A few weeks ago we brought you an interesting article about a BMW 2 Series with a triple-turbo diesel engine. We spotted that car at the 2022 Simola Hillclimb and published the story shortly after, as you can read here. This week we showcase the world’s first diesel-powered Nissan GT-R R35.

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Second Chances

Lyfe Motorsports was responsible for building the car you see here. The owner/founder of the company, Cole Powelson has raced a Nissan GT-R at the world famous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC). In 2015 he replaced this GT-R, known as Frank the Tank, with another, faster, lighter R35.

Frank sat unattended at Lyfe Motorsport HQ until earlier this year. At that time Powelson and his team decided to rebuild the car to compete at the 2022 PPIHC. However, there was one major difference to what most people expect. The revived racer would be fitted with a turbodiesel engine.

Check out the Italdesign penned GT-R designed to celebrate 50 years of this famous badge.

One of a Kind

Lyfe partnered with Riffraff Diesel, an outfit that specialises in building Ford-sourced turbodiesel engines. Riffraff Diesel started with a 6,0 L V8 known as a Power Stroke. The engine was rebuilt with Mahle ceramic coated pistons and billet camshafts.

A fast ascent up Pikes Peak requires plenty of compressed air. The 20 km course starts at about 1 500 metres and the finish line is at over 4 300 metres above sea level. A compound turbo setup feeds the V8. A KC Turbo Jetfire turbocharger and BorgWarner 80 mm turbocharger work in sequence to provide boost. The V8 is force-fed with 4,5 bars of boost. This means that the engine is good for just over 670 kW with peak torque of 1 760 N.m. Oh, and that’s before the pair of nitrous oxide bottles are brought into play.

A four-speed automatic transmission replaced the GTR’s dual-clutch unit. As you can see from the video (below) the car has steering wheel mounted paddle shifters. In addition, the all-wheel-drive driveline was removed in favour of a RWD set-up. 

Click here to read about the record claimed by Lamborghini at the PPIHC course.

Return to Fight Another Day

Powelson and his team pitched up in Colorado without too much testing under their belt. The practice runs went well, but the engine struggled with an oil-feed issue. The team didn’t set a time for the full course in 2022 but the diesel-powered Nissan GT-R will be back in 2023 to challenge the all-time diesel record.