Larry Miller, a prominent Utah car dealer and collector, died yesterday at the age of 64. Although he was well known as the longtime owner of the Utah Jazz, car enthusiasts know him as the man behind Miller Motorsports Park
west of Salt Lake City.
There, the multimillionaire spared no expense building the race track of his dreams that also happens to include an on-site museum for his extensive collection of vintage Fords. There's even an impressive "Hall of Champions" event facility overlooking the track that pays homage to the greatest racing legends of all time. As car enthusiasts go, Larry was about as serious as it gets.
When we broke the story that Nissan would reprogram the GT-R
, we weren't able to include the full text of Nissan's letter to dealers. We now have access to the complete document and you can read every word of it by clicking on the thumbnails below.
Among the new information is a note that owner notification for the "Customer Satisfaction Inititiative" will begin February 16, 2009. In the bulletin, Nissan also advises dealers that --
If you have not modified a vehicle by the time of sale, you must advise the customer that completion of the modification is a condition of sale and that the required modification will be performed during the initial 1,000-mile performance appointment or as soon thereafter as possible. Please note, the customer must sign the revised modified disclosure form.
In a bulletin sent out to dealers today, Nissan outlined its plan for transmission changes in all unsold 2009 GT-Rs as well as the upcoming 2010 GT-R. The changes are the first official response to reports of transaxle failure as a result of using the much-hyped launch control system.
We sifted through all the official wording and it boils down to this:
- There are no hardware changes.
- Dealers will reprogram the car's ECU to alter the transmission characteristics during hard launches.
- Launch Control remains, but the maximum allowable engine speed with the VDC system switched off will be reduced from the current 4,500 rpm to between 3,000 and 3,500 rpm. The clutch engagement program will also change to reduce driveline stress, e.g., less abrupt engagement on launch.
- When launching with the VDC on, the new programming will allow for higher engine speeds and a more aggressive clutch engagement than the current setup.
- Nissan reiterated that launching the GT-R with the VDC off is not covered by the warranty.
- A revised customer disclosure form will be issued and required for GT-R sales going forward.
- All GT-Rs worldwide will receive the revised programming.
Here are the totals: We drove for three days, covered 2000 miles, killed 4,236,465 bugs, touched 170 mph, met hundreds of Inside Line readers, burned through 115 gallons of 91 octane gasoline, used 8 bottles of octane booster, talked our way out of two 91 mph speeding tickets, did donuts on one dry lake, raced at one drag strip and lapped one state-of-the-art road course. We broke speed limits in three states (California, Nevada and Utah), let four Inside Line readers drive the GT-R, ate $100 worth of fast food, stopped at one very flooded, very beautiful, very large salt lake bed named for Captain B.L.E. Bonneville, used the GT-R's launch-control 14 times, answered the question "Is that the new Skyline?" 2,677 times, used our Verizon wireless card a total of 23 hours, killed no one, crashed never and hit one car wash in downtown Reno, the trip's finish line.
After taking our hot laps at Miller Motorsports Park, we took a tour of the rest of the facility. It's a gearheads dream, and in this case, the gearhead's name is Larry Miller, a prominent local car dealer. He built the place with his own money and spared no expense in the process.
The main attraction is the road course which features four different loops, the longest being a 4.5-mile layout with 23 turns. There's also a nearly mile long go kart track with dirt sections on either end for running super motos. A row of world class pit garages sits on the 3,500 foot long main straight and well-situated grandstands are sprinkled throughout the edge of the course. The press box is as advanced as anything at Daytona and heck, even the bathrooms are impressively spotless.
What can we say? The GT-R is popular with the law enforcement crowd. First it was the CHP
, then one of Sandy City’s finest
. Yesterday, it was Officer J...
Got up early this morning to head over to Miller Motorsports Park
in the city of Tooele (that's Two-ella) just east of Salt Lake City. We've seen this relatively new track on TV a few times before, but not even a good HD telecast could do justice to the almost surreal facility in the Utah desert. It's easily the most modern, well thought out race track we've ever seen.
John Gardner, Media Manager for Miller Motorsports Park, invited us over to stretch the legs of the GT-R around the West Loop. It's just over two miles long and features 10 turns. John then introduced us to Mitch Wright, Director of Racing, who gave us a few tips on the correct lines before letting us loose at full speed.
Just topped off the GT-R's tank for the 7th time. As you may have noticed from previous posts, we haven't exactly been feathering the throttle. It hasn't killed our overall average though as it now stands at 17.54 mpg. We did leave out the tank we used this morning while lapping at Miller Motorsports Park as it seemed to disappear at an alarming rate...
After Officer Cunningham's go it was Nigel Williams' turn. The 47-year-old software development manager is originally from Tasmania, but now lives and works in Provo, Utah with his wife and children. His daily ride is a new BMW 335 Xi.
Just a few minutes on the road and Nigel was already commenting on the GT-R's firm ride...
After the third full-on, full-throttle, all-out, wheel spinning, launch control abusing hole shot in the parking lot of the Sandy City, Utah police station last night I realized something: "It's fun to hang out with the cops."
We were there to let Inside Line
reader and Sandy City policeman Eric Cunningham drive the 2009 Nissan GT-R we've been living in for the last two days. The 29-year-old is an 8-year veteran of the Sandy City police force. His days are spent busting bad guys in either a front-wheel-drive Impala (for the snow) or a full-pack Harley-Davidson (even in the dead of winter), so the GT-R was going to feel quick.
And Eric wasted no time. He pulled out of the cop shop and nailed it. Let's face it; he wasn't exactly going to get a ticket. Three full throttle upshifts later he said this: "It's amazing. I can't get over how quick off the line it is. It feels faster than my friends Lamborghini Murcielago. Smoother power delivery, too. For a six it's incredible."
What about the ride? "It isn't as stiff as I thought it would be, but then again, I'm not driving it thousands of miles like you." Which is true. I also pointed out to Officer Cunningham that the city streets of Sandy City make a pool table look rough.
So is the GT-R worth the asking price? "Definitely," Cunningham said while further exercising his over the local speed limit privileges. "I'd pay $100,000 for this thing if I could."
Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief @ 1,150 miles
When we finally arrived at the Bonneville Salt Flats late yesterday afternoon, we found most of it covered in five inches of water. The GT-R may have achieved mythical status over the years, but even the R35 can't walk on the wet stuff.
There was, however, a long, desolate access road, so we decided to shoot a quick video of the launch control in action from inside the car. Hope it gives you some idea how violent it is when this thing takes off...
A nutritious meal on the road is hard to come by. Knowing how far we were behind schedule, a drive thru lunch was the only option yesterday afternoon. Needless to say, weâre pretty sure itâs the first time a GT-R has navigated a gut busting, house of calories like Burger King. Weâre happy to report that the cupholders in the center console are some of the best weâve ever seen in a car with over 450 horsepower...
We're back on the road to Reno after spending the morning at Miller Motorsports Park. It's an unbelievable place. It may be in Utah, but we might want to move there anyway, it's that cool.
We'll have photos and video up later to give you an idea what's its like and how the GT-R performed on one of Miller's numerous road courses...
We got lucky with the law yesterday, so we werenât about to push our luck today. When we came up upon this local sheriff a few miles back, we decided to lay low and match his steady 70mph. Apparently nothing much was going on today in the northern Nevada desert as we ended up sitting behind this guy for at least an hour. It didnât do much for our average speed, but it did give us plenty of time to enjoy the supple massage of the GT-Râs Nurburgring-tuned suspension...
Here's some additional video footage of our time at El Mirage dry lake yesterday. Our GT-R is still caked in dust, but it looks tough so we've avoided car washes so far. Enjoy.
Twenty-three-year-old Carlos Lago of Rocklin, California is a regular Inside Line reader, a CSU Sacramento college student and one of maybe 25 people in the United States of America that has driven a 2009 Nissan GT-R.
Carlos blew off a few classes last night to come out to Sacramento Raceway. I think he'll tell you it was a smart move. When our night of racing was over, Carlos became the second Inside Line reader in two days to get some seat time in the GT-R...
It was the one condition we agreed to when Nissan handed us the keys to this white pre-production GT-R. "You can do whatever you want," Nissan engineer Bruce Robinson told us. "But no testing. We'll get you a production car for that in a few weeks"
"No problem," we said. "Cross our hearts."
But drag racing isn't testing. Well, sorta. And last night we went drag racing. Sacramento Raceway grudge night. The place was packed. And the 2009 Nissan GT-R was the star of the show.
The crowds around the car were four deep most of the night. Everyone wanted to know how we got it, how much it costs and of course, how fast it could go. We popped the hood, opened the doors and let anyone who wanted to sit behind the wheel. Every camera phone ever sold seemed to be pointed at the car.
And when it was our time to make a pass the stand packed like John Force had come to town with his funny car.
Were back on the road again, this time headed to the Bonneville Salt Flats. We had a great time at the dragstrip last night, but we havent finished getting the video together just yet. Itll be up shortly so you can see just how fast the GT-R runs the quarter mile after a 500 mile drive slog up the interstate. Until then, well be piling on the miles and wondering if the comfort mode is really just a cruel joke by the engineering team...
Larry Miller, a prominent Utah car dealer and collector, died yesterday at the age of 64. Although he was well known as the longtime owner of the Utah Jazz, car enthusiasts know him as the man behind Miller Motorsports Park
west of Salt Lake City. 
