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The concept of turning SUVs into pavement-pounding, drag-racing, supercar-shredding monster rods never ceases to amaze me, and by that I mean my jaw is on the floor and I'm completely boggled. I love me some automobiles (and vehicular transportation in general), but there's something about a nigh-three ton box on wheels and oodles of GO that seems...weird.

However, if monster rods - or high performance in general - are your cup of Starbucks soy latte, then Hennessey has got you covered (as if you didn't know that already, what with their cray-cray 1,000+ horsepower Vipers from way back when). Below, for your viewing pleasure, is video of a 2011 Cadillac Escalade drag racing a 2011 R35 GT-R and beating it.

There are two things many adolescent boys and men love: cars and women. So it makes sense, both to us and event organizers, that cars and women together are a winning combination. Don’t believe me? Try Megan Fox in Transformers, Jordana Brewster in Fast & Furious or Angelina Jolie in that famous scene from Wanted. Like peanut butter and jelly or beer with kebabs, women and cars work.

Usually, it’s Nissan owners that want to upgrade to a model from sister company Infiniti, but in this case, it’s the other way around. Found for sale in Quebec by Carscoop reader Caroline is this Nissan GT-R wannabe based on the Infiniti G35 Coupe. From what we can tell, the owner’s budget dried out after he or she finished the front end that now resembled the R35 with a bespoke grille and front bumper assembly. Read more »

At last November’s LA Auto Show, Nissan lifted the sheets off the revised GT-R that recently went on sale as a 2012MY in North America and as a 2011MY in the rest of the world. Key changes over the previous model include a 45HP bump in output to 530HP, plus a series of aero and chassis tweaks.

For those of you wondering how these modifications affected the GT-R’s performance on the notorious Nordschleife, Nissan’s team managed to shave more than two seconds off the 2011MYs time of 7:26.4, dropping it to 7:24.22, allegedly in less than ideal conditions. You’ll have to skip to about 3:20 into the clip for the driving to begin.

We also found a edited film on Youtube that compares the 2012 GT-R and Corvette ZR-1 on the 'Ring in a split format, which was created by synchronizing the two videos at the pit exit. Watch both videos after the jump.

American tuning firm Hennessey has crafted some pretty insane vehicles over the years. One of its most recent tunes is based on the Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon, which leaves GM’s factory with a 556-horsepower 6.2-liter V8 lump, but once Hennessey’s engineers perform their magic under the hood, output is lifted to 650 horsepower.

To show off the tuned CTS-V Sport Wagon’s potential, the Texas-based company brought the Cadillac to the track and drag raced it first against a stock 480HP Porsche 911 Turbo [997] and then a standard 485HP 2011 Nissan GT-R. Watch what happened in the video after the jump.

We know what you’re thinking but stop right there. What you are looking at here isn’t the result of some crafty photoshop business - it’s the real deal; an actual factual microcar replica of a 1970 Nissan Skyline GT-R coupe that was created by Japanese tuning firm Liberty Walk Performance. The scaled down, single-seater clone of Nissan’s first-generation Skyline GT-R is based on a quad-bike and it’s perfectly drivable.

This is not the first time we’ve shown you a microcar replica from Liberty Walk Performance as some of you may remember the…Lambormini Murcielago snapped by our own Phil Alex at last year’s Tokyo Auto Salon.

You'll be hard-pressed to come across a more bizarre replica than this BMW 7-Series-based model, which was found for sale in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by Carscoop reader Ahmad. If you do, please don’t hesitate to contact us…

Now, what we have here is a BMW E23 model, or to put it more simply, a first-generation 7-Series sedan. To be precise, it’s a 1985 728i that left the Bavarian firm’s factory with a 2.8-liter inline-six gasoline unit delivering 184 horsepower.

For aesthetic reasons us ordinary mortals would find hard to comprehend, the owner of the BMW went and transformed the front-end of the 728i in the likes of a Shelby Mustang, and the rear to imitate the look of a Nissan Skyline GT-R R34. Feel free to check out the rest of the pictures after the jump and have your say in the comments section below.

What weights ten tonnes and costs more than US$240,000? If you said, “a gold plated bulldozer”, you’d be close but no cigar. The answer is three sub-100k supercars: the Chevy Corvette Z06, Ford Shelby GT500 and Nissan GT-R. These three industry titans, with nameplates stretching as far back as the 1960s, were the recent subjects of an epic comparison test by MotorTrend. Here are three would-be-supercars – over 500hp and 3 second 0 to 60 mph times – that don’t command the supercar price tag. Read more »

Back in 2009, Nissan GT-R owners had to face an odd dilemma: even though the car came with a launch control system, using it meant voiding the warranty. In the ensuing controversy, the Japanese maker simply dropped it for the 2010 model year, stating that it doesn’t want to deal with the “warranty nightmare” anymore.

At the upcoming Tokyo Auto Salon 2011 with NAPAC (Japan Car Parts and Aftermarket Promotion Association), to be held from January 14 to 16, Nissan, together with Autech Japan and its in-house NISMO performance division, will premiere a total of nine vehicles.

When we reported on the 2012MY Nissan GT-R, we were wondering how the added power would affect the Japanese sports car's acceleration times. Well, the wait is over as Nissan announced today that the facelifted GT-R with the tweaked 530HP twin-turbocharged V6 completes the 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) sprint in just 3.0 seconds, or a whopping 0.5 seconds faster than the 485 hp version.

Boasting more power, subtle interior and exterior styling tweaks as well as chassis updates and a new "Black Edition" model, the U.S.-spec 2012 Nissan GT-R made its North American debut today at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

As far as street-cred goes, few cars can equal the Nissan GT-R. So, it's only normal that every new version finds the fans holding their breath, wondering what are those crazy Japanese going to do next. Add more power, that's what.

Recently there was a situation in California involving an ex-Orange County Sheriff's deputy, some illegally imported Japanese cars, and what seems to be a plot from one of the rejected Fast & Furious scripts. One Daryl Alison, a 45-year old former law enforcement officer and entrepreneur of sorts, was charged with removing the markings from an imported Japanese domestic market (JDM) vehicle.

Let's be honest: unless you're a poseur or regularly enter Concours events, you'll spend more time looking at the inside of your car than the outside. So why not gussy up that tired and dated interior with some high quality, hand crafted materials?

U.S. aftermarket-eers Umbrella Auto Designs have done just that, overhauling the Tokyo Drift interior of the 2010 Nissan GT-R with a touch of European class. Everything has been redressed in Black Ultrasuede with silver stitching, from the Status Racing seats to the dashboard / centre console, steering wheel, doors, rear side panels...even the parcel tray and subwoofer cover. Umbrella went so far as to repaint the interior plastics from light grey to satin black to match.

Together with the presentation of the standard, SpecV and Club Track variants of the once again facelifted GT-R in Japan today, Nissan also released a new bespoke edition of its supercar named "EGOIST".

Crafted to cater the needs of those seeking more exclusivity and luxury, the Egoist combines bits and pieces from the SpecV such as the carbon fiber wing, Rays alloy wheels and titanium exhaust, with premium materials and special equipment inside.

Visitors to Japanese showrooms will be the first consumers to get a chance to sit in the firmer, faster, more luxurious 2011 Nissan GT-R when it hits the pavement on November 18 (it'll appear as a 2012 model for the US market and debut in L.A.). The exterior will get a light refresh to better improve its ability to slice through the air and competition with more efficiency, while the interior will also get some new appointments.

Other than the little tweaks everyone was expecting, the big news for the updated GT-R is the addition of a highly-modifiable "EGOIST" model that sits in the price realm of the Spec V and will offer a very Euro-lux feel, as well as a boost to 530 horsepower and 612 Nm / 451 lb ft (630 Nm / 465 lb ft for the Spec V) across the board thanks to revised engine tuning, larger piping, and a red engine cover. It now returns 20 mpg / 8.5-8.6 km/L and is considered a SU-LEV too, you hippies.

The North American market version of the revised Nissan GT-R supercar will make its first public appearance on this side of the Atlantic at the Los Angeles Auto Show on November 17th, the Japanese automaker announced today.

Semi-revealed at the Paris Motor Show earlier this month, the latest version of the GT-R gains a barely noticeable exterior makeover with a new front bumper featuring some rather tacky LED daytime running lights, a revised rear diffuser and new alloy wheel designs. Nissan says the exterior revisions improve the car's aerodynamics.

Tucked away in a glassed corner of Nissan's Paris Motor Show booth was the 2012 GT-R facelift. So, did the updated GT-R make its world premiere in Paris or not? Yes and no. See, while the car made its first public appearance in Paris, oddly enough, Nissan said it wouldn't release any information until mid October.

The 478 hp Nissan GT-R is no stranger to Top Gear UK. Jeremy Clarkson famously raced it against co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May riding a bullet train just two years ago. Now the GT-R is set to play its monster movie nickname - Godzilla - in a special stunt sequence of Top Gear Live.