There isn’t many people floating around the automotive world that dont know about Nissan’s infamous Skyline GTR, widely thought of as one of the best cars to have ever come out of Japan, if not the world.
It was in August, way back in 1989 that the first modern, RB26DETT-powered GTR rolled off the assembly line. The R32 was, for all intents and purposes, about to revolutionise the Japanese performance market, winning championships all over the world, even being banned from events like Bathurst because it was just too fast.
Now, fifteen years, 3 body shapes and countless variants later, the Skyline GTR is no longer in production, with the last body shape, the R34, long since sold out. Although the R34 is no longer being produced, it is still a favourite among many enthusiasts. Enthusiasts like Kiwi born, but English bred Fraser Simpson…
For all the praise the Godzilla has received, I was never really convinced, how could any car be that good at everything it does?
Until last Saturday that is, when myself and the other Ignition monkeys pulled into a quiet Wellington suburb to meet up with Fraser Simpson and his apparently very sexy R34 Skyline.
As we followed the directions and travelled down suburban street after suburban street, I noticed a staunch, muscular shape off in the distance. No, it wasn’t Ignition Mag’s recently buffed up Editor Ben Silcock, fresh from his latest Pilate’s workout, but Fraser’s 2001 Nissan Skyline GTR Vspec II.
Once we had dropped our fiery haired editor off at the bottom of the street so he could get a few more steps on his pedometer, or man-o-meter as he likes to call it, we pulled up next to the GTR and all my past thoughts on these cars were abolished in mere seconds.
This was the first time I had actually taken a good look at an R34 GTR, and believe me, I had plenty of time to get a feel for the aesthetics of the beast as it seems the Ginger Ninja hadn’t quite made it up the street yet, distracted by an unfortunate local tabby who had managed to get its head stuck in a jar of Peanut Butter…
Once he had wrestled the Jar from the poor creature’s head and realised that the greedy bugger had already eaten the contents, we had our editor back and were once again a full team pouring over every carbon fibre nook and lightweight cranny.
Although this was the very sexy looking Vspec II variant of the GTR when Fraser purchased it four years ago off the showroom floor, it seems it just wasn’t sexy enough. As such, Fraser went JDM crazy and fitted a set of Nismo side skirts, rear bumper and carbon fibre under-car diffuser kit along with a set of Mines vents for the front bumper.
With the standard wheels no longer doing the car justice, Fraser took the plunge and relieved himself of over six grand to score an incredibly sexy set of 19×9.5 inch Rays TE37 rims wrapped in Bridgestone S03 liquorice.
Helping to tuck these spinning works of art higher up into the guards, not to mention provide one of the most impressive cornering displays I have ever experienced, is a full Tein Flex electronically adjustable suspension kit with in cabin controller for tuning on the fly. Helping this high tech system is a set of Cusco adjustable suspension arms and Nismo R-Tune anti roll bars.
As you can probably tell by now, Fraser doesn’t like to do things half assed…
Bar the incredibly powerful American sourced Stoptech brakes, callipers and braided brake lines, this car is all about the Japanese Domestic Market.
Which brings us to the near orgasm inducing sight on offer under the standard carbon fibre bonnet of this Japanese muscle car. A JDM enthusiasts wet dream, Fraser’s GTR is awash with the highest quality branded parts, sourced mainly through friends in the UK, (read Abbey Motorsport) and installed here in New Zealand by the good people at Speedtech Motorsport.
Andre and the crew at STM began by installing an Apexi Super Suction kit with carbon airbox, mated to a pair of Nissan Z32 airflow meters, to get a nice gulp of cold air to the standard issue turbochargers.
Next, it was felt a cooler charge was needed and as such, the standard intercooler was biffed and replaced with an incredibly thick 700x300x150mm Trust unit and hard pipe connector kit.
The strangulated exhaust system was next to go, replaced by a full set of HKS stainless steel down pipes and HKS Super Dragger II stainless exhaust system.
With all these fruity new bits, it looked as though the standard computer was falling behind the mark. Fraser decided on an Apexi AVCR to control the increased boost levels, and an Apexi Power FC computer and accompanying hand controller to run the rest of the system. Which, while mark from Abbey Motorsport had it on the Dynapak dyno, was tuned for a conservative 300 kilowatts.
Although more outright power was easily achievable, Fraser wasn’t interested. In fact, he never has been that fussed about big numbers and as such, Andre dropped the peak power off a tad. Doing this proved a very smart move, netting a far bigger gain in torque, making for an incredibly usable tarmac-eating monster.
To finish it all off, it seems Fraser went right through the Nismo catalogue and cleaned them out, purchasing an intercooler water spray kit, oil cooler finisher kit, radiator cap, low-temp thermostat, oil and fuel filler cap, carbon radiator shroud and carbon B-pillar Garnish.
The interior of this near new car is, of course, amazing, and as such there was no need for the replacement seats or re trims that you would normally see in Ignition feature cars.
But, as you would have probably guessed by now, Fraser felt the need to lavish his baby with more goodies and delved back into the Nismo books and ordered a 320k speedometer and MFD V2 mod chip for the already very cool LCD sports screen, displaying everything from boost levels to G-forces.
A SmartTyre onboard tyre pressure and temperature monitor means that Fraser can keep a good eye on his rubber while on the street or fanging around any one of the local race tracks that he frequently visits.
As the car is currently driven to work most days, Fraser has installed a nice little entertainment system to keep him busy in traffic.
This is controlled using a Kenwood in-dash CD/DVD player, with which he can, after a lot of fiddling around, now play DVD’s to be viewed utilizing the standard issue LCD screen.
Keeping the aural fill up to standard, Fraser and the team at the Car Stereo Company have installed 6.5 inch Boston Acoustic speakers up front, Blaupunkt units in the back and an eclipse 10” sub woofer in the boot, all powered by Sony and Eclipse amplifiers.
After hearing future plans already underway in camp Fraser, including talk of a three litre, single turbo re-power for the already ridiculously fast GTR, then going for a good mountain pass run in the beautiful beast, all I can think about is those slightly homo-erotic Speights advertisements starring those splendidly hick-ish southerners.
