Nissan Skyline GTR V Spec II 2001

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.

NISMO R34 GT-R Z-Tune, THE Skyline

The Nissan Skyline is one of those cars that need no introduction, at least to the Japanese cars enthusiast, if you aren’t then you certainly missed something. Ever since 1989 and the R32 version (followed by R33 and R34) this car has become an Icon for Nissan, a living proof of their knowledge and skills which brought a lot of victories in Motorsport and a huge community of fans behind the GTR badge.

Exclusively sold in Asia and now massively exported all around the globe, the GTR was made popular by video games and specialized magazines and Medias. The stock version (R34 GTR) is an excellent sportscar based on the combination of the Twin Turbocharged inline 6 motor (RB26DETT) and the technologically advanced All Wheel Drive system known as ATTESA E-TS. Over their fifteen years of existence, those 2 elements have proven a diabolical potential, loved by the tuners, it is not surprising to see and hear about modified versions producing over a thousand horsepower.

So the GTR was born with performance in mind from the road to the track, throughout the years the engineers of the sports department (NISMO –Nissan Motorsport) made it better and better. As a way to pay a last “official” homage to it, they decided to go the opposite way, from the track to the road, in an ultimate and exclusive version that we had the honour to drive: the NISMO R34 GT-R Z-Tune.

Just like any company, the Nismo products are classified regarding their names, the S versions (Nismo S) are slightly modified vehicles featuring improved aerodynamics for example, the R ones (Nismo R) are aerodynamically and mechanically modified like the Fairlady 380RS that we tested some weeks ago…and finally there are the Z versions referring to “vehicles that have evolved to attain world top class speed and endurance as a road going car”.

-FIRST LOOK-
This is the kind of car you couldn’t mistake with any other, the large and aggressive look of the R34 GT-R is impressive, so is the body kit made of CFRP (Carbon Fibre), the wings have been widen and the hood is different, designed to suck as much air as possible to cool the engine…The side skirts are part of the few elements not made of CFRP but ABS plastic is also very light.
The typical Nismo colours are all there, from the black 18’ RAYS rims to the unique “Silver grey” body paint and bits of red here and there…the whole things looks very powerful, even sitting still…a brutal beauty.

Inside the seats are made of alcantara and fine black leather and offer a good comfort for a car of this category, the steering wheel could have been a bit more discreet in my humble opinion and a mini on-board computer displays various informations about the car including a hot lap timer for days at the track. Last but not least, the 320km/h speedometer reminds you that this car means business…

Of course I had to go and check the engine bay, there, the horrible plastic cover that most manufacturers use nowadays (including Nissan) is nowhere to be seen and the RB26DETT masterpiece sits in front of me. This modified Z2 engine was brought to 2.8 litres (2771cc) and, with the help of IHI turbochargers and an endless list of race parts (camshaft, crankshaft, pistons, connecting roads, intake, exhaust…) it now produces a blistering 368kw (500PS) with 540Nm of juicy torque!

In case you had any doubts about the reliability of this baby, you should be pleased to know that this very engine has won the 24hrs of the Nurburgring in 2004 (5th overall) and has been living under the hood of the GT500 Skyline GT-R in Super GT ever since 2001.

-IGNITION-
No time for hesitation, this is a race car equipped with the minimum requirements to be “street legal”.
The suspensions are mighty tight, the noise of the inline 6 wants your driver’s license to be revoked ASAP, the braking is worth 1 year of face lifting products or parachute jumping, the turbo response, thanks to the ball bearing system, is instant, no lag…
Even if the heavy weight of the car is clearly felt, the boost is simply stunning, there are noises everywhere, the brakes, the gearbox, the steering…all this lead to an experience that I would call…frightening…

Time to make comparisons…when was the last time that I felt this? The Subaru Impreza RA-R that I loved seemed more agile and entertaining but it had 180HP less…the Honda NSX Type-R, another “track minded” car felt more balanced and drivable but it had 200HP less than the monster GT-R I was seating in…

So what could be “wrong”? Actually the answer was simple and clear: if you don’t have serious (race) driving notions then the Nismo GT-R Z-Tune will scare you more than anything else!

Now when this type of thing happens to Jeremy Clarkson he’s got “the Stig” (basically the dedicated test driver of each manufacturer) to do the dirty job if I can call it this way…here at NihonCar we have better than this, we have Nishihara-san, pro race driver and Gymkhana champion among other things that your probably know by now. He only will be able to go further in terms of driving performance and try to know what the Z-Tune is capable of…
After a “full throttle” session Masaki came out and calmly explained: “It’s actually pretty similar to a Super GT car”.
Unfortunately the small size of our test track wasn’t enough to unleash the full potential of the machine.

Whether you like it or not the Nismo GT-R Z-Tune is a supercars, capable of challenging cars such as Lamborghinis, Porsches, or Corvette on a race track, where it is supposed to be driven. More than just HP figures, this GT-R is also exclusive in terms of price (18 millions yen) and was made at just 20 units. This simple fact makes it even much more exclusive than a lot of super cars.

In a time when the Skyline name seems to vanish into quality but “standard”sedans and with the name GT-R becoming a version of its own this thing is for sure, the Nismo R34 GT-R Z-Tune is the ULTIMATE skyline!
Plus:
Style
Exclusivity
Performance

Minus:
?!!?
Last "real Skyline GT-R"

Conclusion:
If you like cars you love the Nismo GT-R, it was handmade built the exact same way as Nissan race cars and features years of technological improvements all there to create a unique and sensational ride. Unfortunately, without serious racing skills this monster should better stay away from you...another way to make it so attractive!