Here's How The 1000bhp, GT-R-Engined 'Nissan Navara-R' Is Shaping Up

Earlier this year we learned that Essex-based SB Motorsport was making the most of the Covid-19-decimated 2020 car events calendar, using its extra time to build something very special. Christened the ‘Navara-R’, it’s a gloriously silly mash-up of a Nissan Navara pick-up truck and an R35 GT-R.

At the time, all that had been done was the removal of the Navara’s load bed, but just under four months on, the project looks to be progressing nicely.

The Navara’s bodywork is now entirely clear of the frame, with the ladder strengthened so it can take the GT-R VR38 and its expected 1000bhp output. The front and rear suspension turrets are bespoke, and fit onto GT-R front and rear subframes. A set of dampers have been supplied by ST.

Sterling Automotive Design is responsible for the bodywork, shown here in render form. Much of the original Navara cab looks to have been utilized, but thanks to the addition of dramatically widened wheel arches, a huge front splitter, a rear diffuser and two rear spoilers (one for the rear of the cab, the other for the tailgate), it looks a whole lot more serious.

The Navara-R should be completed before the end of 2020. Once car events with lots of attendees can be a thing again, appearances at shows like the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Gatebill are on the cards. When we last spoke to company founder and pro drifter Steve ‘Baggsy’ Biagioni about the project, there was even talk of a US tour for the vehicle.

When it’s not pulling off lurid drifts for the crowds, though, the Navara-R be used as a workhorse for SB. It’ll even be getting a tow bar…