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Watch a Nissan Juke-R spank a trio of supercars in Dubai

Nissan's GT-R powered Nissan Juke-R goes toe-to-toe with a Lamborghini, a Ferrari, and a Mercedes-Benz an a street race exhibition event in Dubai.

Headshot of Antuan Goodwin
Headshot of Antuan Goodwin
Antuan Goodwin Senior Writer, Electrified Cars
Antuan started out in the automotive industry the old-fashioned way, by turning wrenches in a driveway and picking up speeding tickets. He now has nearly 20 years of expertise and experience behind the wheel of hundreds of cars, including electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, hydrogen, and traditional combustion vehicles. For each car he tests, Antuan covers more than 200 miles behind the wheel and evaluates driving dynamics; acceleration and braking performance; range; and efficiency. Antuan's goal is to use his extensive car knowledge to educate CNET readers and help with their next car-related buying decision. Whether you're EV-curious, an EV-enthusiast or a combustion-car loyalist, Antuan will bring you the unbiased advice, reviews, best lists and news you need. You can reach Antuan at antuan.goodwin@cnet.com
Expertise Nearly two decades of testing, driving, reporting on, writing about, reviewing, and editing content about electric and ICE cars. Category focus is on electrified cars, EVs, HEVs, PHEVs, ICE cars, EV infrastructure, EV chargers, EV adapters, EV news, auton Credentials
  • North American Car, Truck and SUV of the Year (NACTOY) Awards Juror
Antuan Goodwin
Nissan

When Nissan showed us renderings of a GT-R powered Nissan Juke-R, we said, "Gee, that's neat." When it started building the darn thing, our interest was piqued.

Today, we have a video of this oddest of skunkworks supercars at a street race exhibition event in Dubai going wheel-to-wheel with the likes of a Lamborghini Gallardo, a Ferrari 458 Italia, and a Mercedes-Benz SLS. Check it out below.

OK, so "wheel-to-wheel" was a bit of an overstatement as the Juke hands the trio of proper supercars their hats around an improvised short course. How did that happen?

Now, before you call shenanigans at this Nissan-sponsored event (even I questioned whether that Ferrari driver was giving it the full beans), remember that the the Juke-R is powered by a 480-horsepower version of the Nissan GT-R's 3.8-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 and its complex ATTESA E-PRO all-wheel-drive system. Would you be so shocked to learn that the GT-R is faster 'round a track than any of these cars? Probably not. Additionally, the Juke-R's shorter wheelbase likely gave it a cornering advantage around the relatively short track composed almost completely of 90-degree turns. Given a longer straight or more sweeping bends, this would have been a very different race.

Whatever the case, the Juke-R is real and it's really fast. As a two-off example of what engineers can do with a bit of imagination and a lot of freedom, that's good enough for me.