The Skyline Eau Rouge concept and the upcoming Skyline 2.0T

Two months ago at the 2014 North American International Auto Show, Nissan's luxury brand, Infiniti, showcased a bewildering concept saloon car based on last year's Q50 (better known to you and I as the V37 Skyline) and based on how it looks, this concept car maybe more of Japan's M3 killer, something to give high-performance European saloon a run for their money.

2014 Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge Concept

The Eau Rouge Concept, named after a corner from Spa-Francorchamps, is the result of what happens when you give the Skyline the spirit of a Formula One racer and it comes with a bespoke carbon fiber aerodynamics, making it lower and wider. Infiniti's Johan de Nysschen said that if they made this car, he would expect that this hot Q50/Skyline to produce over 500HP of power and 600lb/ft of torque.

It showed up but no one knows what kind of engine that powers it until at the recent 2014 Geneva Motor Show, the Skyline Eau Rouge comes with an uprooted version of the 3.8L V6 engine sourced from the GT-R. Thanks to the GT-R engine, it develops over 560HP of power and 442lb-ft of torque while connected to a seven-speed double clutch gearbox.

I tell you what, if that hot Q50 or Skyline went into production in the near future, I bet that the Eau Rouge is definitely Japan's answer to the latest BMW M3 F80 saloon but because this is a concept, best to dream on.

2014 Nissan Skyline

Aside from the Skyline Eau Rouge concept getting a turbo engine, it looks like they did previewed an upcoming, entry-level version of the Infiniti Q50 or Skyline V37, only this time it comes with a 2.0L Turbo engine which, in theory, it could replace the outgoing model's 2.5 V6 engine. The old V36 Skyline's 2.5L V6 engine produces 222HP of power output but for this 2.0L turbo 4-cylinder engine coming to a Q50 or Skyline near you, it produces a lesser 208HP of power output. A Skyline with a Mercedes-Benz sourced turbo engine maybe have less power than the outgoing 2.5L V6 engine but because this is turbo, I believe that it can make up for its personal shortcomings. Some say, the 2.0L turbo variant of the Infiniti Q50 or Nissan Skyline V37 will be rolling out worldwide this fall.

As of now, the latest Nissan Skyline (launched in November 2013, on sale last February 2014) is powered by a 3.5L V6 engine connected to an electric motor and a Li-ion battery. In other words, it's a hybrid but it's connected to a 7-speed DCT gearbox that delivers maximum torque and a more sportier drive. The one thing I find it confusing is why the new Skyline wears Infiniti badges all over but still called it a Skyline for anonymous reasons. Don't ask but it's all Nissan's idea.

Let's Do The News! (March 12, 2014)

The big scoop today...

- IS THE RING SAVED? Reports told that the financially-troubled Nurburgring race track has been sold for about 77 million euros by an investment called Capricorn Development and the takeover will be done by next year.

- Senator Ralph Recto condemned LTO's plan to replace existing vehicle license plates, saying it's a waste of money and time if someone's car plate will be replaced even if it's in perfect condition and which still functions as a vehicle ID mark.

- Bella Thorne from Shake iT Up shares a Dirty Little Secret in collaboration with The Thirst Project in an effort to spread clean drinking water for the world. March 22, 2014 is World Water Day and The Thirst Project stands with people who don't have access to clean drinking water.

- DON'T MISS: F1 2014 begins at the 2014 Australian Grand Prix this Sunday at the Albert Park. If you're not sure what's Albert Park, here's the track layout;



- Makati City, Philippines, is named as the Selfie Capital in the world according to TIME Magazine.

- US President Barrack Obama takes a stab on The Hangover Part III, the final installment of the hit comedy franchise, during an interview with actor Zach Galifianakis in a spoof chat show called Between Two Ferns.

- Let's think something GOOD; even when Filipinos being faced by one of the world's worst storms in history, there still have time to give thanks and dance as shown by this viral clip that plays to the tune of Pharrell Williams' hit song "HAPPY".



- Runa Akiyama, the veteran voice actress behind Yumeko from Ninja Hattori-kun, Milk Boya from Anpanman, and others, passed away last Saturday due to a heart attack at the age of 61.

- While in Japan...since Japonies (Japanese MLP fans) had (almost) reached to the end of Season 3 of My Little Pony, TV Tokyo's going to air some encore episodes in "Best Selection" in the 1st of April.

- Fiat announced a voluntary recall on the Fiat 500L MPV over dual-clutch gearbox problems.

TTFN!!!

Japan's 3.11 tragedy and three years later...

Let's all take a moment of silence to remember one of the most tragic moments ever to hit The Land of The Rising Sun...

You see, in the 11th of March, 2011, at the Tohoku Region of Japan, a magnitude-9 earthquake triggered a nightmarish tsunami that was more than 10 meters high. Authorities said as of now, over 18,500 people were either dead of unaccounted for while almost 3,000 people died while evacuated from their homes. Not only that, it triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, causing radiation fears not only in Japan but the rest of the world.

As of last month, over a quarter of a million Japanese people were still living in their temporary shelters while construction for new housing on higher ground is lagging behind schedule. About 3% have been completed so far.

It takes over four decades to decommission the Fukushima plant and the cleanup takes a lot of time.

Report: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140311_06.html

When that disaster happened, it seems that Japan has just went to their knees, considering the parts shortage, contamination concerns, power shortages, and most of the bad things happened in Japan. Moments later, it stood up again thanks to the generous support from all over the world.

For those from the Northeastern Japan, we are thinking about you and we wish you all the very best you can. That is my message to them and with one year passed, it seems that the Tohoku region still hasn't get away from their nightmares of last year's but I'm sure they'll find a way.

As a fan of all things Japanese, I surely wish for them to stood up again. The sun is rising for them.

Six Nations 2014 - Round 4

England vs. Wales, two bitter rival teams, one match. And here in Twickenham, it's a total catastrophe for our friends at the Welsh Rugby Union as with the score of 29 to 18, England Rugby wins the match. This is definitely one of the worst moments to expect for our Welsh heroes in the game of rugby. Such tries from Danny Care and Luther Burrell as well as Owen Farrell's winning techniques really made England Rugby on the rush for the Triple Crown.

Here are the video highlights:

So, a humiliating loss for the WRU in a grudge match against England but before this grudge match occured, there was Ireland's IRFU defeated Italy's FIR at the score of 46 to 7...



...and France's FFR defeated Scotland at the score of 17 to 19. That's Scotland 17, France 19.



So, that concludes Round 4 of the RBS Six Nations 2014. Based on the results, it looks like England and France are in the lead with three wins each.

Don't miss the finale of the RBS Six Nations 2014! Here are the schedules for the final game of the season;

Italy vs. England - March 15 - 13:30 - Stadio Olimpico
Wales vs. Scotland - March 15 - 14:45 - Millenium Stadium
France vs. Ireland - March 15 - 18:00 - Stade de France

DON'T MISS IT!

Let's Do The News! (March 10, 2014)

The big scoop today;

- William Clay Ford Sr., the retired vice chairman of Ford Motor Company, passed away at the age of 88 years old. He died of pneumonia.

- The Nissan iDX Nismo Concept pays a visit to this webisode of Jay Leno's Garage. Check it out;



- Honda Cars Philippines has opened its Calamba dealership. It's located along the National Highway Barangay Milagrosa, Calamba.

- Hyundai to reveal the next-generation Sonata this March 24, 2014. Don't believe? Watch this teaser clip;

 

- It's been a year since The iDOLM@STER Million Live mobile game was out. To commemorate the mobile game's 1st year, they showcased a special clip;



- The top 10 graduating cadets of the Philippine Military Academy will be presented tomorrow but they'll be competing for attention with a cadet who may not be joining them for the March 16 graduation. Last week, the friends and family of embattled Cadet Cudia in Arayat, Pampanga, expressed their support for the cadet who was separated from the PMA weeks before graduation due to the violation of the so-called Honor Code.

- On to the Flight MH370 missing case; Malaysian authorities launched a terror probe into the disappearance of Flight MH370, the one that was once scheduled for a Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight, which carried 239 people and the FBI is sent to investigate.

- Also in the Flight MH370 case; Vietnamese searches spotted what could be the possible debris of the missing Flight MH370 Malaysia Airlines plane.

- One of Taiwan's officials told that they've received a warning on possible terrorist attacks in China, coinciding China's National People's Congress, which concludes this Thursday. He said that it has no connection to the Flight MH370 missing case.

- In Case You Missed It: Vhong Navarro finally returned to his presenter duties in It's Showtime earlier.

- Aaron Villaflor, the young actor who played one of the Juan Dela Cruz villains, got his van stolen by carjackers in Quezon City.

- Actress Kate Upton threatens to sue a certain website for posting scandalous but fake photos of her.

TTFN!!!

Nissan GT-R NISMO

Since the return of the GT-R in 2007 and having been on the block for about seven years with numerous updates, the premiere flagship supercar of Nissan is still dominating the supercar segment and thanks to its overwhelming performance, the GT-R sure knows how to take down numerous sportscars, even those that are five times the price. After seven years of extensive R&D as well as testing on the Nurburgring and involvement in motorsports such as FIA GT3 and Super GT, it seems that the king of Japanese sportscars now has a new heir and here it is; seven years of hard work pays off...

2015 Nissan GT-R NISMO

This is the brand new 2015 Nissan GT-R NISMO, the ultimate GT-R ever made and this car isn't more of a show-off because with this GT-R, it means big business for NISMO, the motorsports and tuning arm of Nissan. Let me tell you a bit of a story in the making of the GT-R NISMO. You see, most of the people working for Nissan spent several years investigating its rival supercars; especially European ones. Think of it like...what national security does to us, eavesdropping our phone calls for no reason. After years of research and development, those elite engineers poured in every rival supercars' database and do some science on the GT-R and since the announcement of a hotter and more powerful GT-R, they continue their quest for dig deeper to the supercar science until eventually...

2015 Nissan GT-R NISMO

Like putting every stuff in the microwave before explosions, this is the result of how Nissan do it to create the ultimate masterpiece catered for the elite aficionados. These guys sure know how to save this for last and they sure did. The NISMO GT-R is a GT-R built from scratch and to succeed where the normal GT-R left off in the pursuit of speed and perfection. It takes an inception to perfect its conception of a true driver's car and the GT-R NISMO takes it seriously by delivering the best it has to offer for a car that is track-focused and barely street legal. You can use it on the road but some drivers may think you are corrupted with speed and they refuse to challenge you, unless someone is brave enough to rise to the challenge.

It still carries the same 3.8L twin-turbo V6 engine as the original one but because this is a NISMO-tuned version, it now develops 600PS of power output, about 10PS less than the new Lamborghini Huracan's V10 engine and 5PS less than the hardcore Ferrari 458 Speciale but don't underestimate that gap because since the GT-R NISMO is powered by every nooks and crannies NISMO throw at it, and if you engage the tricky Launch Control sequence, you can kiss goodbye to both the 458 Speciale or the Huracan with that one.

Handling-wise, the NISMO GT-R is the definite equivalent of what happens when you electrocute a twirler from a drum majorette with some electrical equipment. It might be coordinated and graceful but it can be somewhat cack-handed and rubbish if you fail to tame to its peak. If you have a bad case of stiff neck or osteoporosis, be warned that once you try to handle it as violent as a Brainiac, you're going to pay a massive bill from the chiropractic or worse, your health insurance. I'm just saying that because even though the 4WD system keeps this car as stable as a fat man in an earthquake, you can get too risky to tame it with all that vibrations shaking you down on a hot lap.

Here's more, while this car tries to stay true to its hardcore stance, the GT-R NISMO went round the Nurburgring in 7:08.679 and that's even faster than any other European sportscars that are pricier than this.

2015 Nissan GT-R NISMO interior

Even though it's track-focused and barely street legal, the GT-R NISMO is a well-sorted luxury car that you can use it to go to the shops. It still comes with a lot of convenience you can try if you're having a break on a track-day duty and it even comes with a special telematics system exclusively for the GT-R NISMO. It's called the NissanConnect NISMO Plus and if you're in Suzuka, Tsukuba, Motegi, or Fuji, you can use it to track lap times as well as your driving data on the track. It even has GPS Visualiser which in a future Gran Turismo 6 update, it allows you to import Controller Area Network (CAN), used to regulate automobile systems, and GPS coordinate data from a real life car into Gran Turismo 6, and visualise the data as a replay in the game. Perhaps no wonder it's a clear sign that the Nissan GT-R NISMO might make it to GT6 very soon. Hoping but not expecting.

So, what's my take on the NISMO GT-R? Well, as the folks from Nissan agree, especially the fans, enthusiasts, and aficionados alike, the GT-R had gone through numerous revisions and racked numerous awards. Thanks to the GT-R, Nissan was prompted to begin development of their next-generation platform but my high hopes for the ultimate GT-R as you see now can't be overlook on the road and on the track. With the introductory pricing of just 15,015,000 Japanese Yen, that is a lot for a car but if you have the cash fit for a mogul and if you have one, fire up and see if the flagship of Nissan still got what it takes to be the perfect Godzilla! Trust me on this, the new NISMO GT-R is the one to love.

2015 Nissan GT-R NISMO

Available colors; Brilliant White Pearl, Meteor Flake Black Pearl, Ultimate Metal Silver, Vibrant Red, and Dark Mat Gray.

Photo: Nissan Motor Company

Wow Mali Pa Rin - 3/9/2014

In the March 9, 2014 episode of Wow Mali Pa Rin...

- I-AYYY! - It's the letter I! Head for cover!

- WALA BA KAYO MGA KAMAY? - Need a hand? I'll give you a hand. No really. A hand!

- OH, CAM ON! - In this week's OH, CAM ON!, Boy Muscle is making a hassle in the line!

- SELFIE SIGA - Tough guy's looking for the right place to SELFIE!

- BLOWER POWDER - Introducing...Hair Dryer with Glutawhite!

- PAKARGA - Need a lift, ma'am?

- FLUFFY - "Look at my puppy! So cute! BOO!"

- CALL NI IDOL - In this week's CALL NI IDOL, do you believe in luck? Celebrity guest Tuesday Vargas pulls a prank to an unlucky one in FENG SHUI PUSOY.