temporarily close the road, while under the auspices of the Automobile & Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE) the closed road was monitored by marshals to Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) safety standards. Official timing of the run was also conducted to regional FIA standards.

The Nissan GT-R received the "Most Advanced Technology Award (Car of the Year Japan 2008-2009)" and was named the "2009 Motor Trend Car of the Year™ (USA)," among a number of other prestigious accolades.

The GT-R is on sale through a limited number of Nissan High Performance Centers in selected locations throughout the Middle East now.