The Nissan Navara is no longer available to order in many European countries but you can still buy one in Australia and New Zealand. A brand new generation is believed to be under development but its predecessor still has some solid competencies when it comes to its off-road performance. Also, as it turns out, the outgoing Navara has great potential in terms of track performance upgrades. Yes, you read that right.
What you see in the gallery below is the so-called Navara R, which is a heavily modified truck with lots of performance and visual upgrades. Starting with the exterior, as you can see, there’s a full custom body kit, which consists of wider wheel arches, new side skirts and bumper extensions, and other aero tweaks. The interior remains mostly stock, though there’s a new Kenwood infotainment system and a digital instrument cluster.
Gallery: Nissan Navara with GT-R engine
By far the most important upgrade to this Navara comes under the hood. There’s a tuned Nissan GT-R-sourced 4.1-liter twin-turbo V6 engine with Syvecs control unit for an impressive peak output of 1,000 horsepower. This engine is known as the VR41, which is basically a GT-R 3.8-liter engine with an increased displacement to 4.1 liters. The power reaches all four wheels through a specially developed dual-clutch transmission engineered by Dodson Motorsport from New Zealand.
We don’t know how fast this Navara is but chances are it is among the most powerful and fastest pickup trucks in the world. This is also the first known project in the world for a GT-R engine swap into a Navara. There’s more to it than just the mill, though, as the suspension has been completely redesigned using the original GT-R subframes with KW V4 Racing Coilover Suspension and HLS 4 hydraulic lift system. The truck ditches the factory 16-inch wheels for custom BBS 20 inchers. Stopping power comes from RC6 and RC4 Alcon brakes.
The entire project took more than two years to finish and was mostly done by the UK-based SB Motorsport. Drifting machine Steve Baggsy commissioned the speedy Navara and there’s a good chance we might see it in action during this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
