Capturing usable video footage on a racetrack is harder than it looks, trust us. When cars are traveling upward of 100 mph and there is chaos everywhere, finding the perfect angle is frustrating to say the least. That’s why many videographers use drones, as their freedom of movement allows them to capture beautiful, unobstructed shots that would be impossible otherwise. The problem is, most of them are just too slow to keep up.
Read more: Finally mature but no less ferocious, Nissan’s 2017 GT-R is all grown up
The average top speed of a high-end quadcopter hovers around 40-50 mph (no pun intended), so to shoot racing film at breakneck velocities, Nissan turned to the experts. In collaboration with World Drone Prix champions Tornado XBlades Racing, the brand created the GT-R Drone, one of the fastest First Person View machines in the world.
Built to keep up with the road-going GT-R on the track, the airborne version features a 1400mAh lithium polymer battery powering four 2000kV XNova motors. Combined with the low-drag canopy, the drone is capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in just 1.3 seconds before topping out at 115 mph. Eat that, automobiles.
Nissan recently took the flying machine along with the 2017 GT-R to the Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, and the exhilarating results can be seen in the video above. The film tells the real story, but it’s clear that the two GT-Rs are more than evenly matched.
As for the car itself, the 2017 version is the smoothest, most refined version yet. Don’t let its more livable attitude fool you, though — the GT-R is still very much Godzilla at heart. With 565 horsepower and 467 pound-feet of torque powering all four wheels, the iconic supercar will make mince meat out of its competitors dollar for dollar, and the transmission is vastly improved over last year. For all our 2017 GT-R First Drive impressions, click here.
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